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We publish below a dialogue between Rinita Mazumdar and Heather Tomanovsky on Tomanovsky’s essay, “Marx, Gender, and Human Emancipation,” which originally appeared on this website. We would be glad to consider more contributions to this discussion – Editors
Critique of Marx on Gender, Identity, and Kinship Relations – by Rita Mazumdar
While Tomanovsky’s article is interesting, there remain some serious problems with her analysis of gender and Marxian categories. First of all, there is a slight omission with regards to Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, in the first volume where in speaking of alienated labor Marx talks about the model of the most human relationship, as that between man and wife! This is really completely Aristotelian and de-politicizes the domestic sphere and maintains the 19th century version of “privacy”. There are two other important problems with Tomanovsky’s reflection on Marx’s categories. First, Marxian categories remain opaque about the notion of identities, such as masculinity, femininity, heterosexual, and homosexual identities. There is very little in Marx from which one could understand how raw biological sexualities are converted into genders. Due to this particular opacity, Marxian categories make gender “natural” (and hence one could say, “un-Marxist”). Third, and this is the most important omission in Marxian theory, the failure to explain patriarchy as an economic structure that is pre-capitalist, since his categories are mostly devoted to explain the class constructions in capitalist societies and private ownership of the means of production. Engels, despite some significant observations in the Origin of the Family, still de-naturalizes gender. Taking a cue from Marx’s thesis that Capital converts a human being into a proletarian, one could show that taking human desire, gender is formed via the installation of cultural totems and taboos. Two universal taboos in human sexualities are incest and sameness. The first one installs a process of exchange (a market) by which humans have to exchange some of their biological relatives; it so happens that sisters and daughters were exchanged by groups of males in a tribe so that kinship relationship with another tribe is established in a pre-State and pre-market society. This itself created a cultural meaning of gender; woman is one who is exchanged, or the universal commodity of exchange. This also established the institution of marriage, whose significance is exchange of female relatives by males to another groups of males; as this is a process of exchange it did incur an exchange value in terms of another woman (“you marry someone else’s sister”) or land, property, title. With this the cultural meaning of “woman” becomes “one who is exchange or transacted and not available”; the cultural meaning of male becomes, “one who does the exchange” (regardless of biological sex, often slaves were considered “half males”, etc). The second taboo, which is the prohibition of sameness in the family, as an economic unit, stems from division of labor (again Aristotle’s “naturalness” of the family). Without diversity the “oikos” would not thrive, and hence sameness (or “homosexuality”) is also another prohibition (even amongst eunuchs same perform “males” and some “females”). The creation of kinship structure is a cultural creation on drives and probably the moment at which humans stepped from “subhuman” to being “human”. The expansion of the market in England freed land and labor (and they entered into the market in the late 16th century), did reduce the importance of creating the market via the exchange of women, and in this sense Marx was right about Capital destroying the family. Incest taboo and institutionalized heterosexuality is tied to creation of families, kinship, population control and eugenics. The primary values are privatized in the family and learnt via the learning of language and the establishment of familial regulations on the primary narcissism and oedipal complexes and of course mandated by the so called secular State. The emergence of the modern market from prior kinship structures and the exchange of women, the double taboos of incest and homosexuality nowhere figures in Marx. Engels’s Origin did not explore these either. Marxist feminists lay too much stress on labor to theorize gender and hence it escapes their framework. Without a thorough re-reading of the labor in terms of taboos, exchanges, identity formation, a strong theory of gender cannot be carved out from Marxian categories.
Second Phase: Labor, Kinship, Use, Exchange, Performance
To continue with my thesis that gender is under-theorized in Marx, I shall next show that gender and “domesticity” (or “privacy”) remain under-theorized as well as de-politicized not only in Marx but also in Marxist feminism; after that I shall return briefly to the narrative I left off previously about the cultural construction of gender via kinship structures; I shall discuss how identities and values emerge in a system of exchange and circulation of goods.
Next, I shall introduce some psycho-analytic theory to go deeper into the theory of gender. I shall show that, while Marx under theorized gender and over theorized class, Freud too under theorized gender and over-theorized sexuality and failed to account for the cultural emergence of gendered identities. I shall discuss some psycho-analysts and their notion of subjectivity, masochism, fantasy, and performativity, before concluding my discussion with the Lacanian notion of what I call “illusions of subjectivity, identity, and gender” and his idea of the phallus as a fetish.
I begin with my critique of Marxist feminism. Tomanovsky, whose article I submitted before, belongs to a group of feminist popularly known in the West as “Marxist feminist”; amongst whom the most famous are the “dual systems” theorists. The name comes from the way they conceive of patriarchy as the “second half” of a two-tiered base/superstructure model. According to the “dual systems” theorists, all one needs in order to provide a theoretical framework for patriarchy is to “add on” to Marx’s Base/Superstructure a second two-tiered structure.
While the form remains the same, the content of the two structures are different. In side A of the two-tiered model a traditional mode of production is responsible for a class-based society (including ideology), while in side B, a special mode of production (that includes both the private and domesticated “care labor” as well as the public “sex affective production”) to produce patriarchy at the super-structural level. According to “dual systems” the surplus produced in the domestic sphere via child rearing and the reproduction of labor power in the domestic sphere creates patriarchy at the super-structural level.
This model is not a useful one to either explain patriarchy as a foundational economic system nor is it a good one to explain the cultural construction of gender. Later Marxist feminists, influenced by Althusser, tried to remove a “base” and talk about only ideology that produces “docile bodies” via mothering in the domestic sphere, but, in the last instance, failed to provide any theoretical support for the emergence of the ideology. Besides, there are other theoretical problems with the base/superstructure model. First of all, the way the model is set up, is almost assumes that patriarchy emerged with capitalism and equates “domesticity” almost entirely with the living place for a Malthusian couple; in doing so it has no theoretical power to explain the patriarchy as a cross cultural economic system, for example, why patriarchy existed much prior to the emergence of the mercantilism and the modern market. In addition, the cultural construction of gender, identity, and subjectivity, is unexplained in “dual systems” theory. Marxist feminists, as I said before, rely too much on theoretical labor, and thus fail to theorize gender or politicize “domesticity”; it seems that they have not yet fully exorcised the specter of Marx. So, we need to move this to a next level of theorizing in order to see how gender has a cultural component, and how patriarchy as an economic system of market and exchange pre-dates capitalism. To continue with my discussion about the difficulties of carving out a theory of identity, subjectivity, and gender both out of Marxian as well as Marxist feminists, I shall go back to my original notion of kinship and the creation of genders and identities via the establishment of the kinship structures. One of my critiques of Marxian categories is that, while Marx’s categories can explain the creation of a “worker” out of a human being (via the machinery of Capital, for the purpose of the creation of “surplus), it has little theoretical framework to show how gendered identities are creation out of human biological identities.
This problem, as I showed previously, also haunts the majority of Marxist feminists like Heidi Hartman, Ferguson and Folbre, Nancy Hartsock, and even later ones who were influenced by Althusser (such as Michele Barrett). Further, none of the Marxist feminists have good theoretical tools to explain the existence of patriarchy prior to capitalism. Going back to my previous theory of kinship structures and universal incest taboo, we can get a better account of how natural biological sexes are converted into genders via the organizing machinery of kinship structures. Kinship is the organizing principle by which raw biological genders are converted into gender via a process of exchange. In his seminal work, Elementary Structures of Kinship, Levi-Strauss showed that the concept of market is very old in human civilization; the essence of market is a process of exchange. Following Marcel Mauss, Levi-Strauss showed that this assumed a form of “gift giving” amongst tribal communities to establish non-blood kinship structures. In fact, Marcel Mauss showed that in the absence of a State, without such elaborate ritual of gift giving, there would be tribal warfare. Gift giving including products of consumption and in the absence of laws were made into “customs” such as prohibition; one cannot consume the potatoes one grows, one has to exchange them. Nonetheless, such gifts did not cement permanent tribal bonding. For this, there needs to be a universal commodity of exchange, which sealed blood relationship between tribes. It is the universal exchange of daughters, sisters and women in kin groups. The incest taboo and compulsory exchange created genders as well as the notion of value. Marx was right in saying that there are not “values” in nature, it is a cultural construct. Similarly, “women” is created out of a female, and thus giving value in exchange; marriage is defined as a process of exchange between tribal groups of what each one possesses, and each process of exchange involves a price in terms of land, title, and prestige. The woman, like Marx’s commodity in circulation the market, carries value, or is the bearer of value, but cannot be the owner of value. Something, interesting has to be noted here as observed by Anthropologist Evans-Pritchard. In sub-Saharan Nuer culture, “marriage” happens between two women and yet, within that culture the meaning of that marriage was a heterosexual arrangement; for one woman “owned” the bride price and parted with it, while the other woman is exchanged. With this, we get into the cultural definition of “man” and “woman”; a “woman” is one who is exchangeable, while a “man” is one who possesses something to be exchanged. Further, in Azande tribes, an older man of means converts a young boy and takes him as a “bride’ by paying bride price to the parents; here again we are getting a cultural meaning of gender. The important thing for our theory is to note that are as follows (1) “woman” means one who carries the value (we can use the word phallus here) from one tribe to another but does not own it (the metaphor of a “beast of burden” is useful here) and (2)” man” means one possesses or owns the valuable property. With the demise of tribal organization of human relationships and insertion of agricultural, feudal, and capitalist systems, the concept of woman as the one who carries value (or one may carry the “phallus”) was depicted that women kept the honor of the family, keeper of family values, honor killings etc. According to Luce Irigary within this process of kinship circulation, women acquire three positions, a virgin (who is pure exchange), a mother (whose exchange is for use for the purpose of propagation of the species), and a prostitute (whose more use increases her exchange). This again was culturally inscribed via the figure of the Goddess and the fantasy of the phallic mother (to which I shall return later), the immaculate conception of both the Virgin and the Holy Child. What I have said so far gives a theoretical framework for explaining the cultural construction of gender and identities, but does not explain how kinship, incest taboo, compulsory heterosexuality, is culturally inscribed into individual psychology. Next, I shall talk about Freud’s theory of gender, the concept of femininity and masochism, performativity, and then move onto Lacan’s theory of the phallus as the fetish. I shall conclude this essay with a note on re-working of Engel’s Origin incorporating into it theories of Subjectivity, identity, and a political economy of gender. I shall try to put the entire article in a file so that everyone can access it. I think it will take more than a week to complete this writing, please bear with me. To continue with what I said so far… our analysis of kinship structures, exchange, conversion of biological sex to cultural gender showed that now we are approaching some kind of gender theory by taking the word “women” (here I am using “woman” as a sign, that consists of the signifier and the signified), that is always in arises in a system of exchange and is a “value bearer” (this de-naturalizes gender somewhat as opposed to an Aristotelian “naturalness” of “master” “slave”), while “man” as a sign that does the exchanging; on the other hand there is a biological definition of the signs, here Levi-Strauss (and feminist theory in general) faces a contradiction. Levi-Strauss said that “woman” is like word, whose real use is in exchange; one who is used like words to communicate, but does not hold the discourse (here again the problem of speaking of the subaltern will come in as we shall move into post modernism). Levi-Strauss flip-flopped between a biological notion of ‘gender” and a cultural one. He was asked if theoretically speaking groups of women could have exchanged men, he said, “yes” but it never happened, because there is always a scarcity of this commodity in nature because of the deep polygamous nature of men; with this explanation he fell back into biology. With patriarchy the exchange happens between the father and the groom, in “matriarchy” between the maternal uncle and the groom. For the sake of theory (and till we actually go into post modernism) we shall keep hovering between the actual embodiment of the gendered Subjectivity and its construction in language… Acknowledging this ambiguity in our theory, one could expand the notion of “sign” that represents a “commodity” to be exchanged beyond tribal communities. Benedict Anderson showed how Nations as imagined communities evolved out of prior kinship and dynastic structures via the ideological construction and organization of “pure race” and “pure ethnicity” (which itself is problematic, as paternity is always doubtful in every genealogical investigation and rests on whether the exchanges have followed all the rules and taboos). The concept of “civilizing mission” of modern colonial power is also based on the notion that “they treat their women in a barbaric way” and exhibits how both “women” as a sign and as an embodiment remains the object and not the Subject of discourse. Then, of course there is always the eugenics by which purity of a Nation is brought about either via elaborate kinship arrangement or rape.
Having set the background, I shall now proceed to show how the notion of Subjectivity and identity can be carved out by incorporating theories of gender into Marxian categories and how ultimately a phallus can be shown as a fetish (Jacques Lacan). In order to get there we need to take a long and circular route in which I have to talk about Freud’s theory of identity and otherness, the debate surrounding castration complex as initiated by Ernest Jones, the theory of femininity and masochism and narcissism of the hypochondriac (both of which will raise the question if masochism and illness can be considered to be the two ways that the Subaltern speak or have can have access to language), femininity as masquerade and performativity.
Around 1898 Freud became interested in the notion of psycho-sexual and identity development, although he practiced hypnosis with Bauer in Paris before that and did not do very well in his profession. His interest in human psycho-sexual development was primarily kindled because of his patient “Dora”. Very briefly, Freud, being a “biological determinist” theorized that (a) human infants start with a primary narcissism (b) there is a psychical energy or libido that flows through different body parts and moves from the oral, anal, to the genital regions and at each stage encounters a prohibition from the outside (later termed by Lacan as “The Big O”), depicted in weaning and toilet training. Being highly influenced by the science of his time, he had a strong belief in determinism and theorized that the primary narcissism or autoeroticism is displaced by the oral pleasure of sucking and then the anal pleasure of passing the feces. The libido through its “natural” course reaches the genital when the sexual difference happens.
During the oral stage, there is a rudimentary desire of all babies towards a phallic mother (a mother who has the phallus), which Freud in later said is an entirely a fantasy (cultural construction of powerful Goddesses are depiction of this fantasy of early childhood, Athena, Durga). Since Freud’s entire theory revolves around the phallus (as the only organ of pleasure), when the libido reaches the genitals, two kinds of identities first evolve: (1) those who realize that they have it, and are afraid of losing it (“castration complex”) and those who realize that they have already lost it (the psyche of the little girl is “I had it but lost it due to my own fault, as I have been a bad girl!”). Subsequently, masculine identity is always vigilant against father’s threat of castration; the boy now has two options, either desiring the phallic mother (via autoeroticism), or his gendered identity (retaining the phallus), and he chooses the latter. Since, the structure of desire is such it never vanishes, the conscious identity of masculinity gives rise to the unconscious desire of the phallic mother (woman as Goddess). With the girl there is a shift in the object libido from the mother (who she realizes like her is already castrated) to the Father, who she thinks will give her the phallus. Psychologically, she accepts father’s beating, rape, and punishment (rape does not exist in Freud as it is a female fantasy to get the phallus), till (if she is a normal woman), substitutes the original desire of the phallus for a desire from father or father substitute, while pushing the desire for the phallus to the unconscious (so the desire for the phallus is a feminine desire par excellence, a desire of the subaltern as one only desires that which one lacks we shall come back to this with the Master Slave Dialectic….) to be continued…
A Response to Rinita Mazumdar – by Heather Tomanovsky
Rinita Mazumdar’s “Critique of Marx, Gender, Identity and Kinship Relations” provides a very interesting discussion of the issues surrounding gender relations and identity. In addition, Mazumdar offers a number of important critiques of Marxist feminism. Most significantly, her discussion of dual systems theory and its inadequacies for understanding “the cultural construction of gender” is quite apt. Dual systems theory by its very nature is marred by a number of difficulties. As Young (1980) has pointed out, dual systems merely adds patriarchy to Marxist economic analysis, giving traditional economistic Marxism primacy over an understanding of patriarchal relations. My article was a preliminary attempt to critically engage those areas of Marx that discuss gender and subjectivity, an area of Marx’s scholarship that has been under theorized by both dual systems theorists and especially those feminists who have appropriated aspects of Althusser’s work.
However, where I part company with Mazumdar is with her argument that patriarchy is “a foundational economic system.” While it is certainly true that some form of patriarchy has existed throughout much of human history and that exchange played a significant role in many early societies, to label it as foundational is problematic. It risks creating a static form of patriarchy rather than one that changes as other elements in society change.
This is where a new reading of Marx may be warranted. Rather than the dual systems theory of socialist feminism or adding Levi-Strauss, Freud and Lacan, I would argue that there are elements of Marx that point toward an understanding of gender and society that does not separate out and privilege some element over all others. In Capital, Vol. 1, there was much of value outside of pure economics. Particularly interesting for feminists are his chapters on “The Working Day” and “Machinery and Large Scale Industry.” In these chapters, a veritable book in themselves, Marx spends a great deal of time cataloguing changes in the workplace in terms of the fight for a ten-hour workday and the introduction of machinery into factories. Interestingly, in this material Marx spends quite a bit of time discussing women and children as workers and their effect on labor conditions as a whole. While certainly some Victorianism creeps into his writing, overall, it appears to be an objective account that at least began to get at the social construction of gender. However, this is something that remains on the margins of Marx’s work therefore further theorization based on current conditions is needed for today.
In addition, I would disagree with the notion that Marx fully naturalizes gender in his work. Again, this is a concept in his writing that is undertheorized; however, there are possible openings in his work for the social construction of gender based upon his dialectical method. For example, as Gimenez (2005) points out, Marx’s dialectical method tends to focus on actual social relations and their changing nature in contrast to static a priori formulations. This is particularly relevant for understanding the passage in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts where Marx discusses gender most directly:
The immediate, natural and necessary relation of human being to human being is also the relation of man [Mann] to woman [Weib]. In this natural species relationship man’s [Mensch] relation to nature is directly his relation to man [Mensch], and his relation to man [Mensch] is directly his relation to nature, to his own natural function. Thus, in this relation is sensuously revealed, reduced to an observable fact, the extent to which human nature has become nature for him. From this relationship man’s [Mensch] whole level of development can be assessed. It follows from the character of this relationship how far man [Mensch] has become, and has understood himself as, a species-being, a human being. The relation of man [Mann] to woman [Weib] is the most natural relation of human being to human being. It indicates, therefore, how far man’s [Mensch] natural behavior has become human, and how far his human essence has become a natural essence for him, how far his human nature has become nature for him. It also shows how far man’s [Mensch] needs have become human needs, and consequently how far the other person [Mensch], as a person, has become one of his needs, and to what extent he is in his individual existence at the same time a social being. (Marx 2004, 103)
Marx’s definition of natural, however, here and elsewhere, does not refer to a fixed biological essence. Instead, it has at least two separate meanings in these texts. First, it refers historically to the spontaneous, unconscious organization of society. Second, in other places it refers to a future state in which humanity realizes its true potential (Ring 1991, 156).
In the above text in the first sentence, is the first and only time in this selection that Marx uses the term “natural” without italics, he seems to be referring to a biological, ahistorical state; it is biologically necessary that men and women coexist in terms of reproduction of the species. However, this is only an “immediate” and abstract statement. Men and women always exist and interact within concrete circumstances mediated by definite social relations. To differentiate his two separate meanings of “natural” in this text, Marx underlines in his manuscript (here rendered in italics) the use of natural when it refers to socially mediated relations that are natural either in the sense that it is the “natural” relations based upon the period in question or whether future “natural” relations (existence) would correspond to humanity’s essence.
Thus, the relation between men and women can be seen as “natural” in a double sense. First, reproduction is necessary to continuation of the species. Second, in order for people to exist as true species beings and live up to their full potential, women must be seen as equal to men. One half of humanity will always be responsible for childbirth, but this does not imply an inevitable inequality between men and women. Instead, through the process of history, humanity overcomes its estrangement from nature through science and technology. This comes about through individuation and thus estrangement from the product, work, and others. This appears to be far from a static and essentialistic understanding of gender where transcendence [Aufhebung] of current gender norms may be possible.
Gimenez, Martha E. 2005. “Capitalism and the Oppression of Women: Marx Revisited,”Science & Society. Vol. 69, no. 1. p. 11-32.
Marx, Karl. 1976. [1867-1875] Capital, Vol. I. New York: Penguin Books.
_____. 2004.  The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. in Erich Fromm, ed., Marx’s Concept of Man. New York: Continuum.
Mazumdar, Rinita. 2011. “Critique of Marx, Gender, Identity and Kinship Relations.” http://www.rinitamazumdar.com.
Ring, Jennifer. 1991. Modern Political Theory and Contemporary Feminism: A Dialectical Analysis. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Young, Iris. 1980. “Socialist Feminism and the Limits of Dual Systems Theory,” Socialist Review. Vol. 10, nos. 2-3. March-June.


Who is covered by Chapter 21?
This can be a confusing area of the law. especially as regards committees, task forces or other subunits of governmental bodies, and the answer sometimes requires an analysis of how the body was created and what its charge is. Iowa Attorney General’s opinions, Iowa Supreme Court cases and advice from the Iowa Public Information Board have produced these guidelines:
1. A governmental body is covered by Chapter 21 if it was created by statute or by executive order, or if it is a local board, council, commission or other governmental unit exercising policy-making authority. Consequently, a school board or city council is a governmental body covered by Chapter 21, but a nonprofit organization or a quasi-public agency most likely is not even though it may receive public funds. (However, records related to the allocation of those funds generally are available from the donating government body under Chapter 22, the public records law.) In recent years, the Legislature amended the Iowa Code to require agencies established under Chapter 28E and also the Iowa Association of School Boards to comply with the open meetings and records laws.
2. Committees created by the boards, councils, commissions, etc., covered by Chapter 21 also are covered by law if (a) they comprise or their meetings involve a majority of the members of the parent governmental body itself, or (b) they are formally and directly created by the governmental body and exercise some policy- or decision-making authority. (The Iowa Supreme Court has said that policy-making “is more than recommending or advising what should be done. Policy-making is deciding with authority a course of action.” Mason v. Vision Iowa Board, 700 N.W.2d 349 (Iowa 2005)) In addition, under 21.2(e) and (h), advisory bodies created by the governor, by the General Assembly, by statute or by executive order to develop and make recommendations on public policy issues are subject to Chapter 21.
The Iowa Public Information Board has said that for local government, an “executive order” would mean creation by formal action of the governing body.
Finally, two other points should be remembered with regard to government bodies and committees:
1. Even if a committee does not come under the provisions of Chapter 21, it may still hold public sessions. Closed meetings are not mandated.
2. The correspondence, minutes, records, etc., of a government body or a committee generally are subject to the provisions of Chapter 22, the open records law, even if the committee is not covered by Chapter 21.
In one sentence of Chapter 21.2, “meeting” is defined broadly to include most formal and informal gatherings of a majority of members of a governmental body. In the next sentence, however, gatherings “for purely ministerial or social purposes” are not considered to be “meetings.” Why is the law’s coverage limited in this way?
A wide range of activities could fall within the definition of “meeting.” Most of these gatherings are included in Chapter 21.2’s definition of “meeting.” An important exception is a gathering of less than a majority of members. If the notice, openness and record-keeping requirements of Chapter 21 were applied to such a gathering, it could limit free speech and association rights of public officials.
Chapter 21.2 does define a “meeting” of a majority of the members as excluding gatherings for purely social or ministerial purposes where there is no discussion of policy or no intent to avoid the purposes of the Act.
The definition of “meeting” permits the majority to gather for limited purposes without being subject to the requirements of the Act. A purely social gathering is placed outside the coverage of the statute to avoid a collision with the association rights of public officials under the First Amendment. Likewise, if a majority of the members of a governmental body is simply traveling together to a meeting, conference, etc., that activity would be outside the scope of Chapter 21 so long as there was no discussion of policy and there was no intent to avoid the purposes of the Act.
A gathering of a majority of members for purely ministerial purposes is excluded from the Act’s coverage because a ministerial matter by definition excludes exercising any discretion about policy matters. Clear examples are the members’ signing of letters or documents whose contents have been approved in a prior, formal open meeting, or school board members attending graduation ceremonies.
Questions about “ministerial” functions and information-gathering trips by governmental bodies have been addressed in Attorney General’s opinions, including Cook to Pellett and Crabb, 79-5-14, Stork to Reis, 81-2-13, and Stork to O’Kane, 81-7-4.
The last opinion notes, “… It appears that gathering for ‘purely ministerial purposes’ may include a situation in which members of a governmental body gather simply to receive information upon a matter within the scope of the body’s policy making duties. … We emphasize, however, that the nature of any such gathering may change if either ‘deliberation’ or ‘action’ … occurs. A ‘meeting’ may develop … if a majority of the members of a body engage in any discussion that focuses at all concretely on matters over which they may exercise judgment or discretion.” (Emphasis added.)
In Dooley v. Johnson County Bd. of Sup’rs. (2008 WL 5234382), the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that the board did not violate the open meetings law when members met privately with a consulting company to review a preliminary draft of a report, asked questions and elicited clarification. However, the Court noted, “Gathering for this purpose appears dangerously close to ‘deliberation.’ Even absent any intention to deliberate, such discussions could arise effortlessly. We believe the board’s decision to review the draft in this fashion was a poor one.”
The law provides latitude by exempting “ministerial” and “social” functions from coverage by Chapter 21, but plainly the latitude must be drawn narrowly to be consistent with Chapter 21’s mandate for openness.
What guidelines have been established for providing the “tentative agenda” and reasonable notice of public meetings called for in Chapter 21.4?
This area, too, has received considerable attention from public agencies, the news media, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Iowa Supreme Court in a July 1991 decision.
The standards of notice in Chapter 21.4 are the minimum requirements. For example, advising interested persons to listen to a certain radio station at a set time for information about an upcoming meeting would not constitute “reasonable notice.” Further, a “tentative” agenda must include more information than simply reciting such catch-all items as “Approval of minutes; old business; new business,” or by using the same agenda contents for meeting after meeting.
In its opinion in KCOB/KLVN, Inc. v. Jasper County Bd. of Sup’rs., 473 N.W.2d 171 (Iowa 1991), the Iowa Supreme Court set forth several guidelines for meeting notices and tentative agendas. These included:
1. “… (T)he content of a tentative agenda notice can be subject to change. … (A) proper construction of the notice provision in section 21.4 allows discussion and action on emergency items that are first ascertained at a meeting for which proper notice was given. … However, if action can be reasonably deferred to a later meeting, this should be done.” In other words, if action can be delayed for at least 24 hours to allow for legal notice, it should be.
2. “… The sufficiency of the detail on the tentative agenda must be viewed in the context of surrounding events.” Here the Court said that the test for a tentative agenda was whether the information was reasonably sufficient to alert interested people as to the subject matter to be considered. (For example, in Vandaele v. Board of Education (2002 WL 575666), the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that a brief item on a school board agenda was sufficient, citing evidence that the superintendent had discussed the issue in newspapers and that the meeting was well publicized.)
3. The Court said that the standard for compliance with the meeting and notice procedures should be “substantial” rather than “absolute.” That is, the Court will not find a public agency to be in violation of Chapter 21 if the violation is strictly or primarily a technical one where the precise letter of the law is not followed. If a public agency acting in good faith substantially complied with the law, that will be sufficient for the Court.
4. The Court did caution, however, that “a lack of wrongful intent to violate the open meetings law cannot excuse non-compliance.” The Court affirmed legislative intent that ignorance of the legal requirements of Chapter 21 is not a defense against substantive violations.
The Supreme Court revisited the issue of what constitutes an adequate agenda for a public meeting in Barrett v. Lode, 603 N.W.2d 766 (Iowa 1999). The Court ruled that closed sessions of meetings subject to the open meetings law must not include issues not listed on the agenda. An agenda for a public meeting must specifically state any issues the board intends to discuss in closed session, and discussing topics not noted on the agenda violates the law, even if the public could have anticipated the issues would arise.
Notice of a meeting and the tentative agenda are to be provided by the public agency involved; a news agency requesting notice does not have to pay postage or other costs to receive the notice and the tentative agenda, according to an Attorney General’s opinion (Cook to Menke, 79-4-19).
A news medium or individual citizen cannot be restricted to having only the “tentative agenda” and “reasonable notice” of an upcoming public meeting. An Attorney General’s opinion (Stork to McDonald, 81-8-24) makes clear that material prepared for discussion at a public meeting is a public record under Chapter 22, the law for inspection of public records. Consequently, an individual may request copies of that material in advance of the public meeting and in accord with provisions of Chapter 22. In this case, however, the individual might have to pay the costs for copying agenda material, as covered in Chapter 22.
Chapter 21 permits the closing of a meeting for any one of 12 reasons. Why?
As noted in Chapter 21, at the end of the list of exemptions and discussions about the conduct of closed meetings: “Nothing in this section requires a governmental body to hold a closed session to discuss or act upon any matter.” The list of exemptions, therefore, is not a list of when meetings are required to be closed; rather, the exemptions suggest under what conditions public agencies may consider whether to close a meeting. As noted in an Attorney General’s opinion (Stork to O’Kane, 81-7-4), “Discussion during a closed session … must relate directly to the specific reason announced as justification for the session.”
Exemptions (a) through (l) of Chapter 21.5 embody a legislative effort to address countervailing interests. Several key exemptions are discussed below.
“a. To review or discuss records which are required or authorized by state or federal law to be kept confidential or to be kept confidential as a condition for that governmental body’s possession or continued receipt of federal funds.”
Problems might arise if a governmental body lacked discretion under Chapter 21 to discuss confidential records in closed session. Discussion open to the public could violate the law allowing the confidentiality of a record; discussion closed to the public would violate the open meetings law without this exemption.
Examples of laws allowing for the confidentiality of certain records include the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (making confidentiality of student records a condition for federal funding) and Chapter 22.7 of the Iowa Code allowing (but not mandating) the confidentiality of specified public records. In effect, each time Chapter 22.7 is amended to provide confidentiality for a government record, a new exemption for closing a public meeting may likewise be created.
In 2007, lawmakers amended Chapter 21.5 to explicitly allow a closed session to discuss records kept confidential under Chapter 22.7, subsection 50, which involves information about government emergency preparedness and security procedures.
In 2008, the Legislature further linked the open meetings and records laws by adding a subsection to Chapter 22.7 that permits a government body to keep confidential “information in a record that would permit a governmental body . . . to hold a closed session . . . in order to avoid public disclosure of that information.” However, non-confidential information in the record shall be released to the public. The confidentiality provision expires after the government body takes final action on the matter or in 90 days, unless the agency can prove that final action was not possible within that period.
“c. To discuss strategy with counsel in matters that are presently in litigation or where litigation is imminent where its disclosure would be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the position of the governmental body in that litigation.”
Certain conditions must be met before a meeting may be closed under this exemption: (1) The litigation must be in progress or be “imminent,” not merely possible or likely at some future date, (2) if the litigation is “imminent,” the disclosure of strategy would likely prejudice or disadvantage the governmental body’s case, and (3) legal counsel should be present. In Tausz v. Clarion-Goldfield Community School District, 569 N.W.2d 125 (Iowa 1997), the Supreme Court emphasized that attorney-client privilege does not extend to all communications between government agencies or officials and their attorneys, and must be examined on a case-by-case basis.
“e. To discuss whether to conduct a hearing or to conduct hearings to suspend or expel a student, unless an open session is requested by the student or a parent or guardian of the student if the student is a minor.”
This exemption permits a closed session at two stages of disciplinary action against a student. The first stage, deciding whether to conduct a hearing, may be closed at the discretion of the governmental body. The second stage, the hearing itself, also may be closed unless the student or the parent or guardian, if the student is under 18, requests an open session. (The student, parent or guardian has no right to demand a closed hearing under this exemption.) The final action of the school board must be taken in open meeting, but to protect the confidentiality of the student, the motion to expel or suspend the student should not identify the student by name.
In Schumacher v. Lisbon School Board, 582 N.W.2d 183 (Iowa 1998), the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the Lisbon board had violated the open meetings law when it held a closed hearing (at the request of a school aide) to consider disciplining a high school student, even though the parents of the student had asked for a public hearing.
Because disciplinary actions may involve student records otherwise considered private, the Iowa Association of School Boards recommends that a board obtain, from the student, parent or guardian who wants an open session, a written request and permission for disclosure of the records.
“f. To discuss the decision to be rendered in a contested case conducted according to the provisions of Chapter 17A [The Administrative Procedure Act].”
This exemption is rather unambiguous, and applies only to state agencies. A contested case under Chapter 17A is similar to a court trial. It is presided over and decided by one or more hearing officers (similar to judges) for disputes about rates, prices, licenses and the like.
“g. To avoid disclosure of specific law enforcement matters, such as current or proposed investigations, inspection or auditing techniques or schedules, which if disclosed would enable law violators to avoid detection.”
“h. To avoid disclosure of specific law enforcement matters, such as allowable tolerances or criteria for the selection, prosecution, or settlement of cases, which if disclosed would facilitate disregard of requirements imposed by law.”
The public is interested in effective and efficient enforcement of the law. Persons who want to violate a law might do so with reduced fear of prosecution if they know what the prosecution tolerances, investigative schedules or investigative techniques are.
“i. To evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session.”
This exemption permits public agencies to protect individual reputations but does not allow closed sessions for each and every discussion of “personnel” matters. Its scope is wide and includes any evaluation of an individual’s professional competence occasioned by consideration of that individual’s appointment, hiring, performance or discharge. It would, of course, be unreasonable and inconsistent with the intent of Chapter 21 to apply this exemption to evaluations of corporate or business “entities.” Such entities, which do not have personal privacy interests at stake, cannot require a closed meeting for discussion of their qualifications.
The potential breadth of this exemption is somewhat offset by the two conditions that must be met before a meeting may be closed under this exemption: (1) the individual involved must request a closed session, and (2) there must be reasonable basis to believe the individual’s reputation would be injured irreparably and needlessly unless the meeting is closed. (The construction here may allow irreparable injury if that is unavoidable in serving the public interest.)
An advisory opinion issued by the Iowa Public Information Board on Feb. 20, 2014, confirmed that the individual being evaluated must request the closed session.
The exemption provides no right for the person who is the subject of discussion to attend the session closed by request; nor does it forbid such attendance. In Feller v. Scott County Civil Service Commission, 435 N.W.2d 387 (Iowa 1988), the Iowa Court of Appeals limited a public agency’s discretion in deciding whether to honor a request for a closed session. The Court ruled that there could be basis for a lawsuit if a public agency denied a request for a closed session in arbitrary and capricious fashion.
“j. To discuss the purchase or sale of particular real estate only where premature disclosure could be reasonably expected to increase the price the governmental body would have to pay for that property or reduce the price the governmental body would receive for that property. The minutes and the audio recording of a session closed under this paragraph shall be available for public examination when the transaction discussed is completed.”
A meeting may be closed under exemption (j) only when public discussion of the possible purchase or sale of particular real estate could be reasonably expected to increase the price demanded of that property or decrease the amount the government would receive in a sale.
The economic public interest that this exemption is intended to serve is clear. The exemption does not allow closed sessions for discussion of real estate in general.
If a session is closed under this exemption, the records of that closed meeting must be made available for public examination when the transaction is completed or canceled.
Under Chapter 21.5(4) the minutes and tape recording of any closed session must be kept at least one year. If more than a year should elapse between a meeting closed under Chapter 21.5(1)(j) and the completion of the real-estate transaction, the record of that closed session should be kept for a reasonable time after the completion of the transaction so it can be available for public examination.
“l. To discuss patient care quality and process improvement initiatives in a meeting of a public hospital or to discuss marketing and pricing strategies or similar proprietary information. . . .”
In 2008, the Legislature amended Chapter 21 to allow the boards of public hospitals to hold closed sessions under some circumstances.
However, the closed meetings are allowed only when (1) public disclosure would harm the hospital’s competitive position, and (2) no public purpose would be served by public disclosure. When public disclosure would no longer harm the hospital’s position, the minutes and recording of the closed session shall be made available to the public.
This provision does not apply to discussions of employment conditions or employee compensation.
Does any provision of the Code of Iowa permit a final action to be taken in closed session?
Chapter 21 requires final actions to be taken in open sessions. (For example, if the discharge of an employee is discussed in closed session, the vote to discharge the employee must take place in open session.) Chapter 21.5(3), however, does say that a final action by an agency may be taken in a closed meeting if expressly permitted by some other provision of the Code.
What other sections of the Code permit meetings of governmental bodies to be closed?
Such exemptions to Chapter 21 include at least these:
Chapter 20.17(3) exempts negotiating sessions, strategy meetings of public employers, mediation and the deliberative process of arbitrators in the collective-bargaining process for public employees. (The first two sessions, in which the two sides present their initial bargaining positions, shall be open to the public, however.)
Chapter 279.15 exempts school board hearings to discuss with a teacher a superintendent’s recommendation to terminate a contract with that teacher.
Chapter 602.2103 exempts hearings by the Commission of Judicial Qualification when it considers the retirement, discipline or removal of a judge. But if the commission applies to the Supreme Court to remove or discipline a judicial officer or an employee of the judicial branch, those records are public documents.
Chapter 21.6(2) notes: “Once a party seeking judicial enforcement of this chapter demonstrates to the court that the body in question is subject to the requirements of this chapter and has held a closed session, the burden of going forward shall be on the body and its members to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this chapter.” What is meant by the “burden of going forward” and why should that burden be on the governmental body?
This subsection provides for a shift in the burden of going forward in an action to enforce the requirements of the Act. Ordinarily in litigation, the burden is on the complaining party (the plaintiff) to show that a requirement of a law has been violated. Chapter 21.6(2) provides an exception to that general rule. Whenever the plaintiff can show that (1) the defendants are members of a governmental body subject to the requirements of the Act and (2) the defendants have held a closed meeting, the burden of going forward shifts to the defendants. The governmental body and its members must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the requirements of Chapter 21 were followed.
The shift in the burden to governmental bodies and their members is fundamental to the intent of the open-meetings law. Evidence of compliance with the requirements for closing a meeting is largely in the possession of the governmental body and its members. They are in a much better position to prove compliance than a typical plaintiff is to prove non-compliance. Also, placing the major burden on a party that has closed a meeting is in harmony with the express purpose of the Act: to maximize public access to governmental decision-making. Those who curtail public access by closing meetings are rightly assigned the duty of defending the legality of such closure.
Can a governmental body covered by Chapter 21 take a secret ballot?
No. Chapter 21.3 states, “The minutes shall show the results of each vote taken and information sufficient to indicate the vote of each member present. The vote of each member present shall be made public at the open session. The minutes shall be public records open to public inspection.”
It would be acceptable to record a vote as unanimous in the minutes of a meeting, or passed with only [name] dissenting, so long as the members present are noted in the minutes. However, in other cases the “yes” and “no” votes should be reported for each member of a public agency and if an agency is voting whether to go into a closed session it may be prudent to record the vote of each member.
In a Mitchell County District Court case on this issue, McKinley vs. the St. Ansgar City Council, a city council contended that a secret ballot was merely “preferential.” The secret vote narrowed a field of candidates to five who were then approved unanimously by the council members. But a judge ruled that the procedure violated Chapter 21.3.
Sometimes a public agency might be tempted to seek secret ballots on particularly sensitive and controversial matters, but it is precisely on such matters that the votes of individual members should be recorded. For one thing, citizens are entitled to know how their representatives voted; for another, such controversial items are most likely to lead to litigation if there is a possible violation of Chapter 21.
Further, Section 380.4 of the Code of Iowa requires a city council member’s vote to be recorded on any ordinance, amendment or resolution, and 362.2(19) defines “recorded vote” as “a record, roll call vote.”
What steps should a private citizen take at a meeting of a governmental body when it is suggested that the body go into closed session, apparently for reasons not legal under Chapter 21 or other sections of the Iowa Code?
These steps seem reasonable:
1. Although you may not be assured access to the floor, seek an opportunity to voice concerns: “I’d appreciate it if you would specify exactly which exemption is being used to close the meeting. I question your legal grounds for closing the session.”
2. Recognize that the goal should be to keep the meeting legally open and not to punish a governmental body for illegally closing a session. Consequently, you should, if given the opportunity, explain why you feel the meeting should remain open and what requirements of closing may not have been met by the public body.
3. If the meeting is closed, and you remain concerned that it was closed illegally, you can consider legal action. Ask the county attorney to look into the matter. Enlist the support of the local newspaper or broadcast station. Consult a private attorney to evaluate your case. All you need to demonstrate to the court is that (a) the public body is covered by the open meetings law and (b) a closed meeting was held. The burden of going forward shifts to the public agency to demonstrate compliance with the law.
4. Remember, if you are right that the meeting was illegally closed, you will be reimbursed for all costs and reasonable legal fees. Remember, too, however, that this provision of the law should not be an invitation to protest all closed sessions because the law does provide for exemptions to the mandate for openness.
In addition, the Iowa Public Information Board staff is available to answer questions and provide advice about the legality of a governmental action, attempt to resolve disputes, and act to enforce the law.
To what extent do members of a governmental body share with their attorney responsibility for compliance with the open meetings law? Chapter 21.6(3) does provide the members with a defense if they “reasonably relied” upon the attorney’s opinion.
According to Chapter 21.6(4), members of a governmental body cannot claim their ignorance of its requirements as a defense. Yet, the law also recognizes that opinions of the attorney for the governmental body will be an important source of information about the Act’s requirements.
In Grell v. Building Appeals Board, 1999 WL 1255744 (Iowa Ct. App. 1999), the Iowa Court of Appeals held that members of the Coralville Building Appeals Board did not reasonably rely on the oral advice of counsel to close a session, where the members did not thereafter follow the mandated procedures for closing a session and did not tape record the session after closing. The Court left unresolved whether oral advice of counsel would constitute a “formal opinion” under Chapter 21. The Court focused instead on the attempt by board members to “shift responsibilities by blaming the City Attorney” in order to avoid civil penalties, which the Court viewed as exacerbating actions that were “clearly contrary to the objectives of the Open Meetings Law.”
A governmental body would be ill-advised to move into a closed session if counsel said, “The legality of the closing under consideration is unclear, but I see no reason why the meeting must stay open.” Reliance on that opinion would probably fail as a defense in court. The remarks are unmindful of the Act’s fundamental preference for openness.
Does a person who wants to speak at a meeting of a governmental agency have the legal right to do so?
No. While the open meetings act provides no mandate that a public agency must provide meeting time to any citizen with something to say, due process and democratic principles will dictate that a public body should hear those affected by proposed actions. Typically, many public agencies set aside time for a “public forum” or an “open forum,” but they are under no mandate under Chapter 21 to do so. Even when discussing a controversial item on its agenda, the public agency understandably does not have to provide time to each person at the meeting.
If a majority of the members of a board are communicating online at the same time, would that constitute a public meeting?
Yes. The provisions for electronic meetings under 21.8 apply as well to telephone and online conferences. So if the majority of the members of a governmental body hold an online conference, via email or social media, they should follow the same guidelines that would apply to a telephone conference call. Provisions in Chapters 21 and 22 can reasonably accommodate use of laptop computers, email and online conferences by public officials.
Keep in mind the Legislature’s mandate that “the basis and rationale of governmental decisions, as well as those decisions themselves,” should be accessible to the people. Members of governmental bodies should be cautious about discussing public business among themselves extensively outside of public meetings. Citizens become frustrated when they feel they are being shut out of the decision-making process by public officials they suspect are conducting government business and striking deals outside of the public eye.
Some government bodies have maintained the flexibility of electronic communication while ensuring government transparency by posting officials’ emails online for public access under the public records law. Proposed legislation that would prohibit “walking quorums” — serial communication among individual members of a government body, either in person or electronically, with the intent to skirt the open meetings law — has been the topic of much discussion at the Statehouse in recent years.
More Open Meetings Open Records Handbook:


Announced last month at MWC 2014, Sony’s Xperia Z2 is still in the center of attention. Although it will be widely available around the world starting April, with just a few markets getting it at the end of this month, the company has already prepared us a new surprise. A Deluxe Edition of Sony Xperia Z2 is also going to be soon launched in Chinn and we are talking about the same model that comes bundled with a set of accessories. Do you want to find out more details? Don’t worry, Sony is only asking 5,499 CNY ($883) for this new version, which is not at all that much compared to the standard Xperia Z2 which is going to be available for 4,999 CNY ($803).
Interesting Deluxe Xperia Z2 Set of Accessories
So, let’s some back to this set of accessories. From what we know at this point, the Deluxe Edition Xperia Z2 will come with a DK36 Magnetic Charging Dock, a MDR-NC31EM Digital Noise Cancelling Headset, as well as an STM10 Stereo microphone and a SCR10 Style Cover Stand. Just imagine that we are talking about a $80 premium for this set of accessories, so all of you who live in China should feel privileged.
In case you don’t know, Sony is currently experiencing some Xperia Z2 stock problems in Europe and has even raised the price of the handset to €679 in Germany. And we are not talking about any sort of accessories in that package, so this Deluxe Edition is much better than we have even imagined in the first place.
Availability in China
When it comes to its availability, the Deluxe Edition Xperia Z2 handset will reach China on March 27 and the company is expected to launch the regular Xperia Z2 version a few days after. But we have no idea if global markets will get this special Xperia Z2 with its accessories up to now; we just hope that we’ll have the chance to inform you that this is going to happen indeed.


text:
All Saints Day is is an observance in many churches commemorating those who have passed away.
How three churches in communities with large refugee populations welcomed them into church during Thanksgiving.
Serve others at one of the busiest travel times of the year.
Raise money for a good cause with a fun fall event.
Use short, outdoor performances to reach passersby.
Celebrate fall as Halloween approaches with a pumpkin patch on church grounds.
Serve local high school athletes by providing a meal and gathering place after weekly games.
Reach sports fans through a shared love of football.
Equip kids and their teachers for a successful academic year.
Connect with high school seniors as they work through this difficult task.

domain: sociology


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Michelle Singletary: Color of money
Ah, ‘tis the high season for weddings. And inevitably, with this season comes the financial foibles that can stress or even end relationships with friends or family members.
Money magazine and CNNMoney.com columnists Jeanne Fleming and Leonard Schwarz — authors of “Isn’t It Their Turn to Pick Up the Check?” — love to collect stories of people behaving badly when it comes to money. So recently they put together a list of the five most audacious, you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me wedding and money stories.
Here are the five, listed from the least appalling to the most outrageous:
*Someone was invited to a destination wedding. It’s a trend that can get very costly for the guests. Five times as many couples opted for destination weddings in 2006 as did in 1996, according to the National Tour Association.
In this case the bride and groom selected a resort hotel in Hawaii for their guests to stay. Because of cost, one invited guest balked at going. However, he said the bride and groom twisted his arm. So he went. After the guy got there, he found out that part of the reason the couple was so insistent he come was that they got free accommodations for bringing in a certain number of guests. Had he not booked a room, the bride and groom would have lost their sweet deal.
*Another egregious money story started in a Las Vegas wedding chapel. The bride and groom decided to go it alone and didn’t invite any guests. Then the bride’s cousin decided to get married. A friend of the cousin was throwing her a bridal shower. So how did the bride who had no guests at her wedding respond? Since she never had a bridal shower, she suggested that everyone at her cousin’s shower should be encouraged to bring a gift for her too.
*During a reception, four members of the groom’s family decided to order a dish that was different from what other guests were eating. This was not for any religious or health reasons. They just didn’t like what was being served. So these rogue guests bullied the waiter into bringing them ahi tuna entrees.
The bride’s dad got stuck with the tab — in addition to having to pay for the meals the pushy guests didn’t eat.
*A 30-something woman asked her divorced parents to help pay for her wedding. They both gave her big checks. But the wedding was called off when the groom got cold feet. Naturally the parents wanted their money back.
The daughter refused. Why? She had hoped the reluctant groom would change his mind. The parents did eventually get repaid.
*Finally, the parents of a bride insisted that the couple have a lavish wedding. But following the reception, the bride’s father took the groom’s mother aside. He told her that because his business was facing a financial emergency, he needed her and husband to lend him $25,000 to help pay for the wedding.
Well, at least he was just asking for a loan.
So what would you do in any of these cases?
When I first read the stories I was appalled, especially about the bride that wanted to piggyback on her cousin’s shower. It takes a lot of gall to ask that guests attending someone else’s party bring you gifts.
But on reflection, each story tells a lot about how people are pressed into doing something with their money that they don’t want to do.
So as you ponder how to respond to a wedding invitation and the financial craziness that may come with such a blessed event, remember you do have free will. Exercise it wisely.
Michelle Singletary can be reached at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 or email@example.com.


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This article from Jeff Sabo is a beauty: “I’ve Walked Many Miles In Your Shoes”. Excerpts:
” …I did not just simply read about unschooling and connected parenting one day and suddenly become blindly evangelical about it. I read about it, considered it, discussed it, observed it, tried it, cried about it, had ups and downs, learned more, committed to it, and tried again. I approached the small educational pieces first, then the whole life pieces such as TV and bedtimes. I spent weeks, months, and years agonizing about whether or not I was doing the right thing. I gave my ear to the naysayers of my choice as well as the supporters. Living this way was a careful, deliberate decision made after a substantial amount of reflection, study, and trial.
“However, I do try to keep in mind that my approach to parenting is ‘radical’ when compared to what the vast majority of parents in our society believe. Like the people that I have fired in my career, I have had many years to be at peace with my decision, while they have simply read a few snippets over a few days. Is it any wonder that they disagree and think I’ve lost it? Is it any wonder that they feel the need to educate me on how very wrong I am?
“[…] Somewhat less palatable are the emails and comments I periodically receive that seem to want to ‘teach’ me about why my viewpoints are wrong. These notes would hold much greater weight if the sender had devoted as much time to considering the philosophies behind my views as I had, or even if they had indicated a willingness to learn about them.”
And… it just goes on and on with awesomeness. The whole piece is great.

domain: literature


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Wisconsin State Senator Glenn Grothman, Republican of West Bend, became nationally known during the siege of the Wisconsin Statehouse last winter. He became the unofficial spokesperson for Governor Scott Walker, making the rounds of all the news shows and being genial and pleasant – right up to the day the Republicans rewrote the Governor’s union busting law, broke the state’s Open Meeting Law and forced the law through the legislature. Then, Grothman went on the air and characterized the protesters as “slobs” who were not even public employees but just a bunch of young people boffing their girlfriends inside sleeping bags in the Statehouse Rotunda and trashing the capitol. Oh, yeah, he also said the protesters were anti-Christian. Grothman survived an attempted recall because his district is exceedingly Republican, but he is Wisconsin’s poster boy for extreme conservative social attitudes.
His latest foray into the social values battleground is a bill he proposed that would legislate single parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse. During an appearance on Alan Colmes’ radio show, Grothman attacked women and scolded America for encouraging “a single motherhood lifestyle.” He told Colmes, “There’s been a huge change over the last 30 years and a lot of that change has been the choice of the women.” He thinks “we should educate women that this is a mistake. I think when you have an epidemic of this great proportion, people are not so dumb that it’s surprising when they get pregnant.” He continued on this vein, saying of “unwanted or mistimed” pregnancies, “I think people are trained to say that ‘this is a surprise to me,’ because there’s still enough of a stigma that they’re supposed to say this.”
Okay, so it’s all the fault of girls and women. We are just too stupid to know what we are doing and we are doing it at an astounding rate that has never been seen in the history of the world.
Grothman suffers from the conservative disease of ignorance of social history. Like far too many conservatives, Grothman believes that this nation was a perfect place, where nuclear families lived in neat little houses in neat little neighborhoods, the men went to work, everyone had a job, the little women all stayed home to raise their above-average children, everyone went to church on Sunday, there was no crime, no spousal or child abuse, no sex outside marriage and the skies were not cloudy all day.
In 1938, of 2,250,000 live births, 87,900 were acknowledged illegitimate babies. In 1958 (which happens to be the year with the highest number of teen pregnancies in American history), of 4,250,000 live births, 208,700 were acknowledged illegitimate. The key word is “acknowledged,” by the way. There is no accurate statistic of the number of shotgun weddings in those 20 years and certainly no accurate statistic for the number of illegal abortions and shell-game births. Guitarist Eric Clapton is the son of an unwed teenage mother, but to protect her and the family from the stigma of illegitimacy, her parents kept the girl’s pregnancy a secret and while she was in the hospital, with grandma staying out of sight, grandpa moved the family clear across the city and the new baby was presented as the girl’s brother. Wartime was a perfect time for the shell-game routine for illegitimate births, especially in a city with a high immigrant population. My own grandmother arrived in America with two illegitimate sons and pregnant with my father. When my grandfather was back in their native country on business, she moved, left no forwarding address, and presented herself to the neighbors as a World War I widow.
Grothman is looking at the statistic that says around 40% of American births are to unwed mothers and crying “moral degradation!”. Yeah, we know, this nation has been going to hell in a handbasket since my generation (his too, by the way) hit puberty. He is not looking at the circumstances of those mothers. Some women choose single motherhood because the available pool of men is not exactly stellar husband material. Some are in very committed relationships and just never seemed to be able to organize a wedding. Some couples simply choose not to have that piece of paper. Many of those mothers believe that their relationship is solid and the surprise isn’t the pregnancy, it’s how fast the father can find the door. A lot of them truly are surprised because people like Grothman have done such a wonderful job of undercutting factual sex education in our schools. In fact, a recent study showed how abysmally under-educated our teenagers are about how pregnancies really happen. A public health nurse in Georgia told me that the amount of misinformation she dealt with was frightening, with most of the unwed mothers she dealt with believing the exact opposite pattern for when a woman is fertile. And the situation is just getting worse, with Utah’s governor about to sign an “abstinence only” sex education bill, even though communities with abstinence only sex ed have seen an increase in teen pregnancies.
Society has spent hundreds of years trying to solve society’s problems. Nations have repeatedly subjected themselves to the control of religions, with no impact on immoral behavior unless they enforced those moral laws with bodily mutilations and beheadings. Societies have stigmatized certain persons for a wide range of reasons, frequently stigmatizing one person while excusing that person’s partner, as in the case of prostitutes and the upper class men who used their services. Every modern industrialized nation has tried a wide variety of programs and initiatives to solve the problems of poverty, poor education and unwed parenthood, which do interrelate. There has only ever been one solution – a thriving economy. When there are jobs that can be done – and done for a living wage – by persons of wide backgrounds and skills, when education is geared to the full spectrum of needs – academicians, white collar executives, blue collar apprenticeships – and not just to some uniform test that only increases the drop-out rate, when these things are in place, the whole society is lifted.
There has been an expected backlash against Grothman’s bigoted bill, with petitions and protests, but perhaps what is needed is for someone in the Wisconsin State Senate to print out the facts about child abuse in their state and drop it on Grothman’s head. Then, some Democrat should introduce a bill that would charge the fathers of those illegitimate babies with abandonment, neglect and abuse of both the child and its mother.
And the Republicans keep insisting they are not engaged in a war on women…..

domain: news


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(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)
Alex Pareene, at Salon:
John McCain got an earful at a recent town hall, because whenever John McCain actually shows up in his state people generally feel like yelling at him, but this time the angry Arizonans had a good point: Americans and Arizonans don’t particularly want to go to war in Syria, so why are so many people in the Senate about to vote to do that? And why did John McCain basically already vote to do this?
McCain was heckled and aggressively questioned at the Phoenix meeting. One man used marshmallows as a prop but most questioners had pretty straightforward arguments, like “we do not want another engagement in the Middle East.” John McCain promised that this would not be a real war, meaning a war in which Americans would be in any danger of dying in large numbers, but rather just the sort of minor, small-scale military action that will probably just kill a lot of Syrians. This did not seem to satisfy his critics. One of them had a particularly pointed, but sort of misdirected message:
“We didn’t send you to make war for us. We sent you to stop the war,” one man said to applause.
My question is this: Why would you send John McCain anywhere to stop a war? Anywhere besides “retirement,” I mean? Arizonans have been sending McCain to Washington (well, they haven’t been sending him there — he lives there — but they have been asking him to represent them in Congress) for a quarter-century now, or longer if you count his time in the House. In that time he hasn’t been consistent on much, but one thing he’s always been steadfastly in favor of is war. He’s never heard of a proposed military intervention he didn’t immediately support, or not support mainly because it wasn’t a big enough military intervention….
You can count on some Republicans to be purely opportunistic opponents of military invention — this president favors it, so now I am opposed — but that is never going to be the case with John McCain. If military action is on the table, John McCain is going to rattle a saber all over that table. If you’re tired of war, Arizona, just don’t vote John McCain anymore. (This also goes for Californians who dislike war and massive government surveillance programs but keep voting for Dianne Feinstein.)
The people at McCain’s town hall were not peacenik outliers. The majority of Americans are opposed to airstrikes in Syria. (Democrats oppose them more strongly than Republicans do, so thus far “liberal hypocrisy” on the issue is primarily limited to elected officials, as ever.) If President Obama loses a congressional vote and then doesn’t strike Syria, well, that might actually be a pretty politically popular move. But it would lead to John McCain and a chorus of Washington pundits calling him “weak.” Doing your best to reflect the will of the people, as represented either by polls or by the votes of popularly elected representatives, is always considered “weaker” than just doing hugely unpopular stuff because a couple of rich guys want you to….


The University of Evansville baseball team put an end to their season-high six game losing streak at the plate, out-slugging Murray State 16-12 in a non-conference matchup Tuesday night in Murray, Kentucky.
“Great to see our offense explode tonight”, said University of Evansville head coach Wes Carroll. “This is always a tough place to play , but our guys battled through.”
The Aces got the bats going early, beginning with junior shortstop Craig Shepherd belting an RBI double, scoring senior center fielder Troy Beilsmith in the opening frame, putting Evansville up 1-0.
Freshman right-hander A.J. Fritz got his first collegiate start, and the Racers tagged him for a four-run frame. However, he would come back to toss a scoreless second, before giving was to fellow freshman Sam Steimel.
Down 4-1 at the top of the second, Troy Beilsmith came up clutch with a two-out two-run home run, narrowing the deficit to one.
Two innings later, senior third baseman Sam Troyer got into the longball barrage, launching a solo homer to left, knotting the game up at 4. Later in the frame, junior catcher Ben Komonosky sent a single through the left side of the infield, bringing in senior left fielder Matthew Jones, giving Evansville the lead back, 5-4.
However, no lead was safe at Reagan Field tonight. In the bottom of the inning, the Racers hit a pair of home runs off Steimel, and suddenly Murray State was back in the driver’s seat, leading 7-5.
Then came the big inning for the Aces. UE would send 14 batters to the plate, scoring eight runs on seven hits, highlighted and capped by senior designated hitter Nate Reeder’s three-run home run, and when the smoke cleared, Evansville had rocketed back into the lead, 13-7.
Still leading by five in the seventh, the Aces continued to swing away. Sam Troyer sent an opposite field two-run single to right, plating both freshman second baseman Danny Borgstrom and Craig Shepherd. Troyer would score on a passed ball later in the inning, giving UE a 16-8 lead.
The Racers would strike for four runs in the eighth on freshman hurler Garrett Presko, forcing the Aces to go to their bullpen one more time, and newcomer Shane Gray closed out Murray State the rest of the way.


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Narcissistic personality disorder
We all display some degree of narcissism from time to time. For some, however, it is a permanent fixture. Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) gives those with the condition an inflated sense of importance, as well as a preoccupation with power and personal adequacy. Here we look at how this can affect those with the condition as well as loved ones.
We recognise that the system of personality disorder diagnosis can be considered controversial. It is completely your choice which term, if any, you want to use, knowing that your doctor or care team may use another.
The terms used on Counselling Directory are those that are generally used in the UK, currently. We refer to these terms throughout, with the hope of reaching and supporting as many people as possible.
What is narcissistic personality disorder?
Narcissistic personality disorder occurs when people have a distorted self-image. They often believe they are superior to others. More prevalent in men than women, NPD makes those with the condition feel like their opinions, feelings and interests are more important than others. They may also find it difficult to empathise with others.
There is a tendency to exaggerate talents and accomplishments - sometimes to the point of lying. They may also be preoccupied with the idea of success and power. Other traits include patronising behaviour, an inherent need for admiration and anger when others contradict them.
Underneath this hard and insensitive exterior is thought to be a very fragile core. People with NPD are assumed to put on a mask of confidence to hide their low self-esteem and insecurities. They often find criticism and rejection very difficult to take.
Those with the condition are likely to show signs of narcissism across a wide range of social situations. There is a possibility that narcissistic personality disorder symptoms decrease in intensity with age, but if it is affecting a person’s life, it’s important to reach out for support. Counselling and psychotherapy are recommended treatments. These approaches can help people with NPD learn how to change behaviours and positively relate to others.
Narcissistic personality disorder symptoms
Narcissistic personality disorder symptoms are wide-ranging and can differ between individuals. However, it is generally believed that if someone has NPD, they will show five or more of the following symptoms:
- Believe that they are better than others.
- Require constant attention from others.
- Preoccupied with intelligence, success, power and ideal romance.
- Believe they are special and that only other special people/institutions will understand them.
- Believe they should be given preferential treatment.
- Lack of empathy and disregard feelings of others.
- Takes advantage of others to reach their own goals.
- Often envious of others and/or believes others are envious of them.
- Displays arrogant behaviours and attitudes.
It is important to note that while strong self-esteem and confidence are core elements of NPD, there is a fine line between someone who is naturally confident and someone who consistently places their self-worth above others.
What causes narcissistic personality disorder?
It is unknown what specifically causes NPD. There are theories that suggest the condition is shaped by a combination of factors.
People with narcissistic personality disorder tend to develop the condition in early adulthood. This could be linked to factors such as individual personality, but generally, it is thought experiences during childhood are the most significant risk factors. These may include:
- overpraise - particularly when parents focus on a specific thing (i.e. looks, talents)
- lack of affection or praise
- neglect and emotional abuse
- unpredictable or negligent caregiving from parents
- extremely high expectations
- excessive criticism
Some children learn from their parents that vulnerability is unacceptable. As a result, they learn to mask their emotional needs with grandiose behaviour that makes them seem bulletproof. The way someone with NPD has been parented may also explain why they lose the ability to empathise with others and adopt manipulative tactics. They may not have been taught how to interact in a ‘normal’ way and thus find it difficult to connect with others.
When is it time to seek help for narcissistic personality disorder?
As with many mental health concerns, experts agree that seeking help as soon as possible is key. Although the severity of narcissistic personality disorder will differ between individuals, generally all those with the condition are considered to be at risk of developing the following if their disorder is left untreated:
Due to the nature of NPD, it is rare for those with the condition to actively seek help themselves. Often they do not recognise that they have a problem and may only consider treatment if their disorder starts to significantly impact their lives.
Often those with NPD will visit their GP for a different reason; for example, if they develop symptoms of depression (which may happen because of a build-up of perceived rejections or criticisms). From here they are likely to be officially diagnosed and offered support.
I think I have narcissistic personality disorder, how do I get diagnosed?
Visiting your GP is the first port of call when seeking help for narcissistic personality disorder. Here you will undergo an initial mental health assessment, which will involve physical examinations. These will ensure there is no physical underlying cause for the behaviour.
From here your doctor will refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist who will conduct a more in-depth assessment. This process will typically involve special assessment tools and a questionnaire.
To assist the diagnosis process, you should consider making a note of all your symptoms as they occur beforehand. This will help your mental health provider know what kinds of events are likely to make you feel defeated or angry. This may show key insights into how your history has shaped your behaviour.
Narcissistic personality disorder treatment
Counselling and psychotherapy are primary forms of narcissistic personality disorder treatment. Medication may also be provided to those showing signs of other conditions such as depression or anxiety. Because it can be difficult to change inherent personality traits, therapy may take several years. Over time, however, individuals with narcissism can learn to develop new patterns of thinking to help shake off their distorted self-image. This will help them to identify with healthier behaviours.
Typically, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is used to promote these changes, however, family therapy is another valuable approach. Family therapy sessions aim to bring the whole family together so someone with NPD can explore with their loved ones any conflicts and communication problems that need to be resolved.
Group therapy may also be offered. In these settings, those with the condition can come together to share their stories and learn how to relate to others more effectively. It’s an environment where they must listen to, and consider the needs and feelings of other people which makes for good practice. Those with NPD also have the opportunity to learn more about themselves and how to make the most of the support available.
The healing journey takes courage and I find myself deeply respectful of those who are prepared to take that road. Pushing past the thorny bushes of guilt and self-doubt, they are willing to truly grieve the losses they incurred, to overcome their inner critic, to take note of and assert their own emotional and physical needs and to address ‘fleas’ caught from the narcissist.
This process of learning to relate to others can also be pursued in psychotherapy. The aim is to help ensure that future relationships of people with NPD are more intimate, long-lasting and enjoyable. This approach encourages the exploration of emotions and delves into what drives sufferers to compete with others, distrust and sometimes despise those closest to them.
The ultimate aim of narcissistic personality disorder treatment is to help sufferers change patterns of thinking that lead to unhealthy relationships. By learning to see themselves and others in a more realistic light, sufferers can begin to adopt behaviours that foster life fulfilment and well-being.
Family members of those with narcissistic personality disorder
If you have someone with NPD in your life, and especially if they are a family member, their behaviour can have an impact on you. While family therapy can often be helpful, don’t be afraid to seek out support for yourself.
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domain: medical


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One great way to increase your wealth is through trading options on ETF's. They provide access to indices and commodities that otherwise would be too expensive or not available. Traders with less capital can still participate and profit from moves in that particular asset class. Because moves happen every day, opportunities come up all the time. A few examples are shown below.
SPY - SPY is an ETF that covers the S and P 500 stock index. In this most recent rise in price of the S and P 500, SPY has risen at a similar level. Since mid November of 2012, SPY has moved from the $135 range to the $155 range. Purchasing 100 shares of SPY would have cost over $13500. The profit if sold now would be somewhere in the range of $2000 or 15%. Purchasing an April $135 call option in November would have cost somewhere near $400 - $500. The call option is now worth $2275. That is a profit of $750 or 150%.
FXY - FXY is an ETF that covers the Japanese Yen. In mid - November, it was trading in the $122 range. A news barrage about how the Yen would be devalued if Abe was elected prime minister in December (which has happened) has caused the price to fall to the $100 range. Shorting 100 shares of the ETF would have brought a profit of $2000.00. Purchasing an April $120 Put would have cost around $1 -$2 range. The April $120 put is now worth $21.00. That profit would have been about $1800 or 900%!
GLD - GLD is the main ETF for Gold. Just in the last couple of months, Gold showed a negative trend. It then ran up against some strong support at the $150.00 level. But on Friday it broke through and today it is trading in the low $130's. Put Options in the $140's late last week are now 5-10 dollars richer.
The ability to trade in all three markets exist because of ETF's. In these three trades, the stock market, currency market, and commodity market are all covered. Because of options, the profits can be very large.
***Disclaimer - Trading Futures ETF Options did have trades (closed now) in SPY and FXY options and has written about GLD as recently as last week. Always do your own Due Diligence before trading.

domain: finance


text: This beautifully proportioned 2 bedroom, 2 bath loft with a home office/3rd bedroom in the heart of the Flatiron district awaits you. Soaring 11.5 foot ceilings and a wall of windows overlooking 17th Street make this apartment feel even larger then it is. Spanning half the floor at approximately 1500 Square Feet, the gracious living and dining space is perfect for intimate gatherings as well as entertaining on a larger scale. The recently updated kitchen has Corian counters and backsplash with stainless steel appliances. The apartment has a washer and dryer as well.40 West 17th Street is a 12 floor building with 2 apartments per floor and a keyed elevator. This pet friendly Co-op has a part time superintendent and is very well maintained. The building allows 80% financing.Located on a tree-lined and serene West 17th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, 40 West 17th Street keeps you close to everything, yet not directly in it.Only 1 Block to Union Square Park, the Farmers Market and the 4,5,6,N,Q,R, L Trains, the location can't be beaten. Close by are the F,M,1,2,3,A,C and E trains as well. NYC's Best Restaurants are steps away, including Aldea, Da Umburto, Gramercy Tavern, Basta Pasta, Casa Mono, ABC Kitchen and Craft to name a few. Whole Foods, Eataly, Trader Joes, Garden of Eden & Westside Market are all close by. Barney's New York, J Crew, Coach, Intermix and Banana Republic are just a few of the many retailers all within 2 blocks. This central Flatiron location is just a block or two from Chelsea, Greenwich Village, the West Village and Gramercy. Don't miss this wonderful opportunity.

domain: geography


Kompas, page 11
The readiness of the implementation of the five-day school policy that will begin in the new 2017/2018 academic year in July is questioned. House Commission X requests that the five-day school policy is not forced in all schools, but as an option as needed. This policy is considered to cause commotion due to various impacts that will surface on the ground. The issue surfaced in the House Commission X Meeting with Minister of Education and Culture Muhadjir Effendy, in Jakarta, Tuesday (13/6).
Vice Chairman of House Commission X, Ferdiansyah asked that the five-day school policy be properly studied and familiarized before being implemented. If students are at school for up to eight hours per day, but in school there are no supporting facilities and interesting activities, students will be stressed. In remote areas, there are many students that live far away from school. They have to leave early to come to school and come home later in the afternoon. Not to mention the matter of whether students have the proper nutrition intake in school.
The urging not to impose implementation of the five-day school policy was also delivered by a number of teachers’ organizations. Chairperson of the Board of the Indonesian Teachers’ Association (PGRI), Unifah Rosyidi said that PGRI understands the good intentions of the government as an effort to maintain, grow, and instill the character of students. However, five days in school until the afternoon without proper preparation can lead to diverse reactions and tend to be negative. According to Unifah, the government should form a special team to seriously discuss this policy with the regional administrations and a number of relevant parties.
Meanwhile, Vice President, Jusuf Kalla said that the decision should be reviewed and should be made in a limited cabinet meeting led by the President. He said that the decision concerns the fate of 50 million Indonesian children that are affected. So it should not be decided at the ministerial level.


"Residents' activities remained normal after the earthquake. Until now, there have been no reports of casualties," Acting Head of BNPB's Data, Information, and Communication Center Abdul Muhari said here on Monday.
The earthquake, which was felt for 3-10 seconds in four districts, from Aceh Singkil, Central Tapanuli, North Nias, and South Aceh, had set off panic among the local residents, he said.
The Aceh Singkil Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has deployed a quick response team to the areas that felt the tremors to check whether there is any damage.
"BNPB has coordinated with the local BPBD and monitored the post-earthquake situation through BNPB's Emergency Operation Center (Pusdalops)," Muhari said.
The BNPB advised the public to be vigilant and prepared for potential aftershocks and to receive reliable information on the earthquake.
The earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 struck Aceh Singkil, Aceh, Monday at 5:30 a.m. Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB), with the epicenter being 47 km southeast of Aceh Singkil, 23 km undersea, and did not trigger a tsunami, according to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
The shallow earthquake was caused by the Indo-Australian plate subducting under the Eurasian Plate and had an oblique thrust mechanism, the agency added.
Meanwhile, Aceh Singkil BPBD staff member Rosiana Kusuma Dewi said the agency is still collecting data and coordinating with all parties to gather reports of material losses or casualties.
Acting District Head of Aceh Singkil, Marthunis said he had also not received any information on damages caused by the earthquake that hit the district.
"We have coordinated with all keuchik/village chiefs to report if there are any impacts due to the earthquake," he said.
Related news: Aceh 6.4M earthquake has no tsunami potential: BMKG
Related news: Maluku govt disburses aid to residents impacted by M7.5 earthquake
Translator: Devi R, Kenzu
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
Copyright © ANTARA 2023


Missouri Toddler’s Death linked to E. coli infection
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – The Boone County medical examiner says the death of a 2-year-old boy from central Missouri has been linked to E. coli.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the medical examiner’s office said Wednesday the child’s death was linked to E. coli, but that an autopsy had not been conducted. The medical examiner’s office said the child was from the New Franklin area and died Tuesday at a hospital.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says it’s helping the Howard County Health Department with its investigation.
Howard County Public Health Director Sheila Wallace says her office is looking for people with similar symptoms and the source of the infection.
E. coli bacteria can cause diarrhea, dehydration and other problems and is often worse in the very young and elderly.
Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune


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The importance of saving money cannot be overemphasized. It is not only the first step towards the money management path, but is essential to building a safety net that prepares you for emergencies and securing a healthy financial future. However, simply saving is far from enough.
While it is easy to agree that it can help you grow your financial net, experts consider saving alone an unproductive exercise. To truly plan for your future, you should go a step further by investing that saving.
Here are some reasons you should look beyond just saving money, and save for the future:
Value Wears Down Over Time
Inflation is one of the biggest threats to savings. After tax, what is left of traditional saving mechanisms like fixed deposit is usually less than the inflation rate. In this case, the value of your savings will continue to decline as the years go by.
Saving alone can help you accomplish your goals in the short term, say two years away. But this investment plan proves to be insufficient when it comes to fulfilling long-term goals like buying a house or life after retirement.
Asides inflation, unforeseen emergencies and unplanned expenses can destroy the value of savings if adequate investment is not done.
Low Interest Rates Mean Increased Saving
One of the downsides of saving or investing in financial instruments with low-yields is that you have to set aside huge amounts of money in order to achieve the corpus you desire for your goals. Stashing away big amounts, in turn, can affect your purchasing power as it will mean less disposable income for expenses.
Saving is a good habit that requires a lot of discipline, but it can get frustrating when it compromises your immediate aspirations. If you increase your savings to achieve a particular goal and make up for a shortfall, you may be smothering other goals in the process.
So, what do you need to do? How can you look beyond the immediate and save for the future, you may wonder?
Compound Money to Save For Your Future
Saving for the future requires a methodical approach towards compounding your money by investing and re-investing over time. Compounding is one surefire way to rapidly increase wealth. But to take advantage of the true power of compounding, you need to invest with long-term in mind.
Today, some mutual funds in the U.S. have no minimums, while most require an initial investment of between $50 and $3,000. You can ensure discipline in your saving effort by activating a systematic investment plan (SIP) in the mutual fund. Through this arrangement, you will be required to make equal and regular payments into a mutual fund; this plan allows investors save regularly and still benefit from the long-term benefits of dollar-cost averaging.