We can develop relationships by consciously looking out for the wants and needs of others we are involved with in our lives. If we focus some of our time and effort in satisfying these wants and needs, we can effectively earn our way into their good graces. Making deposits throughout the course of a relationship can build a nice balance over time just like earning interest on your money. Everything sounds pretty nice and good to this point. Everyone is happy in this situation right? Everyone in the relationship is getting something for their efforts.

Well, I have a completely different view about things… especially when the relationship involves your family, close friends, and your spouse. Initially, I saw this “Love Bank” as a quick fix scheme…. or a relationship “get rich scam.” While I’m sure there are people in relationships where this type of mentality can succeed, at least for the short term, it’s not the answer to building lasting and bonding relationships. Consciously deciding to fulfill the needs of others so that your “account” will grow in their eyes is a blatant form of manipulation.

It’s a simple do this for that mentality. My wife likes French fries so I think I’ll bring her a surprise this weekend… what she doesn’t know is that I am actually building my account up because I’m going to be making a withdrawal from that account by doing something she’s not too keen on me doing. The simple ideology of an account implies that withdrawals are going to be made. Why is that necessary? Are our relationships so superficial and weak that we need to put layers of fake attention on top so we can avoid the most dreaded word in relationships today? That word would be compromise.

Near the end of the discussion, I simply stated that 99.9% of the time, satisfying the needs of my wife occurs unconsciously. Sure, there are times when I plan on certain things to make my wife happy, that’s called being romantic. But, the rest of the time, satisfying her needs just happens. It happens because I live my life by putting her needs first, before mine, every time. It’s how I live… it’s who I am. She is the exact same with me, it just happens. Our relationship is built from putting others first. I want what makes her happy and she wants what makes me happy.

We talked about this on the way home (we are lucky and can talk about everything) and while our life does go through the natural ups and downs all human beings experience, our relationship has always been happy and very strong. Rare is the case where she is not first and foremost on my mind and vice versa. We simply have a relationship built to last because we live for each other. We do not live each day making an effort to deposit money into our Love Banks. Our banks are always full and they never see, or need, a withdrawal.

If conscious efforts are needed to satisfy the needs of the relationships in your life, I can guarantee you that you aren’t living your life by putting others first. Rather than look for a quick fix scheme to cover up the underlying relationship issue, maybe taking a long hard look at the relationship itself is needed. I know everyone doesn’t have a bond like I have with my wife, but I know everyone can have it. All it takes is a decision to live your life unselfishly. I can promise you, you’re life will be happier as a result.

After settling down and coming back to reality, I began to mentally wonder about how this newfound “affordability” is going to impact our goods and services… products whose prices were raised to account for massive transportation and manufacturing costs incurred by the exponential energy price increases. Will I see the price of food go down? Will I see the price of our trash service go down which has increased by almost 25% because of “fuel surcharges?” Will I see a direct benefit by the drop in energy costs due to the drop in oil other than cheaper prices at the pump?

Highly unlikely is my guess. I’ve already seen price estimates coming from the food sector which said that food prices will remain “sticky” even with lower oil prices. What that means is that you and I will continue to pay for the increased costs associated with previously high “energy” costs incurred by manufacturing and production. Why is that so? Shouldn’t we see a drop in costs because the sellers can effectively remove all of the recently added surcharges due to oil price increases?

If the American people altered their buying habits, yes, the prices would drop. However, everything is relative. When prices first started increasing, the public was shocked and appalled at paying more money for the many staples of life. But, there was nothing we could do about it. We either pay the price or we do without. So, as a whole, we chose to pay the price. After months of “paying the price,” we have now formed a habit and a baseline of perception as to the “new” cost of products in our lives. Food costs x amount of dollars now to survive and that’s just the way it is.

It doesn’t matter that in that x amount, there is an overcharge now for the energy costs of our recent past. That x amount is not going to change according to the industry reports. Will the American public be just as shocked and appalled at not receiving the new “discounts?” Or, will we continue paying the overly inflated prices and deal with it because we are so “happy” that our fuel costs have declined so greatly? The safe bet is that we will continue to pay the higher prices because we have been trained to do so. The price of gas, for whatever reason, hordes all of the attention when things are out of control and when they return to normal, it still hordes the attention and people have a sense of relief both in their wallet and psychologically.

What we should be clamoring for is a retreat in all goods and services which have increased because of the oil prices. We should not be satisfied with gas alone dropping and thus soothing our overextended budgets temporarily. We should alter our buying habits and buy products that allow us to reclaim our “stolen” wealth and force the manufacturers who are unwilling to lower their prices on their own accord, to lower them by our purchasing habits.

That is the way it “should” be but I know it’s not the way it’s “going” to be. We will pay more or do without while enjoying our “affordable” gasoline. However, I look at it this way (with a bit of conspiracy theory thrown in). The reasons why we will not see a price decrease in most goods and services is because the manufacturers “know” that energy will be going back up in price… either due to OPEC cutting production or by the returning growth and boom of currently sluggish global economies. They “know” that oil will be heading back up the price charts and they are banking on that being soon.

Rather than “lose” some of the profits in the middle while oil has declined in value, they are going to keep their prices frozen and make a little extra and when the oil prices do return to exorbitant amounts, they will raise their “cheap” prices and make even more in the future. If you don’t believe it, you’ll believe it when oil returns to $100+ per barrel and the manufacturers once again start tacking on “energy surcharges” to compensate them for their newly increased costs of operation.

When we utilize our right to vote, it forces the candidates to acknowledge the desire and needs of the American citizens. When voter apathy keeps the voter from the polling booth, they are effectively giving away their chance to be heard. Votes are all the political party care about. Polls on issues are one thing. Polls from likely voters are another. Polls from people who will not cast their vote are just a complainer, but polls of likely voters are direction and campaign deciders.

Today, we are hearing that we can expect over 140 million votes cast. In our history, the most votes we tallied came in 2004 with over 122 million. Speaking in terms of percentage of available voters, we are nearing record levels in that arena also. Our nation is expecting the highest percentage of voter age citizens casting their votes since 1960 and maybe even more. In 1960, over 63% of the available public voters cast their vote.

These two campaigns have been able to shake up the apathetic voter bases. At least that is one great accomplishment from this political endeavor even if neither one of them carries out their promises once elected. I said earlier that the political parties must acknowledge the desires and needs of the American voting public because the record turnout carries with it a double edged sword.

On one hand, the candidate who has garnered the support of so many new registrants and attracted so many previously apathetic individuals back to the polls will experience the needed push to win the office of President. On the other, now that they have been voted into office, the public expects them to come through on their promises. Yes, the candidate will win office because of the grass roots injection of voting significance, but fail at carrying through on the campaign promises and you will forever lose their newfound support.

Think about it this way. You promise your mom and dad that you will care for a new puppy and that you will feed it, clean up its messes, and take care of its health issues because you REALLY want a puppy. You will do ANYTHING to get that puppy so you agree to a litany of new rules and regulations handed down by your parents. It’s ok… all that stuff is secondary because you are getting what you KNOW you HONESTLY want… a puppy. But we all know how the story goes. A few days, weeks, or even months pass and the puppy gets big and less fun. It becomes more of a “job.” The promise of happiness that came with the puppy has all of a sudden lost its luster and it just isn’t worth the effort anymore. The puppy has not carried through on your individual idea of what the future would be.

In the end, the puppy must go because you are no longer effective at caring for it and your parents will not take care of your mistake. Obama is our “new puppy” (and no I’m not calling him a dog, you can insert new toy or whatever THING you feel may be personally palatable into this analogy). We see this new politician promising such great things for those who vote for him that our future without him cannot ever be as bright with a replacement. We will agree to a litany of rules and regulations that his party requires us to do for the completion (maybe) of his campaign promises.

Over time, the voting public will have a choice to make. Is Obama carrying through on his promises or did he lead the newfound voting masses like lemmings to a cliff? We all know politicians lie and they hardly ever carry through on their campaign promises because if their predecessors had carried through, we would have a much different political and social landscape. They just cannot satisfy their daunting promises.

So, assuming Obama wins which is the most likely scenario, how many promises does he have to break in the next four years before the very voting public that carried him into office reject his candidacy and look for an alternative? If you promise millions of people something and do not come through, the edge of the sword is sharp and cuts very deep. Obama while becoming a rock star in many of our eyes will have assumed a mountain’s weight of expectation. Fail to satisfy those promises and President Obama could be become an utter failure in the eyes of the world and our nation.

Several pundits and reporters have been giving advice that only advocates fear and will contribute towards an economic downward spiral. Along with this alarmist type reporting, we are also seeing several conspiracy theory ideas sprout up. The psyche of our nation (and world) is primed and susceptible to “game changing” arguments. By that I mean people have been pushed so close to the edge that rather than reacting with a rational response, they are reacting irrationally because they are making decisions based upon speculation and fear of the unknown.

A game changing action is exactly what our governments are trying to accomplish as we are going through these hard times. All of the major economies of the world are continually trying to reestablish confidence in the global financial markets by acting as one. They have all reduced interest rates to try and restart lending. Most governments are providing and injecting vast quantities of money into their financial industries trying to rebuild the consumer confidence in the market. Nations are spending BILLIONS trying to make a game changing event. Their goal is to remove fear from the market and replace it with the confidence we have lost.

But, with alarmist reporting and conspiracy theories running wild, these events are being undermined because of the fearful and currently irrational reactions being made by our citizens of the world. If the average citizen continues to pull money from the banking institutions, sells off their stock purchases and dumps the money into money market accounts and even cash, and even begins to purchase gold and silver and other “real” investments, our economy will pay the price. There of course needs to be a reaction to our situation, nobody will allow their investments to simply go away with blind faith in the market, but an overreaction is just as bad.

Reporting that the end is near or that we are heading for governmental collapse or telling people to horde cash, food, water, etc is alarmist reporting which preys upon the citizens fearful of the situation. While we do need to be prepared at all times for major issues which could face us in our world, we should not overreact to situations without proper knowledge.

Have you ever been in an office where one person walked in grumpy, upset, or just generally angry? How did your office’s atmosphere turn out that day? It’s pretty likely that the office’s demeanor was not happy. The appearance of a single bad mood can affect an entire office’s mood… I’ve been there, I’m sure you’ve been there. Simple example, but what we are seeing here is on a much larger scale. Alarmist reporting is the bad mood entering the office. The bad mood is infecting the collective rationale of our country and rather than going away the next day, it’s perpetuating itself into everything we do, including our decision making.

If there is concrete information supporting the claims of the alarmist reporters, then yes, we need to know it. However, if it is just opinion, then it must be tempered accordingly and we should treat it as just a potential outcome and not THE outcome. We have become a nation and world of reactionary individuals waiting with bated breath as to what next “disaster” we will be subjected to. This state of living provides the alarmist reporters a fertile ground of minds to affect and thus, can effectively create significant outcomes based upon their statements.

As our markets continue the downward spiral, more and more of us are falling over the cliff and joining those who are already experiencing ultimate hardships. Our media airwaves are dominated by fear and scare mongering. Guest speaker after guest speaker keeps telling us what the problems are but that there is no real answer to fix the situation. Yes, we all know what the problems are which we are facing… we have a handle on that. The problem is for every minutes of airtime being given to these problem speakers, there is no answer to soothe the fears of the citizens listening.

Our President has repeatedly gone on national television in an effort to quell the fears and anxiety we are facing. He is trying to restore the confidence in the markets in an effort to loosen up the grip fear has upon our collective psyche. It isn’t wishes or hopes to fix our fear, it’s is a must. If fear is allowed to roam free amongst us at an ever increasing rampage while destroying our confidence level, our financial markets will not only continue their freefall, they will ultimately collapse under the pressure being exerted by fear and anxiety speculation.

Along with fear and anxiety, comes volatility. It’s readily apparent as you watch our stock market tumble hundreds of points only to recover and then plummet minutes later. People are consumed with fear at this point in time. People are being told to pull their money from banks and store up cash because credit cards may become worthless in the near future. Cash is king and is the most liquid. It helps keep the demon of fear at bay. However, what if every American family heeded this “advice” and promptly removed $500 or $1,000 or more from their bank, or sold off their stocks to place into simple interest bearing accounts?

The answer to that question is complete financial market breakdown. You may think what we are going through is terrible at this juncture, but if people begin hording cash, the issues we face aren’t even the tip of the iceberg in that scenario. While we must live our lives prudently and rearrange our investments into those that will secure our financial stability, we must not let panic and fear rule our investing decisions. The fundamentals of many companies are still strong, but their prices have lowered due to the stock market instability and sell offs. The old adage of “buy low, sell high” applies here. Several dominant companies are well within affordability these days and they should be targets of the savvy investor.

Rather than feed the fear monster our media and country have allowed to grow into a giant sized financial hurricane within our markets, we must focus on how can we act rationally in this situation. Rational is not using your mattress as your bank account. Rational is not selling out of your investments and walking away with a pittance of your previous wealth. Rational is not seizing up your life as things get hard. Yes, we must make alternative choices and decisions, but we cannot allow the demon of fear rule our lives or we will only fuel its power.

No, we cannot live the way we were, we know that. But, we can live rationally well within our means while making rational choices. Our country is currently acting irrationally and allowing outside influences alter choices without understanding the overall consequences of the actions. Media must temper what they are saying because people are easily led to irrational decisions when fear is clouding judgment and decision making. The outlets telling people to pull their cash out and store it are perpetuating the disaster we are feeding. They are allowing it to grow. Be careful in your decision making and make sure you are doing things rationally because they are sound decisions based on rock solid information and not determined by fear and volatility. Rational thinking MUST return to our markets and until then, consumer confidence will continue to decline along with our markets.

Doesn’t it seem like we are living in a polarized society? How often do you see our political candidates debating about the “middle” ground? How often do you, and those you observe, have conversations with people about religion, politics, environment, taxes, etc which do not degenerate into red faced, deep breathed, eye bulging, and shrill shouting fests? It seems as if we cannot have a standard conversation about hot issues anymore without being labeled a polar opposite or fringe supporter. The middle doesn’t seem to exist.

We live together because we are tolerant of each other’s differences. Society continues to work because we allow similarity to overcome our differences as a people. However, if we try and take our society beyond a simple acquaintance, we have major issues to deal with, issues that polarize us and separate us. These differences create overwhelming chasms between individuals that seem to boil over into us versus them or me versus you episodes.

Over time, our political parties have evolved, or devolved if you like, into polar opposites of each other. If one party chooses a particular stance, automatically, the other chooses the exact opposite. Common ground appears to be lost between them. The media pushes these differences and creates a deeper valley of opposition between people because it satisfies their need for sensationalist news reporting (ratings). They need polar opposites and they want to create voter blocks that are in fact divided because it’s easier to cajole a vote out of a “manufactured” voter segment.

This same ideology applies to news in print, online, and on the radio. They are all working on creating voter blocks by polarizing the people listening. The middle ground is much harder to sway and win.  They are actually listening to each side while utilizing facts and information to determine their stance on each and every issue.   The middle does not haphazardly apply a blanket stamp of approval based upon party lines.

How do you approach your decision making? Do you make an effort to listen to both sides of the story and dig deep for additional information or do you listen to the “guy” from your affiliated party and jump in line toting the media bylines as conversation ammunition? Remember, they WANT you to know nothing. They want you yelling and screaming vehemently about the cause using their campaign taglines and propaganda.

Make an effort to learn more and become an informed voter and you will more than likely return to the middle ground rather than be polarized like the media and political parties wish for you to be. Republicans have good ideas and so do Democrats. If we were on middle ground, our government wouldn’t be in the state it is, pulling apart at the seams while nothing is accomplished. Polarized society and government has led us to the dire state we are in.

Stop yelling the “approved” party lines and start investigating. Information is the key. Sometimes you may not like what you find, but an informed voter is worth more than the lemming they are trying to make you and me. Make your vote count, make them earn it, don’t become a media and political party polarized voter just because it’s easier. We need to come together in the middle ground as a nation and until we know more than what the media tells us, we cannot make an informed decision. Step out of the line and learn.

The only thing I know about fashion is that you’re not supposed to wear white after Labor Day. Not exactly sure what exact piece of clothing they are talking about, so I just assume white is out for everything, hats, shirts, pants, and shoes. Better to be safe than sorry right? I wouldn’t want to be seen as someone lacking fashion sense now would I? Trends are necessary though, otherwise, we would all be wearing the same clothes we were 10 years ago, or even 20, or 30. We could even be wearing the clothes our grandparents were wearing if we didn’t change our tastes and trends. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy wearing what they wore, not to mention if we all were wearing garments from the 1970’s…

Who establishes the trends which impacts our clothes wearing behavior? Segments of society have a great deal of power creating trends. These segments are catered to by the fashion industry and as they grow, different trends are injected into the mainstream. Bikers, country clubbers, musical genres (rap, rock, country, etc), moms, young adults, and the list could continue forever. Remember the “grunge” period of fashion in the 1990’s? That trend came to us via the music scene of alternative rock. Today, we have the “baggy” fashion which has been brought to us by the rap community.

Baggy used to be exclusive to wearing oversized clothing. However, now baggy has gone to the point where clothes are literally hanging off of people. Pants are left hanging on for dear life as underwear is prominently exposed. I’m sure you’ve seen it. Oversized pants barely stay up which forces the individual into constantly “tugging” on them to keep them from turning into ankle weights. Oh, and the pants aren’t shorter so the remains of the pants are always under the person’s feet so they are actually walking on the lower portion turning them into frayed ends of shaggy looking hand-me-downs.

I’m one for feeling comfortable, but the baggy trend has gone a bit too far in my opinion. Since when was it considered “trendy” to show your behind to the public on purpose and walk around on your pants? There was a fantastic invention from years gone by that alleviated such issues. If memory serves, I believe it’s called a belt.

Saturday Night Live featured a performer who chooses this trend as his fashion statement. Corporate executives for NBC were “worried” about his appearance mostly due to his musical content, but also his attire. Lorne Michaels, producer of SNL, went on record and said, “I’m not saying you should wear yours that way, but clearly it’s our job to set trends.” My question, is it really the job of SNL, or television for that matter, to set fashion trends? If so, then no wonder why our younger generations are wearing such attire and believing it to be “trendy.”

Trends used to involve making clothes better looking, more comfortable, or better suited for a particular event. Today, fashion sense is more about making statements. Do we need our society following trends “set” by mainstream media? If someone really believes wearing pants below the butt while walking on the pants legs makes them look good or fashionable, I would like to see their IQ score and compare it to that of a lemming.

Allowing mainstream media to set our trends is one avenue they effectively utilize in an effort to “control” the general public. A large portion of that control involves money. Fashion trends change from year to year, or even month to month, meaning wardrobes must change. Media receives the majority of their revenue from advertising and as they “set” trends, purchasing behavior is thus influenced creating a “need” for advertisers to showcase products. The lemmings are in line to follow the lead of someone trying to control their money. Since “fashion” these days is about making statements rather than making clothes look good and comfortable, money is at the root of these so-called trends. Do some homework, how many of these “trend setter” acts have their own clothing lines?

Free societies have always been the bastion of hope to strive for. Traits of the free society promises freedom of speech, religion, press, and many other core ideas of a democratic ideology. These tenets create a standard of living people in “less free” countries dream of experiencing. However, the traits of free society also bring various responsibilities for the citizens within. Primarily, citizens must respect the rights of each individual within the society and not force upon them their individual ideology or thought process. There are also traps within a free society which must be avoided. Ideas and policy that replace freedom with so-called “what’s best for the people” laws are a replacement of freedom with a slow burning fuse of socialism.

Our forefathers had great ideas regarding freedom because they chose to leave tyranny behind and their sole focus was upon creating a truly free society, one that is run by the people, for the people. There have been great leaders in our history who have stood up for what is right for free individuals. Slavery has been abolished, labor laws enacted, unions were created to protect worker rights, and women were given their rightful standing amongst society. Even racism has been tackled by our society and continues to be fought against. The American Dream is more attainable today as compared to any previous generation for those willing to work and earn it.

Free society sounds great and is for all intents and purposes. Free markets allow businesses to prosper and generate wealth for many individuals. However, even with all of the positives of our free society, we appear to be evolving into a segregated society of individualistic segments vigorously opposing any potential naysayers to their belief or stance on any issue. All we hear about on television is left wing or right wing, liberal or conservative, women or men, married versus non married. All are very real segments within society and all very adamant about their beliefs. Historically, the segments were rational and open to public debate about issues and ideas and some even – gasp – changed their mind after giving the opposition the platform to express their opinion.

Today, the openness to allow opposition to express their points of view has become very limited. Rather than listen, we choose to immediately go on the defensive, interrupt the process and being attacking our opposition as if they are lunatics with no right to speak or have an opinion. Our leaders have even shown these traits. Our Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates display these traits. It’s not just the individual following the attack mentality. It is everyone from our elected officials to the young adults sitting through class in junior high school.

We are all becoming at fault. We have taken our freedom to a place where individual segments are right and everyone else is 100% wrong and therefore they must be “forced” to agree with the side with more power, money, or political clout. Is there anything free about that? Our society must return to a more forgiving one which holds our tongue and decision making process until we can honestly listen to what others have to say. When was the last time you actually listened to the argument from someone you disagreed with? Did you tune them out only focusing upon your rebuttal? Did you cut them off mid-sentence so you could refute their facts and beliefs? Did you choose to belittle them and thus make their argument seem less important?

We have all done this from time to time, but rather than being an infrequent attack, it has become the expected reaction amongst any debate featuring divided beliefs or viewpoints. This simple expectation is part of the problem. Expected does not make it right. Our free society guarantees us the right to speak our mind without fear of retribution. But, given our society of individuals who can only attack those in opposition, are we really going to have true freedom as our country moves forward? I try and catch myself when falling into the simple attack mindset and focus upon hearing out those around me with views different than mine. I hope you undertake the challenge and do so yourself. Until we can dissolve the attack mentality that has fostered amongst our society, we will continually be fighting amongst ourselves and create further chasms of division which we may never climb out from.

Listen to people and truly hear their point of view. Most of the time, we all want the same thing. It’s how we get there where we differ. If we can agree that our goals are the same, working on the path to get there should be something that brings us together, not drive us apart. Temper the attack mentality and our society will be in a much better place, politically, socially, and emotionally.

The article reports some interesting facts. Texas alone found that last year, there were nearly 2,000 pumps cheating consumers. The industry counters with an estimate that 90% of pumps are accurate and some even give consumers more gas. Other information provided reports there are only about 600 inspectors nationwide. 50 states and 600 inspectors provide us with 12 inspectors per state. How many gas pumps are there in each state? I dug up a report pre-year 2000 which reported that about 187,000 retail locations existed. That is stations, not pumps. It would be safe to assume that for every station, there are a minimum of 2 pumps. At the very minimum, we can safely assume there are over 400,000 pumps in our nation and that is about as safe a minimum that can exist in this equation.

Given an average of 12 inspectors per state and an average of 8,000 pumps per state, each inspector is responsible for at least 667 pumps (I would guess it’s over 1,000 if we knew the exact amount of pumps). It’s safe to assume that we need more inspectors. The article reports inspection standards vary “wildly” from state to state. My question is why is gas pump standardization different across our state lines? There should be a single, uniform code for each pump to conform to. Minnesota reports that they are not able to inspect every pump in their state, there are not enough inspectors. But, for the pumps they did inspect last year, 11% were faulty. After a pump is found to be in error, the station is required to fix them. However, only 25% of them are repeat inspected for compliance. Yes, you read that correctly.

Another issue with our gas pump maintenance involves the actual testing requirements for each state. As reported, “Michigan inspects only after complaints. New Hampshire and Arkansas allow gas stations to hire their own testers, while Tennessee and Florida rely on statistical sampling.” Going further, they found 17 states allow pumps to go over a year and a half between inspections. Quoting from the article, “…Arizona, at every three years. Maine’s inspections are up to every four years. Same with Texas. One pump CBS News found in Fort Worth, Texas, was last inspected in 2003, when gas was $1.56 a gallon.” At this point, do you really believe you are getting what you pay for at the pump?

Information from California shows “94 percent of pumps pass inspection. But consumers can still be cheated. That’s because pumps can pass even when they dispense a little less than what the pump says. It’s a margin of error the law allows.” What exactly is the agreeable margin of error here? Sure, California has 94% passing inspection, but what does it take to fail? High volume pumps that pass the test but still do not provide a full gallon “could rake in around $50,000 a year extra” according to the article. Each individual driver receives just a bit less than what they paid for. Not enough of a change to make an effort to scream displeasure over for the individual, but the volume over time cheats all of us.

When does the “cheat” become enough for an individual to speak up? Shouldn’t we say something if anything is being cheated from us no matter what the cost? No, it’s not being petty. As a consumer, we should get what we pay for each and every time no matter what it is. Gas is just one of the hot topic issues and is an easy target. We all know in the back of our minds that we are getting ripped off at the pump a little here and a little there be it a little watered down gas or not full gallons. How come your car runs better when filled up at certain gas stations and worse at others? No, they didn’t forget and put premium octane gas in the regular tank. So yes, we go throughout our lives being nickel and dimed to death because we don’t want to “waste our time” confronting an issue.

Industry knows this and they rely upon it. Just as the “passed inspection pumps” above show us, they are raking money in that does not belong to them. Consumers are prey to businesses. Consumers must understand that. We are not their friend, we are their target. Many other industries are applying these same techniques to their products. I’m sure there are hundreds of examples where volume cheating has been applied which to the individual seems petty. However, when spread over society, it results in thousands, if not millions, of dollars in “lost” wealth.

Take this to another level. Look at how you perform your job. Do you give 100% to your task or do you do just enough to complete it? Do you cut corners? Do you leave simple things out to get things done faster? I could go on but I’m sure you get the point. We all use the same volume cheating technique in our lives in many aspects of our life, our jobs being one of them. In the end, the primary reason why we do not confront the issue of volume cheating at such a miniscule level is because we do it ourselves. Only if the impact is great enough, or the cheat blatant enough, will we question whether we got our money’s worth. If we let the small stuff go, so will the other people in our lives who we are volume cheating.

I’m not condoning volume cheating. I’m stating the general attitude regarding the issue. We should all give everyone what they deserve and pay for. In so doing, we should honestly expect that in return. If we cheat others, then we should expect to be cheated. The gas pump issue can be measured in dollars, but there are many issues that can only be measured in time and possibly feelings and emotion. Volume cheating hurts everyone but we can begin to make things better by fixing it at the personal level.

Citation: http://www.cbsnews.com/

We are all subject to a certain level of mind control. Whether it is spoken words, print media, or television, media has always grasped the fact that our minds are available for potential direction and cajoling. Throw in our needs to fit in and we have created a fertile ground for the seeds of control to grow. Most of the time, the controlling nature of media is very subtle. The goal is to “train” us over time and generate a predicted outcome from society. However, there are times when immediate action is sought after. This is where we see extremists in our media “pushing our buttons.” Provocative reports, fear mongering, and violence on television provide the necessary means for pushing the public in certain directions.

Think about it, how do you react to certain cues when you are watching television, listening to the radio, or reading a book? I’m sure there are times that you feel the absolute need to immediately say something to someone. Media is looking for a reaction, they are counting upon it. Sometimes, you may even decide to change the channel, turn the station, or just stop reading a certain book. You may even walk away from a public speech if you are so inclined. This is the process of “weeding out” people who are not agreeable to certain cues. The remaining public however is what they are looking for. They now have a receptive audience who they can utilize additional mind control techniques on. Mind control within the formation of a small society.

Do you know of any societies such as these? I’m sure you do, they exist in our everyday lives and come in all shapes and sizes. There are groups that become quite large and can exact pressure at our highest levels of government. Our two political parties are an example of mind controlling methods at work. Through print, television, and other forms of media, they create a community of “like minded” individuals and work towards adding more to their group. Originally, the intent was to work towards achieving what was best for the country and everyone within it. Now, the goal seems to have become a race for power and money and not necessarily what is best for the individual voters.

Everyone is susceptible to various forms of mind control. It’s in our human nature. Knowing this, we have to be wary of the intent behind what is going on around us and we must ask ourselves if we are truly making up our own mind or are we being led down a predetermined path designed by the media? We will still be affected by our environment, but we can limit the effectiveness of the tools being used against us.

Personally, I try and fight the methods of control by choosing to experience multiple viewpoints. I do not stick to watching a certain news channel. I don’t read a specific author and similar agreeable content. I listen to alternate viewpoints. I do this on purpose, even if the content infuriates me. I have made a choice to open my mind’s horizons by doing such things. Too often, groups of people choose to disregard anything that could possibly be opposite of how they think and they are falling into a trap. They are falling into the mind controlling tools of their society. Without experiencing opposite viewpoints, the mind will only continue down the path of what is known, until some enlightening experience should come along. We’ve all seen it. Groups of people become like each other over time. Why else would parents want to make sure we keep our kids away from the “bad apples?”

To go back to books being a mind control object similar to television, we are missing one important aspect of television when compared to books. Television comes with instant visual and sound cues along with the content. Books require the mind to create the environment within. The simple fact of television displaying the environment to us desensitizes us to our environment. Viewing violence and bad behavior carries with it a much more profound effect upon us than reading and creating a fictional world in our minds. Yes, television is mostly fiction, but society places undue emphasis on the television “reality.” We speak of television as if it were real, we assume because it’s on television, people act that way and it’s acceptable. Television infiltrates millions more of our minds than a single book designed for mind control could ever hope to achieve.

Television is a ubiquitous medium that affects everyone. Reading is limited to those who choose to read. Usually, the people choosing to read are more adept at distinguishing mind control tools. People who read are statistically proven to be on average smarter than those who do not. The general concept of mind control can be thought of as simple “gang mentality.” Focus on the weaker individuals, give them something to grasp onto, and create a community of likeminded individuals. Gangs are the epitome of mind control at work.

In summing up, sure, books can be devices of mind control. But to think books are at the same level of mind control as television is incorrect in my opinion. Television creates a fictional “reality” which people place value upon. Books create a fictional world inside the mind of the individual and this world will be vastly different from reader to reader. Television desensitizes our society where books generally expand our knowledge (yes, even fiction). We can create road blocks to mind control techniques the media uses by making appropriate choices in how we interpret our environment. We must also open our minds to alternative viewpoints or we will risk walking the path like the lemmings they want and believe us to be.