06-01-2021, 01:00 PM
Don't recall whether it was on this forum or over on the once created on Facebook, but one of the posters talked about something I posted which for some reason they referred to as a wish list. Here I am actually going to create my own actual wish list of things I would like to see accomplished before this 4T is out. Am curious to know which ones you think we are likely to see as well as which ones we probably won't see at least not in this go round. May add to it from time to time. Here we go:
1. Gambling is now nearly everywhere and marijuana is on its way to being fairly universal as well. But there is one domino still left to fall, and that is sex work. Currently in the entire US it is legal in only a few counties of one state, Nevada. There have been rumblings in other areas including San Francisco, New York and Washington DC but so far nothing has gained sufficient traction. As we all know, many women engaging in this area are abused, beaten and even murdered. Legalization would enable women who experience such abuse to safely report said abuse to law enforcement. Not only that, but the reverse is true as well. Clients would be able to safely report "take the money and run" types and scam operations such as bait and switch to law enforcement. Both sides would no longer have to worry about obtaining a criminal record which in and of itself makes one's world a whole lot smaller. And police would be freed up to go after the real bad guys--the murders, rapists and armed robbers. It should be obvious to the PTB that prohibition of this activity hasn't been any more successful that it was with liquor a century ago.
2. A revival of rooming houses and sanitariums to combat the scourges of homelessness and mental health respectively. In the case of the former, it could drastically reduce the homeless population which has been a scourge for the better part of four decades. By 1987 we had the largest homeless population since the days of the Great Depression. In the case of the latter, it could reduce the number of mass shootings, this issue being brought up following the horrific school shooting in CT back in 2012.
3. An end to strict at will employment and a move toward a just cause system whereby an employer would need a just cause in order to fire somebody. At present in 49 of the 50 states, MT being the lone exception, one can be fired for any or even no reason and the employee has virtually no form of recourse. When unions were strong this didn't occur as much as union contracts specified the types of things their members could be fired for, and there were grounds for appeal. In many cases this applied where there weren't unions as well. The worst offenders are the gig economy companies where these decisions are made by algorithms and not real live humans. I do think that this would need to be done at the federal level because otherwise states would face blackmail by the large corporations.
4. The breakup not only of the large banks but other corporate behemoths as well who have severely stifled competition for the better part of four decades, even since the "Creed of Greed" espoused by the likes of Gordon Gekko took the helm. Do any of you see a possibility of some of the establishments popular during the last 1T to make a comeback in the upcoming one, such as town-specific department stores, mom and pop family diners, etc?
5. A move toward a saner pace of life. The current free-for-all is something like this: You’re over-extending yourself, doing a little bit here and a little bit there, and you’re not getting a whole lot accomplished. You’re spinning your wheels and not getting any traction at all. Take a breath. You need to find balance. Much has been written about work-life balance and the fast pace of life and workaholism spawned by modern technologies is, as I have said many times, the opposite of what many pundits had expected. Do any of you feel we will ever see the society of increasing leisure which we were once all but promised? These predictions were made at a time when at many if not most companies lifetime security was also all but promised, and so-called job-hoppers were ostracized.
There may be more items to come, and some of the ones here may force some folks to give up some of their conveniences, something so many are loathe to do. Seems as if each generation demands more convenience than the last one enjoyed.
1. Gambling is now nearly everywhere and marijuana is on its way to being fairly universal as well. But there is one domino still left to fall, and that is sex work. Currently in the entire US it is legal in only a few counties of one state, Nevada. There have been rumblings in other areas including San Francisco, New York and Washington DC but so far nothing has gained sufficient traction. As we all know, many women engaging in this area are abused, beaten and even murdered. Legalization would enable women who experience such abuse to safely report said abuse to law enforcement. Not only that, but the reverse is true as well. Clients would be able to safely report "take the money and run" types and scam operations such as bait and switch to law enforcement. Both sides would no longer have to worry about obtaining a criminal record which in and of itself makes one's world a whole lot smaller. And police would be freed up to go after the real bad guys--the murders, rapists and armed robbers. It should be obvious to the PTB that prohibition of this activity hasn't been any more successful that it was with liquor a century ago.
2. A revival of rooming houses and sanitariums to combat the scourges of homelessness and mental health respectively. In the case of the former, it could drastically reduce the homeless population which has been a scourge for the better part of four decades. By 1987 we had the largest homeless population since the days of the Great Depression. In the case of the latter, it could reduce the number of mass shootings, this issue being brought up following the horrific school shooting in CT back in 2012.
3. An end to strict at will employment and a move toward a just cause system whereby an employer would need a just cause in order to fire somebody. At present in 49 of the 50 states, MT being the lone exception, one can be fired for any or even no reason and the employee has virtually no form of recourse. When unions were strong this didn't occur as much as union contracts specified the types of things their members could be fired for, and there were grounds for appeal. In many cases this applied where there weren't unions as well. The worst offenders are the gig economy companies where these decisions are made by algorithms and not real live humans. I do think that this would need to be done at the federal level because otherwise states would face blackmail by the large corporations.
4. The breakup not only of the large banks but other corporate behemoths as well who have severely stifled competition for the better part of four decades, even since the "Creed of Greed" espoused by the likes of Gordon Gekko took the helm. Do any of you see a possibility of some of the establishments popular during the last 1T to make a comeback in the upcoming one, such as town-specific department stores, mom and pop family diners, etc?
5. A move toward a saner pace of life. The current free-for-all is something like this: You’re over-extending yourself, doing a little bit here and a little bit there, and you’re not getting a whole lot accomplished. You’re spinning your wheels and not getting any traction at all. Take a breath. You need to find balance. Much has been written about work-life balance and the fast pace of life and workaholism spawned by modern technologies is, as I have said many times, the opposite of what many pundits had expected. Do any of you feel we will ever see the society of increasing leisure which we were once all but promised? These predictions were made at a time when at many if not most companies lifetime security was also all but promised, and so-called job-hoppers were ostracized.
There may be more items to come, and some of the ones here may force some folks to give up some of their conveniences, something so many are loathe to do. Seems as if each generation demands more convenience than the last one enjoyed.