“The Golden Opportunity That NHL Striker’s Will Never Consider”
The National Hockey League strike…is this thing hilarious or what? I mean on one side of the table you have one group of spoiled adults who are being paid minimally $185,000 per season to PLAY hockey. In the off-season these guys PLAY golf, and cut lucrative commercial deals through their agents who take their own cut of the cut. Other than that, these guys are placed on social pedestals, revered by family and friends, and now they’ve gone on strike in order to get…MORE!
On the other side of the table you have the owners who are wallowing in potential revenue from a variety of hockey related sources or else they wouldn’t be at this bargaining table in the first place. And these guys are doing everything they can think of to avoid giving up…ANY MORE.
In principle this well publicized sports brouhaha is no different from a classic Teamsters or a teacher’s strike in which each party is battling for a larger piece of a finite economic pie. But in terms of real dollars per participant there’s a huge difference because the relative size of the NHL pie is so much greater, which is precisely what makes the whole situation so laughable.
Here’s How They Could Turn The Tide
But I suggest that there is an opportunity for the NHL to turn the tide here, and go from looking incredibly stupid and greedy on both sides, to exquisitely intelligent in a single bound. This move would not only settle the strike, but it would delight the fans, increase the size of the business pie, and also provide an economic role model for this nation and the rest of the world who is so desperately in need of a way to get beyond the old US VS THEM, 19th and 20th century economic paradigm that’s had all us all (including the NHL as we speak) in its grip since before the dawn of the industrial revolution many moons ago.
What is this move you ask? The move is to unionize or unite on the ownership side of the table. The move is to transform the players into owners, into partners, who actively participate in the economic wins and losses of their respective companies (their teams) as owners instead of employees. And when the company/team does well in economic terms, the player/owner reaps the benefits. If the company/team does poorly, the player/owner suffers the consequences…as an owner.
Eliminate The Reason For Strikes Forever
In making such a move you’d immediately eliminate all future strikes by replacing the old worker vs. owner paradigm with a new, all for one and one for all OWNERSHIP paradigm. And since all the participants would benefit from working together and succeeding, you’d also provide both sides with a system in which working together toward a single, productive goal, both on and off the ice, wins.
The Profound Potential Of Such A Move
But on a much larger scale, if the NHL were to make such a move, it could provide the entire nation (and eventually the world) with a high profile model for a free enterprise based, OWNERSHIP SOCIETY that the Bush administration keeps crowing about, but seems to so know so little about implementing. But my contention is that if the NHL could actually get it, surely their fans, and all those incredibly smart guys in the US Congress could get it too. And when it works like gangbusters, maybe we as a nation could take a tip from the NHL, apply the same principles to our economy, and see ours finally grow into a government of the people, by the people, and for the people
Yes, this represents a golden opportunity for the NHL to turn their proverbial lemon into lemonade, delight and enlighten their fans, increase the size of their pie, and have an absolutely profound effect on the rest of the world at the same time. On the other hand if they all continue to behave like greedy, spoiled brats, I sincerely hope they kill their golden sports goose, crash and burn as a league, and may they all finally get a real good taste of actually working for a living. They’ll all deserve it.
P.S. For anyone who’s really interested in an Ownership Society (like say the Bush Administration perhaps), a user-friendly roadmap for this new, 21st century economic paradigm entitled Capital Homesteading For Every Citizen has recently been published by Dr. Norm Kurland through the Center For Economic and Social Justice, and it’s available special order through Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble web sites.
Friday, December 17, 2004
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
December's Notes From The Underground
December 11th 2004 Notes From The Underground, ARP/JLB Mtg.
Structure…
· Officers – we decided that we would put off electing officers until the January meeting when we expect to see a minimum of 15 people participating.
· Projects – status of projects listed below
· Committees will be project based and we also decided to wait until the January meeting to organize them.
· Discussion – there was a lively discussion of what’s going on and where we are headed. If the excitement level at this meeting is any indication, I have no doubt that we will attract the projected number of fifteen people to the next meeting.
Projects…
· Recruiting - our goal is 8000 people by end of year one. One of the fairly immediate tasks will be to decide how and when to break off into smaller groups in order to maintain active levels of participation/ownership from every partner.
· CD Recording of Capital Homesteading Summary as a recruiting tool. JLB promised to have an original edition done before the next meeting, but speculated that we will be able to find someone else who would prove to be a more effective reader of this material.
· Power Point Presentation for COC’s, ESOP companies, even church groups – this will be a project in which everyone will participate and benefit from wrestling with the Capital Homesteading concept directly in order to develop sufficient confidence to make public presentations on the subject. JLB suggested that Jen Zuri would be the right point person for this project.
· Monica suggested that there are all kinds of local groups who would be candidates to hear a power point presentation. Brooke suggested that everyone come up with a list of these kinds of groups in their own communities.
· Brooke suggested that we should put meeting dates and times on business cards, and everyone liked that idea.
· Interviews with real people on real problems – both Monica and Brook said they would be happy to be interviewed by JLB and Al Robinson of WAVG talk radio and we’ll try to have both of these done before next meeting/
· Web Site/Blog Involvement – everyone agreed to actively participate in a democratic dialog through Joe’s web site message board and on Joe’s Blog starting in the near future….like hopefully this coming week.
· Carol asked about an American Revolutionary Party blog and JLB said Norm Kurland was investigating that possibility, and it’d probably be up by next mtg.
· Joe’s Book – JLB reported that was in the works and would likely be ready by next meeting as well. How do you like the title “The One Big Idea: The Missing Link In America’s Political System and What YOU Can Do About It!” Other suggestions for the title are most welcome.
· Register with FEC - we have the forms to do that when the time comes.
· Establish bank account - JLB suggest that Carol and Pam be co-signatures
· Brochure/Cliff’s Notes – we agreed this project is less important than the CD recordings and the power point presentation, so it was tabled for the time being.
· Data Base – Pam got caught with her hand in the air when this came up, so that project now belongs to her.
· ARP Platform – everyone at the table had read it and seemed to like it. There were no negative comments, only positive ones, but folks will read it more thoroughly before the next meeting.
· Mid Term Elections – everyone agreed that we should be considering a 24 month plan of attack in order to get things moving on a more local level, and to have some suggestions next meeting.
· Jim suggested that a combination book and CD (both of which we’ll have within weeks) could be packaged in the same way that software is packaged and could be something that would look very professional. Jim and JLB will be looking into that possibility and will report back on what they find next meeting.
· Get Barak Obama to our table within the first year – JLB reported that Obama had officially been invited to this meeting, and would continue to get invitations, along with notes and numbers of participants until he shows up.
· JLB said he had talked to a Chicago based homeless newspaper about doing a regular column in their bi weekly newspaper Streetwise and would update the group when he heard more. Brooke suggested the name of the column could be “Through The Cracks.”
· Pam suggests that someone who knows Roberts Rules should be running the meeting from now on, and that someone who knows how to take more conventional notes should take over the Notes From the Underground. Since this suggestion was not formally discussed, we’ll talk about it in January.
· The Onion Headline that JLB failed to come up with on Saturday is “It’s Really Hard When Someone Close To Someone You Pretended To Like, Dies.”
Structure…
· Officers – we decided that we would put off electing officers until the January meeting when we expect to see a minimum of 15 people participating.
· Projects – status of projects listed below
· Committees will be project based and we also decided to wait until the January meeting to organize them.
· Discussion – there was a lively discussion of what’s going on and where we are headed. If the excitement level at this meeting is any indication, I have no doubt that we will attract the projected number of fifteen people to the next meeting.
Projects…
· Recruiting - our goal is 8000 people by end of year one. One of the fairly immediate tasks will be to decide how and when to break off into smaller groups in order to maintain active levels of participation/ownership from every partner.
· CD Recording of Capital Homesteading Summary as a recruiting tool. JLB promised to have an original edition done before the next meeting, but speculated that we will be able to find someone else who would prove to be a more effective reader of this material.
· Power Point Presentation for COC’s, ESOP companies, even church groups – this will be a project in which everyone will participate and benefit from wrestling with the Capital Homesteading concept directly in order to develop sufficient confidence to make public presentations on the subject. JLB suggested that Jen Zuri would be the right point person for this project.
· Monica suggested that there are all kinds of local groups who would be candidates to hear a power point presentation. Brooke suggested that everyone come up with a list of these kinds of groups in their own communities.
· Brooke suggested that we should put meeting dates and times on business cards, and everyone liked that idea.
· Interviews with real people on real problems – both Monica and Brook said they would be happy to be interviewed by JLB and Al Robinson of WAVG talk radio and we’ll try to have both of these done before next meeting/
· Web Site/Blog Involvement – everyone agreed to actively participate in a democratic dialog through Joe’s web site message board and on Joe’s Blog starting in the near future….like hopefully this coming week.
· Carol asked about an American Revolutionary Party blog and JLB said Norm Kurland was investigating that possibility, and it’d probably be up by next mtg.
· Joe’s Book – JLB reported that was in the works and would likely be ready by next meeting as well. How do you like the title “The One Big Idea: The Missing Link In America’s Political System and What YOU Can Do About It!” Other suggestions for the title are most welcome.
· Register with FEC - we have the forms to do that when the time comes.
· Establish bank account - JLB suggest that Carol and Pam be co-signatures
· Brochure/Cliff’s Notes – we agreed this project is less important than the CD recordings and the power point presentation, so it was tabled for the time being.
· Data Base – Pam got caught with her hand in the air when this came up, so that project now belongs to her.
· ARP Platform – everyone at the table had read it and seemed to like it. There were no negative comments, only positive ones, but folks will read it more thoroughly before the next meeting.
· Mid Term Elections – everyone agreed that we should be considering a 24 month plan of attack in order to get things moving on a more local level, and to have some suggestions next meeting.
· Jim suggested that a combination book and CD (both of which we’ll have within weeks) could be packaged in the same way that software is packaged and could be something that would look very professional. Jim and JLB will be looking into that possibility and will report back on what they find next meeting.
· Get Barak Obama to our table within the first year – JLB reported that Obama had officially been invited to this meeting, and would continue to get invitations, along with notes and numbers of participants until he shows up.
· JLB said he had talked to a Chicago based homeless newspaper about doing a regular column in their bi weekly newspaper Streetwise and would update the group when he heard more. Brooke suggested the name of the column could be “Through The Cracks.”
· Pam suggests that someone who knows Roberts Rules should be running the meeting from now on, and that someone who knows how to take more conventional notes should take over the Notes From the Underground. Since this suggestion was not formally discussed, we’ll talk about it in January.
· The Onion Headline that JLB failed to come up with on Saturday is “It’s Really Hard When Someone Close To Someone You Pretended To Like, Dies.”
Monday, December 13, 2004
A Tool With Which To Identify Peaceful Revolutionaries
12 Questions To Ask Potential Revolutionaries
1. Are you happy with your current job?
2. Are you happy about having to work for somebody else, doing what somebody else wants you to do, instead of what you really want to do, forty to sixty hours a week?
3. Are you happy about having to squeeze your own personal agenda in and around the cracks and crevices of your week, while the day job (someone else’s agenda) occupies the most productive hours of your week, month, and years of your life?
4. Do you harbor any realistic hope of ever breaking FREE from that dilemma, which has been aptly characterized as wage slavery, or industrial sharecropperism?
5. Do most of your friends and family members find themselves caught up in the same dilemma, and do they also lack any plan eventually to FREE themselves?
6. Do you find that the conflict between those things you naturally want to do, and those things you’re financially required to do a great source of STRESS in your life?
7. Do you suspect that most of your friends and family members are living under the same form of STRESS, and that it could be grinding away on their health, their family relationships, the quality of their weeks, months, years, and ultimately their lives?
8. Do you like the fact that the same people who own and control the most productive hours of your week, month, year, life, also own and control the supposedly democratic government here in the United States of America…whether you like it or not?
9. Do you like the fact that these same people who own and control the most productive hours of your week, month, year, life, as well as your government, also control the media and most of the information to which you have access?
10. If someone could show you a peaceful way to unravel the political/economic system that has you, your family members, and friends under its control, would you be interested in hearing just a little more about it?
11. Would you be willing to check out a couple of web sites to learn more?
12. Would you attend and participate in a monthly meeting in order to learn more?
If YOU answered as follows, YOU are a PRIME candidate for membership in the all new, twenty first century edition of the American Revolutionary Party. Congratulations!
1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No
5. Yes
6. Yes
7. Yes
8. No
9. No
10. Yes
11. Yes
12. Yes
1. Are you happy with your current job?
2. Are you happy about having to work for somebody else, doing what somebody else wants you to do, instead of what you really want to do, forty to sixty hours a week?
3. Are you happy about having to squeeze your own personal agenda in and around the cracks and crevices of your week, while the day job (someone else’s agenda) occupies the most productive hours of your week, month, and years of your life?
4. Do you harbor any realistic hope of ever breaking FREE from that dilemma, which has been aptly characterized as wage slavery, or industrial sharecropperism?
5. Do most of your friends and family members find themselves caught up in the same dilemma, and do they also lack any plan eventually to FREE themselves?
6. Do you find that the conflict between those things you naturally want to do, and those things you’re financially required to do a great source of STRESS in your life?
7. Do you suspect that most of your friends and family members are living under the same form of STRESS, and that it could be grinding away on their health, their family relationships, the quality of their weeks, months, years, and ultimately their lives?
8. Do you like the fact that the same people who own and control the most productive hours of your week, month, year, life, also own and control the supposedly democratic government here in the United States of America…whether you like it or not?
9. Do you like the fact that these same people who own and control the most productive hours of your week, month, year, life, as well as your government, also control the media and most of the information to which you have access?
10. If someone could show you a peaceful way to unravel the political/economic system that has you, your family members, and friends under its control, would you be interested in hearing just a little more about it?
11. Would you be willing to check out a couple of web sites to learn more?
12. Would you attend and participate in a monthly meeting in order to learn more?
If YOU answered as follows, YOU are a PRIME candidate for membership in the all new, twenty first century edition of the American Revolutionary Party. Congratulations!
1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No
5. Yes
6. Yes
7. Yes
8. No
9. No
10. Yes
11. Yes
12. Yes
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