In 2010, I am doing the Screwing!

Yeah, you read that right. That statement came from lessons learned from 2009. Here it is...there are two categories of people in the world 1. Those being screwed 2. Those doing the screwing. A friend did ask me, does being screwed mean being poor? Well, it may well be. But poverty has many definitions...

The engineer with 3 million dollars in 401k and 40 years of service is not poor but he comes scared to work everyday, not knowing if he has a job in this period of economic uncertainty in the world. That is a different kind of poverty. It is poverty of job security! Poverty of freedom, poverty of time, poverty of money, poverty of ideas, poverty of relationships

there are different kinds of poverty. And make no mistake, it is the non-money kind of poverty that sticks to a majority of us in the educated class.

At the end of the day we all have to decide if we intend to escalate the kind of poverty we've been inflicted with to the next generation. Assuming you have the poverty of time, do you want your child to live with that liability? What of poverty of ideas? Is that all okay by you? 

This is especially true in the capitalist system (sorry, commies) where there is a requirement for stabilizers that allow a small cadre of poor people to escape poverty and expand the market for the capitalists (those doing the screwing!). Generally speaking, that stabilizer is called education matched with opportunity for the new capitalists (thank God!) and welfare for the continued impoverished (or those who plan to take it and never move on).

That is why I believe President B.H. Obama when he said in his state of the union  and I quote that.."In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program is a world class education!". Well just before you sign off, the only poverty that education releases you from is a poverty of opportunity! No the question is...will you make use of that opportunity to exit the other kinds of poverty?

Make yours...

P.S: Had a helluva trip to West Africa. Accra, Abuja and Warri are gorgeous. Lagos as usual needs more work. Funny he is the only one actually working! Do they have a government in Ibadan? Here are my pics...

Is she not cute?