IT'S THE ECOMONY, CUPID

The LOVE IT OR LOSE IT Top-40 TEST

With so much news of the declining economy crawling over and through every crevice of our lives, perhaps it's a good time to examine what we hold true about this experience.

Everyone has some sort of answer for today's economy. That answer is wrong. The guy with the hammer looks at everything as needing a good pounding. The lawyer wants new laws, The candlestick maker thinks we will all benefit from having a little more light shed on the subject.


The solution is not going to happen with these answers. Real knowledge has taught us that Love Is The Answer to all questions. We might do ourselves a real favor by mentally disengaging and putting all the questions on the desk and having our Inner Cupid review them.

We used to be better informed by the journalism in our country. Once, TV and radio news had integrity. But that integrity came with a budget. That's no longer the case.

News isn't being covered today with anywhere the same integrity as it was just three decades ago - it has devolved - because corporate owners decided to cut costs. This made them look good to numbers crunchers, but cheated shareholders and eliminated salaries for the reporters, editors, watch dogs.

You don't get the real news any more because there's no one there to cover it, the newsroom is all but empty, except for a few babysitters of the automated equipment.

This is unacceptable, yet goes without protest from the general public.

But, what if we threw out the answers, wiping the blackboard clean? The answers we have aren't working. Perhaps we can ponder the questions once more, this time, not being so hasty to jump to conclusions, but rather remain with them and ponder a while longer.

Maybe answers aren't what is called for here. How can a situation be resolved when it is always in motion?

The following is what will amount to a difficult experiment for some. The test is whether or not you can immerse yourself in the following Top-40 questions WITHOUT ANSWERING THEM. Just let them be there, acknowledge them, but do not answer. Here we go:

Do you consider yourself poor?
Do you label yourself as a loser for not making enough money?
Are you a loser?
Are you affected by our country's Downward Slide?
Do you have a certain goal towards wealth in mind, or simply the hazy term "richer?"
What does the loss of middle class status mean to you? Your family?
What was your idea of middle class?
How much is "more than enough?"
How is wealth measured? In money only?
Is there someone so much more rich that it unsettles you?
How much of your wanting more is fear based?
How much thought each day do you give your lack of wealth?
How much thought each day do you give your surfeit of wealth?
Is there such a thing for you as enough wealth?
What does the driving force to acquire more feel like?
Does the ambition for more riches make you happy?
What does the term super-rich mean to you?
Should anybody be able to get a decent paying job?
How many jobs should you have? Should your spouse work?
Do you have adequate insurance?
Do you now have to carefully manage money for groceries, utilities, rent, gasoline?
Is Big Business being fair with their fellow Americans?
Is the Democratic System broken? Is it the Administration's fault? Congress?
Is it your fault that you're not as wealthy as you once were?
Do you have an opinion on unions?
What are fair taxes?
Is Wall Street trustworthy? Should it be more tightly regulated?
Does it bother you that your fellow Americans surrendered to Big
    business without a fight?
What is your description of being poor?
Would you give an employee a raise? Why? Why not?
What are your feelings  - pro or con - on monopolies? Are you able to express them?
Is it OK with you that wages have remained stagnant for the past 30 years?
Have you given up your idealistic principles in the pursuit of more money?
Are you waiting for someone else to make the first move?
Would it be OK with you to Have Everything while your fellow citizens Have Nothing?
If you care about others' financial situations as well as your
    own, what would you do to get the economy rolling?
Do you feel 200 million citizens is a majority over the several hundred in
    our congress and Senate?
Is your comfort zone so cozy you won't leave it to help bring back a
    balance to the world's greatest nation, or can you still move?
Is The American Dream all over? If so, can you make a new dream?
Do you feel lied to, betrayed?
Are you a victim or are you a participant in your own success?

Again - do not answer these questions immediately. Wait a couple of days, even a week or two. There is incredible pure action in the stillness of your being, trust this. Just having these questions right in front of your blazing awareness for any length of time ought to do more for genuine positive growth than any economic genius could hope. Let them roll around unanswered for awhile inside yourself and watch what happens.

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