Price Gouging Is Real Regardless of What the “Free Market” Says

Image: Microsoft AI Designer generated

The topic of Price Gouging has been in the public square lately.  In an article I saw online entitled Supply and Demand or Price Gouging? An Ongoing Debate, from the Harvard Business School Online, price gouging is simply defined as when companies raise prices to unfair levels. VP Harris has mentioned that she will address the issue when elected President as she should—as any President should have already been doing. 

Getting back to the article, I found it interesting because it was a clear explanation of how supply and demand works (on of the pillars of our economy) and how price gouging plays a negative role.  Visit the article mentioned above.  It is very enlightening.

I think businesses who take unfair advantage of their customers should be prosecuted.  I also think we as consumers are not necessarily powerless. We could decide not to pay the high price some businesses charge; but that is often labeled as ‘boycotting’ when it’s really not. Businesses need to get the message

Roanoke Cashie Center Video Post Explore

Image: Rest Area outside the Roanoke Cashie Center

So, today, I'm practicing adding more video content to the site! 👀  You are probably aware that I have a YouTube channel and I want to start building it up along with my blog.  I have old,  I mean vintage videos from places I've visited and businesses I've interacted with that I thought might be interesting ...at the very least good practise in adding content.  

Today, we are looking at the Roanoke Cashie Center in Windsor, North Carolina.  It is a preservation

I Think Unions and Employment Agencies Should Have a Paradigm Shift

Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

[Repost of May 29, 2021 WordPress post]

Unions and employment agencies both serve a good purpose in the workforce.  Now, however, it seems like there is a void that is not being filled, and somebody needs to fill it.  Many workers have their resumes out there, but either the pay is too low, or in areas where workers aren't currently located.

What if, unions, employment agencies and these workers networked and created viable co-ops?  With a slight change in operational procedures unions and employment agencies could help workers organize

Federal Black History Month Site

[Repost of my March 17, 2023 WordPress site post]

I was researching for Black History facts recently and ran across this site called BlackHistoryMonth.gov.  It's a site sponsored by the federal government and has quite a few links to different resources.

The site is primarily for February, the official Black History Month, but since I'm doing Black History Month--all year, you can follow the link above to visit the site anytime.  They have amazing resources under the "Exhibits and Collections" menu link and the other videos and audio selections are very interesting too. 

3 Reasons Why The Entire Republican Party Is Responsible For Our Current Problems

  

Image: AI Microsoft Designer

I’ve been watching the news and listening to coverage lately.  To my surprise, nothing is changing. It’s amazing and evident to me, that news reporters and talk show hosts –(and more likely the network themselves) have some type of affinity to politicians.

It is always a “both sides” comment added to try to shade or bias the actions of the conservative right (Republicans). And ironically Democrats usually don’t seem to have the backbone to stand up for themselves.

Maybe it’s because Republicans still try to hold on to the old but faint truth that they were the party of Lincoln; and Democrats use to be the party of the Dixiecrats before they all went over to the Republican party.  Whatever the reasoning, in my opinion, it has been a very long time since Republicans have done anything that was good for the American people.  And, these are 3 reasons why I think Republicans are mostly responsible for problems we have in America now.

1.       Anything we try to do for people collectively, Republicans try to tag it as “socialism” and welfare. Technically a lot of things that are done in America for the common good could probably be described that way. In doing so, they block and discourage anything that is meant to help the poor and middle class while at the same time they are glad to help the wealthy and wall street get anything they can from the government in the form of loans, contracts or breaks (which is also "socialism") because they are the ones who normally donate to their campaigns the most.

2.       Though they try to say they are fiscally responsible and morally beyond reproach, they be doing the most to disrupt government and the American way of life. Often their tax breaks and give aways to the wealthy explode the fiscal budget and cause more problems in the long run. They want to cut social programs like Social Security or Medicare all while blocking legislation to get the wealthy to pay

3 Reasons Why This Is The Perfect Time To Rethink The Favored “Two Party System”

 

Image: Microsoft Images

Technically, we have more than just “two” parties in America.  We always have and more than likely always will.  So, it is time our political processes recognized that fact. Everyone does not want to be a Republican or Democrat. As a matter of fact—there are more non affiliate and independent voters in America than either of the main parties.

Having said that, I think all party or non-affiliated candidates should have the same access, resources and limits during their candidacy. Meaning, they should all have the same set of rules to follow, the same amount of money they spend on total campaigns; and limits on how much TV and other platform advertising that can be done. (They should learn to use social media to promote themselves like everyone else—send people to your “link in bio”.) 

Although it is too late for this cycle, now is still the perfect time to make critical and drastic changes to the electoral and voting process.  As I’ve stated in other posts, all Americans who desire to participate should be allowed to be involved in the primary electoral process—in a neutral and fair setting. In my opinion, we should look at implementing things like:

1.        Rank Choice Voting.  Rank Choice Voting would allow voters to select their first, second and third (or more) choice of candidate and would help with the overall selection process.

2.       C-SPAN should be the Official Network for the Public. Networks tend to want to please who they perceive to be their audience. C-SPAN on the other hand, is a different type of platform.  It is somewhat neutral, covers most of the events of the House, Senate and White House along with

Do You Know How To Back Up or Clone Your Computer?

Backing up your personal files can be very important so you won't lose your personal data.  There are several ways of creating back ups-- be it on local medium or the in the cloud.  But, what if you want to go beyond that?  I have been wondering for a while on how to back up my whole computer.  Meaning everything. I like how my programs run, I like how I have my drives are set up; and the way I can flow during work. And right now, I don't ever want it to change.  

I was searching on ways of doing that and it turns out "cloning" my own system might be the way. Cloning is the process of making an exact copy of your computer as it is at the time of the clone.  So, if your computer went down, theoretically you could insert the drive into your computer and keep working just as if nothing happened. During my search for answers, I ran across a YouTube channel called

One thing is for sure, VP Harris and her team are putting in the work.

 

Image: KamalaHarris.com Campaign

We don't know how the vote or election is going to turn out at this point, but one thing is for sure--she is putting in the work. I am a non-affiliate voter, and I like progressive issues that are for ordinary people.

And I must say, she is incorporating a lot of them in her campaign. I know she can't do it alone, and she'll need somewhat of a "progressive congress" to help pass things into law; but the point is she is or appears to be open to signing a lot of positive things.

If Joe manages to get a cease fire, and a two-state plan in Gaza—which, shouldn’t actually be that hard, they will be well on the way to another term in office.

And honestly, at this point—Drs. Jill Stein and Cornel West should help in the process and welcome it.  If they can’t do it themselves, at least be civil, if not kind to the person who is at least speaking their language.  Then after the election, start immediately working on your issues! It is not that hard to

Can We Stop Calling These Meetings Debates? It Was More Like a Pseudo Inquiry. 5 Things about the “Debate” -- Trump vs Harris.

 

Image: C-Span Capture

In my opinion, debates are when two people state their position and go at it—trying to convince an audience to favor their side.  These tv show debates are meetings or gatherings that are bent towards getting ratings more so than facts details. So I wish they would just call it that.  Two people asking all the questions and the two participants not even addressing each other, again… is not a debate. But, I digress.  Let’s get to the 5 Things.

1.       It should have been a Town Hall event. It would have had the same effect for the networks as far as trying to get ratings; and real people could have been asking questions.

2.       The Moderators didn’t moderate.  Letting Trump still talk whenever he wanted, with a muted mic you could still hear him through was not moderating and dumb. It is my opinion that his mic and his mouth

Let’s Talk: What Do you think about a Progressive Union, instead of a Progressive Party?

Image Source: Pexels.com

 As some of you may know, I really wanted Dr. West to be a contender for the presidency this election cycle. And truthfully watching the process has been painful. Like Bernie, and at one point Jill, I enjoy supporting people with progressive ideas.  But I hate that the energy their campaigns generate always seems to fizzle out when they either lose or become no longer viable as a candidate in their march towards November.

So, this time around I started thinking about what could be done to both capture and sustain the progressive movement regardless of victory or failure of the candidacy. 

I propose that a progressive political union be created.  Though it seems to generally be used to unify small states or entities, I thought it could also be used to unify individuals and organizations/parities who don’t have enough power of their own to make a big difference immediately.  In my opinion, it would be the exact vehicle needed to move ideas and causes forward—across political parties and directly into the purview of the voters. 

So many ideas and issues could be addressed through the political union platform. Members could

4 People Who Can Educate You About Republican Lies Concerning the Economy, Race, Culture and Other Things

Often, when we black creators feature other black speakers, orators or professors, it is said that we have an “agenda”.  Which is really not necessarily true.  Fact is, we just want to get the truth out.  Today, I have a treat for you!  These are four other people who also have information to share.

I often see information on my timelines from Thom Hartman, Rober Reich, Jane Elliot and Tim Wise.  Their information is well presented and resourced if you listen to what is said. 

I curate content for different play lists on my YouTube Channel.  It’s still a work in progress, but it’s coming along nicely. Today I'm starting to add specific posts on the blog that discuss aspects of