I went down there myself. It was sad seeing all the vandalism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hTOL1QqcOc&feature=share
After watching the video, you'll see why I post the following.
Here is a letter I just wrote to a local journalist who wrote me about a plant sale I was having:
Hello Erik,
Sorry I don't have that type.
BTW, I recognize your name, being a Seattle resident a long time and whose grandparents and parents are buried on Capital Hill.
My yard propagates about $500 to $1000 in plants every year pretty much automatically. What's left is a good workout for about an hour in the day. I'm also an author and have been working on ideas for helping "tier" the homeless so that we can help those who are willing
to get help. A lot of it comes down to finding ones that can have social capital develop (by being trust-able).
Did you ever recognize that earlier US society used to have many maids and butlers but since people got more independent (think
rock and roll culture, not going to church, etc.) they became less trust-able in each other's houses? A lot of people would be employed
and treated with respect if people could find out who was trust-able.
I've published over ten books.....maybe we could brainstorm on these ideas together? The self-propagating garden idea is one thing unemployed people could install in people's yards,
all the best,
Robert
PS Maybe we can brainstorm on these ideas:
New Economy from Nineteen New Educational Principles
Concepts for Economic Empowerment by Robert Pearson
1) We need to focus on educating each other. Adult education is actually where the biggest change can come which can prevent disaster. Unfortunately, television is what has been educating most people in the last several years, and it has only gotten worse and worse in many ways. These forces have combined with popular music, and have created much culture without any wisdom or beauty.
2) We need to see people as "asleep" instead of evil. If we see them as merely asleep to what bad they are doing when they harm others, even economically, then they may have a chance to be educated towards a possibility for change.
3) Not appreciating all that one has, puts things in a state of entropy, and then these things lose their value. One has to always "polish" what one has, take care of what one has, organize one's belongings, or things lose their potential.
4) Not seeing the service aspect of working, and not putting into full practice the idea that we have to give before we can get. This creates a "vacuum" and the universe abhors a vacuum and seeks to fill it. If we carefully create the right service or value, wealth can flow in. If we do not create any true vacuum of service or value, nothing will flow in.
5) Aim to end planned obsolescence, and by doing so boost American or any other country's economy. If we could outlaw the sale of cheap products that are sold without warranty, we would create a new industry in America of making high-quality goods. Cheap products are essentially, or eventually, worthless. If there was legislation that one could not sell a product without a minimum three year warranty, this would be considered a green law, since products that soon turn to garbage would end up in landfills. We could build new small industries in the U.S. or other countries. Think of what this would do to the U.S. morale, or the morale of any other country.
6) We have to get out of the "specialization" field. Most of us have a vested interest in the modern world to be "seen as a specialist" and charge fees based on that. In some, way, shape or form, virtually everyone's resume reflects this, from a dishwasher to a airplane pilot. However, that has no longer allowed most of us to have the money, leisure, or other standards of living which we want to live.
7) Buy from those who will buy from you. For example, many ethnic groups in the United States empower each other by forming economic networks in which each person does a different type of business and they all buy from each other. This prevents money going outside the network into anonymous large corporations.
Befriend and humanize by repeated consistent and loving effort, all the bureaucracies. Even bureaucracies are composed of people who have backroom office talk and talk there just as normally as everyone else. The bureaucracy is the face that they have to show to the public. Don't say, that they have to show that face to keep that job. That is determining the future based on imagination. A major principle in mind to keep is that any organization can be in danger of acting like a big bureaucracy.9) Things only blossom if there is enough knowledge to fertilize these new things. We will not as easily shift into alternate energies, unless there is a threshold of people who understand these new technologies, or understand the marketplace aspects of them. This is one important part of public energy. Already, the solar sector in the U.S. has shown huge profits and Europe is far, far ahead of the United States.
10) The energy problem affects us more than just at the gas pump or paying the electric bill. For instance, in 2008, those in the United States who sold on eBay could no longer ship things surface rate in international shipping. This reduced their sales by a substantial amount, especially if there were wealthier people in other countries who may not be as affected by a recession. This truly would have a trickle down effect, if those sellers would have more money.
11) Many new jobs only need be responsible for creating value, because a system of barter has already worked in many economies. Think of senior homes/low income home improvements. Seniors could help with baby sitting as younger parents could help with home repair.
12) Not connecting to the greater sources of money (corporations, high paying clients) for some of our business sales, and instead focusing on the general public. The general public's eyes are owned by big media and big corporations. It is very hard to sell a new product no matter how valuable and good it is. We have to see where we can use these big groups, and where they are using us.
13) We are always wealthier if we do what we are able to do in our own part. If we have excuses that involve other people, that someone should do for us what we can do for ourselves, that somehow we were the victim of someone else, then we are always playing the child or victim role and things cannot improve.
14) We should be focusing on "creating value" not only "earning money." For example, imagine digging up some of one's lawn area and preparing the area for a nut and fruit tree orchards and other gardening area. This will create a substantial amount of "wealth" each year for one's household without having to bring in more money to buy things. There are many such improvements one can make and even invent for other people. There are low income but ready now electric car conversions that people have done for virtually every make of car.
15) Corporations and large institutions like governments, universities, hospitals and so on, are the part of the world that has the money, and that is where we can focus on professionally. If we focus on selling to the smaller business community, there may not be as much money. It is also harder to reach a large amount of the general public today as bigger corporations have the main eye of the public due to advertising money.
16) One can do philanthropy without any money by tocusing on educating other adults. One can do this online by going into areas such as social networking, traffic exchanges, safelists, toplists, webrings, and so on. This circulation of knowledge is free and also stress free.
17) Networking, and creating work collectives to achieve a common purpose, is a great idea, and no one can call such small groups derogatory names in a free market capitalist system. It is hard to network with the "general public" in America today, but if you focus on networking with your interest groups, you can more easily find people that you can form some kind of lasting connection with. For instance, groups that like to be together are musicians, people who like fishing, antique, coin or any kind of collector, seniors, teenagers, and so on.
18) We need to see our romantic partnerships as "creating new families" where even two people are a family. Then these two people are for each other, operating as a team, two heads can are better than one, and two can live as cheaply as one, and if they are both employed, they can be more wealthy. The media marketplace tends to only be able to show the romantic aspect, and condition people to believe in imaginary aspects of human perfection. Whether or not there is a planned marketing plan to try to get people to think independently or not is irrelevant, especially if we take the position that people are asleep to the harm they do to others and ultimately to themselves.
19) Need to remember all the high paying work we have done successfully If we are continuously looking at self-help material instead of focusing on and doing our work, then how can we provide any value in the community?