What gives you a sense of meaning and purpose in life? That may seem like a very unusual question, but I believe that it is a very important one considering how deeply unhappy our society currently is. Everyone needs a reason to get out of bed in the morning, because there wouldn’t seem to be much point to living a life that was completely void of meaning and purpose. So what motivates most Americans to do what they do? Well, a new survey that was just released by the Pew Research Center has some rather startling results. When people were asked an open-ended question about what gives them a sense of purpose and meaning in life, 69 percent mentioned family, 34 percent mentioned career, 23 percent mentioned “money” and only 20 percent mentioned faith. (Read More...)
Greed
40 Signs That America Is Rotting From The Inside Out
It would be easy to know how to defend America if enemy forces were invading our shores. But how do you defend a nation that is rotting from the inside out? How do you eradicate the internal decay that is eating away at the heart and soul of this nation a little bit more every single day? Just like we saw happen with the Roman Empire, the internal rot that is eating its way to the surface threatens to bring us down as a nation. Greed, corruption, gluttony, lust and pride have become national pastimes. We are addicted to debt, food, entertainment and pleasure. We have been taught to hate those that look different from us or that believe different things than we do. Society is literally coming apart at the seams and the federal government is increasingly implementing “Big Brother” security measures in an attempt to maintain control and keep us “safe”. We have far more people in prison than any other nation on the planet and yet things just keep getting worse and worse. So how can we fix America? How do we rescue a nation that is rotting from the inside? (Read More...)
20 Really Bad Ideas That Are Almost Too Stupid To Believe
What in the world is happening to America? It seems like all we get out of politicians at the federal, state and local levels is a steady stream of really bad ideas. Even when our government officials appear to have the best of intentions things still turn out badly. “What were they thinking” is a phrase that is being uttered by millions of Americans on a daily basis. Sadly, instead of focusing on real problems and real solutions, the mainstream media loves to focus on the latest scandal. Last month everyone wanted to talk about Anthony Weiner. This month everyone wants to talk about Casey Anthony. Next month it will be somebody else. There is a never ending stream of scandals for the mainstream media to latch on to, but what is America going to look like if we do not start addressing our real problems? The United States has become a cesspool of corruption, greed, debt and depravity. Everywhere you look there are signs of decline, and yet all our leaders come up with are more really bad ideas. Time is running out on this nation, and with each passing day there seems to be fewer reasons to be optimistic about the future. (Read More...)
Out Of Control Greed? Wall Street Firms Are Projected To Pay Out $144 Billion In Compensation For 2010
Is greed out of control on Wall Street? Typically, liberals, Democrats and socialists say yes, and conservatives, Republicans and Tea Party supporters say no. But just because you are not a socialist doesn’t mean that you have to support the wild greed that is happening on Wall Street right now. As the rest of the U.S. economy deeply struggles, the major financial firms down on Wall Street are projected to pay out an all-time record of $144 billion in compensation for 2010. Just think about that. Not 144 million dollars – what we are talking about is 144 billion dollars. Not that making money is a bad thing. Capitalism is a great thing (although what the United States has now is not capitalism). Free enterprise is a great thing. But any economic system begins to break down whenever massive amounts of financial power is concentrated in just a few hands. Wall Street firms have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying to get the game rigged in their favor, and Wall Street firms have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on campaign contributions to keep things that way. For example, three of Barack Obama’s six biggest campaign donors were Wall Street firms (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup). These big Wall Street firms dominate the U.S. financial landscape to a degree that is almost impossible to understate. Now of course part of the American Dream is being able to work hard and make as much money as possible, but when monolithic financial firms are able to corrupt the game so severely and funnel such massive amounts of money to themselves, at what point are we going to finally admit that there is something fundamentally broken about the system? (Read More...)