Stopping Exploitation with a Living Income Guaranteed

 

When you hear about drives that got their licenses suspended you probably think it was because of reckless driving, but it is not the case.

In Florida 88% of suspensions were due to failure to comply with summons or fines.

Now here is things get extremely problematic and nonsensical – Most people drive to work so losing your car affects everything in your life. In New Jersey a Survey was done that found that 63% of low income drives that lost their car also lost their jobs.

How are they supposed to pay their fine if you take away their means of paying it?

It gets worse:

There are private probation companies that supervise people that have minor offenses and collect their outstanding fines at no costs to the courts, instead they get their money from the probationers in exchange for their services.

Here is an example of how that works based on an actual event:

One Woman was fined $25 for not wearing a seat belt as well as $16 for the court costs – a total fine of $41. She was unable to pay the fine at that stage and thus was handed over to one of these private probation Companies. Now here is where things get really messed up:

She was then put on a monthly payment plan in order to pay the fine, but the costs of this payment plan was $35 per month. All moneys that the woman sent in was applied to the service fees first before going to the actual fine, meaning she first has to pay the $35 before she is able to pay the actual $41 fine. Now, she I not able to afford that $35 monthly fee, so this is starting to accumulate – eventually she sat with a $299 bill PLUS the $41 fine. Eventually if you  cannot afford the bill you can be sent to jail because you cannot afford the bill.

Here is another terrifying example of this Ruined Hariet Cleveland’s Life:

“Cleveland’s $140 monthly payment – $40 of which went to fees – was a terrifying burden. She lost her day care job during the recession and was barely scraping by. She paid what she could, even when it meant her money was only going toward the company’s fees.

Finally, Cleveland didn’t have any more money to give. She received a notice in the mail: Pay $2,714 or go to jail. Not long after, a police officer arrived and arrested her while she was babysitting her grandson. A judge sentenced her to 31 days in jail because she was too poor to pay.” - https://www.splcenter.org/news/2014/08/26/splc-lawsuit-closes-debtors%E2%80%99-prison-alabama-capital

These Companies are making money out of people who have none. Why are we punishing people for being poor? This is an Impossible situation for low income people where they really have no way out. This kind of exploitation is something that must be stopped.

This is something that we can change with a better system, one that considers the individual needs of people in different situations. Not only would these people above live far better lives with the Living Income Guaranteed, but we can implement solutions to stops the obvious exploitation of people in these situations so that no person’s life get ruined just because they are poor.

Day 272: Whiplash the Movie: Opening a can of Whiplash

 

Watch the movie first before reading this, Spoiler Alert.

The first scene that shows us what kind of person the conductor is is when he kicks out one of players. From there we can see this guy is an extreme perfectionist.

When Andrew Neimann sits on the drums for a first practice session with the band, it becomes apparent that the conductor is not your everyday average conductor. Terrence Fletcher (the conductor) first utters the words “That’s not quite my tempo” (still give me chills) and we know that shit is about to hit the fan – and man, did the shit hit the fan.

If you already watched this movie you will agree with me that saying the Conductor is a Motivational Speaker is a gross understatement. The guy is borderline Psychotic, but in the end it did give results.

What I did notice about the drummer is that he has a passion for jazz drumming. You can see his room full of posters of famous drummers and his goal in life is to become “one of the greats”. And as the movie goes on you can see that he will do anything to get there. But there is line here, When does passion become obsession? The Kid was actually obsessed to become the greatest and pushed himself (with help from the psychotic conductor) trying to get there.

Also looking at all the players in the band – nobody there actually enjoyed themselves. They will fearful and worried and anxious – obviously stressed, because if they make one mistake they are out of the band. The reason why they are there is because playing in that band ( one of the top notch bands) they can get recognized and go places in life.

For me what does it matter if judges and people say you are good. What is the point of being able to play the drums faster than anybody else? Sure, if it is a point of doing it for yourself and not for the approval of others it’s fine. But pushing yourself to the limits just for the approval is really limiting to what Music actually is.

Unfortunately in this world competition comes in the way of that. Often times people have a talent, and the only to make money off that talent is to push yourself to the limits to become better than others so that you can be recognized and make a living off music. And that can take the passion right out of Music. In those cases there is not time passion, but in all the others remember: Music should be an expression of yourself. You do it, because you enjoy doing it.

Day 128 - A new ERA Already Here - Neo-apartheid

 

Welcome to the New Era of Neo-apartheid. Im not talking about the olden days where apartheid was a racial issue. Back then you had the black people and the white people. You had doors with sings marked ''white or ''black''. Be it toilets or restaurants you had massive inequality.

Your life was decided depending on the color of your skin. It determined where you can go and not go and how people treated you. It also determined your quality of life - your education , where you live and you whole future.

Today we have Neo-apartheid. Not separation based on skin color, but separation depending on MONEY!

You have the rich and the poor . You have places for rich people and places for poor people. Be it toilets or restaurants you have massive inequality.

Your life is decided depending on MONEY. It determines where you can go and not go and how people treat you. It also determines your quality of life - your education , where you live and you whole future. Money now separates. Poor people are usually scorned mostly ignored by the rest, because they don’'t have money.

Here are some facts about South-Africa's poor:

The analysis indicates that 47.1% of South Africa’s population consumed less than the "lower-bound" poverty line proposed by Statistics South Africa in 2007 – which means 47.1% of the population did not have R322 (in 2000 prices) for essential food and non-food items.

Imagine that - Half the population in poverty. The government knows this and although it is a governments responsibility to make life better for the people this is also ignored. Billions have already been spent on personal gain. The governments don't care - corruption and deceit runs rampant while people starve - to death.

IF we were living in a world with The Equal Money system - statistics will then show the number of people in poverty as 0.00%. Not a single person will starve -There is already enough food to feed 13 billion people - we are only 7 billion. The problem is that people don't have money to buy the food - they throw the food away!!!. In the Equal Money system food will not be wasted.

Lets end this separation, this Neo-apartheid - Vote for The The Equal Money system - go to the web site and place your vote on the principle for a new world.