There's a sense that a lot of us have that our public policy ought to be aiming to produce large gains for everyone. You often hear that for one reason or another the United States "can't afford" this or that. We "can't afford" to pay people Social Security benefits. We "can't afford" to build high-speed trains. We "can't afford" to give everyone early childhood education. But why can't we afford this stuff? Are we a poor country? No, we're not. We're one of the richest countries that's ever existed. Are we a poorer country than we used to be? No, we're not. But a very large share of the gains we've made over the past three decades have gone to a relatively small number of people. If the gains had been broadly shared, then the burden of paying for that basic infrastructure and public services would have to be very broadly shared. But the gains have been very concentrated, and so if we're going to afford that stuff, a large share of the revenue has to come from the people who've gotten the money.

That's not envy, that's math.

Monday morning - check my email. File some stuff, delete some spam posts from some blogs I maintain. The weekend was sort of quiet - but then I did turn comments off on a couple of sites that were just getting spammed over and over.

Financial - check the business bank account - by noon or so usually the accounts are updated. What did we receive, from clients, affiliates - what checks cleared, who do I have to pay today? Who owes us? Who do I need to remove from my sites, etc?

Check the forum - anything wrong? Approve new users. Need to make a post for someone who needs help. Need to publish the advertorial for a couple of new advertisers...

Stats - Google Analytics, over 20+ sites to glance over (not counting clients) - things seem pretty normal. Probably come back to this later in more depth.

AdSense - how much money did we make over the weekend? Is it up or down? Anything glaring stick out?

Affiliate sales - check a few of the more major and/or interesting ones - need to add more to many sites.

My to do list - continually expanding. There is a ton of development to do on my own websites and blogs. Then I have several clients sites to consider on a near daily basis (spam, form submissions, SEO, etc.). Plus actual new production work - there is a website to be converted into a new CMS, etc. And another who wants an estimate for the same kind of work. And another - now that I think about it! Must add that to the to do list.

Overseeing a project at the moment that I have a freelancer on for one of my own sites - need to check on that and her too.

Clients - not only website work, but consulting and marketing. I'm in charge of an affiliate program for a sport shoe retailer. Need to check their stats, ad spending, new affiliate applications, etc. Need to come up with a proposal for a similar client in Tennessee.

Caribmart.com - my map shop for Caribbean maps. Need to check inventory and look over the weekend sales.

And that is just a taste. That is Monday, and then most mornings of the week. I usually end up only getting any real "new" work done on holidays and weekends. Most of the time is just spent making sure clients and customers are happy and that something isn't falling apart, broken, spammed, out of stock, etc. Plus I need to make sure the server is running!

There has to be a better way...

Well I read a lot, and one thing I have learned since the crisis is that there are many people who talk/write/pontificate on all of these matters, and that unfortunately most of them are wrong, and yes - friends, family and acquaintances you should stop listening to them!

Maybe in the future I will list all the people and media channels that are mostly wrong (that is a long list and will take a lot of time) - but now I just want to mention a few that have been right: Joe Stieglitz, Paul Krugman, and Dean Baker.

Here is a recent paragraph from Baker, dismantling yet another commenter who says we are (or will be) Greece:

"In short, the comparison with Greece is utterly baseless. People are making this comparison to advance their agenda for cutting Social Security and Medicare. It absolutely should not be taken seriously."

"It absolutely should not be taken seriously" - we all need to know this, and be able to tell people why.

And I don't want to hear about politics, left, right, center, etc. The three economists I mentioned have been right on the facts for years. They are right, as in factually correct. This isn't opinion. The people who have (and continue to be!) wrong may scream louder and get on TV more, but that only makes them even more dangerous for the rest of us. It doesn't make them right. You (friends, family, acquaintances) need to get right too. We're running out of time on this mess, and there just isn't any excuse not to know the facts.

― Henry Moore