Academic-Capital

You may enjoy this picture of a bridge. Very cleanly painted green with the colors in the background. It is an interesting one taken a few weeks ago in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. If you don't know the area it is pristine with small villages and lots of Great Lakes coastal access. Communities like Escanaba, about 2 hours west of this picture, are ripe for investment and have been receiving increased interest. The economy relies heavily on tourism but there are other industries starting to grow and develop as well.  You may purchase as a digital print in the gallery HERE .

We are in a somewhat complex world where all types of things are happening all the time and some of those activities are subversive by nature. Two nations have grown into super powers. Each with unique and shared supply networks. Trade conflicts have increased in recent years and there is a level of sizing, flexing and pacing to determine influence. I would suspect as competition rises so will the reliance on espionage and other hacking/digital methods increase. Ideas, science, inventions and development are worth a lot in todays world where such information is no longer being loosely spewed into the market in any old haphazard way ( i.e. allowing for it to be collected for a long long time with no controls. We are now adjusting our data networks, increasing security and becoming smart on bringing back manufacturing. ).  I'm sort of looking at the case and wondering how $61K is enough to sell out one's country? However, I would suspect if you were leaning already in that direct

An assailant broke into the Pelosi home and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. I'm happy to hear that he is expected to make a full recovery. Like many in our nation we are wondering what actually happened and what might be some of the motivations. More importantly, how do we stop these things from happening again? It appears the perpetrator had posted all types of conspiracy theories online and had some radical political leanings " Where is Nancy ?". The nature of politics is thus that rationality is sometimes thrown out the window. We could minimize these conspiracy theories if our leaders stay focus on factual evidence based conclusions and solutions ( Most do but a large percentage bank off of misinformation and chaos creation as avenues to power ).  Interesting questions arise that would help determine the nature of the attack. For example, the time the person broke in could be an issue, did they steal anything, were they looking at other things, what comments they

It looks like things are slowly moving forward. I'm not going to comment very much about specifics of the video because I just look for overall trends and signs that certain adaptive adjustments are being made that will put the City in the best possible place. That requires understanding what is going on in the market and what is going on to meet those changes ( i.e. changes with COVID and commerce and how that relates to my economic theory. ).  Escanaba has great unutilized potential as a development hotspot based on its ecological, economic, and strategic location as the U.S. seeks to bring back manufacturing, mining/metals, and innovation. Could Esky be an important place some day (I ts already important but just making a point )? No one really knows for sure but development potential has certain characteristics ( I might also focus on developing the downtown by drawing new businesses from outside the area, encouraging custom small scale manufacturing, allowing development to en

NASA just released its Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Study Team Members  that outlines their impressive list of scientists who like to study UFOs. This is part of commissioned research that seeks to discover what the origins of those weird triangle sightings might be and their implications. They will assess if the UAPs are "Earth Made" or from somewhere else. They will also look at whether they represent a hazard in the skies ( Sounds like a future product designation like Made in America but instead in an intergalactic universe. Let it be noted it was said here first ! 👾😂. "Made on Earth" stamp.   Ok sorry the science is legit and some of the best in the world but it still sort of blows my mind! )  ( The Military would have other concerns and thus has their own UAP Taskforce . Two different perspectives of the problem, different types of research, that will share lots of familiarities but have different purposes. I would expect that some of the information betwee

Quality pictures (assuming you think my pictures are quality.) are expensive. Usually they are printed out and then sent in poster packaging. However all that takes work or a hobby. However, I'm thinking digital photos might have more reach. Of course you are not charging the $120 minimum to do all the background work. You must offer a lower price. So I'm putting $40 up for digital photo. If it works well I might turn some of the other pictures in the gallery to digital download.  Buy Ocean Beach Sunset $40 HERE . 

 Russia has been receiving American military equipment through Venezuela. Some of it is highly sensitive and has been found on the battlefield. Read..... Five Russians charged in global scheme to smuggle equipment from US for Russia's military You can read the full complaint at  Justice Department Announces Charges and Arrests in Two Cases Involving Export Violation Schemes to Aid Russian Military This is not something new and we shouldn't be overall shocked. Catching and disrupting such supply chains leads to less vital resources landing in the wrong hands.  Shell companies likely have limited scope and clients. There may be lots of things on the books but activities don't match those companies. They are designed with a specific purpose and no matter how much they try and hide it they will be bent toward activities that earn the most amount of money thereby putting less effort into legitimate activities and exposing their activities. 

 We often talk about democracy from a high academic and political level but there are practical matters during local application that determine whether or not those Constitutional principles and values reign supreme as the law of the land. This is where local systems must become more educated on the purpose and value of democracy and ensure that cultural, racial, and religious considerations don't derail our national development. What happens on a local and realized level determines the course of democracy and the nation going forward. We can't neglect the building blocks of democracy in lived experience simply so we can hypothesis and theorize about its value on a national level. ( 64% of Americans believe democracy is in crisis. HERE . How we handle these issues is important. I'm a democracy supporter and that is why I'm just typing away this AM. I am off hiking soon. Waiting for the sun to come up. : )) Let us imaging for a moment that a large group of people were a

One of the biggest aspects of business is to be playful and explore. For example, I sometimes take photos and list them in my online gallery just to see if anyone is interested. Some of the profits (I shoot for 50%) go to charity. I was messing around with the photo a little. If you want the picture you can click the " Trains Running on Track " and purchase. Just the picture and not the wording. It would be interesting to someday submit some of these photos to a few contests. I have done it before and won a few. Mostly not! "If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done ."  Dale Carnegie

The world is changing quickly and new technologies are coming out at such a pace that superiority in one arena won't guarantee superiority 10 years down the road in that or any other arena. Innovation and change is a partnership between industry, government/military and the populace. There are concerns that the U.S. military would struggle fighting wars on multiple front and some changes are needed to expand our capacity. To solve a large rooted problem like this we must innovate across multiple sectors to fully enhance our capacities. Let us take a look at decline in military problem by reading Heritage Foundations review entitled,  2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength . The Marine Corps is doing great but the other branches are not so great . I'm not surprised by the higher ranking of the Marine Corps because as a highly trained force they are in high demand in an increasingly dangerous world.  In the Marine Corps, a failure to adapt could mean death and loss ( Improvise, Ada

Business benefits from a skilled labor force and new ideas. The Brown Hotel The Federal Student Loan Forgiveness is now open and you can apply to have part of your student loans forgiven ( Apply  HERE ). There has been some controversy over this loan forgiveness program based on total cost, funding approaches and whether or not it is the best use of public resources. Different people from different sides of the political perspective will give you different answers. Some love the idea and some pull their hair out.  These are my thoughts for my own personal understanding..... What I can say is we do need as much skilled and creative labor as we can generate in this country if we hope to pull ahead in our slowly shrinking economic lead ( Another point supporting economic clusters and rapid innovation systems that put the right resources, skills/people, and investments in a networked place where they can quickly adapt. ). Improving human capital means higher education must be at the top of

“Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.”                         – Socrates  (If you think Halloween is scary just watch politics! The only crystal ball you insight you get into others is their character.) Michigan is an important state not only geographically but politically and economically. It is part of the economic redevelopment of the U.S. in advanced manufacturing, pushing the green energy change, and climate change with protection, education and economic development of the Great Lakes. It is also a place where politics will be very important because it may influence the direction of national politics ( Let us just watch what happens with some of our politicians and potential future candidates on a national level. ) At present Democrats are outspending Republicans in Michigan legislative races: $22.6 million vs. $6.6. ( There are a few reasons why that is happening and I suspect they have something to do with marketing/messaging 

Democracy was built from the many sacrifices given as a gift by one generation to the next spanning all the way back to the moment the first pilgrims cautiously stepped off of the boat into a new land with half starved outstretched hands. They were driven by their desire to practice their religion freely without persecution and sailed to the furthest corner of earth (1620)!  Freedom of religion was so important to our national founding that we built one of the world's largest free nations from shared understandings of the rights endowed to all man (mankind). Let us fast forward a four hundred years to modern times (2022) where we are now very far removed from the initial struggles of surviving in the wilderness with nothing more than hope for a brighter future ( Maybe we could have added a hatchet as a necessary tool back then .). While it seems so long ago the problems of the past are fused into our national heartbeat as they were codified in the Constitution as central to our mor

IMF, 2022 The IMF released its October 12th, 2022 World Economic Outlook  that highlights risks the global economy faces from inflationary pressure and its impact on people's lives. It looks like we have economic shifting going on as we transition to longer term post COVID policy implementation ( Also notice how advanced nations and other nations are fairing. As our economy digitizes it will have increases in transactions and creative capital that will encourage greater growth. The digital economy brings forward great benefits but also a risk of greater disparities. ).  From the IMF's executive summary we discover..... Global inflation is forecast to be 8.8 percent in 2022, decline to 6.5 in 2023 and 4.1 percent by 2024. We have lots of things going on that includes war in Ukraine, fiscal-monetary policy changes, energy issues (oil restriction), food crises that is mixed up with inflation. That is a lot of market volatility that impacts confidence through increased unknown ris

One of the challenges we face as a nation is to bring back manufacturing in a way that puts the nation at the best possible position to take advantage of the emerging Digital Era. That era is a technology platform shift that will change the way in which we interact with each other, the services we use, the devices we use, and the fundamentals of business. Some countries will move into that Digital Era as advanced manufacturing societies that balance between hard products and virtual products and others will find a place on the supply chain. One key component to advanced societies are the creative skill of workers. An industry hiring more workers at higher wages, when compared to alternative employment, is a win for Made in America, for worker prosperity, and for governments that will benefit from that tax revenue. The advanced society should find a path to perpetual sustainable development where economic opportunities renew.  On a macro scale when we want to innovate and invent as a pe

Inspiration "Docks by Day" When new college graduates first enter into the working world they are enthusiastic about opportunities to display those skills to achieve their life' goals. Everything is new and everything is exciting! With all of their enthusiasm recent college graduates may struggle with understanding how their skills apply to their jobs and how to maximize the value of that new knowledge. It makes sense for businesses to be excited about taking those new skills and registering them to corporate improvement. Once one successfully transfers from college into their work roles the value of skills and knowledge can be realized more fully. It is up to business to maximize updated skills for organizational learning and innovation. The higher the degree obtainment, in general the higher the knowledge transfer. Typically advanced degrees come with the possibility of entry into lower level manager or executive positions. For those graduates already employed, an advan

 Keeping up with the demographics the growing populations in the U.S. helps in things like marketing but also in general helps a broader sociological understanding. I like to read these polls from time to time and get a sense of where different demographics are leaning in their perspectives.  This voting block is maturing and starting to feel the power that comes from one of fastest growing segments of society. Because of the size of the group they will have different perspectives on the same issues that you may not find in smaller populations of peoples. Just for understanding.... GOP cuts into Democrats’ lead among Latino voters, new poll shows

A new piece of legislation was introduced called the Think Tank Transparency Act and seeks to require disclosure of foreign monies to U.S. think tanks that desire to influence U.S. Policy. You can read about the act as brought forward by our local UP representative  Congressional Representative Jack Berman (R). Basically it says that we don't have a good handle on how many think tanks are being funded by foreign entities nor their influence. It hopes to remedy that lack of knowledge by requiring disclosures like you might find in  FARA . Yes, for the most part I see why it would be doing and hoping to accomplish. In this case we had a retired Marine General lobbying on behalf of a foreign entity and then lied about it. Likewise, we have/had lots of other countries like Russia trying to influence our elections. Thus, the timing of such an act seems to make sense if it fits within a general movement/trend to protect American assets ( I'm just trying to understand when legislati

We are in a world that is interconnected and we all are saddened when conflict breaks out. The Pope came out to encourage Putin to end the spiral of violence. It may be beneficial for Imams and Rabbis to come out with similar appeals now that nuclear risks have risen. All of these religions share the respect for human life and the need for peace.  He mentioned the rights of minorities and how we should protect them. Something we sometimes forget in our own nations. Our nation was started on this need and the rights of religion and speech. We should watch the horrors in Ukraine and how differences can be exploited for personal and political gain.  As we have seen in annexation of Ukraine one can use the law to justify anything but can't change the moral underpinnings of those choices. As a conservative I focus on the real deeper meanings of religion and their essential core meanings ( Rino-Dino doesn't factor into it .) Let us continue to help Ukraine and learn from conflicts in

Hate is powerful tool especially if it is normalized and become part of local institutions. As some of my readers know my family and I have been targeted by hate (... they told us why they were targeting us because of religion. These officers eventually did the right thing and realized they were being played with. The other department connected to that social group continued forward in support of their ethnic, racial, and/or social group. ) and that included a group of 100+ mediocre ex sports players/bullies, what appears to be 3-5 officers, a local college HR ( They said I was more than qualified for an adjunct labor law course but then rejected me when they found out I was the "Muslim guy" their friends didn't like and whom they were targeting.   Another hint of ethnic/religious cleansing based on trying to restrict jobs and opportunities. Usually an EEOC violation where such laws applied appropriately .), and what appears to be a local judge ( I can't believe they