The Rich Are Not Interested In Creating Jobs

Subject to edits/revision:

The rich are NOT interested in creating jobs, they're interested in making money.

The rich make money in two ways:
1. Raise prices.
2. Cut costs (labour is a big part of costs, so are taxes).

In the United States of America (USA), rich land owners used African slaves (free labour) to make money. Then came emancipation (the end of slavery). Costs went up and profits went down.

The rich then exploited workers, offering poor wages, few benefits and deplorable working conditions. Then came unions. Costs went up and profits went down.

The rich then moved production overseas to exploit cheap labour there, offering poor wages, few benefits and deplorable working conditions. The American worker at home was left without a job.

The rich aren't interested in creating jobs, they're interested in making money.

The Reason Why The Rich Exist

The rich exist by design and for a number of reasons:

1. Tells A Story:
• The discrepancy between the rich and others tells a story, where the rich represent the head of a body and the rest of the people represent the rest of the body.
• This doesn't mean that the rich are our leaders, or that they're the head of society, not at all. It simply means that a story needs to be told, and the discrepancy between the rich and others tells that story.
• Eventually, this discrepancy will disappear and we'll all be united as one.
2. A Learning Opportunity:
• Experience is a big part of learning, there's none so wise as the experienced.
• In selfishness, we're given an example of what doesn't work - how the rich (the head), even though they're in a position of bestowal to help others (the rest of the body), they don't because they're selfishly seeking to benefit themselves. (We're all immersed in selfishness, selfishly seeking to benefit ourselves and we all have to change from selfishness to bestowal.) 
• By contrast (and because we learn from opposites), in bestowal, we'll be given an example of what does work - how the head, in a position of bestowal, seeks only to benefit the rest of the body.

Copyright © 2015, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

The Poor Are The Most Vulnerable In Society

The poor, who have very little, feel left out and vulnerable, especially compared to the rich, who have all the means and resources to take care of themselves. Here's a comparison:

1. The Rich:
• If the rich get into trouble, they can afford expensive lawyers to defend them.
• If the rich are oppressed, they have the means to fight back.
• The rich have friends in high places and important contacts in society.
• The rich have the ability to influence others through their 'high' status in society.
• The rich feel secure and confident because they have the means and resources to take care of themselves.
2. The Poor:
• If the poor get into trouble, they can't afford expensive lawyers to defend them.
• If the poor are oppressed, they don't have the means to fight back.
• The poor often don't have friends in high places or important contacts in society.
• The poor don't have the ability to influence others because of their 'low' status in society.
• The poor feel left out and vulnerable because they don't have the means and resources to take care of themselves.
• Yet God Himself is the protector of the poor and weak. God protects everyone, but especially the poor and weak because they are the most vulnerable in society. With God (The God Of Israel), you have everything you need. Ask Him to help you and He will.
• If you're poor, weak and/or vulnerable, don't feel left out. You belong and are very much a part of God's plan.

We all have to change from selfishness (seeking to benefit ourselves) to bestowal (seeking to benefit others and all of Nature.) 

We have to build a new society that's based on bestowal. If we connect in mutual bestowal, we'll transform society for the better. All we need is each other.

The true measure of a society isn't how it treats its rich, but how it treats its most vulnerable members.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

Copyright © 2015, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Poverty Exists Because The Rich Don't Help

Whenever issues of poverty are discussed, the tendency is to blame the poor - they're not doing enough to help themselves. The truth is that poverty exists because the rich don't share, they don't do enough to help others. The rich use their God-given talents, attributes and riches to help themselves. If the rich took care of others, there'd be no poverty. Poverty exists because the rich don't care for others, they care only for themselves.

Today, we're immersed in the quality of selfishness, seeking to benefit ourselves with no regard for others. We've adopted competition (instead of collaboration) as our modus operandi, and when it comes to wealth, this creates a huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor.

There's only so much wealth to go around, it's finite, yet we expect everyone to compete for their share of the pie. We're all different, we have different talents, skills, attributes etc., and some people are simply better competitors than others - this is reflected in the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor:

• Total world wealth is ~USD $241 trillion. [1]
• 1% of the world's population owns 46% of the world's wealth (USD $110 trillion). [2]
• 10% of the world's population owns 86% of the world's wealth (USD $207 trillion). [3]
• 30% of the world's population owns 97% of the world's wealth (USD $234 trillion), the other 70% of the world's population owns 3% of the world's wealth (USD 7 trillion). [4]
• 50% of the world's population owns 99.3% of the world's wealth (USD $239 trillion), while the bottom 50% owns 0.71% of the world's wealth (USD 1.71 trillion). [5]
• 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty. [6]
• 2.2 billion people are poor or near-poor. [7]

Aggressive competition is destructive and extremely unfair. It's akin to having $10 and asking 10 people to share it - 3 people would end up sharing $9.70, while 7 people would share $0.30.

In competition, there's always a winner and a loser, a natural consequence of our differences. However, when competition becomes a matter of life and death - such as when the rich enjoy the highest standard of living, while others don't have food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare etc, it's simply unfair, especially when the rich have the means to help others.

We have to change from personal selfishness to mutual bestowal. We have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. We have to embrace collaboration, cooperation and basic sharing. We're all one family and we have to start behaving as one family.

The role of the rich (and those who are blessed with God-given talents, attributes and riches) is to help others. If poverty exists, it's because the rich aren't fulfilling their role. The annual income of the richest 100 people would be enough to end world poverty four times over. [8]

Round tables need to be established to seek to eliminate world poverty.

We have to simplify our lives and focus only on meeting our basic needs - food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education etc.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

_____

References:

1. Working For The Few (PDF). www.oxfam.org. 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper - Summary, 20 January 2014, page 5. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014.
2. Ibid.
3. Working For The Few (PDF). www.oxfam.org. 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper, 20 January 2014, page 9. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014.
4. Ibid.
5. Working For The Few (PDF). www.oxfam.org. 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper - Summary, 20 January 2014, page 5. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014
6. Eradicate Extreme Poverty And Hunger. Where do we stand? United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Millennium Development Goals. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014.
7. 2.2 billion people are poor or near poor, warns 2014 Human Development Report on vulnerability and resilience. United Nations Development Program (UNDP). 24 Jul 2014. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014.
8. Annual income of richest 100 people enough to end global poverty four times over. www.oxfam.org. 19 January 2013. Retrieved Sept 23, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

No Interest Chequing Accounts

I have a chequing account that offers me no interest, PLUS I have to pay $3.90 each month to use it. The $3.90 gives me 10 free transactions per month, and it would cost me $1.00 for each additional transaction over 10.

The $3.90 fee is waived if I maintain a minimum monthly balance of $1,000 - that's $1,000 in a NO INTEREST account. This incentive is like a thief asking you to hand over more money so he doesn't have to punch you in the face, "If you give me a little money, I'll have to punch you in the face, but if you give me more money, I won't punch you."

Here's a screen capture of the chequing accounts offered by The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) [1]. Click on this image to make it larger or go directly to CIBC's website.

When did this happen? When did banks stop paying us to keep our money? When did we start paying banks to keep our money? Sure, the bank offers other interest accounts, but I thought as a general rule banks were supposed to pay us to keep our money?

Companies justify their behaviour by saying it's the industry standard (CIBC isn't the only bank to offer no interest accounts). Thieves have an industry standard to steal from us but that doesn't make it right.

In 2013, Gerald McCaughey, the CEO of CIBC earned $10 million [2] and CIBC's profit was $3.4 billion [3]. This is in stark contrast to our no interest / fee based chequing accounts.

This kind of behaviour has to stop. We have to stop using others for our own personal profit and gain. In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

___________________
References:
1. Account Comparison Results. www.cibc.com. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
2. CIBC Pays CEO Gerry McCaughey $10 million for 2013. www.theglobeandmail.com. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
3. CIBC Quick Facts. www.cibc.com. Retrieved May 8, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

One Million Dollars And The Loss Of Wealth

Is one million dollars a lot of money? It depends:

• If you have $1 billion and end up with $1 million, then no, it's not a lot of money.
• If you have $2 million and end up with $1 million, then no, it's not a lot of money.
• If you have $10,000 and end up with $1 million, then yes, it's a lot of money.

When it comes to the loss of wealth, who suffers the most, who's the most affected? The rich. Even though they end up with $1 million, they experienced a greater sense of loss.

This sense of loss happens because we define ourselves by our money and material possessions. The more we have, the greater we think we are.

Also, we're emotionally attached to our money and material possessions, so when we lose them, we feel hurt, upset and distraught.

Yet we're not our money or material possessions and our emotional attachment to them is misplaced. Money and material possessions should not define who we are.

The loss of wealth can be a hard thing to accept. When it happens, stay calm and focus on meeting your basic needs - food, water, clothing, shelter and healthcare.

The loss of wealth is not the end of the world. It's only money, so don't worry about it. Let it go. Suicide is never an option. Don't ever kill yourself. Never! Don't ever kill yourself over the loss of wealth. Never! 

With respect to wealth, ask yourself, what's the worst thing that can happen? You lose all your wealth. So what? Does that mean you lose yourself? No. It means you find a new simple way to live.

Remember, we're all in this together. Do not be afraid. God is with us.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Both The Rich And The Poor Have To Change

Both the rich and the poor have to change their attitude towards money and focus on connection instead. The expectation is not just for the rich to change, but everyone has to change.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Feeling Good When Others Don't Have

If you have $10 and another person has $10, you don't feel special.
If you have $10 billion and another person has $10 billion, you don't feel special.

But if you have $10 and another person has $1, then you feel good. Ahh!
If you have $10 billion and another person has $1 million, then you feel good.

It's not THAT you have that makes you feel good, it's that another person doesn't have that makes you feel good. This is the quality of selfishness:
         - You want to feel greater than others,
         - You want others to think that you're greater than them,
         - You want others to envy you, to want what you have,
         - Or worse, you enjoy that others suffer while you don't.

Instead of feeling good when others don't have, in everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Even The Rich Are Poor

A poor person who earns $10,000 a year, needs an extra $1,000 to pay the bills.
A rich person who earns $10,000,000 a year, needs an extra $1,000,000 to pay the bills.

Who needs more money? The rich person. Who feels more poor? The rich person, because their unnecessarily lavish lifestyle costs more to maintain.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Even The Rich Get Divorced

You think money buys happiness? Think again because even the rich get divorced.

Hatred grows is all aspects of our society - the poor, the middle class and the rich. Regardless of our social status and wealth, our growing ego has left us all isolated, alone, unhappy and depressed.

When the rich get divorced, they reach a place of such hatred and loathing, they're willing to ruin everything just to get away from the other person.

They split up million and billions of dollars worth of assets and possessions simply to be rid of each other. Their hatred grows, it affects their behaviour and they ruin everything.

Our internal qualities have to change from selfishness to bestowal and we have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. We have to connect with each other in mutual concern and responsibility.

Money doesn't buy happiness. Happiness comes from our reciprocal mutual connection. In fact the more we connect, the more we'll unite as one.

When we're one, our connection can't be ruined because it'll be impossible to split us up. We'll be so interconnected and interdependent, you won't know where one begins and the other ends. We'll be united as one.

Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Everybody Has To Change

Each and every person has to change from the quality of selfishness to the quality of bestowal/love of others/altruism. We have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

People Have To Change

Our very nature, our internal programming has to change. We're running on a program called selfishness, where everyone is seeking to benefit themselves.

We need to change our internal programming from selfishness to concern for others, where we seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

The quality of selfishness has created the society we currently live in - crime, corruption, inequality, depression, loneliness, unhappiness etc.

If we focus our attention on changing society, then we'll be focusing on the symptoms instead of the root problem. The root problem is the quality of selfishness.

If our internal qualities change from selfishness to concern for others, then all the symptoms and problems in society will disappear.

Society is governed by people and it can't change unless we change. Once we change, then society will change because the way we govern it will change.

Everybody Has To Change

Everybody has to change - rich, poor, blacks, whites, tall, short, men, women, adults, children, everyone has to change. We all have to return to the quality of bestowal and seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

As it is written, "... for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them ..." (Jeremiah 31:34, NKJV). It is also written, "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD (YHVH) ..." (Habakkuk 2:14. NKJV)

Today there's a major discrepancy between the rich and the poor, and there's an expectation that rich people should do more to help poor people. And rightfully so.

However, we're all immersed in selfishness, rich people and poor people, everyone's seeking to benefit themselves. Internal qualities don't change once you become rich. People get rich by being selfish and they stay rich by being selfish.

The selfish behaviour that you see in rich people today exists in all of society. It's just more apparent in rich people because it's so obvious that they have the means to give.

However, even poor people are selfish because they wont' share a piece of bread with their neighbour.

We can't expect rich people to be in the quality of bestowal while the rest of us remain in the quality of selfishness. We all have to change our internal qualities and seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

Once our internal qualities change from selfishness to concern for others, and we seek to benefit others instead of ourselves, then we'll become a part of a single family that's based on mutually responsibility. In this way, society will change.

Governments, businesses, organizations, schools and families don't run themselves, they're run by people. If people change, then these systems will change.

No Coercion

This change is about our internal qualities and nobody can force you to change. You have to want to change. There is no coercion.

Communism

Communism failed for a number of reasons.

First, the system (though altruistic), was imposed on the people. People have to be willing participants in any system.

Second, the people themselves didn't change, they remained in the quality of selfishness. So there was a disconnect between the quality of the system and the internal quality of the people.

Lastly, the people who implemented and ran the system were rooted in the quality of selfishness and the consequences of selfishness manifested in the system - greed, corruption, unfairness, inequality, etc.

Capitalism

Capitalism is based on people's free willing participation in the system. However, capitalism doesn't work for a number of reasons.

First, people are motivated by money and because they're entrenched in the quality of selfishness, they seek personal profit and gain at any cost, even if it means engaging in unethical and immoral behaviour that harms others.

Second, capitalism benefits the people who have the traits necessary to succeed in an environment that's motivated by money. The people who don't have those right traits live in poverty, which is why you see a huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor.

Lastly, capitalism reinforces individualism, which makes people feel isolated and alone and leads to unhappiness and depression. We're social creatures and we need to feel that we're a part of a family and a community.

Summary

We all have to change, each and every one of us. We have to change our internal qualities from selfishness (seeking to benefit ourselves) to bestowal (seeking to benefit others).

In this way we'll connect with each other in mutual concern and responsibility. This will make us feel like a cohesive family because we'll look after each other.

We're social creatures and connection makes us happy. We thrive in a safe, trusting environment. Let's create this new society for each other so we can all live in harmony.

Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

A Letter To The Rich People Of The World

From:
Carter Kagume

To:
The rich people of the world

Dear rich people,

Money is an asset that has many positive benefits - you can buy goods and services, a sense of security, you can take care of yourself and you can live a comfortable life.

You can use money to benefit yourself or you can use it to benefit others. I'm asking you to use it to benefit others so we can take care of the whole world and begin to live as one family.

Money is energy and energy is potential. This letter is addressed to the rich because the rich have money, energy that can be used to help the whole world.

When money is consolidated in the hands of a few, it becomes a trapped resource. It's potential is wasted on serving the excessive consumerism of a few instead of serving the basic necessities of many. A few live in excessive abundance, while many suffer in poverty.

Today we glorify wealth and selfishness; soon we will glorify altruism, acts of kindness and compassion and acts of bestowal that seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

MONEY DOES NOT FULFILL

Money does not fulfill all desires. No matter how much you have, you remain strangely unfulfilled.

Today, people gain wealth at the expense of others. Fierce competition is driven by a "survival of the fittest" mentality, where one gains and another loses.

Gaining at the expense of others is nothing to be proud of. Whether you acquire your wealth through hard work, luck, deception, fraud, hereditary ties or family connections, feeling entitled to personal profit and gain while others suffer is totally unacceptable.

A bigger house, a newer car or a more exotic experience will not fulfill you. These pleasures are temporary and fleeting and pursuing them will only leave you more unfulfilled. You'll be disappointed because you expected fulfillment and didn't get it.

You are not your money, money is not your identity. You are a person with internal qualities and characteristics; how you use your money is the expression of who you are.

Breaking the psychological and emotional attached to money is hard to do. Yet, I'm asking you to do just that. Use your money to benefit others instead of yourself.

THE WORLD IS ONE FAMILY

The entire world is one big family made up of different family members that have different strengths and abilities. Families take care of one another and support each other.

Would you let a family member starve to death? Today there are billions of people in the world starving and suffering from undernutrition.

Would you let a family member go without proper medical care? Today there are millions of people without access to affordable health care or medication.

People suffer because money is consolidated in the hands of a few, because of rampant corruption, mismanagement, misrule, neglect and selfishness.

Every human being on the face of the planet is entitled to live a dignified life with basic necessities such as food, water, clothing, shelter and medical attention.

A few people can have a tremendous impact on the world. 1% of the world's adult population controls 40% of the world's wealth. The few 1% have the potential to help millions.

Your money can be used to benefit millions of people around the world, to bring them out of abject poverty and help solve the critical issues that world is facing today.

CRITICAL EMERGENCIES

Right now, the world faces critical emergencies - billions of people are starving from undernutrition, millions lack adequate drinking water, millions lack medication and millions live in slums and shanties.

These emergencies need to be deal with immediately. There is absolutely no reason why these critical problems exist in the world today. There is no excuse for it.

We have the intelligence, technology, education and training to deal with these issues. We are well informed and can't feign ignorance.

It will take teams of social scientists, business managers, organizers, technicians, health care workers, support staff and many others to solve these problems.

It can be done and your money can be used to help. By solving these critical issues, we'll bring humanity out of this state of critical distress up to an acceptable humane standard of living.

Once these critical issues have been solved, we can move on to improving life for everybody else on earth based on the principles of mutual guarantee and reciprocal concern for one another.

SOLUTION

I know what I'm asking you to do is hard, it may sound impossible, but I still have to ask.

Use your money to benefit others instead of yourself, help others instead of yourself. By doing so, you'll set an example for the entire world and influence others to do the same.

By seeking to benefit others you'll connect with them in mutual concern and reciprocity. Your fulfillment will come from their fulfillment, your happiness will come from their happiness.

Your legacy won't be about how much money you had, rather it'll be about how much you helped others and how many lives you changed for the better.

The whole world has to undergo this change, from selfishness to concern for others. We can all be heroes by actively engaging in this transformative process, by setting altruistic examples for others.

We will succeed, but only together.

May The One True God, The Infinite God, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob guide you. May His Name be glorified forever.

God is with us and to Him we shall all return.
Carter

Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.