Invest in Good – An Alternative to the Big Banks

Picture a company.

A company sells a product or provides a service in exchange for a given amount of money. After covering the costs for the production of the product or service, the surplus on this amount of money becomes profit. The company then comes into possession of this surplus money which is available for use for further improvement of the company or for the personal use of the people in charge of the company who have authority over this money. Every businessman knows that failing to invest in the development of the company will not make it sustainable in the long run.

The exact same thing with our governments is happening, only at a much larger scale. We trust our money to the governments, in the form of taxes, in exchange for the services they provide to us, but unfortunately, it happens that many times the money collected from these taxes is used for private interests, through corruption, instead of being invested in the creation of value to the population through education, health or technology.

bank deposit

On the other hand the money we do not pay in taxes and do not use for consumption, we give willingly to be managed by the so called big banks, which have used (and abused) it by funding investments that follow profit-driven agendas projected for no other goal than producing more money for them.

This means no social development actually occurs, no creation of value whatsoever to society.

This hindering of the creation of value for society is the reason through which we fuel and maintain the downfall of our quality of life as a race.

The problem of corruption in the governments is a thick issue, that can only be solved through just welfare-oriented politics and mostly, transparency. Although the value-detrimental modus operandi still stands as a rule, recently, a major victory by ONE.org might have provided a historic stand against some forms of governmental corruption.

“[…] these payments were made in secret, fueling corruption; but this victory will help promote accountability.  Now citizens will be better able to ensure that the money generated in resource-rich countries is used for vital services like schools, roads and hospitals”

(read more here)

Regarding the mismanagement and abuse of our money by the big banks, in this Mosaic article, Will Klein offer us a solution where we can put our money in investments that generate positive social, environmental and financial income. They are the so called Community Development Banks and Credit Unions.

“Have you ever wondered what happens to your money once you put it in the bank? Well, even if you did wonder, you would never know. The Atlantic’s Frank Partnoy and Jesse Eisinger recently sought to figure out exactly what banks did with our money, and to spoil the punchline, they never could figure it out.”

(read the complete article here)

Unless we start allocating our resources correctly, as a race, we will never see the end of poverty, hunger and war. Unfortunately the paradigm nowdays is that the funding flows to the narrow tip of the pyramid, instead of the broad bottom where need truly lingers.

CISPA – Global Unlimited Censorship

CISPA, standing for Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, has passed the House of Representatives with a few amendments since it’s last edition. Although this is a United States internal issue, it’s a privacy issue that will ultimately affect the whole word and the whole internet.

The whole deal about what CISPA actually is, what powers it triggers to private companies and how it affects internet security can be found here, so I will just lay some highlights on the topic for your consideration.

“Under CISPA, what can I do if a company improperly hands over private information to the government?

Almost nothing. Even if the company violates your privacy beyond what CISPA would permit, the government does not have to notify the user whose information was improperly handed over—the government only notifies the company.[…]”

Meaning there are no longer legal boundaries for personal privacy. All your personal information will be put out there for whatever use companies see fit. CISPA actually will provide legal immunity to companies as they use your personal information.

“[CISPA] It is written so broadly that it allows companies to hand over large swaths of personal information to the government with no judicial oversight—effectively creating a “cybersecurity” loophole in all existing privacy laws.”

CISPA is not for the people, it is, in fact, against the people and the global free speech community that is the internet. It was created to bridge over the laws that were first written by our past leaders for our protection.

“What government agencies can look at my private information?

Under CISPA, companies can hand “cyber threat information” to any government agency with or without limitations on what agency can receive the information.”

Unlimited, unsupervised, global censorship. The end of the freedom of speech. And that may just be the beginning.

CISPA may be the first attempt at a world very much the same as the one depicted in the book “1984” by George Orwell. A world censored and oppressed by a small elite who manipulates and unscrupulously enslaves the masses without any regards to human rights or personal freedom. Note that this is already happening in the big media. Internet is our only source of global communication and freedom. Protect the Internet at all cost.

If you live in the United States and want to campaign against CISPA, use this link.

Earth Hour Outcomes 2013

I was eating Mexican food with my boyfriend and two other friends in a cozy restaurant in Hong Kong, iCaramba, as I swiftly looked at the time and noticed earth hour has just started and the lights were still on. Nevertheless, what could we do as we were in someone else’s restaurant and we dared not to switch off the lights without permission?

As we waited, we made a toast with our Mexican beers and endeavored to find a solution. All of a sudden, I gazed to the room which was further left by our table and realize that there were no lights on in that room and the waitress was lighting candles. I thought to myself that they were doing the earth hour, but someone denied and claimed it was a birthday. To clear my doubts I asked the waitress while she came to our table and also lighted a few candles and she confirmed. What a blissful surprise! That evening we smiled and our souls were also lightened.

To acknowledge the outcomes of the Earth Hour 2013 in our global community, read the article: http://earthhour.org/2013outcomes

“Let The Banks Fail!”, Iceland’s Remarkable Economic Recovery

“[…] I think basically, all modern states, whether they are large or small, face similar challenges and could apply similar solutions, so in our case we decided to let the banks fail, they were private banks and, as I sometimes said, I never understood why somehow banks are the holy churches of the modern economy. Whereas it is normal to let all the companies go bankrupt and fail, suddenly when a bank is in trouble everybody comes rushing and says no, no, no, no, this can’t happen […] ”

4 years later, Iceland is recovering in a remarkable way – 3% economic growth, 5% unemployment and the states finances are in a reasonable shape.

“[…] By going against the established orthodox views prevailing in the U.S. and Europe we actually managed to create a recovery that is quite remarkable […]” – Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Iceland Prime Minister

“Love should rule the World”

To celebrate peace here are 11 blissful inspirations praying that cases like the Boston explosions or the plot to attack in Toronto come to an end. The first ten were posted and chosen by the team at care2:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-best-peace-songs.html

The last is one of most touching songs that i recall from my childhood. I felt heartbroken every time i would listen to Nadim. I present you all with this relic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhq-yO1KN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_DKWlrA24k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2VCwBzGdPM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VILqFtrzBxA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZeKT0UctOQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8C4AIFgUg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlXeLgfBaT4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cTGdJz9-uA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWbNdczXdig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHEOF_rcND8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xATrRyBjexM

Earth is Alive!

A non-commercial short video about the Earth we all live in, it’s life, beauty, condition and the people who died protecting it.

The cut was put together by Vivek Chauhan, a young film maker, together with naturalists working with the Sanctuary Asia network. The main footage was taken from Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s film HOME.

(Source: knowledgeoftoday.org)