ClydeStyle

Tag: Greed

  • History repeats, and we still miss the message

    This is blog 3 of 5 in the history series, and the question today is how you feel about it.

    So, a few weeks back, we had another mass shooting of sorts, his time on a military base in Georgia. As of July 31, 2025, there have been 268 mass shootings in the United States, resulting in 262 fatalities and 1,161 injuries. Several daily newspapers are keeping count.

    Clearly, the media is not reporting all of them, I would imagine, because they don’t want to scare the public.

    The worst part of the shootings over than the deaths would be the lack of action taken by Congress to produce laws to make us safer.

    During the organized crime epidemic of the 1920s and 30s, we not only had mass shootings, but the police had a difficult time dealing with criminals with Tommy guns.

    So, in 1934, the National Firearms Act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This act put a huge tax on civilian ownership, which discouraged sales.

    With so many mass shootings now and the fact that automatic weapons are being used in most cases, we need stricter gun laws. However, the gun lobby has deep pockets, and America’s greed has allowed its votes to be bought for the right price.

    This all means that we have had the answer of what o do about gun violence since 1934. We’re not doing it because our lawmakers have sold their souls for profit and purchased a one-way ticket to hell!

    Can you imagine saying to the parents of the Uvalde, TX school shooting, “Sorry, but the lobbyists gave me a six-figure check for my vote.”

    Clearly, we now have the wrong people in government, and they have completely violated our trust. Voting won’t ever fix this mess because both political parties are guilty. We desperately need an intervention that doesn’t destroy our land.

  • The scam of insurance

    Let’s talk insurance. We live in a time where insurance companies are denying hurricane victims, California fire victims, and auto insurance is overwhelmingly high, especially in no-fault states, and life insurance is too hard to secure.

    Families are suffering as promised benefits are denied while Congress continues to get richer from insurance lobbying. You can not expect to see the current Republican Congress do anything about this. Since 1992, Republicans have benefitted the most from insurance lobbyists receiving millions of dollars for their silence on the issues.

    Democrats have had opportunities to deal with this problem, but even when they controlled both houses of Congress, nothing got done on this front.

    The insurance industries philosophy is to find a way not to pay so the stock holders can reap their dividends. Greed has taken over morality, and the middle class and poor are suffering the most.

    Insurance was actually started as an act of benevolence in Rome and Greece in 600 AD. You can even trace the concept of insurance as far back as 4000 — 3000 bce.

    In the US, insurance had its origin in the late 17th century. Like everything else, it was on the level, and people paid faithfully their premiums and could expect to receive payment on their claims filed during that time. The complete reniging of insurance payments for qualified clients wasn’t widespread until the Reconstruction era, where former slaves were denied claims mostly because of the color of their skin.

    In his autobiography, Malcolm X tells the story of what ultimately drove his mother insane started with trying to collect on a life insurance policy for her husband. In the movie Malcolm X, his father was murdered by the KKK as they bashed his head in with a hammer and stretched his bloody body across train tracks to be destroyed. This left Malcolm, his siblings, and his mother devastated and destitute. She eventually lost her children because she could no longer take care of them because the insurance company denied her claim, stating that they believed his death to be a suicide.

    I would love to tell you that this was the only incident where this happened, but that would not be true. You see, poor Blacks during this could not afford to take the matter to court and secure a lawyer, so the insurance companies knew this and could take advantage.

    Today, billions of dollars flow through insurance companies, and they have found a way not to honor their policies. Over the years, the list of things that can deny your claims has grown tremendously, as have the payouts to Congress for their silence. In just 2024, insurance companies spent more than 117 million to Congress. In previous years the number has been higher than 150 million. They have also spent around 130 million in campaign contributions for the candidates that will ensure no legislation is passed to stop them.

    So, in the meantime, constituents suffer from natural disasters, health challenges, death, and dismemberment and other unpaid claims and the insurance machine rolls on! God bless America.

  • Make America great? HDI is the right place to start

    For centuries, America has boasted about the great lifestyle its people share and how democracy is the best form of government.

    We brag about capitalism and all the opportunities that are available for those who work hard. The advertising we show to the world does not tell the true American story.

    We say nothing of crime, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and the ever-present wealth gap. We don’t discuss our troubled history that still plagues us today. Our poverty, poor education, and limited affordability for healthcare have the majority of America struggling. One percent of America has more money and resources than 99 percent of America.

    America always had a problem with the “haves” and “have nots,” and the “haves” like it this way. Consistently, rich politicians appear on news shows expressing what’s important to most Americans or pretending to know what Americans want. What we really want is easy.

    The Human Development Index (HDI), which was created in 1990 by a committee in the United Nation’s, was created to statistically measure and rate a country’s excellence in three main areas: life expectancy, education and per capita income.

    You would think that a country so rich in wealth and opportunity would lead the free world in this index. You would think that we would want to boast about the advantages available for our citizens and how well we all flourish. It should be expected that America rate in the top 5 of these great countries.

    Well, here are the top 15 countries: Switzerland (1), Norway (2), Iceland (3), Hong Kong (4), Denmark, and Sweden (5), Ireland, and Germany (7), Singapore (9), Netherlands, and Australia (10), Liechtenstein, Belgium, and Finland (12), and the United Kingdom (15).

    These United States are tied for 20 with Luxembourg, which means that there are roughly 19 countries that have better opportunities in wealth, health, and lifestyle than we do.

    We need to let politicians know that the type of America we want is one that stays in the top 10 on this index. We want opportunities for everyone who works hard. There is no reason that education and healthcare can’t be free, and in this country, we should have already wiped out homelessness.

    Crime is lowered by opportunities to learn and earn. Imagine that there are countries that never have mass shootings. Greed is killing us, my friend. The rich only care about getting richer, and democracy is not working for us. It is almost impossible to get the masses to vote a certain way, and both political parties have been detrimental to the majority of America.

    We need a better way, and it starts with making the top 5 of the HDI.

  • The disease of Greed

    It is hard to think of greed as a disease. The reason is that people have a choice to be greedy or not. There are some definite psychological effects of greed that explain much about what our country is going through.

    Scientists have discovered that greed is linked to the part of your brain’s reward center, leading to a pleasurable experience or sensation when a greedy person acquires something. That pleasurable sensation reinforces the greedy behavior.

    So imagine buying an extra house. You are living in your dream home, and you add another home, fix it up, and sell it. You make a 60 percent profit on the house so you buy another one. Then you do the same thing. How many more times can you do this without wanting more? When you absolutely love the benefits, it’s hard to say no.

    There is a part of greed that leads to social isolation. Most multimillionaire and billionaires experience this because they are so laser focused on making more money.

    A greedy person will do almost anything to satisfy that urge. In most cases of greed, we see where manipulation and deceit have been repeatedly used to fulfill their desires.

    Probably the worst thing about greed is that it lacks empathy and causes stress and anxiety. There are problems when you have a lot of money that many of us will never experience. When you are greedy, there is constant pressure to get more stuff. What’s worse is that you stop caring about the well-being of others as you pursue your prize.

    A greedy person is never satisfied, and that is why it always ends in a crash and burn scenario. Typical of Republicans is that they always want to give tax breaks to the rich, believing that the benefits will trickle down to the other classes. This has never happened in the history of America, but it is still their talking point.

    We saw ridiculous downsizing since President Trump has been in office, and already, he has reneged on his campaign promise not to touch Medicaid.

    The problem is greed, and as long as Congress allows, Trump will be greedy. I just hope that the checks and balances kick in before the masses in America reach their breaking point.

  • Raise your hand if you voted for this?

    I love history! I love history because it allows me to stand in the present, take a factual look at the past, and in some cases, see exactly what the future will look like.

    This past and future vision has a caveat, which is whether or not we learned from and  acknowledged our mistakes. This is great given the fact that America never learns from it’s past and it never acknowledges it’s mistakes.

    We are now about four months into the second Trump presidency, and we have seen a calamity of executive orders that have harmed millions of people. From foreign aid funding being sliced and essentially killing humanitarian efforts across the world to thousands of layoffs of federal workers to the destruction of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to cuts in federally funded research programs at various universities across the country, all in an effort to somehow make America great again?

    Those against Trump’s plans seem to be waiting on others to step up and defend the American way. These “others” I speak of are those in the Republican party. Democrats are hoping for Republicans to have a conscious and stop Trump from destroying our country as we know it. They can not defend what he’s doing, and they are avoiding meetings with their constituents, believing the carnage will end soon.

    Funding for school programs that level the playing field and assist those who are struggling have been cut. Healthcare initiatives like vaccines for hepatitis B and the flu shot were sliced, and the mass deportation efforts have disrupted kids in school, workers for farms and other industries where migrant workers are now afraid to leave their homes for fear of deportation.

    The worst part of all of this is the fact that most American people are delusional about the Trump administration. It seems that those who believe it’s pure evil and those who think it’s the greatest are both wrong.

    As usual, the American government is repeating past mistakes. We are looking at fellow Americans being hurt by all these cuts with no regard to their well-being. We are waiting migrant workers living in fear every day of their worst nightmare coming true. We are seeing people’s lives devastated by Trump’s actions, and we don’t say much against it because it doesn’t affect us. After all, I’m not a federal or migrant worker. I have no use for social programs or welfare or DEI, and I don’t own a farm. There are still a lot of Americans that can make this claim, but for how long?

  • Can we really trust the FDA? Not by its track record

    There was so much controversy about the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to head up the Food and Drug Administration because of his radical views and conspiracy theories. But if there was ever a government agency that needed shaken up, the FDA was it.

    Now, this is not a blog in supporting of RFK Jr., it is about the harm that has been done by the FDA to the American people because they refuse to let lobbyists keep their checks.

    Right now, there are over 100 countries that will not eat our meat. It is cruel and criminal how we treat chickens, pigs, and cows in this country — and we’re doing it to our own detriment. As a result, countries like Canada have decided to pass on our meat.

    There are some extremely dangerous and cancer causing chemicals that we put in our food that is extremely harmful. I asked A.I. for some specifics on the most dangerous of these chemicals. A.I. broke it down this way:

    The following chemicals are toxic and harmful to human health or banned in other countries. Some examples of these chemicals include: 

    • Lead: A metal found in some dietary supplements, vinegars, and spices 
    • Asbestos: A toxic substance linked to cancer, genetic mutations, and fetal harm 
    • Hexabromocyclododecane: A flame retardant used in some building materials 
    • Azodicarbonamide: A food additive that breaks down into other chemicals, including semicarbazide, which can cause cancer in mice 
    • Brominated vegetable oil (BVO): A food additive used in citrus-flavored drinks that may affect the thyroid 

    Other chemicals that are considered hazardous include: 

    Arsenic, Benzene, Chromium, Cadmium, Mercury, Chlorine, Hydrogen cyanide, Nitrous oxide, and Phosgene.

    Chemicals can be toxic in our bodies, so we should read labels carefully and by organic when possible. Also, processed food is an absolute thumbs down! Lamb and fish are better meat choices, and you should only consume whole foods.

    Our government is more worried about what fentanyl is doing to us than the true enemy, which is sugar. White sugar and other sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup are responsible for the obesity problem in America and all of the degenerative diseases that go with it.

    Artificial sweeteners are also known as sugar substitutes, non-nutritive sweeteners, or non-sugar sweeteners (NSS).
    Here are some common artificial sweeteners:
    Aspartame: A non-saccharide sweetener that’s marketed under the names NutraSweet, Equal, and Canderel.

    Acesulfame potassium: Also known as Ace-K, this sweetener is about 200 times sweeter than table sugar.

    Sucralose: A non-caloric derivative of sucrose that’s 600 times sweeter than sucrose.
    Saccharin: A non-nutritive sweetener that’s made in a lab and looks like a white, crystalline powder.
    Neotame: A sweetener derived from the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine.
    Advantame: An ultra-intense sweetener that’s 20,000 times sweeter than table sugar.
    Stevia: A natural herb that’s zero calories and 10–15 times sweeter than sucrose.
    Cyclamate: A potent sweetening agent that’s been the subject of safety and carcinogenicity studies.

    Artificial sweeteners are often used in foods and drinks to reduce sugar intake. They’re generally calorie-free and don’t raise blood sugar levels, but they have no nutritional value.

    So obesity is not a single person’s fault. The FDA has a dominant role in keeping you fat, sick, and unhealthy. There is no profit in healthy people.

  • Save your panic for later; You may not even need it

    Two major things are happening today: Donald J. Trump is going to be sworn in as the 47th President of these United States of America, and there is also a national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., birthday.

    Some are devastated because they were looking forward to celebrating the King holiday with the inauguration of the first female president in Kamala Harris. Social media was in such a buzz before the November election that these events may collide. Well, that didn’t happen.

    And no matter how much of the MAGA Trump world was exposed, Democrats thought that Americans would move away from Trump. They, the Dems, used their usual scare tactics to get us to vote for them. If Democrats had a better plan for America, then why did they spend so much time telling us how bad Trump was.

    This may be a shock to you, but a vote for Trump was America’s way of lashing out at the status quo. The same way that minorities loot when an unarmed Black man is gunned down or shot by police. Both actions serve as the voice of the unheard.

    Most Americans have real problems, and I’m not talking about the homeless and jobless. I’m talking about folks who did not advance their education or just went the blue-collar way. They didn’t get any of those good union jobs, and most of the time, they have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet.

    They can’t afford to get sick, can’t afford not to go to work, and if they have a mental health breakdown, they better get over it because they can’t afford that either.

    This is why so many celebrated the killing of the insurance CEO in NY. For the poor in America, there is always a battle. A battle with health challenges, taxes, even utility bills, and groceries. Gasoline, kid expenses, and rent. There is never a break from this. Our politicians, on both sides of aisle, are too rich to know these problems, and to be honest, they don’t care. Dems were supposed to be the party of the people, but why were the people looking elsewhere?

    Let’s get some facts straight about Trump. He didn’t destroy America nor cause a war or break anything in the White House like folks said he would the first time. He is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, but he is definitely not the worst president America has had — he’s not even in the top 10!

    The majority of our president’s have been self-serving at some point in their administration. Some just hide it better than others. The American dream has never existed for all Americans, so with every president, some Americans are going to be marginalized.

    I would imagine Trump will do what he did the last time. He will give a great tax cut for all his billionaire friends, and he’ll try to shake up things a bit in Washington, but that’s it. America will go into great debt like they did after the terms of the last four Republican presidents. Bottomline is you will survive this, especially if you are poor — Trump promises to leave you poor when he’s done. Just like Biden did.

  • Good intentions are all about helping others

    So I’m relaxing at home in the Midwest and it’s cold, but like normal the anticipation of the holiday sets our mood. I was just thinking about all the wonderful food traditions that my family has. We eat the typical food shared in Western civilization.

    We had a very traditional Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinner will shape up the same way. I enjoy these times, but I can’t help but think what things would be like if the food manufacturers weren’t trying to make a profit, but we’re trying to make us healthy and live longer, how much better off we’d be?

    I grew up believing that I knew what a healthy breakfast was. In the 70s, we were told that it was your favorite cereal with toast juice and milk. In the Midwest, Coney Island restaurants introduced us to a good, hearty breakfast and I. The same decade that breakfast consisted of two scrambled eggs, hashbrowns or grits, choice of bacon, sausage, or ham and toast, all for $1.99. And don’t forget the cup of coffee!

    The intentions of breakfast during that time got its origin during the industrial age. You see, back then, people would eat leftovers from the previous nights dinner. This was fine for farmers, but not for factory workers who had to stand for long periods of time in the same place with all that heavy food in their stomachs – it gave them indigestion.

    So, the solution from the “powers that be” was to create a breakfast that was more dense and lighter than our leftover dinners. So they filled us with sugary cereals, gave us the incredible, edible egg, and gave us swine.

    Then, that breakfast gave us diabetes, hypertension, gout, heart diseases, and some cancers. Did they know? Did they care?

    We didn’t need high fructose corn syrup, and it has turned out to be worse than swine. It was part of the great food engineering age where manufacturers created food that would trick our bodies into eating more. Intentions?

    All I’m saying is if good intentions led our decisions, then as a country, we wouldn’t be so sick. We are sick because companies found a way to make money off of it.

  • The sadness of Veterans Day still looms

    Every year at this time, I get sad. I’m sad because I know that there are millions of veterans without benefits. We spend so much of our national budget on weapons of mass destruction and maintaining a strong military, but we’re not making good on our promises to the men and women who risked their lives.

    Neither political party has addressed this. You can see homeless vets, vets on drugs, and more struggling with debt from medical complications.

    Meanwhile, our government, still trying to fight the good fight, is helping other countries  like Isreal and Ukraine while our folks struggle.

    It seems that in the 21 century, we would err on the side of people and rather have a scenario where our veterans are overpaid than under.

    This problem seems so easy to handle, but because our veterans are not useful to our cause anymore, we have thrown them away.

    What’s worse is that there is a divide among the veterans between the ones receiving benefits and the ones who don’t. How can they be a band of brothers on the battlefield, but once we get back home, it’s every man for himself?

    I don’t celebrate Veterans Day because of this. I wish the nation wouldn’t be celebrated either until we have corrected this atrocity!

  • Politics as usual: They don’t really care about us

    Things are ramping up for the 2024 elections, and in every election year, politicians attempt to tell us what really is important. Their talking points start off with, “The American people want this…” Make no mistake, the elections are never for the American people. In a democracy, elections are used to make the people believe they have a say or control of what is happening in their country.

    Talking points work like worms against a fish. Politicians debate and talk about topics that interest the general population, but never are these things changeable. For example, President Joe Biden, who is the architect of the 94′ crimes bill responsible for putting millions of minorities in prison, went on the radio show The Breakfast Club and said if Black people did not vote for him, they weren’t Black. He talked about police shooting unarmed Black people was a problem; he talked about voting rights being a priority; he talked about the criminal justice system being a problem, but they didn’t make his radar once he was elected.

    What Biden did is what every Democrat does: Their interest is not in helping minorities but in helping the base. Republicans are the same with favoring their base. The problem is the majority of the people in both bases are white!

    So then brown people continue to struggle with immigration and black people struggle with everything else. Doing things for the masses or serving you base doesn’t scratch the surface of the people for minorities.

    When I say minorities, I am talking about people in America who make under 80k per year. The best part of America is the ability to earn money. A sample of all races is earning money in America, but the overwhelming majority of Americans are struggling. I am specifically saying that there is not much being done to help their situations. Some temporary Covid protocols made a difference for a short while, but these benefits don’t compare to the benefits given to citizens in other countries.

    So after each election, politicians prove to the masses that they don’t care about us. We should begin hearing about the “big scare” that the democrats do every election year to cause fear among the people of the dangers of not voting democrat. The Republicans do they same thing on their side, and while the fear is increased, the benefits for the poor decrease. Don’t think this is a racial divide because it isn’t. This divides us by class.

    The greatest vote you can make to a politician is to contribute money to their campaign because that’s who will be satisfied with the win. Imagine if you are a politician and one constituent gives you $50, and another gives you $1000 per month. Who would you listen to?

    Until this system changes, the common man will always get the shaft during the elections.