economicmultipliers_124

Economic Multipliers (124)

Do you know what these are?

They help CREATE wealth in systems.

Understanding the nature of racism better could be a huge economic multiplier for the United States.

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An NBA owner might lose ‘his team’ because of comments he made related to race. He has a history of hiring people who discriminate in some other areas so it is easy for me to stay out of the debate tied to any decisions that get made surrounding him.

Initially, I commented that it seemed like he had hired a general manager for ‘his team’ who did not discriminate and for him, that might have been the closest he could come to not being racist.

Do you like everyone? I don’t. I don’t even wish I did. Some people aren’t worth liking. I wish they were.

George Clooney is engaged to be married. Why is that relevant to this conversation?

Although I could never have seriously dated George Clooney (his world is much more ‘worldly’ than mine), if our lives had crossed paths, I would have liked to have been asked out. Even as I would have liked that, I do not think he would have ever asked.

If I attended a dinner event that George Clooney was at, I do not think he would ask me to sit at his table. I would expect him to be hobnobbing with the likes of Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt. I don’t think they’d invite me to sit at their table either.

If I didn’t get asked to sit at their table or they didn’t want to sit at mine, I wouldn’t call any of them sexist. I wouldn’t call any of them racist. I wouldn’t say or believe that they had any particular bias against rather plain looking slightly overweight people. Likewise, I would not expect them to want to have their picture taken with me.

Based upon his private comments, the owner of the NBA team does seem to have a problem with color and/or race.

Are the biases that he expressed relevant in a world where everyone has some sort of biases?

If this man does anything to ruin your reputation … if he does anything to specifically harm you … if he does anything to keep you from making a living or getting a job based on your abilities … if he does anything to prevent you from getting a good education or doing your job well … if he does anything to keep you from living in nice housing in a safe neighborhood … if he does anything to prevent you from getting a loan based on your credit-worthiness or … if he does anything that makes you feel unsafe … THEN you have a problem.

People say the worst things all the time in private. If they are lucky, the people around them in private tell them how wrong their attitudes and comments are and how quickly they can get into trouble if their private thoughts become public actions (or public words).

If a nation is lucky, everyone laughs about how ‘dated’ problem attitudes are and isn’t it a good thing that we live in the 21st Century … not the 19th.

Recognize that it is PUBLIC actions which have a direct impact on you that are cause for concern.

Before you think someone else is racist (even if they are), ask yourself if you personally:

• have ever done something to ruin someone else’s reputation,

• have ever done anything purposely that would harm another person (physically, mentally or emotionally),

• have ever prevented someone from making a living or getting a job based on their abilities,

• do anything to prevent others from getting a good education or doing their job well,

• prevent others from living in nice housing in safe neighborhoods (which includes personally creating or bringing problems into neighborhoods),

• prevent others from getting loans based on credit-worthiness, or

• do anything that makes others feel unsafe.

Those things can be considered crimes. They are things that make communities and nations weaker.

If you live in a community where people are willing to commit crimes, THEN you have a problem.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to have lots of money or own some team to engage in any of these behaviors although money and ownership can create ‘unequal weight.’

If you live in a community where people have biases (that they do not act upon) and they unfortunately express those biases in private, you are living in the Garden of Eden (a Biblical reference to a problem-less time with unlimited bounty).

If any nation’s or group’s adults can find ways to diffuse comments which would make that nation or group weaker, IF they were acted upon, they will have taught their children that they want them to have more, be more and become more AND how to do it.

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P.S. I forgot to congratulate George Clooney. My wish for the happy couple is that 40 years from now, they look into each other's eyes and tell each other how happy they are that they were able to take life's journey together.