Illegal Immigrants Add 18 Billion to Texas Revenue

Are undocumented workers good or bad for the economy of Texas? Are we better off if we arrest them and deport them?

There are a lot of people at the grass roots level who feel that they are a burden on the system here. They feel that they get free healthcare, free education, free police protection, fire protection, etc. and pay no taxes. They don't necessarily have precise concrete numbers to support that theory, but it seems logical.... ..... ......doesn't it?

This is a popular idea because there are politicians who promote such concepts for their own political purposes. They play upon the xenophobia of the average American. They make them feel like they are being inundated by a foreign force that is coming to take away their jobs, their lifestyle, their safety, their way of life. And since they feel threatened, they vote for someone to take steps to protect them from the perceived threat.

Bingo. There's the motivation.

Well, here is the truth. The numbers are in. The Texas State Comptroller's office has had a detailed look at the net effects of undocumented workers on the Texas economy and discovered that they actually CREATE 18 billion dollars of net revenue per year in the Texas economy. If they were all put on a bus and shipped back to Mexico, then the state would immediately suffer a loss of 18 billion dollars per year.

This was just released in a new report that is touted as the first of it's kind that has looked at the effects of undocumented workers on the budget of a state. No doubt, bringing these facts to light will cause some controversy.

These undocumented workers, primarily from Mexico, represent 6.3% of the workforce in the state. By removing them, we would cause labor shortages which would result in a rise in payroll costs. On some levels, higher salaries can be a boost to the economy - but only if the raises are due to increases in productivity. If the raises are caused by labor shortages, as would be the case here, then this has a negative effect on the economic competitiveness. The value of Texas exports would decline slightly as a result, thus negatively affecting us all.

Economists argue that one of the main factors that contributed to the economic success of America was the slave labor that we had hundreds of years ago. To have a large unpaid labor force to build infrastructure and produce saleable goods, either agriculture or manufactured, is a huge advantage to the economy of a country, especially when competing against other countries that do not have a free labor force.

Some might say that the undocumented workers of today represent the modern day equivalent of that slave-worker force. In those days, the workers were not paid anything, but they were housed, clothed, and fed, and given the basics of medical treatment to keep them healthy and productive. Now, the employers don't provide all those services to illegal immigrants, but they pay them a wage that equates to the cost of that most basic level of existence. Minimum wage in many cases. And less on occasion. But the net effect is the same. The economy advances. The middle and upper class citizens benefit from the profits of using the lower class to do the dirty jobs for the bare subsistence wages. In Texas, for example, housing is about 30% to 50% of similar homes in similar areas in the north where there are fewer illegal immigrants to fill construction jobs for low salaries.

Why do they come here to work so hard for such low wages? Well, many are happy just to be away from the staggering poverty of some countries south of here. The dangers of organized crime down there and other risks make life untenable for many people. There are many stories of the dangers of the trip from central America through Mexico to the US border. There was a horrifying account told on NPR radio recently about the gangs on the trains that throw people under the wheels if they don't hand over whatever money they have.

Most undocumented workers are content to live quietly here in the shadows of Americans. They are working at jobs most Americans won't do for wages that American's won't take and living in modest homes that most Americans would not live in. They cause no trouble. In fact, the LAST thing they want to do is to attract any attention to themselves. They are afraid of being deported. They are, after all, here illegally. And so they don't want anything as much as even a traffic ticket to attract the attention of the police or other authorities their way. So they try to live quietly and within the law.
Yet typically, undocumented workers are the scapegoats blamed for high crime rates, or overcrowded schools or just about every other social problem you can think of.
And yet in a recent UC Irvine study led by sociology Professor Ruben Rumbaut, it was found that 3.5% of American-born men ages 18 to 39 wound up incarcerated, while only 0.7% of foreign-born men of the same ages did. So, statistically, Americans are 5 times more likely to commit crimes than immigrants.

As for paying taxes, not all the undocumented workers have no papers. Most of them do in fact have papers. These are usually fake credentials that allow them to be employed. But since there is paperwork for employment, then the income taxes are subtracted at source just like they do for anyone else that earns money through employment. Also, since they live here, everything they buy here to live is taxable through sales taxes, and if they own a house, they pay property taxes as well, or if they rent, then the rent they pay has the property taxes factored into it. So, counter to what many people may think, they DO in fact pay taxes.

Without the benefits of a detailed analysis as was done by the Texas Comptroller's office, still, national economists have estimated that total national economic growth would be a half a point to two full points lower without immigrant workers.

Bernard Baumohl, executive director of the Economic Outlook Group, a research group in Princeton Junction, N.J. says "Immigration is actually critical, it allows the U.S. economy to grow more rapidly without higher inflation pressures."

Besides the restaurant, hospitality, and agricultural industries, another major industry that benefits from the lower cost labor of these undocumented immigrants is the construction industry. And this time, it was the construction industry and the housing boom that comprised 70% of the recovery from the most recent economic recession.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 22 percent of construction workers are foreign born, with 2.4 million immigrants working in the sector, the largest source of jobs for immigrant labor. Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, estimates that 25 to 30 percent of those working in resident construction are immigrants. Of these however, it is difficult to know exactly how many are here legally since many of them do show paperwork, but they may not be legal papers.

But Howard warns, "You take 30 percent of the labor out of any sector and you're going to have serious impact. The costs would go up and it would suppress demand to some extent because of the higher costs."

Howard points out that in northern regions of the country, such as Buffalo, N.Y., very few construction workers are foreign born, however in California, Texas and other places, immigrants may be as much as half of the workers on the average construction sites. And he added that it would be hard to replace certain skills such as stone masonry for example.

Then we also have to take into account the fact that not only are these workers building the homes, but they are also helping to sustain the market by buying them. Granted, they may be buying the lower-priced homes, because most of them cannot afford to buy the homes they work on, but it all helps the economy. And when they eat they buy their food from American grocery stores and American restaurants. They are consumers themselves in this economy, and so although some of them might try to send a few dollars home to help support their families back in the old country, most of their meager wages are taken up just trying to survive here and so it filters right back into the local economies where they live.

So don't be fooled by the rhetoric of those who are prejudiced, or simply misinformed. The undocumented workers provide a valuable service for a very modest cost. Granted, they represent a social factor that needs work. We need to provide adequate medical care to them so that they don't bring untreated disease here, and poverty creates economic necessity that does drive some crimes of need, and so we need law enforcement, and also, we do need to provide education to their children so that they have other options to support themselves besides joining a gang. So we have to share a little of the existing infrastructure of this society. But overall, our country would be a much less comfortable place to live if they were all to suddenly disappear tomorrow. If they suddenly left, we would have no one to cook the meals, make the beds, pick the crops, build the houses, AND in Texas alone, we'd be 18 billion dollars poorer every year.

Of course, that's just my opinion - I could be wrong. What do YOU think about it?

Here are some articles on the subject:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/69970/Report_Illegal_Immigrants_18_billion_boost_to_Texas
http://media.www.dailytitan.com/media/storage/paper861/news/2007/03/12/Opinion/Illegal.Immigrants.Unfairly.Blamed.In.Society-2772452.shtml
http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/01/news/economy/immigration_economy/index.htm
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/052099/ins20.jpg&imgrefurl=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/ins20.shtml&h=142&w=200&sz=9&hl=en&start=11&tbnid=hSaKoKGEeYvUiM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dimmigrant%2Bconstruction%2Bworker%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Thomas Dolby Plays ....The Cafeteria

Thomas Dolby came to the cafeteria at work the other day.
That's right. Thomas Dolby, the British pop star from the 1980's. He's the one that had the smash hit, "She Blinded Me With Science" in 1982.

I went down to watch. It was not what I was expecting, actually. I was expecting a performance, and it was a presentation. A powerpoint style presentation while he talked about his history and how technology and the music industry has changed in the past 30 years and some of the ramifications of those changes. Then he did perform 2 tunes afterward.

He told a fascinating story about how his song became a hit and one extraordinary event that happened just afterward. Those were the very early days of MTV and he said he had an idea that doing a video might be a back door into getting into the music industry and getting a song on the radio. Good forward thinking at the time! His record label gave him a ridiculously small amount of money to do the video. One day shooting, and no producer or director. He said that was fine, he'd do it himself. He literally wrote the tune 3 days before the shoot to match the title he'd already come up with.
Then, a few weeks later while he was recording his next album in Brussels, he got a call saying that his video and single were big in the US, and he needed to get on a plane immediately. He has just contracted mono and felt like crap. He was sweating all the way there on the plane. When he arrived, they had a fleet of limos come and pick him up at the airport. People were coming up to him and saying things like, "Hi, I'm Larry - I discovered you". Then they wanted to take him directly to some big party, and he said he had to meet a friend instead, so they handed him a phone and said sure. He really just wanted to get away from them, so he made that excuse up - but he only had one phone number in LA. It was Michael Jackson's.
They had met while recording in adjacent studios in London, and Jackson said to come visit him if he ever was in LA. Thomas called him from the car and Jackson said to come over, and so the whole fleet of limos showed up at Jackson's mansion. Then the gates opened and they went up to the house, but he was embarrassed about bringing this whole group there, and so he got out and told the rest of the entourage to wait out there while he walked up to the mansion in the pouring rain.

He knocked on the door, was let in and brought to a huge majestic room and Michael Jackson sat there on a big throne and they talked about music and recording techniques, etc. Then he started seeing little eyes appearing through the stairway spindles on the second floor looking out at him. Then there was a huge flash and suddenly the "She Blinded Me With Science" video came blasting out and showing on a giant screen there, and all the little kids came out in their PJ's and slippers and started dancing, and playing with little remote control cars on the floor around them while they talked about music. He said they were just kids from Jackson's neighborhood whose parents let them come over to play in Jackson's mansion.

Bizarre. He said it didn't make him think Jackson was sick or deranged - just really eccentric.

So Dolby talked about that and other adventures, and the past, present , and future of the music industry. And how his company had grown and developed the ringtone playing software engine for cell phones, and how he had 120 employees working there, etc. and how they switched from PC's to cell phone/wireless technology, and the cultural shift that implied. He talked about going to visit Nokia in Helsinki, Finland to make the deal with them. At the time, they owned 40% of the world cell phone market, etc.

He was actually quite personable, friendly, witty, professional, gracious and reasonably humble - well, for a former star. Also, he spoke well. More like a corporate presenter accustomed to giving presentations, rather than a fish out of water musician talking to a group of people he didn't understand. He was very adept in both worlds, it seemed.

THEN he actually played and sang 2 tunes. The second one was She Blinded Me With Science. He had just three devices on the desk in front of him. An m-audio sampler player pad unit, a small synth about 12 inches square and 2 inches thick, and a Mac notebook computer. Then they had the Mac screen showing up on the big screen so we could all see what he was seeing. That was his whole rig. That and a microphone and it all just plugged into the tiny portable PA system.

He was using Pro Logic software on the Mac, which is not much like Pro Tools. It's not so much a recording software as it is a MIDI performance software that allows loops and multi-tracking. So he plays a drum beat, then starts it looping, then adds a snare loop layered on top. Then adds the bass notes, then they are looping too. Then he lays down several synth pieces. They all multitrack and just keep repeating. It's actually quite easy to do. There is a little less demanding musicianship doing it like this. It seems more technical than musical. He is just layering the tiniest of musical snippets and looping on multitrack. It does keep him busy when he also sings and then throws in the odd sampled voices and weird sounds. But it is definitely 80's pop electronica.

The music was interesting and had a good danceable beat, but it doesn't really connect to me, personally. It seems to be all about using the technology, and it's very sterile - more like playing an elaborate drum machine. Actually, it's pretty much exactly like playing my Roland MC-505. Which is essentially a DJ music machine. It has 720 sound patterns and each one has 16 tracks of stuff you can add in or take out plus you can add in your own snippets and sounds on the tiny keyboard on there. In fact, you can compose entire songs with all the tracks in any one of about 1400 different instrument sounds. It's interesting, and it's the stuff they play in dance clubs in most countries around the world, but to me it's not really true art.
It doesn't express emotional content. It seems empty of any meaning. But that is endemic to that genre. For me the whole electronica soundscape is about technology and sometimes skill, but little emotion, little art or meaning. But he was good at it and it was entertaining for a couple of songs, to be sure.

It was a cool 90 minute presentation. He took questions at the end. There were 4. One was from me, and that was the one he spent the most time answering.

I mentioned that in the old days of "Music Industry 1.0", besides the record labels taking all the money and taking the ownership rights for the music, and besides all the bad things they did to cheat artists, the one good thing they did was to invest in marketing the artist and built a public image for them. In other words - they advertised and marketed the artist to sell the records. I asked him about how marketing/advertising is done for new bands now that the old model of record labels who pushed an artist and built them up as a name brand, etc. is over. With the proliferation of cheap recording equipment around the world, now there are literally millions of new artists out there with songs they want to have heard. How does a new artist make it through that kind of obstacle course to become well-known now?

He basically said in a rambling 10 minute round-about answer that he was lucky that he already had a name that was famous and sold records that was built up for him in the old marketplace. And of course, he can now leverage that name to sell CDs on his own.
But he also said that the new music industry is done differently now. He calls this "Music Industry 2.0". Now we have MySpace, YouTube, CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, etc. And he pointed out that it's still difficult to get on the front page of iTunes. He talked about creating a buzz with your friends and building lists of fans and managing that list yourself, and inviting them to concerts you play and advising them when you release new songs, etc. Also he said you basically have to invest the money in online advertising, but be careful where you invest, because advertising can blow your budget really quick.

No kidding.

Obviously there were a lot of things he said in 90 minutes that I couldn't squeeze into this brief synopsis.

It did make me think that I need to get some of my tunes on iTunes. Not all 112 - but maybe just 40 or 50 or so.....

Also, CD-Baby is something I'd seen before and thought I ought to get signed up for.

There is already a music video for one of my tunes on YouTube. Produced by Joe Caneen, a film producer from California. It's about the day in the life of a big rig trucker. There is no dialog. It's just scenes from morning till night all across America. From the professional trucker's perspective, and it has one of my tunes as the soundtrack. The tune is, "The Road Not Taken". He really did an expert job of matching the scenes to the music. There is a link to it on my music website in the sample videos page. It doesn't have especially fancy guitar work on it though - this was the very first thing I played and recorded after having put down the guitar completely for 10 years. I was pretty rusty. So if you watch that video, please don't think I'm playing my best or anything. It is the guitar equivalent of singing a song when you first wake up...from a 10 year coma!

As for MySpace, I've been thinking about that too. Guitar Player Magazine has a programme where guitarists send in their Myspace pages with their sample tunes, and the editor at GP listens, picks a few he likes, then puts them in the magazine each month.
But I have to pick one tune that has some flashy guitar - and it's hard to pick one. They are all so different. Whatever you pick, you get labelled as. If I pick a Latin style tune, suddenly, I'm a Latin player. If I sent them an 80's style tune, suddenly, I'm a classic rock long haired dude. If I send him a prog-rock tune, suddenly I'm that. If I send him a blues tune, then I'm called a blues guitarist. I have a bunch of Jazz tunes as well, and funk, and pop, and acoustic tunes, and......whatever he hears first becomes the brand that is stamped on my forehead. People are so quick to label you.

Maybe I need to send him 10 tunes of 10 totally different types and force them to listen to them all before they decide how they are going to label and limit me!

Wal-Mart? Now THAT's something I had not considered before. But I understand they are a huge music retailer now...

Maybe I'll just give them a call, right? Yeah. That's what I'll do. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear from me! In fact, they're probably upset that I haven't called already! They're wondering if they've upset me or offended me in some way, probably. I'd better call them right away and let them off the hook.
Of course, they'll probably want exclusive worldwide distribution rights with first-call options on future releases, so I'll have to consult my international legal team on that issue. But hey - if they can push enough units through the channel and capture the market segment, we can talk.... (LOL - I crack me up..)

Actually - we (VSP) do have some more live performances coming up. An MS fundraising event in Cleburne, TX on April 21st, and maybe another similar event at The Ft. Worth Stockyards a week later. That one is televised. Also, two University of Chicago Alumni events coming up, plus a corporate gig in San Antonio, plus a Music Festival in Lewisville in June. I'm trying to get the new drummer up to speed and solid before I really start to push the pedal down on getting us places to play.

Here's something funny - I've had some trouble getting and keeping a drummer. We joke that it's like Spinal Tap, where their drummers kept dying on them. Well, this drummer is the 4th so far. And he's been having troubles with moving and not having a phone and not showing up for a couple of weeks. If he doesn't show up Tuesday night, that will be 4 weeks without word. I think then it might be time to give up on him and bring on Drummer #5. I have another Drummer, Aaron, who is anxious to get a chance to play with us.

I can just see a band picture with the other 5 of us standing together with shovels beside four freshly dug and filled holes representing the four previous drummers.... Here lies Mike, Jason, Scott, and Matt.....
I can just see Aaron standing there with a really worried look on his face. Perfect!

Death's Purpose

Yesterday was the first year anniversary of the death of a friend of mine. She was 45 years old at the time. She had just moved from Ansonia, Connecticut to Austin, Texas and was starting a new life. She had left her marriage and was prepared to start out on her own.
Through the kindness of another friend who was in the position to help her get down there and get started, she had just landed an apartment, a vehicle to drive, and she was starting work for the first time in years. March 16th was her first day on the new job as a pastry chef, however, it was a temporary arrangement for her because she really wanted to work in a bookstore or a library because she loved reading books.

She had read thousands of books and remembered them all in detail. She had an awesome memory and a terrific sense of humor. Also she was a writer and a very talented poet. She liked posting to her blogs. In fact, although the actual time and date of her death were uncertain because she was found a few days later, I have to assume it was the 16th, because it makes sense that she would have posted something about her first day at her new job as soon as she was home and had rested.

She was type II diabetic at a serious degree, and I assume that was the cause. Her sister said that she passed quietly in her sleep. Somehow that seemed appropriate for her because she spent so much time in her dream world. Her writings, her dreams, her poetry, all her friends were online friends. And most of all her living was done during the night. A time of dreams.

Thinking about her passing has made me think about death itself.

Death has a purpose, doesn't it?

It makes us want to enjoy every sandwich. It makes us try to accomplish what we can while we can. It makes us want to make a difference - to make our little visit here count in some way.

If we had all of time to accomplish our goals here, then many of us would procrastinate forever. There would always be time to do it later. Ironically - one of our goals while here is to learn that! So we need the clock to teach us to move forward. To get things done.

I want to live and behave in such a way that everyone who I ever meet, even for just a few moments, will have something memorable and useful and positive from that brief encounter. I would like to leave my imprint on everyone's life I touch. Not just for notoriety - but rather for the benefit to them. Every time I meet a person, it's an opportunity to help them in some way. I don't want to waste the opportunity. It may not always be practical or possible, but I try. Why not?

Sometimes, I just share a joke and a smile. Or, maybe something I said may have a more profound effect and maybe prevents a suicide. Sometimes I can solve a complicated technical problem or maybe give a new insight or creative new perspective to someone to help them in their path. The other day I saw a teenage girl trying to change a flat tire, and she was dressed in her good clothes, and her dad was trying to talk her through it over the phone. I was at lunch and I had the opportunity to stop and change the tire for her. It was a small thing for me, but it was a big thing for her. Sometimes I only bring a smile to a tiny little girls face by doing a little trick to amuse her. All these things are well worth my time.

Also, I certainly don't want to get to the end of my time here and then find that all I had done was to work to pay the bills every month and watch television every night for decade after decade. I don't want to pass on and leave nothing behind. So I write and record music, I write books and blog articles, I struggle to create some sort of legacy. Maybe it is a conceit to think my efforts may be worth anyone's notice, but then maybe not. I don't know - I only know that I should try my best.

Some people say they will go kicking and screaming into the night, resisting death until the last possible second. But not me. I do not fear death. I know that it is not the end, it is merely a change of state. I know that I will continue on in a new form. Still, it makes sense to do as much in life as I can while I am here.

When my time comes, I will go quietly and peacefully into that new adventure, because I accept that the universe is in balance and I do not presume to know better. All is as it needs to be.

The Secret

At the prompting of both my brothers and father, I ordered The Secret. It’s available in both book and DVD form. Since my time is short these days, I chose the DVD version.

What is it? Well, essentially, it’s a self-help approach not dissimilar to that which a lot of self-help/inspirational/ success gurus preach. It is presented as a message discovered thousands of years ago, buried, re-discovered, used by many of the great achievers of history from Albert Einstein, to Winston Churchill, to Henry Ford, to many others. Then it's now here, being presented in this DVD in different ways by a number of experts. Some of the experts are people like Bob Proctor, who I have seen give motivational seminars for years. Other experts are nuclear particle physicists, physicians, philosophers, authors, etc. The author of Chicken Soup For the Soul is there. Wealthy people who have been successful.

“The Secret” is something they call “the power of attraction”. The fundamental concept is that when you want something and think about it and visualize it, you attract it to you. In fact, whether it’s good or bad for you – whatever you think about, you attract to you. So you must be careful how you focus your thoughts. Be sure to focus on GOOD things. Things you want. Then ignore and surrender your fears to the darkness. It is very similar to “The Power of Positive Thinking”, and “The Power of Intention”, and it is exactly the same thing as the “10th insight into life” in the Celestine Prophesies. Has this ground been covered before? Yes. Does that make this worthless? No.

This is a good refresher on the concept, and I found that when I started the DVD I was tired and already in bed ready to go to sleep. But after I’d watched it, I felt energized and could stay up several more hours and do more things. It’s exciting to think this may be true on the level that they say it is.

They say that when you deliberately say you want something specific, and you visualize clearly yourself getting that thing, your brain sends out an “order” into the universe, and the universe will fill the order. If you are always thinking bad, negative things, then those bad negative things will happen to you. If you think good, positive things, then that is what will happen to you. What you think, you become. Your thoughts manifest themselves into reality. That is exactly the same as the 10th insight.

I interpret this on two levels. The Twilight Zone level, and the pragmatic level. On the pragmatic level, I can certainly see how this works, simply because when you envision a particular goal long enough and hard enough, it shapes your thinking, and that directs your actions to happen in the exact right steps to achieve that goal. In other words, we end up where we steer ourselves. And if we are keeping our eye on a specific target, then we are likely to make all the little decisions to get us there. If the goal is to lose 50 lbs of body weight, for instance, then by living that vision every day, you might subconsciously start to act in a way that is consistent with being 50 lbs lighter, such as exercising more and eating less, and eating less fattening foods. When you think of yourself as thin, you might carry subliminal messages in your brain that tell you, “A thin person like me doesn’t like to eat hamburgers and french fries. We like to eat salads and vegetables. And we are not hungry all the time, like fat people. We are satisfied with smaller portions” This enhanced mental self-image would eventually manifest itself in reality.

But The Secret takes it a step further. They actually propose and present the “Twilight Zone” level explanation. And that is that it is our brainwaves themselves that actually alter the reality around us to make it what we ask for. This theory is based upon the premise that the whole universe is made of patterns of energy. This is, in fact, true. We are a pool of energy literally swimming in a sea of energy around us. And when we think, we actually produce energy, and that thought energy goes out into the universe of energy around us and effectively changes the environment.

At first thought, this seems very unlikely, because we don’t understand the mechanism. It doesn’t seem logical according to the cause and effect relationships we are familiar with. But I think we have to allow and examine the empirical evidence that supports the theory. It does seem to work. People have claimed this for centuries. I have known people for whom this has worked. So, somehow, we are left with a predictable result but an unknown mechanism. As Bob Proctor says, most of us don’t really understand how electricity works – but that doesn’t stop us from using it every day.

I am excited at the prospect of it working, but I'm also skeptical. There are logical non-sequiturs here. What if two men want the same woman? What if two women want the same man? Here's a bizarre notion - What if there is a woman reading this who suddenly decides that she wants me ? What happens? Do I suddenly wonder why I'm driving to the airport for no obvious reason and booking myself a flight to some city that I had no reason to be in? How does that work? What about when one person wants something from another person? Do they always get it regardless of what the other person wants?? Or even with things, inanimate objects - what if two people want the same house? What if EVERYBODY wants to be rich? Is there enough for EVERYBODY to get all they want? The authors say yes. The assure us that the universe is filled with effortless abundance.

In the end, I am left with the logical conclusion that it doesn’t hurt to try. The potential gains are so huge, and the downside is so small – why not? So I will do it. And I will not limit myself to only one single goal. I have several. They are all part of a vision for my life.

There are several techniques to allow you to fine tune your process and avoid some pitfalls, it would be worth it for you to go ahead and buy the DVD or the book. Use it. Learn it. I plan to go back and watch mine again once in a while when I need a booster shot.

They Always Report The BAD News...

This morning on the news I heard that Comerica Bank is relocating their headquarters from Detroit to Dallas to be closer to their market.

The entire focus of the newsitem was on the fact that they were leaving Detroit. They talked about how the sports stadium there is called the Comerica Center, and they talked about how they sponsored sports teams and were a part of the "community" in Detroit, and how their leaving will create a hole there, etc.

But I thought about how this news was GOOD news for Dallas. It is a large financial institution coming to town. They bring jobs to the Metroplex here, they will spend money locally, the economy is strengthened, and this is all good news for Dallas.

So as I lay there listening to the story it struck me that every time a news reporter covers a story, they ALWAYS gravitate to the negative side to it, in order to report the bad news only - even if, as in this case, there is good news as well.

I guess they feel that "news" is really all about reporting BAD news.

Recently, I watched the movie "Bowling for Columbine" by Michael Moore. In the aftermath of the tragedy at Columbine High School, Moore did this documentary film about violence in America.

He notes how in Germany, they had about 160 people killed by guns in the previous year. France and England were about the same. Canada had I think 69 deaths. Japan had 39 deaths from firearms. The United States had over 11,700 deaths by firearm that same year.

At first, I thought it was going to be an indictment against American culture because of the fact that we have so many guns in circulation. I especially thought this when he went to a bank in his home town of Flint Michigan because they were giving out guns to people for opening an account there. He opened an account and then proceeded to browse through the catalog selecting his weapon of choice. The teller said they have over 500 guns in the vault. As he turned to walk out with his new firearm, he made a parting comment about the questionable wisdom of passing out guns in a bank.

he also went to visit Charleton Heston to ask him questions about the NRA and some of the decisions they've made such as hosting an NRA rally in Littleton Colorado within a few days after the Colombine masacre, and hosting another gun rally in Flint Michigan the very day after a 6 year old boy brought a handgun to first grade one day and shot a 6 year old girl to death.

Also, in the news lately was a story about how a well-known avid outdoorsman writer who has a TV show and regular column about hunting etc., has just lost his job and career and support simply because he suggested that assault rifles were probably not appropriate as hunting guns. The NRA jumped on him with both feet and he is now gone. His TV show cancelled, his sponsors removed and publicly distanced, his articles cancelled, his career over.

Due to the gun-friendly climate in this country, and the Columbine tragedy, and because of the death statistics, I thought Moore was trying to make a point about guns being the cause of the high violence and deaths. And frankly, I think that is what he probably INTENDED to make the film about. But it didn't quite work out that way.

During the course of the film, he went to Canada and found that Canada's 10 million households actually own 7 million guns. So Canadians have plenty of guns. But they don't have the violence or the crime rates that we have here. The US has 10 times the population of Canada, but it has almost 200 times the number of gun-related deaths.

A number of people he interviewed on the street thought it was the history of violence, but Moore pointed to the massive violent history of Germany, and of England who basically conquered and ran most of the free world for 200 years. Yet they also were nowhere near the same violent death rate of America.

Is it movies or video games? Nope. Canadians see all the same movies and play all the same video games as Americans.

Finally, it seemed to come down to the evening news here. Specifically, it came down to fear-mongering. Moore seemed to discover that what was really causing this violence is the fact that our news scares the crap out of us every day. It makes us fear everyone and everything. It makes us arm ourselves against everyone else.
It makes us distrust our neighbors. He points out (with incredulity) how people in Canada don't lock their doors. He interviewed people everywhere in Canada and they said they didn't lock their doors. So he went up a few streets to see for himself if it was true. He just walked right up to people's doors and opened them to see, and sure enough - they were all unlocked.

So there seemed to be a general pervasive feeling of trust and comfort there.

Then he tried to draw the connection of how generating fear causes people to buy material goods. Guns, ammunition, survival things, food, etc. people stockpile when they are afraid. It's interesting. I don't know if we can really draw a straight line between the gun manufacturers and the news producers trying to scare people into buying more guns, though. That seems a bit far-fetched.

But somehow, the culture of our news has been skewed toward scaring people. That much is clear. It's the reasons behind it that are a bit foggy...

And the news producers have become EXPERTS at frightening people. Have you ever noticed the news teasers they have during the afternoon, trying to get you to watch the evening news?

"What your child's teacher may be doing to your child without your knowledge!. News at 6!"

"What you don't know about your favorite restaurant might kill you!!! News at 7"

"The hidden danger recently discovered in your water supply, and how you can protect your family!!! News at 7"

"The internet friend your child has, just MIGHT be this local pedophile!!! News at 11"

"Do you have a late model GM or FORD car? Find out tonight why your wheel might just fall off if you take a left turn at the wrong speed, and how to tell if your car is one of the ones affected!!!"

"Terrorists have infiltrated the Metroplex!! Film at 11!!"

It's all about shock value. It's all about generating fear. Ironically - that is exactly what the terrorists themselves try to do. They hope to create anarchy by instilling fear uncertainty and doubt. But these people use fear to get your undivided attention. So they can sell advertising time.

People are rivetted to their TV sets when they are frightened. That makes them watch all the comercials because they don't want to miss that important fact that got them there in the first place. The teaser that hooked them in. And while they are fixated on the screen, the advertisers blast their psychologically designed adds directly into their subconscious. Later, the hypnotized viewer doesn;t even realize WHY he turns into every store in the mall to buy something.

I know a woman who used to produce the news for one of the 4 major network stations in St. Louis. They told her how to sell the news, and how to target market it for specific demographics, and ignore the news that was not compatible with the messages the sponsors wanted and how to silently endorse the sponsors' products, or at least their principles, etc.
She got so sick of the way they forced her to produce and package the news and the manipulations of the news and the public that she finally just quit and went and took a producer's job with the Public Broadcasting TV network station there. She is MUCH happier now.