How to get started with Amazon FBA

I've been selling on Amazon FBA for a few years now. I started with very little, and have grown my business into a nice income.

I am a member of many facebook groups, and this question often comes up: What do I need to get started on Amazon FBA?

First of all, you need to be ready to work our ass off. Lazy sellers fail every day. Aside from a strong will and motivation, there are some basic supplies you will need to get started.

• Avery re-positionable labels. Get the 5160 re-positionable, as they are the ones supported in Amazon Seller Central. You can get them on Amazon directly.
• Laser printer. Amazon hates inkjet printed labels because they tend to smear, even months after printing. You can get by starting out with an inkjet, just be sure to put scotch tape over the printed part of the label. I absolutely recommend getting a laser printer. You can get one on craigslist for under $50.
• Shipping tape. Don't get "packing" or "moving" tape. Get high quality shipping tape. The packing and moving tapes aren't quite as sticky or strong. You'd hate to have your inventory fall all over a UPS truck floor.
• Packing supplies. Bubble wrap, newspaper, paper bags, balloons, plastic bags, etc. Amazon forbids packing peanuts. Don't use them. Amazon will complain. Repeated use of packing peanuts can get your listing privileges suspended. Since I do a lot of shopping at retail stores, I have a ton of plastic shopping bags. I reuse them as packing material. I also use trash can liners for "air bubble" packing. You just have to tie 2 or 3 good knots in the bag for it to stay air tight.
• Scotty peelers. These handy little guys help with peeling off retail price stickers. If you do any retail arbitrage or buying from liquidation stores, they will come in handy. They are cheap, so there's really no excuse to waste your time using your fingernails. You'll be amazed at how quickly these bad boys remove stickers. You can buy them on Amazon directly.
• Goo Gone. This stuff can be purchase from Home Depot or Lowes. It is used to remove the "goop" left over after removing retail stickers. It also removes sharpie marker, crayon, and much more. You can also get a product called "Goof Off", but that stuff is very powerful. It also has quite a strong smell, so you have to use it in a well ventilated room, and you have to use latex gloves to protect your skin. I just use Goo Gone, as it doesn't require any skin protection or ventilation. It actually has a pleasant smell. In the event that you need something stronger, try using the alcohol based hand sanitizer. If it won't come off with that, it won't come off.
• Shipping boxes. I personally use the Home Depot small and medium moving boxes. They exceed Amazon's and UPS's box strength requirements. The medium boxes are just perfect for shipping without getting an oversize charge. When you send your inventory to Amazon FBA, Amazon gives you a significant discount on the shipping. I've had 49 lbs. medium home depot boxes going from Seattle to Chattanooga for $27. If you can fill up a medium home depot moving box and keep it just under 50 lbs., you will get the best possible price for shipping.
• Shipping scale. For your first few shipments, you can use the "bathroom scale" method. This method is: stand on your bathroom scale, note your weight, then stand on the scale with the box. Subtract your weight from the second total, and you have the weight of the box. Bathroom scales aren't as accurate as they need to be for long term FBA shipping, but it will do for your first "testing the waters" shipment. The best solution is to buy a shipping scale. I personally use the Weighmax 2822, 75 lb shipping scale. It uses a single 9v battery that lasts for months (also can use an included AC adaptor).
• Scouting App on your smartphone. If you're doing retail arbitrage, you will need a smartphone with a cellular data plan, a barcode scanner, and an scouting app. Scanpower has a very good app, if you're willing to pay a monthly subscription. But, a cheaper alternative is "Profit Bandit". It costs $15, one time fee. Profit bandit has a significant limitation of only 20 competitor listings, so you should always push the little Amazon "a" icon to visit the product listing to verify the buy box price. If you can't afford either of these, you can use the "Amazon price checker" app. It isn't a great alternative, but at least you can quickly look up an item and see some basic information. The limitation of the price checker app is that it doesn't give you the sales rank for most items, and it doesn't calculate your payout the way profit bandit and scanpower do. I strongly recommend using Profit Bandit or Scanpower.

Some additional supplies that will be helpful down the road:

•  Shrink Wrap and Polybags. Amazon requires extra prep for some items. Often, the extra prep involves shrink wrap or polybagging the item. Shrink wrapping requires an impulse sealer (the machine with the bar you press down that melts the plastic together) and a heat gun (or a good hair dryer). Polybags are simply thick, clear, plastic bags to protect an item and keep bundles together. All you need for polybagging is the bag itself, and some clear tape to seal it. Be sure to put the FBA label on the outside of the bag, not inside where it isn't scannable. For a short term shrink wrapping solution, try the UPS store or Office Depot. Some UPS Stores have the impulse sealers, others don't. Most Office Depot stores have impulse sealers. They do a nice job, and it's fairly cheap (I paid $1 per item), and they do everything including the heat gun shrinkage. When you do decide to buy an impulse sealer, be sure to get the 16" version. You can get by with a 12", but there are times when only a 16" will do, then you've got to run down to Office Depot, which is a pain.
• Dymo Labelwriter. In my not so humble opinion, the Dymo Labelwriter 450 is the best option for printing labels one at a time. It is also the most widely supported printer for third party apps (like scanpower and inventorylab). Just as with the avery labels, be sure to get the re-positionable labels. I use the 30334 repositionable labels, as they are supported in Seller Central's "scan and ship", as well as inventorylab. Because these labels are created using heat, you never have to buy ink or toner for these printers. They are also workhorses. I've printed up to 300 labels in a 3 hour period, and it never failed me. If you're doing this on a budget, try searching craigslist for "dymo". You can find them for $30 - $40, which is half the new price on Amazon.
• Barcode scanner for your prepping and shipping process. Once you really get into this, a barcode scanner will save you having to type in your UPC when listing your inventory and prepping it for shipment. I use this basic USB barcode scanner, and it works well for me.

You'll eventually need more prepping supplies. I encourage you to go on facebook and find groups dedicated to helping Amazon sellers. A few decent groups are: Amazon Sellers, Fulfillment By Amazon Sellers, and Thrifting for Profit. Please note that Amazon Sellers is an open group. As such, any questions you post there will be visible to your facebook friends. The other two are closed groups, so you can ask questions and participate without your friends seeing and judging.

A few tips on prepping and shipping:

•  Remove all retail stickers, especially price tags. Nothing will get you negative feedback faster than a customer who sees that you purchased an item on clearance and flipped it for a profit. There's nothing illegal or immoral about doing that. It's call capitalism. But some people would feel cheated, so please remember to remove all retail stickers.
• When taping a shipping box, be sure to get the flaps touching end to end. Apply the tape as demonstrated in the image. I tape it once over both flaps to get the flaps aligned and snug against each other, then 3 times the other way (along the seam of the flaps). Make sure you have 3 - 4 inches of tape on either side of the vertical side of the box.
• Make sure you put packing / cushioning material around anything fragile. If it is very fragile, perhaps it should be bubble wrapped and / or put in it's own box for storage at the fulfillment center.
• When you shake the box, nothing should move around. Keep in mind that your box will be severely manhandled by UPS. Slapping a "fragile" label on the box doesn't change how UPS handles it. If anything, a disgruntled worker might "accidentally" drop your box. Make sure you pack it in such a way that nothing will be damaged if the box is dropped from 2 feet in the air. You should also pack it to support other boxes on top of it. Remember: If your box is improperly packed, UPS won't take any responsibility for damage.
• When prepping your inventory, be sure every time is NEW. I don't mean eBay new, I mean Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus NEW. That's what Amazon customers expect. If it is dusty, or has goop on it, clean it off. Remove any sharpie markers or other markings using Goo Gone. When you put it in your FBA box for shipment, it must be in perfect condition. If it is not in perfect NEW condition, list is as another condition. Don't try to list anything that isn't in perfect condition as NEW. It isn't enough to list as new and put some warning in the condition notes. On Amazon, NEW MEANS NEW.
• Amazon isn't the place to sell expired ANYTHING. You cannot sell expired sunscreen, toner, ink, cookies, or anything else. Don't try it. You will get busted, and you could lose your selling privileges.
• If you are doing FBA or fulfilling orders yourself (Merchant Fulfilled or MF in seller parlance), DO NOT send your contact information or promotional materials with your shipment or inventory. Amazon absolutely forbids promotional material or contact information in FBA inventory or shipments you send directly to a customer. If you need to contact a customer, do so using Amazon's messaging center inside Seller Central. Even in the messaging center, DO NOT send any promotional material or contact information.
• You will need to collect and remit sales tax in your state, as well as any other state where you have "nexus". This essentially means any state where Amazon houses your FBA inventory. Amazon does a good job of calculating and collecting the taxes, but you have to give them your state sales tax information, and you have to remit the taxes to each state. It isn't a huge hassle, as most states only require yearly remittance for beginning sellers. The particulars of this are somewhat up in the air at the moment, as Congress seeks to pass a law to simplify the whole thing. The current bill has an exemption for sellers with under $1 million in sales, but there's no guarantee it will be in the final bill (if it passes at all). Even if the $1 million exemption is passed, Amazon is known for their "one size fits all" policies. It is very likely that they will require new-ish sellers to abide by the law, even if they have under $1 million in sales. If you also sell on eBay or Etsy, you'll need to start collecting and remitting sales tax in your "nexus" states on those platforms as well. If you have any questions, please ask a tax accountant or post a question on an FBA facebook group. I'm not an expert, and this should not be considered legal advice.

At the end of the day, you get what you put into this business. If you work hard, invest, and learn, you can succeed. In this business, effort pays off and laziness leads to failure. You don't have to be extremely business or internet savvy to make money with Amazon FBA. However, you have to be willing to work hard and reinvest your earnings back into the business. Your take-home pay will be small as you get started. But it can become a full time income (and even more) if you put in the time and effort.

Ask for advice on facebook groups. As you can see, you don't need a ton of money to get started. I started my business with $200 cash, after registering the LLC and buying shipping supplies.

One final note on buying on credit. Unless you are able to afford to pay off your balance every month from a day job income (not from Amazon sales), I recommend not using a credit card to buy inventory. As you get started, you'll make mistakes. You can start out at liquidation stores, thrift stores, garage sales, and estate sales to minimize the impact of mistakes. Just make sure you learn from your mistakes, and pay for the mistakes out of your own cash. There's nothing worse than putting a "sure thing" on a credit card, only to struggle to pay it off when the bill comes. The best way to run this business is DEBT FREE.

Good luck to you!

Lies Conservatives Tell - Gays were responsible for the Holocaust

According to Scott Lively, a conservative "minister" and Uganda "kill the gays" lobbyist, the gays are responsible for the Holocaust. You read that right!

In his 1995 book "The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party", Mr. Lively suggests that gay men were the driving force behind the nazi party's brutality. His proof? There were gay men in the Nazi party.

The fact is, there were some "homosexuals" in the "national socialist" party. It seems possible that Ernst Roehm was "homosexual", but there isn't conclusive evidence. There aren't any records showing how many members were "homosexual".

In "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", William Shirer mentions "homosexual perverts" a few times, but he doesn't claim that the nazi party was full of "homosexual perverts". In fact, he only mentions "homosexuals" 8 times in his book. Five of those mentions were of Roehm and his "homosexual gang", the SA. Two other mentions were referencing the false accusations that a general was "homosexual".

As for the other leaders of the SA, I couldn't find any on Wikipedia who were "homosexual" aside from Roehm. Most of them had wives and children. The SA leaders who's wikipedia entries don't mention wives or children, they are all after the start of WWII. As such, it was well after the 1934 "night of the long knives" purge.

It seems that the conservatives are using the convenient fact of "homosexual" membership in the nazi party as proof that gay men in particular were responsible for the holocaust. The fact is, there were a fair number of Catholics in the early nazi party, mainly due to the fact that Munich was (and is) mostly Catholic. Does that mean that all Catholics are culpable for the nazi atrocities? Of course not! So, why do conservatives use "homosexual" membership in the early nazi party to place culpability for nazi atrocities at the feet of gay men? There is an indisputable fact that the nazi party actually had a member with Jewish ancestry. In fact, hitler wasn't bothered by this, since he gave Emil Maurice "honorary aryan" status to allow him to keep his leadership posts.

Here is an article where an ACTUAL HISTORIAN totally debunks this ridiculous lie.
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/opinion/forum/x254542695/Did-Nazis-persecute-gays-or-were-they-gay-themselves

The fact that the early nazi party contained some "homosexual" members does not implicate gay men or the LGBT rights movement in the holocaust. The conservative effort to link the two is offensive, not just to the LGBT community, but to anyone who cares about historical veracity.

If we're going to start using "the nazi" label to discredit a movement, why not use the nazi banning of abortion to discredit the misnamed "pro-life" movement? Why not? Because it is a lie. As much as I hate the moralizing bandit of anti-woman thugs known as "pro-life", I care too much about veracity to pull a dirty trick like that.

I Trolled an Islamic Google Plus Page

I'm not sure why, but an image appeared in my Google+ feed espousing the 5 pillars of Islam. I felt compelled to point out that they forgot a number of others, including misogyny, homophobia, killing the infidels, etc.

I got a poorly written response, strewn with grammatical errors, from a Muslim in London. I'm not going to post his response, mainly because I don't want Google to confuse his atrocious writing to be my own and reduce my search engine rankings accordingly. I will instead write what I posted in response. I suspect that the original will be deleted or flagged as "racist" or some nonsense like that. So, here it is:

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Farid Lavergne,

Your worldview and mine are diametrically opposed. I seriously doubt we will ever be able to see eye to eye on any of these issues. But, seeing that you live in London (my ancestral homeland), I will assume that you’ve been exposed to progressive ideas enough to have a basic comprehension. I won’t just throw my hands up and assume that you’re just a religious nut who seeks to impose iron-age values on people who don’t share your religion or beliefs.

First, you talk about “your women”, as if women are property to be bartered and traded at any man’s whim. I call them women, which reflects their individuality and freedom.

You talk about drinking alcohol as though it is some evil thing. The only reason you believe that is because some iron-age book tells you to believe it. I, on the other hand, know that drinking too much alcohol is unhealthy and dangerous. That’s why I don’t drink. But, I don’t go around judging those who do.

You talk about women having sex, and dumb men feeling “lucky” to get the leftovers. Again, this seems to come from your religion’s duplicitous sexuality rules for men and women. In Islam, a woman can be raped, and she is forced to marry her rapist (provided he pay her father a fee). Aside from the money, no punishment is doled out to the rapist. In some circumstances a rape victim is charged with adultery and severely punished, while the man gets away with nothing but a religious reprimand. What’s worse, a woman can be covered from head to toe in a burka, yet when she is raped, your backward society has the unmitigated gall to say that she somehow provoked it.

You also talk about women “baring all” and offering themselves to everyone. You will note that, despite women walking around in mini-skirts and tank tops, rape is fairly rare. That’s because men learn to respect a woman’s beauty without the need to have sex. It’s called self-control. When you say “offering themselves” because they dare to show their legs in public, you show a complete lack of understanding for the reason women dress pretty. It isn’t just to be attractive to men. It is also because they want to look pretty and feminine. Even if a woman walked around completely naked, that would not be an invitation to rape her. Any man who suggests to isn’t just a misogynistic pig, he’s a predator who needs to be in prison.

You mention the priests raping boys. That is a catholic thing. I am not catholic, and neither is the country where you reside (England). The problem there is having celibate priests holding sway over young people. But let us not forget your culture’s love of child brides and forced marriages.

You also talk about junkies, by which I assume you mean drug addicts. I have news for you, my dear. Drug addicts exist everywhere. Don’t forget that your deal Taliban comrades were drug lords above all else. When your beloved brothers come to my country, they have this unholy habit of selling drugs and joining gangs. Just look up the Olmstead County Minnesota jail roster. Look at the huge number of Somalian inmates and see what they have been charged with. The crimes will invariably include: selling drugs, distributing drugs, possession of drugs, pimping, assault, and domestic violence. Don’t preach to me about the ills of “junkies”, when your own brethren embrace that awful lifestyle as soon as it is available to them. This trend only shows that your religion doesn’t teach adherents about self control.

Now let us talk about “men marrying men” due to “infidelity”. Your words betray your ignorance of homosexuality. A gay man’s desire to marry another man has nothing to do with “infidelity”. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Gay men want stable, loving, lifelong relationships as well. Gay and lesbian people are born with an attraction to the same sex. Scientific studies have shown that it isn’t possible to change a person’s sexual orientation, even when they are motivated to do so by religious belief. So, if a person is born gay (as I was), and they want to share their life with the person they love, that is called fidelity, not infidelity. It is called love. Get over it. I know that you’re iron-age book of mysticism tells you that homosexuality is a sin. But, it also says that cutting your hair and shaving are sins as well. Doesn’t it say something about not wearing mixed fabric clothing? Also, where are all the Jinn?

Finally, you talk about divorce. Yes, it is absolutely true that we have a problem with divorce. But, divorce rates have been declining over the last 40 years. For example: In 1960, Sweden had 6.7 divorces per 1000 people. In 2011, it dropped to 5 per 1000 people. Romania had 10.7 per 1000 people in 1960, but it has dropped to 4.9 in 2011. In the United States, divorce rates went from 8.2 per 1000 people in 2000 down to 6.8 in 2011. Meanwhile, in Muslim-dominated countries like Malaysia, the divorce rate is rising quickly. In Malaysia, 82% of divorces are Muslim couples. Hypocrisy much?

As you can see, when you mix forced and young marriages, many of them fail. Once women gain the legal ability to exit a bad abusive marriage, they do so. The reason western divorce rates are dropping is because we don’t enter marriage until we find someone we are compatible with. What do you suppose is worse: Scenario 1: Children being raised by a married couple (woman often very young), yet they witness abuse and violence in the marriage; or Scenario 2: A happy couple who chose each other, respect each other, and only have arguments that they resolve without violence? Do you honestly think the children from scenario 1 will turn out better than the other? I suspect the scenario 1 children grow up to be junkies and gang bangers.

On a final note: If you are going to live in England, learn to speak and write proper English. You aren’t going to convince anyone that you should be believed or trusted when you have deplorable grammar and spelling.

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Toward the end, I added something like: "If you don't like western culture, leave".

That's all. I just wanted to record the original somewhere just for my own knowledge. Maybe it will help others to understand my worldview a little better, even if they disagree.

Angry Tea Partier Blames Liberals, recycles discredited lies

This is a "letter to the editor" of the Rochester MN Post-Bulletin newspaper. It was written by a tea partier who is bitter at the shellacking her beloved party received at the ballot box. My response to this bitter woman is below the link.

Liberal voters have ruined our nation

Dear Mrs. Friemann,
Reading your letter to the editor on 11/9/2012, I was disappointed to see just how much you've latched on to partisan spin. The election is over, thankfully. It's time to get off the partisan train and move on as a country.

In your first paragraph, you chastise 'liberals' for the 'blame game', yet in the very next paragraph you recycle the tired spin of the religious right's version of the blame game. Hypocrisy much?

Blaming 'liberals' for the ills of this country is just silly. Liberals didn't cause the economic collapse of 2007, nor did we cause the recession. Both parties had a role to play in the actions that led to the collapse. The fact is that President Bush promoted policies that encouraged, protected, and turned a blind eye to the shenanigans that led to the disastrous collapse. President Bush had an opportunity to scotch the serpent in the egg before the whole thing exploded. The fact that he didn't clearly demonstrates that his laissez-faire worldview blinded him to the dangers building in the housing market. Those dangers were clear to the 'lame stream media' as early as March, 2004.

You complain about the high number of people on food stamps. Why is it so horrifying to you that people who cannot find work should need to eat? Forgive me for the historical inaccuracy, but you sound like Marie Antionette's solution to peasants having no bead: "Let them eat cake". They aren't on food stamps because they're lazy. They're on food stamps because they have no other choice.

As for your complaints about being an ATM card, let me clarify something. I am a small business owner and my domestic partner (soon to be husband) is a physician. As such, we don't benefit from the loopholes or tax breaks that tycoons and venture capitalists get. We also don't benefit from the tax cuts which (rightfully) benefit middle income Americans. In fact, in 2011 on top of our already high taxes, we had to pay income tax of $3000 extra on the health insurance benefits my partner's employer provided for me. That happened because we couldn't get married. So, forgive me if I find your ATM complaint laughable. I don't complain about taxes because I like to have roads, schools, and national defense. I also like to know that my fellow Americans aren't starving to death when the economy slumps. I know there is waste to be eliminated, but partisan bickering makes such progress impossible. While we're on the subject of taxes, Gov. Romney says that low capital gains tax is because of double taxation of corporate earnings. Take a look at the numbers, my dear. Most of the 'double taxed' corporations are pass through entities. As such, they pay zero taxes. This is a tax hoax played on the American people far too long.

Until this summer, we lived in Rochester. I love Minnesota. I love the people, the culture, and niceness, and the beauty of the state. We decided not to 'settle down' in Rochester because we knew of this place where we would be free from discrimination and afforded equality under the law and dignity as individuals and as a loving couple. That place is Washington State. As of this morning, I am fully an equal citizen of my new home state. Question 74 passed, which means that the gay marriage law has been approved by voters. What you see as a catastrophe, I see as something different: democracy.

In closing, I would like to address the 'depression' you believe the country is headed toward. There certainly is depression on the horizon, but it isn't economic. The depression we have to worry about is the negativity of vile partisanship causing depression and division among the American people who used to be united. Let's stop this negativity and move on as a nation. If you don't like the president, that's ok. But his success is tied to the whole country's success. Let's root for our team, and come together to find bipartisan solutions to the massive problems that face our country. We've overcome far worse things, and we've always come out stronger. Let's renew that determined American spirit that was wounded through this nasty election. If we don't come together, your economic depression concerns will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

- Frank Frost

My Conspiracy Theory - China Funding America's Crusade Against Science

I'm normally not one to dream up or even consider conspiracy theories. I usually find them a complete waste of time. However...

I recently read William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". Mr. Shirer was an American journalist who reported on WWII. He was actually in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi regime. He also gained access to the Nazi regime documents seized by Allied Forces when Germany fell.

In this book, I found one thing particularly worrying: The Nazi records (from their foreign office) showed that the Nazi regime had paid Jacob Thorkelson, an American Republican congressman from Montana, a large sum of money to bring "isolationist delegates" to the Republican National Convention. The idea was to get as many isolationist nominees on the Republican ticket as possible. If elected, these congressmen would make it impossible for the United States to enter the war. I should also mention that opposition to the proposed "Lend-Lease Act" began around the same time.

The documents also showed that Rep. Thorkelson was also paid a very large sum of money to have an advertisement placed in American newspapers arguing to "Keep America Out of the War". This is corroborated by the fact that an ad did appear in the New York Times on June 25, 1940.

After reading this, I got thinking about modern social movements which are homegrown, but could be easily co-opted by multinational corporations or foreign governments to undermine this country.

Here are a few examples I have considered:

1. Anti-Science Movement
2. Anti-Evolution Movement
3. Young Earth Creationists
4. Climate Change Deniers
5. Political Gridlockers
6. Anti-Public-School Movement

I have no evidence that any of these groups being influenced by a foreign government. I am simply saying that these homegrown, yet fringe, groups have somehow managed to gain a strong following despite their unpopularity among moderate, educated, well informed Americans. Keeping in mind what happened with the isolationists before WWII, a serious question must be asked: Who would stand to gain if these homegrown groups are being exploited?

Here are my thoughts:

Anti-Science, Anti-Evolution, Young Earth Creationists
If there were to be foreign exploitation of these movements, it would certainly be aimed at undermining the strong advantage the United States has in research, science, and technology. The main driver behind this is the perception among adherents that evolution is a conspiracy against god, and a lie perpetrated by either liberals or the devil himself. If these fringe groups could be exploited to vilify science, and undermine the teaching of concrete scientific principles, it would lead to a significant drop in the number of scientists produced by the already underfunded American education system.
Who benefits? Our only real rival in the science, research, and technology area is China. Russia is to be considered, but mainly as a second rank rival. This possible 'investment' would pay a triple dividend to the investor. First, it would undermine American technological superiority. Second, the investor nation would then gain a military technology advantage against the United States and all other possible rivals. Third, it would be in a position to sell superior technologies to allies of its choosing.

Climate Change Deniers
I think there are two drivers behind this movement. The first is the belief that a messiah will soon arrive, and this world will come to an end. This obviously leads to a shortsighted, short term view of our relationship to the environment. Afterall, the holy book specifically says that these resources are for mankind's use. The thought process is, Jesus is coming soon. Who cares about pollution or sustainability? Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we'll have the rapture! The second is our shortsighted drive for profit. I'm not saying that profit is bad. I'm saying that it's bad when coupled with a disregard for the consequences of pollution, deforestation, habitat destruction, and wildlife extinction to the long term health of our planet. It is also interesting to note that Chinese manufacturers have made a hefty profit by selling low cost solar panels and wind turbines to Americans who aren't shortsighted. Our antagonism to the idea of climate change has led to antagonism and lack of support of American companies that supply solar panels and wind turbines. It's even gone as far as criticizing President Obama for a single renewable energy investment that went bad, despite the fact that many of the other renewable energy investments were very successful. The failure rate of these investments has been 1.4%. That's far better than Wall Street ever does.
Who benefits? The existing energy industry is the main beneficiary. They benefit by not having to compete against extremely cheap renewable energy. Consider this fact: If you spend $5000 on solar panels, it might take you 10 years to recover that money in energy savings. But all the while, your reliance on the existing energy industry is significantly reduced, if not eliminated. After the ten year "investment recovery period", the energy you receive is essentially free. The energy industry really doesn't want state, county, municipal governments or public transit authorities investing in renewable energy because it hits their profits. It also gives them less 'price control' power over the governmental buyers.

Political Gridlockers
By gridlockers, I mean members of Congress who obstruct all progress on anything that might minutely benefit the opposing party or the president. Democracy is always a messy, chaotic process. It's a bit like herding cats. But, in the end it is effective because of a concept that has become a four-letter word in Washington D.C.: compromise. In a country as large and diverse as ours, compromise is the only way to get anything done. No one gets exactly what they want, but everyone gets something. It's how democracy works. That concept is not lost on the gridlockers. They fully understand how it's supposed to work. It seems as if their mission is to ensure that it doesn't work.
Who benefits? The main benefactors are government contractors who benefit from the taxpayer and Chinese loan funded gravy train. They don't want that gravy train to stop, or even slow down.

Anti-Public School Movement
At the surface, charter schools and vouchers seem like a fair idea. With charter schools, school tax revenues are diverted to private schools who claim they can do better. The idea is that private schools don't have unionized workers or expensive bureaucracies, so they should be able to provide more teachers, smaller class sizes, and better education results than their public counterparts. With vouchers, parents get a voucher to pay their child's tuition at a private school of their choosing. The problem with both of these systems is that they deprive already underfunded public schools of funding, diverting those funds to private schools that almost exclusively benefit wealthy families. The charter school idea has an additional problem of having unelected school boards, and often being exempt from many state education laws. When a public school is converted to a charter, the new school does not guarantee enrollment of all children in the area served by the former public school. Add on top of that the fact that even the 'non-profit' charter schools turn massive profits, you have much more waste than public school bureaucracies and unionized teachers. Many people see the voucher and charter movement to be another way of re-segregating schools. While some white students would be left at unfunded urban public schools, it would disproportionately effect minority students.
Who Benefits? I'm not going to point the finger at China, although they would benefit competitively from the downfall of American public schools. I think the blame lies squarely with the conservative 'starve the beast' mentality, and the conservative hatred of anything unionized and / or government run. There is also a mantra that is constantly chanted among conservatives that government should be downsized and outsourced to private firms. Let's not forget about the overcrowding, human rights violations, and judicial corruption that has marred the privatization of prisons. By outsourcing education and making it a commodity, we run the risk of having our children stuck in a system of greed, abuse, and corruption. At least with public schools, the school boards are elected and accountable to voters. With charter and voucher schools, the state treasury is opened to looting from private firms, and voters have zero control or input into the system. They can only vote with their feet. But if the entire system is corrupted and greedy, there may not be a choice.

So, that's my conspiracy theory. It may be out there, but these things seem quite feasible. I wonder if many other people ponder these things when they formulate opinions about charter schools and voucher programs...

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is Freed, God had nothing to do with it!

Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been released from prison in Iran, after having his blasphemy charge reduced to "evangelizing to Muslims". The punishment for this lower crime is 3 years in prison. Since he had already served three years, he was released.

In reading the comments on the "Free Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani" facebook page, I am shocked at the amount of cognitive dissonance required for the commenters to believe that prayer made a difference. I stirred quite a controversy when I posted that I hadn't prayed for the pastor, but instead wrote letters to my congressional representatives and spread the word by talking to friends about his ordeal. Apparently religious people consider praying for a person in distress more important than taking concrete steps to help the person.

This is how I see it: If you're drowning, do you want spectators to pray for you? Or would you prefer that someone throws you a life preserver, or jumps in to help you? My answer is, stop praying and start doing!

I don't intend to disrespect those believers who whole heartedly believe that prayer works miracles. I won't even be an annoying atheist and ask for proof. I will ask believers to consider this: Is it enough to pray, or should the prayer be followed up with action. In my (not so) humble opinion, prayer should always be followed up by some kind of action.

I also want to point out to my religious friends that Pastor Naderkhani's ordeal perfectly illustrates the twin problems of religious fundamentalism and the mixing of religion and government. No one should ever be persecuted for their beliefs (or lack of belief). It is a matter of human dignity. If we wish to protect ourselves from persecution, we should support and promote tolerant secularism as a cultural and national element.

Learned Helplessness, the true oppressor of mankind

I write this post in the hopes that someone who is searching for answers will find it and realize they struggle with learned helplessness, as I did. I was lucky. I had someone who loved me enough to give me a swift kick in the ass, then gently helped me change my ways. Not everyone is so lucky. Many people go their whole lives without realizing that their approach and outlook on life is distorted. They may realize something is wrong, but don't understand the source of their self destructive behavior. If you find that you do struggle with learned helplessness, seek professional help. I will give you some advice on steps you can take yourself, but it is extremely hard to break free of learned helplessness alone. You will need help, even if it's just a friend who loves you enough to give you a swift reality check from time to time.

First, it is important to define what I mean by learned helplessness. The clinical definition is full of long, scientific words. Unless you're a psychologist, the clinical definition will confuse you. That's why I will use my personal definition.

I define "Learned Helplessness" as: An outlook on life where you believe that you have little or no control over events and results in your life. If you break it down into the two words, it's an obvious concept. Learned, meaning this is a habit that is learned. You aren't born with it. It isn't a genetic or biological disorder. Helplessness, meaning a feeling of having no power. Some synonyms of helplessness are: abandoned, vulnerable, destitute, and powerless. The hallmark of learned helplessness is passing blame rather than introspection of your own actions.

This may seem a very foreign concept. But, take a moment to really think about it. When you are faced with a problem do you throw your hands up and assume the worst outcome is inevitable? Or do you examine the problem, consider solutions, and take measurable steps toward a resolution? If you throw your hands up, you've been conditioned to learned helplessness. If you examine, consider, and act, you probably don't have learned helplessness.

Examples of Learned Helplessness:
Learned helplessness manifests itself in varying degrees. Below are some examples:

• A person who is overcome with defeatism, and throws in the towel immediately when faced with a problem. 
• Someone who makes some efforts toward resolving the problem, but gives up as defeated when confronted with a minor obstacle. 
• A person who always avoids problems, or runs away from problems, rather than facing them.

If there's anything to learn from this article it is this: You can overcome learned helplessness! It is really a matter of changing how you look at life, and especially changing your internal dialogue. The truth is, you become what you think about all the time. If you think about failure and hopelessness, you will become those things. You have to change the way you talk to yourself in your mind.

Let me give some background into learned helplessness. Then, we'll get into steps you can take to exorcise it from your life.

Background of Learned Helplessness:
In 1967, psychologist Martin Seligman was studying depression. In some cruel animal experiments, he realized that a dog could be conditioned (taught, learned) to exhibit helpless behavior.

The experiment went something like this:
Two groups of dogs were given electric shocks. In group A, the dogs could avoid the shock by pushing a panel with their nose. In group B, the dogs received the shock regardless of what their actions. After a while, group A mastered avoiding the shocks. However, group B had become listless, unmotivated, and would make no effort to avoid the shocks.

Once the conditioning was complete, the conditioned dogs were put into a box with a low barrier in the middle. To avoid being shocked, they only had to jump over the low barrier to the other side of the box. The hypothesis was that group A would learn quickly and jump to the other side, but group B would exhibit the same helpless behavior and stay in the side with the shocks.

The hypothesis turned out to be true. Despite watching other dogs successfully avoid shocks by jumping to the other side of the box, 6 out of 8 dogs from group B did not take any steps to avoid the shock.

Conditioning in Humans:
You may be thinking: This is all fine and good for dogs, but what does it have to do with me? The truth is, psychological conditioning has the exact same effect on dogs as it does on humans. Just like Pavlov's dog, people can also be conditioned to salivate when hearing a ringing bell. Conditioning is used in advertising all the time. It's the reason you feel hungry when you see a commercial for your favorite restaurant.

In the case of learned helplessness, your conditioning usually begins in your childhood. Sometimes it is the result of neglect and abuse. Sometimes you simply learn it by watching your parents exhibit the same behavior. It's usually a combination of neglect, abuse, and watching your parents. Aside from the neglect and abuse, don't be too hard on your parents. After all, there were probably circumstances beyond their control that led to their conditioning. Blaming others is also a serious problem for those who struggle with learned helplessness, so placing blame should be avoided. Remember, look at solutions rather than looking for someone to blame.

Every child is born with naivete and blind faith. Children are taught moral lessons in very simple terms. All moral lessons are boiled down to a good vs. evil dichotomy, which is easy for young minds to grasp. Attentive parents will slowly "fill in the blanks" of the moral lessons, and teach their kids self discipline and personal responsibility.

Unfortunately, some of us are born into circumstances which left us burdened with learned helplessness. In those circumstances, very few of us have the "blanks" filled in or learn self discipline and personal responsibility. As we grow into adults, we continue to see the world in simple terms of good vs. evil, and we don't learn the lessons of self discipline and personal responsibility. We tend to look at difficulties as insurmountable obstacles rather than problems that have solutions. We learned that our efforts. prompts only superficial introspection of our behavior. Instead, it allows blame to flow to "the devil", and credit to go to God, without much critical introspection on our own actions. Whatever introspection happens, it is so superficial that it does not produce positive reinforcement of positive actions, or negative deterrents to negative behavior. It often leaves us with a deeply held belief that the world is unfair and discriminatory.

We should not be too quick to blame our parents. Very often they inherited the learned helplessness and the "Good / Evil crutch" from their own parents. Going back through your ancestors to place blame is pointless. You don't know what kinds of circumstances each of them faced while raising their own family. That's why we have generations of poverty stricken families that are unaware of the self destructive behavior they pass along to their children. Very often it isn't a matter of being lazy. It's more a matter of the learned helplessness.

I would like to caution against oversimplification in this subject. This is not the same as a believer asking "What would Jesus do". Asking that question is actually self reflective, which is the opposite of the "God / Devil crutch". People who use the "God / Devil crutch" perform very superficial self evaluation, and deflect blame to "the devil" and credit to "God" in the process.


When you mix the naivete of youth, blind faith, learned helplessness, and the "God/devil crutch" together you have an individual with massive capacity for self destruction.

In my opinion, learned helplessness is at the root of the problems that plague otherwise reasonable people. Take a look around you and realize that ONLY YOU have the power to turn your life around. Reflect on the problems you face, and use words like "I take responsibility for...". Take emotional ownership and responsibility for your mistakes, and take steps to ensure you won't make the mistakes in the future.

Once you start taking responsibility for your actions, you will notice that you are making improvements in your life. You aren't a helpless child adrift on rough seas. You are a rational adult who is capable of fixing your problems. If I can do it, anyone can do it.