Is $15 a Good Investment in AIER.org (American Institute for Economic Research) to support their work? I was going to say yes, and still will but for a different reason.

I enjoyed taking some programs that were offered a few years ago with Maia Conty and others focusing on Women and Economics.Maybe it'a a forum with varying opinions on many economic topics. They have a guide about colleges (indexes of bang for your buck..based on many factors) and which ones have good results for students to find work, places where they actually end up working and so on.

It is a non-profit and well funded, but likely having more members show the funders there is need, interest and value in their research and offering their views. I was not too thrilled to read an article on defunding the arts (as Trump has proposed) even though the ideas to keep culture separate from the state and perhaps keep bureaucrats out of the arts are worth debating.

The numbers they share is that $128 million goes into the National Endowment for the Arts when they raise a great deal more through private and business donors. I want to post before this may get deleted 'by chance' (which has happened a few times and I don't quite know how.

Kind of reminds me of the funds that could get deleted from the arts and many non-profits which often spur many times the amount of their investments in economic growth --folks wanting to visit or live in an area, dining, shopping and schmoozing and taking classes and writing the next great American novel, play, musical composition, or creating other great works of arts and having future generations inspired and emboldened to face difficult challenges we likely are counting on Them to solve reliably.)

After reading an article from the AIER.org from a guest writer about the health care industry which explored the lack of real competition, I wrote the following.

I cover a lot of ideas on my blog which I've heard from many disciplines. Our schools for instance started in part to produce factory workers who would show up in a timely manner to do assembly line work, starting at a very young age.

Thankfully we are realizing over the decades that while 'kids are people too' they are not miniature adults who should have to work hours on end. Yet many young children are currently looking at lives of early daycare and schooling, often to help their parent(s) be able to work.

The social bonds and community connections have shifted dramatically even over the last few decades. Many people in charge and of course parents who should be weighing in significantly are not considering many important aspects.

Then the reality that many (about half) of legal marriages and of parents with children go court (divorce, custody or both) which can make legal rules for who will see each of the children when. No one in mainstream talks about that either yet everyone should have a clear understanding of fair options for making critical plans for Any Family regarding the care and upkeep of a family, housing, transportation, school and work options, and of course, 'care and supervision of the children.'

Often it is not either parent caring for even infants and young children, so the parenting mostly becomes a matter of making decisions, plans and arranging transportation to and from activities if they are not able to do so .

That is One Area of our Shared Social Experience which also factors into the local economy. Medical health is primarily a concern for midlife ad ults (other than pregnancies) yet that too can take center stage for many to afford medicine and care. Insurance is Everyone's Concern just to be Able to get into a doctor's office (and hopefully get basic care).

Unfortunately, the job of doctors is not to PREVENT sickness, predictable conditions like obesity, diabetes or diabesity, smoking, alcoholism and a host of other common major ailments costing individuals and society a bundle and a half. The other Major Secret in our Society is the Prevalence and High Cost of Abuse and Violence against Women and Children.

Well, for more ideas see my blog,which I don't know I can list here, but search these topics and consider as Barry Goldstein has written books on, about how much we could Save by addressing the issues in clear, consistent ways. I would like to see major education in schools and communities to help prevent bullying and hold more people accountable for 'getting away with ignorance, denial or participation' in an many forms of abuse from personal to group and more societal and systemic.

If we Tried to do a few more things right early on to work toward safety, health and fair education (not forcing young children to learn too early or in high-pressured way) then we could likely have many happier healthier people (the two often go together.)

Free daycare for all infants would truly take a load off all parents financially and ideally other family members could volunteer (or possibly get paid) for assisting and caring for groups of children, This practice is more common in various groups around the world and would be akin to a family setting.

Thanks for getting the ball rolling. Just tracking how one does spend time, talent (listening and sharing ideas, actions, efforts, volunteer hours, family, work etc) and treasure (sharing what one has within reason and not accruing too much liability, donations or offering work to others--as is legal and appropriate, and networking reasonably such as through public speaking groups, faith groups without a radical agenda or historic stance pressuring people into legal arrangements--with such erratic and often corrupt systems-- that may not actually serve them--including marriage, parenthood or other major social roles.