NEW YEAR; WHAT CHANGES DO YOU NEED TO MAKE?

#HappyNewYear #changes #vote #elections
Most of us look at a new calendar year as a time to reflect on what’s good in our lives, and examine what we need to change.
The coming year could be one of big changes worldwide.
How we vote in the upcoming year could be extremely consequential. Regardless of your opinions on various candidates and issues, it is extremely important for EVERYONE to vote. For some, it could be the difference between life and death. For others, it’s our best way to change what we want changed, though, to paraphrase what the Rolling Stones have sung, we don’t always get everything we want.
Still, you have to participate if you are eligible. It should be as critical a task as anything you do in life.
But, aside from voting, what else do you need to do this year?
To determine that, first figure out what you want from life. Is your life good now? If so, marvelous. If not, what needs to change?
Are there things you can do to make a good life even better? Are there things you must do to make a not-so-good life good?
Circumstances befall all. But circumstances do not, or should not, dictate outcomes. Bad circumstances can turn into good outcomes with thought, hard work and a good attitude.
We all tend to blame bad things on other people or things. Blaming takes energy, and zaps emotional strength from everyone. Generally, it’s counterproductive.
It is not what happened to you that matters. It’s how you react to it that determines your life.
Dwell less on things you can’t control and focus on things you can control. Yes, some would be amazed, when they think about it, how much of their lives is in their control.
We also tend to presume the worst, When bad things happen, we may think we can never recover. Or, we may tend to think that things will only get worse.
Sometimes, optimism requires work. You may have to look for the pony who produced the pile of manure. You may have to be open to new ideas, and new ways of doing things.
You also may have to accept some outcomes. If you get injured or ill, you must work to get better. If someone close to you dies, you must grieve in your own way, then find a way to move past your grief. Some grief lingers for a lifetime, but you can face that grief each time, and still live the rest of your life. It requires strength that many may need to acquire.
To quote from Queen’s lyric from “We Are the Champions,” life often is no bed of roses or pleasure cruise.
It may come with serious thorns or turbulence. But, as people, we are strong. We can face adversity without wallowing in pity and blame.
It takes effort. It takes work. It takes determination. It takes persistence.
So, this year, show that strength. Vote if you are eligible. Show that if you are slapped down, you get up and move forward.
Happy New Year!
Peter


WORKERS, CONSUMERS, VOTERS AND POWER

#workers #consumers #voters #power #RobertReich
As a worker, consumer and voter, do you feel powerless?
Do you feel that the world favors those with more than you, and tramples you because you might be in their way?
Robert Reich, the former U.S. secretary of labor and current professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley – and a frequent commentator on TV news programs — discussed this in a May 3, 2015, column in the San Francisco Chronicle.
“A large part of the reason” that people feel their voices don’t count, “is we have fewer choices than we used to have,” Reich writes. “In almost every area of our lives, it’s now take it, or leave it,” he continues.
Companies are treating workers as disposable cogs, and most working people have no choice, he says. The once-powerful private-sector unions have lost much of their clout, he adds.
As consumers, we find that as companies merge and deliberately create fewer choices, we pay the price. “U.S. airlines, for example, have consolidated into a handful of giant carriers that divide up route and collude on fares,” Reich writes. In 2005, there were nine major airlines. Now, there are four, he adds.
Even in the political arena, there is less competition because so many districts have been gerrymandered to be safe for the incumbent – or at least the incumbent’s political party. “(More than) 85 percent of congressional districts are considered ‘safe’ for their incumbents in the 2016 election,” Reich says.
What’s the average person to do? Certainly circumstances have occurred that are beyond the average person’s control. But there is also good news: the average person can take advantage, if he so chooses, of ways to combat the apparent lack of choice.
As consumers, we can, as individuals, adjust our behavior to fight the put-up or shut-up attitudes of the companies that serve us. Using the example of airlines, there isn’t much an individual can do about delays, whether they be caused by a mechanical problem, weather or some other issue. No one would want to fly unsafely just to get to a destination sooner.
But, as an example, to combat the big airlines’ recent policy of charging a fee to check a bag, we can learn to pack more carefully, so that everything fits into smaller luggage that can be carried on the plane. On full flights, if people come prepared to carry on their luggage, airlines will ask that some of the suitcases and other items be checked. Then, they cannot charge you.
As voters, we can vote defensively, if we don’t like the ideology of the candidates most likely to win. How? If your state laws allow, vote in the primary of the political party whose ideology is generally opposite yours. Find the candidate(s) with records of statesmanship, i.e. working with the other party to get things done. Vote for those candidates, even if they would not be your choice in a general election. Negotiation and compromise are the essence of governing. The problem in politics, regardless of one’s political beliefs, is too much ideology and not enough statesmanship.
Finally, as workers, we need not to think of a job as the only way to make an income. There are many other ways out there with which people, regardless of education, background or skills, can earn substantial income without having to put up with an employer’s whim. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau
As for unions, they did wonders for workers and the middle class many decades ago. However, today’s global business world requires companies to have extreme flexibility and efficiency. Unions decrease both of those things, but years ago, productivity gains and other business progress occurred much more slowly. It’s best to presume that no matter what your job, and no matter how good you are at it, it will probably go away before you want it to.
In conclusion, Reich is largely correct about the state of the world, and our place in it. But, just as circumstances we can’t control can hurt us, the world has provided more options for those who choose not to tolerate those circumstances, and want to make their lives much better.
Peter