church and state, part 1

     The oldest description we have of the problems that can arise between church and state is in the Bible. The ancient people of the Bible had a priesthood, which became hereditary--only the sons of priests became priests. The priests were the only authority--they performed religious rites, but they were also the only government the people knew. Eventually the people wanted a king. They had encountered other people who had a king, and wanted one of their own. They got their king--but it didn't take long for the priests and the king to disagree over what the people should do. This is the oldest record of a conflict between church and state that I know of, and the conflict continues today--not just in our own country, but everywhere.
      Many "religious" people don't believe that they can support the state and be faithful members of their religion.  People who believe in supporting the state usually also believe that religion and the state can peacefully coexist. Both of these groups need to  understand one another better.

foreign exchange

     Foreign exchange is not all that difficult. Most people are just not used to thinking about it. Each country has its own money. You recognize American money--the green stuff with the pictures of American presidents and other founders of our nation. You can only spend American money in America. If you travel to another country, you have to "exchange" your American money for the local currency. The "exchange rate" at the time you make the "exchange" determines how much foreign currency you will get for your American dollars. The "exchange rate" changes frequently--the business that "exchanges" your money will have the latest rates. When you leave the foreign country, you can "exchange" any foreign currency you still have ( the money you didn't spend ) for American dollars again. That is how "foreign exchange" works on a personal level.
    What goes on between nations--foreign "trade"-- determines the exchange rate. On a fundamental level, you can't spend any money but the local currency, anywhere. So the only reason anyone would want American dollars, for example, would be because they want to spend them on something American. There would have to be something in America that they want to buy. Since there are laws everywhere, the something they want to buy would have to be something that our government and theirs would permit. It really is as simple as "trade" when you understand it. If we don't have any "stuff" that someone else wants, then our money is of no use to them. If another country doesn't have any "stuff" that we want, then their money is no use to us. Foreign exchange becomes more complex when we sell something to a foreign country, but we don't want to buy anything from them. Then we have "currency" ( even if the deal isn't made in cash ) from a foreign country, but nothing to spend it on. What happens next is more "exchanging"--we buy something we want from another nation, and pay them with the foreign currency. They may want the foreign currency because the nation it comes from has something they want. Or they may continue to "trade" both goods and currency, until each country has made a deal for something it wants.
     If a country has nothing to export ( sell to foreign nations )--either because it is too poor, or because no one wants what it has in surplus--it becomes very difficult, if not impossible to import ( buy from a foreign nation ) anything. It is called "foreign trade" for a reason. If there is really nothing to buy, no one will want the country's currency--so no one can sell them anything.  This leaves some countries, especially in this age of  technology, much poorer than others.

commission

     Many salespeople still work on a commission basis--something many of us were taught while shopping with our parents. Now that we are beginning the "shopping season" it may be a useful thing to understand. Commission means that the salesperson is paid a percentage of everything he or she sells. The wages of people who work on commission are often very low--and sometimes non-existent. They may get 4% of each sale they make, plus a small hourly wage. When an item is returned, the salesperson has to return the 4%. People often complain that salespeople are "following" them or that the salesperson seems "suspicious". These salespeople are probably just trying to make sure that the person they have been helping comes to them when they decide to buy something. If one salesperson helps a woman by bringing things into the fitting room, looking for different sizes, and offering suggestions, that salesperson expects that when the woman makes up her mind, she will buy the item from the salesperson who has been helping her. Otherwise the person who just stood at the cash register will get the 4%, and the salesperson who was helpful will get nothing.
     While shopping, if you can reassure a salesperson that you understand this--by repeating his or her name --or by otherwise showing that you have noticed him or her--you will find that the salesperson doesn't "hover" any more.

alphabetization

     Alphabetization means arranging words by order of their place in the alphabet. An alphabetized list begins with all of the words or names that start with the letter "A".  Then all of the words beginning with the letter "A" are arranged by the order of the second letter in each word--then the third letter, and so on, until each word in the entire list, no matter how long the list is, is arranged by order of the alphabet. This makes it easy to find any item on a long list. A computer can find something on a list for you, but if you need to search a list yourself, for any reason--taking attendance, checking off assignments turned in--alphabetizing the list will make the task much easier. Still wishing for an "app", or application that would alphabetize the items in a list for me.

Note--an old alphabetization "glitch" you may still run into--once upon a time, people were taught to put all of the names beginning with "Mc" at the beginning of the "M" list--ahead of the "Ma's". This made little sense, as the letter "C" would already go in between the "Ma" and the "Me". Anyone searching a list of names would need to look in both places, not knowing which "system" of alphabetization was being used. Most people now put names beginning with "Mc" in between "Ma" and "Me". There wasn't any need for the exception in the first place, and it makes it easier for someone else to find a file, or a name on a list.

Note #2--names beginning with "Mc" or "Mac" used to be so commonly confused that a type of scam was named after them--a "micmac" .
 

command and demand economies

     A lot of talk and writing about different political systems really ought to address different economic systems. Here in the United States, you may have heard the word "demand" used in the context of economics. Our producers are independent, and believe that they are manufacturing or importing goods according to the "demand" or will of the buying public. They decide what to manufacture or import based on what they believe the public will want--when the goods are produced. When they are wrong, the public doesn't buy the goods, or will only buy them at a discount. There is a  certain amount of financial risk involved--the public may not want the goods until they are reduced by 90%, for instance--but these losses are accounted for in the prices of the goods people do buy.   
      In a "command" economy, the means of production are owned by the state, which decides what should be produced, according to the anticipated needs of the people--what the people will need, when the goods are produced. This has been a popular economic system where goods were short and tough decisions had to be made, as there would be much less waste of goods and resources. There are also fewer choices for consumers--an odd notion to us-- we are used to many choices when we buy, and believe that offering a lot of choices is how to sell things. "Command " economies owe some of their good waste record to a general shortage of goods--when there is little to buy, consumers will eventually buy all of it, out of plain need--new shoes because old ones have holes, and so on.
     These are "textbook" examples. Most economic systems are really a mixture of these ideas. Our "demand" economy is subject to government regulation. A "command" economy may feel the pressure of the "demands" of the buying public. 
     Where the means of production are owned by the state, the people consider this a form of ownership by the people--there is no stock market, and no stock prices to rise or fall with business decisions.     
       We call a corporation owned by stockholders "publicly owned"--shares of the corporation are sold on the stock exchange, and protecting the price of shares is part of business decisions.
     This is a very basic outline. It becomes even more complicated when two countries want to trade with one another, and their economic systems are different.

omniscience

     Omniscience, as in being all-knowing, is usually attributed only to God, by people who believe in God. An argument to keep the theologians off the streets, I suppose. If you have been reading something, and the subject of omniscience is introduced, it may refer to omniscience in its literary form. When we say that an author is "omniscient", we mean that the author is privy even to the thoughts and beliefs of his or her characters. We know this because the author tells us when he or she tells us what the character is thinking. Some stories use dialog to tell us what the character thinks--we are privy conversations that happen when we are not there. But omniscience means we hear even the innermost thoughts and feelings--as if the author were a supernatural being or a god. After all, an author can create beings ( in print ), and do away with them mercilessly ( in print ). That matches a lot of notions people have about God or gods.

the right to keep and bear arms

     The "right to keep and bear arms" is guaranteed to American citizens by the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The argument starts when people disagree over what precisely is meant by keeping and bearing arms. For the purposes of the second amendment, most liberals decide that "keeping and bearing arms" means the right to have state militias ( like the National Guard ). Their argument is based on American history. The American colonists, before America won its war of independence from Great Britain ( England), had been drilling as soldiers--they called themselves "minutemen". The idea was to be ready to fight with only a minute's notice. They told the British this was in case they needed to fight the Indians. The British did not believe them, and moved on the guns and ammunition the colonists had stored at Lexington and Concord. This is what the famous poem "Paul Revere's Ride" describes, and it began the American Revolution. The colonists defended their stores of arms, and turned back the British army.  The battles of Lexington and Concord were immortalized in another poem, as "the shot heard 'round the world".
     The conservatives, for the purposes of the second amendment, have decided that the law is not to be "interpreted", and means just what it says--the "right to keep and bear arms".
     We, the people, as the authors of our own government, have the right to make and to change our own laws. This is what our elected representatives do for us. We regulate a lot of things, through the governments we have made, and certainly we have the "right" to pass laws regulating gun ownership and use. But wishing or believing doesn't make it so, and this time, the gun advocates are on legal high ground. Our laws are written in English ( or should be--a topic for another day ), and should not be subject to "interpretation", which means, in general, translating from a foreign language. Especially not when some laws are "interpreted", for some purposes, and other laws are taken as written. The idea of written law is important--so important that we should not permit anyone to chip away at it when it suits the purposes of the moment. Written laws mean that none of us are subject to the whims of a king or dictator--only to the laws made by our fellow citizens. The ideal is a "government of laws, not men". We the people made the laws, through our elected legislatures. We have set up courts to administer the laws--not to make laws, or even to decide what a law "means". If we cannot decide what a law "means", we need to urge our legislators to enact a new law--with a plain meaning. If we decide that we want the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution changed, we have to do that ourselves--with a new amendment to the Constitution. If one amendment to the U.S. Constitution can be "interpreted", all of the constitution is in danger of the same. If one law can be "interpreted", they might all be "interpreted"--and the government made by "we the people" won't really exist.
   

what is a token?

     A token is an item that stands for something else. The most common tokens we might encounter are coins minted for use in an arcade, a laundromat, or a public bus. People buy the tokens, and use them instead of cash, or because machines won't take anything but tokens. Technically this is called a "limited means of exchange"--it can only be used in the machines for which it was manufactured.
      The word token also is sometimes used to mean a symbol--something that stands for an idea--as a ring might be a token of an engagement. In this way token sometimes refers to a souvenir or memento.
     A "token sum" means an amount of money so insignificant that it is taken as a mere symbol that a professional or business transaction has occurred with the payment of it--a dollar, for example.
     In the 1970's, employers were accused of hiring  "token" minorities. If they hired one black, for example, they thought that no one could accuse them of unfair hiring practices. The one black employee might be referred to as a "token" minority, or a "token" black--meant only as a symbol that the hiring practices were fair. Further investigation sometimes proved that this was not the case--that the hiring practices were unfair to minorities.

horsepower

     Car engines are still described in terms of horsepower. Which means, well, horsepower--as in how many horses would you have to hitch to your wagon to get the same amount of power that the particular engine can deliver. If an engine is described as "300 hp", the manufacturer is claiming that it is as powerful as 300 horses hitched together. I'm not sure that anyone has ever hitched 300 horses together, but you get the point. The term has not become obsolete, as people now use it to compare one engine with another, instead of comparing the engines to horses, as they might have done 100 years ago.

can the federal government go bankrupt?

     Can the federal government go bankrupt? Well, yes and no. The government can always print more money, so it can't really run out of cash. Of course, if the government prints a lot of extra money, the money already in circulation will be devalued--it won't be worth as much, depending on how much money the government prints.  You may have heard that a thing is worth what the seller can get  for it--witness the price of things on an auction site. But the reverse is also true--money is worth what you can get with it. Older people reading this can remember how much the price of things has changed over the years.  When the price of everything changes, it seems more like the value of money has changed. It's called inflation. As soon as enough prices go up, employees want and need higher wages--then employers raise prices to cover the wage increase-- and the "spiral" continues.
     We have not had inflation in the United States the way that some other countries have--if inflation is still the right term for it. A money crisis is probably a better description. No one wanted the money--you couldn't buy anything with it, prices were going up so fast. This happened in Germany after World War I and before World War II ( between the wars ). The people were reduced to a barter system--they traded things with one another, because if they took money they couldn't be sure what it would be worth, even later that same day. Why was the money worthless? Basically, because the people believed that it was--it's impossible to separate faith and economics in some ways--faith meaning belief that the paper with old-fashioned engravings can get you something to eat and keep a roof over your head.  When enough people believe that the money is worthless, it is. When enough people believe that a stock is worthless, it is. When enough people believe that the government is powerless, or basically defunct, it is.

the stock market game

    In high school, both as a a student and as a teacher, I have played the "stock market game". It's an interesting way to learn about the stock market, and you don't need to be in school to do it. Just get some pretend money--any amount you like. You won't need to use the money from a board game, you can just pretend the money on a sheet of paper, or in an email draft or other computer note. Then, spend the money to buy stock. It will make looking at the stock market news interesting. Keep the stock as long as you like. You may sell your stock when you want to, and use the proceeds to invest in another stock. You can invest all of your money in one stock, or you may buy several different stocks. Remember that you didn't actually "make" or "lose" any money, unless you have sold the stock at a profit or a loss. Keep track of how much money you make--or lose. Your gains or losses will probably not be so dramatic that you retire to the Riviera or go bankrupt. But you will find the financial news much more interesting and easier to understand.

paper and plastic

     People get excited about using less paper because paper comes from trees. It doesn't actually grow on trees, but trees are cut down to make it. The wood from the trees is ground into a pulp, mixed with water, and pressed into paper or cardboard.  The paper manufacturers plant more trees, so paper is considered a "renewable" resource. But trees grow slowly, and if we use too much paper, some people think forests will need to be cut down to make it. So we try to recycle the paper, and to use less of it to begin with.
     Plastic, including styrofoam packaging, is made from oil. That's right, oil. Oil is not considered a "renewable" resource. After we get all the oil out of all the oil wells on the Earth, there just won't be any more oil.  Many people prefer to use paper packaging when they have a choice--so the oil will last longer--maybe long enough to find another way to fuel cars and generate electricity--which is where most of the oil goes.
    

status quo ante bellum

     "Status quo ante bellum" is a Latin phrase you might encounter in a history book.  It means "the state of things before the war". As part of the terms of a peace treaty, it means that no territory will change hands--the borders will be where they were before the war began.  Most wars are fought by countries that are next to one another, so during the war one army might have taken over the other country's territory.  A peace treaty in which the two countries agree to the "status quo ante bellum" means that the occupying army will have to retreat from the neighboring country. This might seem like the two countries have fought a war to no purpose, but there might be other concessions made to the "winner"--if there is a winner. Sometimes both countries just agree to stop fighting, conceding nothing.

E=MC 2

     E=MC 2 ( reads  eee equals em cee squared ) is one of the bits of science and philosophy that has made it into popular culture. The most unlikely people seem to like to argue about it. On a basic level, it is really not difficult to understand. E=MC 2 is a formula, or equation. It describes the relation of mass ( stuff ) to energy. It describes how mass is converted into energy--as it is when we burn a log to produce heat, or use the burning log to fuel a steam engine. The mass of the log is converted into heat when it is burned. This heat may be used to make steam to fuel an engine or generator. Energy is produced from mass in other ways, as when scientists "split" the atom. To Einstein, on some level, an atomic level, all the ways that mass can be converted into energy were the same. We seem to get different levels of energy only because the systems we have invented to produce the energy, or to make use of the energy, are different.

credit and debit

     Too many people don't understand the difference between credit cards and debit cards. A debit card lets you access the money in your bank account--money you have put in the bank, or which your employer has sent directly to the bank instead of paying you by check. This is called direct deposit. It is just a paycheck, sent automatically to the bank. Debit cards work like checks--if you don't have any money in your account, they are no good.
     Using a credit card is different. A credit card allows you to borrow money to make a purchase. If you pay the bill every month, you may pay little or no interest. If you permit the account to "revolve"--by making only the minimum payment--you may wind up paying substantial interest. You can get what you want without waiting until you have the money, but there's a fee, and it can be expensive.

what is a welfare state?

    The phrase "welfare state" is sometimes used by writers who don't seem to understand its original meaning. A "welfare state" is a country in which the government is responsible for taking care of everyone, from cradle to grave. In the United States, our government does take responsibility for some basic needs--such as elementary education and Social Security--but not others--such as health care. In a real "welfare state", the government would always be the employer of last resort ( the government would provide a job for anyone who didn't have one ). In a real "welfare state", the government would guarantee health benefits to everyone, and college to everyone who could pass the entrance exams. In a real "welfare state", the government would be paying for sick leave, maternity leave, and disability. Our government does not do these things.
    No government has money that it didn't tax its citizens to get--so it's really up to the voters or the public in each country to decide how much "welfare" their government should provide.At least in a "welfare state", everyone would have the same benefits.

sheriff

     I once mentioned the sheriff in front of someone who told me there was no such thing anymore--as if the last sheriff disappeared with the Old West, like in the movies. Yes, there are still sheriffs in America. As far as I know, every county has a sheriff--including urban counties, like Philadelphia. The sheriff is elected--you can read the campaign posters if you don't believe me. One of the things the sheriff does is impanel juries. If you have ever been called for jury duty, you received a letter from the sheriff's department. Sheriff's sales are another job done by the sheriff's department. You don't have to take my word for it--your local sheriff  may have a web site you can visit.

Wall Street

     Wall Street is the site of the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE ). This is one of the busiest places where stocks and bonds are bought and sold. It is also one of the most famous. One of the reasons that stock is sold is to raise money to start a business. Investors can buy "stock" in the business--they own a "share" of the business, as long as they own the stock. When they sell the stock, they have sold their "share" in the business. They may sell the stock or "share" for more than they paid for it, and make a profit. If they sell the stock or "share" for less than they paid for it, they have lost money on that investment.
     One of the things that can go wrong with the buying and selling of stock is too much speculation. Speculation is like gambling--the only reason people are involved is to make a quick profit, instead of investing for retirement, or hoping for gains when they sell the stock years later. Any person, or group of persons, with a large sum of money to invest can make a profit on the small daily fluctuations in the price of stock--if they invest enough. If a stock's price goes up only ten cents a share, that may mean a large profit to someone with ten million dollars worth of stock to sell--stock they might have bought earlier the same day.  Too much of this behavior, and too much profit from it, alters business for the worse. Stock prices, and profits from stock deals, become more important than profits from doing business.  The "shares"of stock  were part ownership of a business --a business that now worries more about stock prices than about making better products or employing more people.
     A stock exchange is an invention. It is one way to start a business with little or no capital ( money, or the capacity to get it ). A stock exchange was not meant to be a casino, although many people use it that way.

what is a strike?

     A strike means a refusal to work. People employed in one factory, or in one industry, decide together, usually as a "union" to refuse to work unless their employers meet the strikers' demands. The strikers may want better pay, but they might also want safer working conditions. Strikes after someone has been killed or seriously injured on a job were once common. We have better labor safety laws now, but people sometimes still strike over safety issues.
     It hasn't always been legal to strike in the United States--or to form a union. No one could make the strikers go back to work, but any demonstration, including peaceful picketing, might have been countered with violence--both official and unofficial. Employers might hire roughnecks to fight with the strikers--then the police would be called. The US Army has been used to disperse striking workers. So it hasn't always been about a pay raise.
    Now we have a law that permits workers to form unions and to bargain collectively. This law is from the 1930's. Before that, unions were considered subversive and dangerous. If workers went on strike, they might have all lost their jobs to people hired to fill in until the strike was over--often called "scabs" by the workers.
    A "general strike" means all of the workers go on strike in support of one another. This has happened in England, but not in the United States, although separate unions here sometimes support one another when one union is on strike. The 'General Strike of 1919' is on that you can search if you want to read more. London's workers--called "labor" tried to bring the city to halt. Young ladies and gentlemen supposedly helped "break" the strike by driving the trolleys and delivering the mail.

don't mix these up

    Two things not to be confused--the American flag, which is sometimes called "Old Glory", and sometimes called "The Stars and Stripes" or "The Star-Spangled Banner". You'll know it by the red and white stripes, with a blue rectangle in the top left corner containing 50 stars--one for each state of the union that makes up the United States of America. Not to be confused with the "Stars and Bars"--also called "Dixie"--the flag raised by the southern states when they made war on the United States government by besieging a federal fort and firing on it. This flag is red with a blue "X" across the entire rectangle. The blue "X" has white stars in it.

hydroelectric power

    I recently read a long article on new forms of  technology for generating electricity--without a mention of hydroelectric power.  If  I were sponsoring scientists, this is what I'd want them to be working on. Hydroelectric power means harnessing the power of running or moving water. It is why we built the great dams at public expense--the water flowing over them could be used to generate electricity, with minimal expense and minimal pollution. Current technology only uses swiftly running water--but perhaps with research, technologists could learn how to harness slow-moving water to generate electricity--like the rivers so many cities are built on. Someday technologists may learn to generate power from the waves of the ocean, or ocean currents. Anything that moves naturally , like the wind and moving water, could be used to generate power--the same way it was used in windmills and water-powered mills. It could be powering an electric generator instead of a moving millstone.

matter can neither be created nor destroyed

    " Matter can neither be created nor destroyed" seems to have become a bit of barroom philosophy--I do not understand why. No matter, it has a plain and simple meaning--to a physicist or scientist. To a physicist, matter is atoms--what stuff, or "matter" is made of. If we burn a log, say, we have "destroyed" the log, but at an atomic level, the atoms of carbon, and the other elements which made up the log have merely been converted to some other form. The atoms are all still there. We don't have the log anymore, but there are carbon atoms in the atmosphere, and ashes in the fireplace. On an atomic level, we do not make or "create" matter, either. We may melt metal in a foundry to make car parts, but we didn't "create" the stuff out of which the metal was made--we dug it up out of the earth--from a mine. We didn't "create" it, but only altered its form. No human has ever "made" an atom.