“Bullrope” [978 words] Drama, New Adult/Adult contemporary fiction, assignment submission for workshop

“Who did you draw, Brownie?” Jason asks. 

“I’m up next. Who did you get, Ted?” Brownie asks, his voice tinged with anticipation. 

Ted grimaces and sneers. “Twister…” 

Jason sharply remarks, “He’s a piece of shit. He’ll jerk you down into the well every time if he doesn’t foul ya out of the gate first.” 

Ted pulls up close to Brownie and confidentially says, “What you need is a nice, honest bull that will score you in the mid-80s if you cover it.” 

Brownie steps up to the table, and the stockman draws a slip of paper from the greasy, sweat-stained straw cowboy hat. “You got Grave Digger.” A wave of mutterings sweeps through the gathered competitors. Some spit on the dirt, a few shift restlessly, and another turns his back and shakes his head dejectedly. 

“You bet!  You drew Grave Digger! Holy shit, that’s awesome!” says Jason.   

Ted shakes his head, says, “My god…” and stalks off. 

Jason claps Brownie on the back, a big grin plastered on his face. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just pissed he drew Twister.” 

“Is Grave Digger pretty rank?” asks Brownie. 

“He only jumps four feet in the air and kicks high, over his head, every move. Anybody who covers him will easily score the mid to high 90s. Cover him, and no doubt you’ll be getting the buckle. Come on, I’ll show him to ya.” 

“I don’t know, man…” croaks out Brownie.  

“You’re going to win a buckle on this bull, I’m telling you,” Jason says, slapping down on the brim of Brownie’s hat.  

From underneath the feet of the bulls, the smell of fresh manure and urine-soaked alfalfa sifts through the 8-foot-tall stock panels. The Brahma relaxes, lying in the middle, calmly chewing his cud, flipping his tail lazily at the flies. Separated from the others is Ted’s bull, Twister, who’s bellowing out angrily, climbing the fence. “Look at Grave Digger; he’s just a big baby, a big kindergartener. 

Grave digger is a gorgeous, athletic, silver-grey 2000-pound Brahma; his coat is shiny and healthy. His hump is more significant than average, probably 20 inches. Even with Brownie’s tall and lanky stature, he can in no way see over it.  

Ted walks up from behind, arms folded, and interrupts, “You can’t cover him. You’ll get hurt–you need to draw out. Stay in your lane, man. There’s nothing to regret. Just know when to admit you’re gettin’ in over your head.” 

“Fuck that shit, Ted. Don’t wuss out. Get your vest and helmet on. You’re up next. Come on, cowboy up,” says Jason, sticking out his chest, puffed up like a bullfrog. 

“I know how he rides; I’ve seen him at my arena on my bulls. Juan thinks you should draw out too,” says Ted, throwing him a stern look. “I know what you’re thinking. No guts, no glory. How do you think he got into that wheelchair? He knows us. Ya get me?” 

“I’m not drawing out, Ted,” says Brownie. “I want my first buckle by god, in a real way.” 

“Show time,” says Jason. 

Don’t weaken, Brownie. Just show him your rope before you get in the shoot. Good. Ok, good, get that Rosin hot and sticky, man. That’s good and tacky. Work it in. You’re stiff, breathe! Once you knee up on him, you better nod, like right now, or he’ll blow up on you if you try to reset on him in the shoot. Just knee up, nod, and go. Remember to breathe. Get er’ Done, You got this. 

Brownie nods. The rodeo clown pounds down on the latch and then jerks the rope. The gate crashes against the adjacent metal panels. The Brahma flies out and jump kicks over his head. Brownie resets and knees up. “Spur him!” yells Jason. “Kick.” Brownie spurs the bull with his right heel as Grave Digger, sure enough, jumps four feet–on cue–in the air and turns into his infamous spin to the left. Brownie gets blown up into the air, out of his seat, and gets jerked down, face-planting on the hump, cracking his helmet. 

“He’s out, he’s out–” yells Ted, as he tears off his black Stetson.  

Brownie is hung up, his hand caught in the bull rope, twisted over. With each turn to the left, he floats like a big balloon being pulled along and drifting in space as time collapses around him. 

“Open your hand!” screams Jason, running down to the arena fence. 

“It is open!” Brownie sputters out as if they were sitting in the same room. 

He gets sucked under, one more jump kick to the left, and the bull comes down, stomping him in the lower right chest, sucking the wind away from his lungs. He oofs out in pain. 

The bull rope drags loose off the bull as he finishes his last move. 

Brownie feels the deep, cold dirt on his cheek through the side of his face guard. He rolls over and climbs to his knees, his right arm curled lamely, up tight to his body.  

Three bullfighters scramble to his aid, two distracting the bull, and the other takes Brownie’s good arm over his shoulder and hustles him over into the open shoot. The bullfighters swing it closed behind them. 

The bull rope drags loose off the bull as he finishes kicking it free.  

Grave Digger exits the arena, as if he knows he can now return to the serenity, laid out in flakes of hay, back in the holding pen; his reward for a job well done, for the train wreck the viewers, cheering raucously, paid to see.  

“You alright?” says Jason, climbing up behind the shoot.  

“I’m pretty sure I broke some ribs…” Brownie gasps.  

“What was it like getting hung up on that bull, Brownie?” 

“I heard you tell me to open my hand–and I said it is open…”

Scene-word count 1,037 – 2nd draft Gen X (after feedback from editor)

‘I’m pulling into the drive now,’ He pushes send. He notices she’s been texting him the whole morning long. Shaking his head, a sigh escapes his lips. He turns up his winding paved drive and up into the five-car showcase garage.

“I hope they didn’t crack the granite countertops or my new tesseract tile when they installed the new appliances…” says Scott, as he pushes the button, the garage door rolls down shut.

“Scott? I’m in the kitchen –” Her voice grated against his ears.

“Hold on Kathy! Let me finish putting away my clubs.” His brand new custom-fit Calloway irons clank and scratch together loudly as he thrusts his bag into its slot. Scott enters the kitchen through the mud-room, smiles, and says, “OK. Now. What’s the problem?” 

“Your bookkeeper Charlene called for you, from the office. She walks up discreetly and pokes him in the chest, “The FBI raided the office this morning, they were asking her questions about the biofuel subsidies. I told you if this ever got to this point that I was taking the kids and –”

“Shhhh…” He sweeps the room with his eyes and shapes the words with his mouth, “Where’s Josh and Raymond?”

“They’re fine. They’re in the game room.” Her usually bright eyes stared a hole in him.

His jaw tightens as he clamps his hands to her shoulders and guides her over into the walk-in pantry.  “You know as well as I do the board forced my hand. We are going to deny knowing anything, understand? I’ll get a great lawyer,” he says, prescribing the next course of action. “I have some money they can’t touch.”

“We? The board will turn on you, ya know? All our assets will be frozen. Almost everything, all came from Gen X,” she says, her voice stings him with a steady cadence. “We won’t even be able to afford a GOOD lawyer and they’ll still drain us dry.”

His eyes roll, “If I don’t fight, what are you and the kids going to do? Huh?” His eyebrows raising as he pauses for a moment. “Without all your fine luxuries and the life you live now?”

Snapping at him, “I’ve often wondered that myself, but if this were to drag out, there’ll be nothing left for us at all, and you could go to prison anyway.” Her voice wavers, “Do you really want that for them?” Her stiff, splayed-out hand indicating towards the game room. 

He clasps her hands softly. “They won’t be able to convict,” he says.

Kathy drops silent and it hangs for a moment, then she says, without inflection, “You’ll be convicted by me, by Josh and Raymond.” Then the levee breaks, her voice ripping at him, “Damn it! It will only be a matter of time before your sons figure it out, as things drag on –” Her breath hitches. “And God forbid they try and take Raymond and Josh from me, I’ll never forgive you,” she says, her eyes glazing over.

He leans forward, his body following the intensity of his gaze, and says affirmingly, “I would never let them take our sons, I promise you.”

“How do I know that? How can you even say that like you know?” She shrugs and throws her hands in the air, they slap against her thighs as they fall back to earth, her jaw agape and her eyes passing judgment. She turns and stalks briskly and confidently to the key rail, and snatches her Lexus fob. “I want a divorce Scott. I’m taking the kids and we’re leaving, before they get here.” She bellows out down the hallway, “Josh! Raymond! Turn off your game, we’re leaving, right now boys…”

“Kathy wait –” She blows by him, knocking into his right shoulder as she dashes into the den returning directly with her favorite Versace handbag, clumsily fixing it over her arm.

Barreling forward, she stops herself at a safe distance, “You’re stealing Scott! From everyday people, all the taxpayers, ugh… I can’t take this…” She cuts her head fiercely to the right. 

“Come here. Get a hold of yourself.” Standing her ground, her mascara has begun to run, her eyes fill with persistence. “Look, don’t take my sons from me Kathy –”

“Your son’s…huh…” Her voice snagging in her windpipe as she places her hand on her cocked hip. “They’re my sons too!” 

“Look at you…” he says, tugging his hair in great handfuls. “You know what I mean…” Facing her squarely, he says, “They mean more to me than anything. I’m their father for heaven’s sake.”

“What your sons need is a father who’s willing to go to hell and back for them,” she says, her voice strikes him cold and strangely conversational.”

The mid-day sun reflects off the windshield and across his wife’s wide-eyed face as a black Sedan whips up the drive. “Oh dear God, they’re here… look!” she says, retreating away from Scott and starting towards the game room. He dashes around the island, cuts her off, and grabs her by the wrist.  

Leaning in, his eyes dart over to the bay window at the front door. He tells her, in a frantic pace, “Wait, just wait… OK! But, you’ll let me see the boys, let them visit me? Promise me! You have to promise me! I’ll make sure you’re not implicated, I’ll tell them, I’ll make sure this all lands on me, OK?. Just tell them you knew nothing about this.” 

Her lips press into a thin line, he feels her heart beating, the weight of her decision a physical burden, then the thumping on the front door.

“Mr. Johnson? Mrs. Johnson? FBI. We need to speak, we need to ask you some questions.”

Her voice is low and sweet, “Yes, of course, honey… you’re their father and they love you. I love you.”

Scott bows his head. He nods yes, clears his throat, pauses for one more moment, composing himself, and then strides deliberately to the front door. The bolt releases and makes a soft clunk. He opens the door and says, with calm authority, “Yes, I’m Scott Johnson.”

“We have a warrant to search the premises.” 

“Come in. I want you to know I’m going to fully cooperate.”

Practice Scene – “Cruel Romance” – Contemporary New Adult/Adult Fiction, POV third person limited, Morality Genre

The heavy door creaks. Tina moves uncertain as she peers into the room through the gap. Steven lays splayed out on his side in the lower bunk, his back turned from the door, the snow melting off his boots into the patchworked log cabin quilt. “Are you going to leave me for Terri?” says Steven, his voice distant and dull.

A flash of adrenaline surges through her face as she diffidently opens the door a little further. “Don’t say that.”

He continues to watch the snow falling, quarter-sized puffy flakes drift past the street light on the glassy wooden post. Her brows furrowing, Tina whiffs in that familiar odor of stale alcohol.

She whispers, “Aren’t you going to come and eat with us? Terri made ginger acorn squash soup?” 

“You know I hate the smell of ginger.” 

“Well… we want to know if she can stay with us here for the next couple weeks?”

“Contract says no guests. Your mom didn’t even stay,” he says flatly.

Tina tiptoes in and then carefully sits beside him and places her hand on his side. “Terri doesn’t have that kind of money,” she pleads.

“Are you going to run off to Canada with her to work at Alpine?” 

Tina’s mouth is aghast. “What?”

With some effort, Steven turns his head. “You left your email to Alpine open on my computer. How could you tell other people you’re breaking up with me before you even told me? We have contracts with Sportsman’s Cove Lodge starting in two weeks.” Her gutt tightens with guilt, stealing her breath.

“Didn’t you sign a contract, or have you told them already too?” Steven turns back over, diminished.

“That’s not right to read other people’s emails…” Tina hesitates and then asks futilely, “Do you want me to get you some water?”

“Are you breaking up with me for Terri?”

Her head sags as she slaps her thigh. “You keep asking that… Get out of bed, you need to eat something.”

“I’ve lost my appetite — what happened to ‘finish the ski season at Park Ridge, then go back to Alaska and work at Sportsman’s Cove Lodge?’

Tina snaps at him, “And you were what? Going to keep skiing every day and partying late into the night with your rich little ski-bros, spending all your guys rich parents’ trust money?”

I’m not a bigot so why didn’t you just tell me? I knew something was up, I could feel you slowly quitting me, that’s why I started spiraling.”

A long pause. Tina’s throat tightens as she recalls how this all began. She had found that Romance novel on the steps, right after he had told her that she will inevitably find the perfect husband, have the perfect life, keep reading her novels, and spend the rest of her life dreaming about running out the back door with the outlaw. She had never let herself become infatuated with anyone like that before. At the end of the season, he told her to ‘cut him loose’ because they were from two different worlds, he had ‘run the outlaw trail and she’s done everything right in life.’ She had told him, ‘No! When I think of not being with you I don’t want to live!’ Now… it was just a bad romance. She had to end it. But how could she possibly watch what this would do to him after all their proclamations of love and devotion to each other? What about him, the humiliation he might endure with all his family and friends… No, now it’s turned into this, a cruel romance.

A couple of warm salty tears roll down across Tina’s lips, and her chin warbles, “I tried I guess… I don’t know — maybe somehow I did want you to find the email…” Barely able to keep herself together, finding courage out of desperation, she says, “It bothers me that you’re 26 and you don’t have it together, and that you make poor life choices with your money and… and I don’t have fun skiing with you…” She begins sobbing,  “And I don’t know why… I, I just haven’t gotten over not being with her. I still love you Steven, just not the way I feel when I’m with her.

“Are you really that miserable with me?” he says.

“Not all the time…” she says.

Steven reaches his hand back behind him and picks up her hand and squeezes it gently. “Eloping? Really? You thought that would make coping easier? I want you out Tina… now.” After letting go of her hand, he clasps both his hands together, places them between his legs, and shrinks into a slight fetal position. Looking out the window, the snow has stopped.

Tina sniffles, then wipes her face. On her way out, she quietly secures the door between them. She winces in pain, then bursts out hysterically in the kitchen with Terri. “It’s over now… What have I done to my boyfriend…?

Steven clenches his eyes shut, comforting himself. “It’s over now,” he says absolutely.

Practice Scene – “Gen X” – Contemporary New Adult/Adult Fiction, POV first person, Morality Genre

“Steven? I’m in the kitchen!” Her voice is raw, it catches in her throat. “Your bookkeeper Charlene called for you!”

Fuck, great. “Hold on Tina let me finish putting away my clubs. The custom fit on these new Callaways is spot on honey! I shot a 68 at the club today,” I say, shutting the door and admiring our showcase garage behind me. “Would you like to have a mimosa with me to celebrate the finished remodel?”

“She called from the office,” she stammers, her usually bright eyes are hard.

“Yeah, I saw that, I told her I wouldn’t be reachable this morning, it’s fine. What’s the matter? Where’s Josh and Raymond?”

“They’re in the game room.” She walks up discreetly and pokes me in the chest as she mouths, “The FBI raided the office this morning, they were asking her questions…”

“Holy crap…” I say, struggling to untie my tongue, “…about what?”

“Oh cut the shit.” She shoots me a look contemptuously.

My scalp begins to burn. “After you told me we needed to apply for the subsidies –”

Her face tightens. “Oh don’t you dare! Whatever this is, has nothing to do with me!”

“I tried to stop them.” Her look, rebuking me. “You want the long story or the short one?”

Just fucking tell me!

We’ve been running the biofuel through the meters multiple times, reporting inflated numbers to the DOE. We’re making three, four, sometimes five times the amount –.”

“I wondered why you wouldn’t hire my brother. To protect him? How did you think you were protecting us for God’s sake.”

I tighten my jaw, firmly guiding her I grab her by the shoulders. “We are going to deny knowing anything. Understand? I’ll get a GREAT lawyer. I have some money they can’t touch.”

“We? The board will turn on you, ya know? All our assets will be frozen. Almost everything, all came from Gen X. We won’t even be able to afford a GOOD lawyer and they’ll still drain us dry.”

“If I don’t fight, what are you going to do? Huh? Without all your fine luxuries and the life you live now?”

“I’ve often wondered that myself, but if you drag this out, there’ll be nothing left for us at all, and you’ll go to prison anyway.”

I clasp her hands gently. “They won’t be able to convict.”

Tina drops silent again. “You’ll be convicted by me, by Josh and Raymond. It will only be a matter of time before your sons figure it out as things drag on – God Damn it… the new Mega-church? We’ve been tithing ten percent every fucking week for years, will they take our church too? Our horses. Our house – Her breath hitches, “And God forbid they try and take Raymond and Josh from me, I’ll never forgive you.”

“I would never let them take our sons I promise you.”

Working to gather her wits, “How do I know that? How can you even say that like you know?” Tina goes to the key rail and grabs her Lexus fob. “I want a divorce Steven. I’m taking the kids and we’re leaving, before they get here.” Breaking free of me she shrieks, “Josh! Raymond! Turn off your game, we’re leaving, right now boys…”

“Tina wait –” She blows by me, knocking into my right shoulder as she dashes into the den returning directly with her favorite Versace handbag, clumsily fixing it over her arm.

Barreling forward, she stops herself at a safe distance, “You stole Steven! From everyday people, ugh…” Her red face turns pale, her hand flies to her mouth. “I can’t take this…” She cuts her head fiercely to the right, eyes shuttered.

“Come here. Get a hold of yourself.” Standing her ground, her eyes fill with persistence. “Look, don’t take my sons from me Tina –”

“Your son’s…huh,” she says, placing her hand on her cocked hip.

“You know what I mean, they mean more to me than anything. I’m their father for Christ’s sake.”

“What your sons need, is a father who’s willing to –” The mid-day sun reflects off the windshield and across my wife’s wide-eyed face as the black Sedan whips into our drive. “Jesus, they’re here… look!” she says, retreating away from me and starting towards the game room. I dash around the island and I cut her off and grab her by the wrist.

“Wait, just wait… OK! But, you’ll let me see the boys, let them visit me? Promise me! You have to promise me!”

Her lips press into a thin line, I feel her heart beating in her wrist. The weight of her decision a physical burden, she says in a quiet voice, “Yes, of course honey… you’re their father and they love you.” Her kiss is desperate, a fragile thing, Then the thumping on the front door.

https://hedmanj.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/wages-will-not-come-up-becasue-it-goes-against-corporations-basic-accounting-equation-which-wages-paybable-is-a-libility-a-cost-to-be-cut-so-no-way-can-wages-increase/

Wages will not come up becasue it goes against Corporations basic accounting equation which wages paybable is a libility, a cost to be cut. so no way can wages increase

We must change the basic accounting equation and redefine wages payable from a liability to an intangible asset which will be amoritized as an SE (stock holders equity) just like all the other intangible assest the corps claim which have a limited life. 

 

 

Economy leaves wages behind

Paul Davidson and John Waggoner
USA Today

Published: Monday, May 6, 2013 at 8:36 a.m.

 

 

 

Stock markets and corporate profits are breaking records. The economy suddenly looks brighter after the government’s surprising report Friday that employers added 635,000 jobs the past three months.

But instead of celebrating, many working Americans are borrowing a line from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire: “Show me the money.”

Hourly wages ticked up 4 cents in April to an average $23.87, rising at about the same tepid 2 percent annual pace since the recovery began in mid-2009.

But taking inflation into account, they’re virtually flat. Workers who rely on paychecks for their income have been running in place, financially speaking. Adjusting for inflation, an average worker who was paid $49,650 at the end of 2009 is making about $545 less now — and that’s before taxes and deductions.

Stagnant wages aren’t only tough on workers — the American economy is paying a price, too. Living standards aren’t rising. Consumer spending, which is 70 percent of the economy, is more restrained. And the recovery advances at a slower pace.

“Ultimately, for the economy to thrive we need everyone participating,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.

The profits of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies hit a record in the first quarter. Their healthy earnings have boosted stocks, and April’s encouraging jobs report sent the stock market even higher Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time and closed at a record 14,973.96, up 142.38 points.

The roaring market is making the richest Americans richer and giving them more money to spend. But in 2010, only 31 percent of U.S. households had stock holdings of $10,000 or more, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). During the first two years of the recovery, average net worth rose for the top 7 percent of households but fell for the other 93 percent, the Pew Research Center says.

Meanwhile, Corporate America isn’t sharing its record earnings with employees.

“Don’t hold your breath,” for employers to become more generous, says John Lonski, chief economist for Moody’s Investors Service. One reason, he says, is that revenue growth has been meager, up between 0.5 percent and 1 percent in the last year.

In fact, higher profits owe partially to employers’ success in controlling labor expenses, by getting workers to be more productive, holding down raises and hiring conservatively.

Productivity, or output per labor hour, has risen an average 1.5 percent a year since the recovery began. Companies are squeezing more out of each worker even as inflation-adjusted wages have stagnated.

Another reason for stagnant wages is the law of supply and demand. Sure, the job market has picked up: Employers added 165,000 jobs last month and an average 196,000 a month this year, up from 183,000 in 2012. And the jobless rate has fallen from a peak of 10 percent in 2009.

Few incentives to boost pay

Yet today’s 7.5 percent unemployment rate is still high. Nearly 12 million Americans are unemployed, and millions more want to work but are so discouraged they’ve stopped looking. With an abundant supply of potential workers, employers have little reason to shell out big raises.

“High unemployment hurts workers’ bargaining power,” EPI economist Heidi Shierholz says. “Employers know they can go get someone else.”

So many Americans are out of work that employers could get away with giving no raises at all, Zandi says, leaving household income falling behind inflation. But employers realize that would hurt morale and, in turn, productivity, he says.

Still, wage increases that just barely keep up with inflation don’t make for a prosperous economy.

“We’re not seeing the living standard growth of American workers that we should be seeing,” Shierholz says.

Stagnant wages also hurt consumer spending. Low- and moderate-income workers typically spend nearly all their paychecks, juicing the economy, while high-income workers tend to save a portion, says Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Larry Breech, of Milville, Pa., a retired farmer who makes about $10,000 a year, says his per diem pay for substitute teaching hasn’t changed in several years.

“We will be frugal,” he says. “Fiscal restraint is imperative.”

Consumer spending, which has been growing at an average annual rate of about 2 percent during the recovery, would be rising by 2.5 percent if employers simply passed their productivity gains onto their workers, Zandi says.

Some workers are getting bigger raises. While the lowest 10 percent of income earners got average raises of 0.3 percent last year, those in the top 25 percent saw their pay jump 3.1 percent, say the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Moody’s Analytics. Workers with higher skills and more education in booming industries, such as energy and technology, can command higher salaries.

Stephen Allen, an oil industry contractor in St. Louis, says his wages have increased by more than 60 percent the past three years. He makes about $85,000 a year.

For now, it’s up to Americans like Allen and those with large stock holdings to generate a bigger share of spending and economic activity. The top 20 percent of households based on income account for nearly half of consumer spending, according to Barclays Capital.

In Search Of… Economic reform

Looking Forward: Thinking Fiscally & Moving Laterally With Core Principles of Finance

                Stockholders, creditors, managers, and many other employees make decisions by the numbers; accounting is commonly known as “the language of business”.  The various functions performed during accounting and management is subject to follow certain rules and standards. Accounting provides tools to better forecast and guide decisions with the purpose of minimizing risk, cutting costs, and maximizing profits for stakeholders. Using accounting practices to produce financial statements allows us to look at a sort of story about a firm’s financial position at a specific point and time. The firm can achieve better gains or can suffer losses depending on many factors including the way the financial statements are prepared. Financial statements should enable the accountants and managers to make informed decisions. The cold hard facts are that many brilliant individuals take advantage of such accounting tools and practice what is called “cooking the books” in order to maximize profits or to ensure hefty bonuses.

Serious problems arose for American business in the late 1990’s because many scandals involving greed and corruption rocked the business world. Unethical accounting practices contributed to the debacle. Incidentally, many top executives and CEOs landed in jail. The scandals were a wake-up call to the accounting profession. Raising awareness, State and Federal boards began passing tougher oversight regulations. I believe much is left to be done and I am a proponent of an ethical free market capitalistic system which spurs competition and innovation. White collar crime is a problem and a major contributor to our current global economic crisis. I know we can do better and I believe in business and I believe there are new answers for maintaining stronger economies in the future.

Talk is coming out from think tanks that simple solutions to our global economic crisis will come from somewhere outside the traditional economic loop. The phenomenon of group think loses its grip outside traditional channels.  Simple, ethical, accountable un-politicized or jaded ideas to provide real opportunities for moving forward can occur where the later has failed.

I realize the change we need to implement in finance is found in the basic accounting equation. It has become my opinion that corporate finance practices are in need of change in order to do two things: to allow the global economy to stabilize, and secondly, balance out more fairly the wage earning gaps throughout firms. This will put more well earned money in the pockets of the working class thereby allowing for more purchasing power which bolsters weakened economies.

These changes affect the pay scale for top level management and it will also affect other stakeholders; but, this plan to adjust and redefine the basic accounting equation will allow for the continuation of commerce as we know it whereas continuing without these measures the economies of the world will not weather the coming shockwaves with market corrections which are due as debts are due.

We forget to remember that without consumer buying power industry doesn’t have a chance. Big government, big banks, and big corporations should meet in the middle. Small businesses also have an enormous part leading us in the direction we head into next. There isn’t much motivation for global banking hedge-mongers to support anything which might go against their immediate bottom line. When their bottom line is affected, those who clamor for more profit at any cost, only then will the moneygrabbers and powerbrokers come to the surface to affect the real change necessary, and even then it will be altered once again slanted to an unstable advantage if left unchecked. Obviously we should not count on them to bail out our industry sectors just as we should not have to bail the banking sector out. It seems fishy. We should be able to work together and come to a reasonable solution. Here is a simplified version of my plan: We will redefine Wages Payable (+L) to become known as Human Capital (-A). This means we will move Wages Payable from its present situation in the basic accounting equation and from being entered into the basic accounting equation as a Liability, to being an Amortized as an Asset (-A).

I propose the Amortization of the adjusted entry, Wages Expenses (+E, -SE) and Wages Payable (+L) which thereby redefines Wages Expenses as a type of Stockholder’s Equity (+SE). Presently companies can create what’s called “Goodwill” and they can sell and buy goodwill. This is the most frequently reported as intangible assets…which encompasses lots of good stuff like a favorable location, an established customer base, a great reputation, and successful business operations”. The Human Resource Capital should go through Amortization which is “the name given to allocating the cost of intangible assets over their limited useful lives”. Human Resources, or Human Capital, are Intangible Assets with limited lives. Time is money and unique life experiences are acquired at no small cost to create and sustain that particular Human Being, whose skills and competencies come with a certain personhood and make up an exchange of assets with various time values defined as Assets (-A) and have a limited life. Intangible Assets which have an “unlimited life” are not the same as with Intangible Assets having a “limited life”. Even the unlimited life of an Intangible Asset is “tested” at least annually for possible impairment; comparatively, the new situation (accounting entry) for Human Capital under the rule of GAAP (for an example), Amortization should also be scrutinized by such measures or subject to oversight to achieve balance and fairness. But I digress; “Most companies do not estimate a residual value for their Intangible Assets because, unlike Tangible Assets which can be sold as scrap, Intangible Assets usually have no value at the end of their useful lives”. Following the changes I am proposing, at the end of an employee’s contract, the balance would be zero. For example: employed as a manager of a Wal-Mart store, based on my negotiated single year contract totaling $36,000, the monthly entry could look similar to this:                                                                                                                                                                                                    Assets     =    Liabilites    +   Stockholders’ Equity                    

JH -3000 (-A)                  Amortization Expense (+SE) -3,000

dr Amortization Expense (+E, -SE)                                  3,000

cr JH (-A)                                                                                       3,000

These are simple illustrations of the concept which redefines the accounting entries: Presently Human Resource (Capital) is defined as a Liability (+L)

Assets            =             Liabilities             +        Stockholders’ Equity

Wages Payable (+L) +3,000            Wages Expense (+E) -3,000

dr Wages Expense (+E, -SE)                                          3,000

cr Wages Payable (+L)                                                                       3,000

Both equations follow the rules of the basic accounting equation because they balance out as they should. The main point being: Humans are not liabilities. Cutting costs, expenses and lowering liabilities is a primary function of the business model; the very nature of a liability (Wages Payable) means to keep the Human Capital costs at the very minimum. That is the effect properly carrying out the role of managing a business. What is a cost? The value of what is given up in the exchange for something else. What human beings bring to the equation is not a cost it is an Intangible Assetwith Limited Life. Human Capital should not be a journal entry under Liability, a cost to be cut in order to maximize profits. Like any resource, in this case Intangible Assets with a Limited Life, should have values attributed which vary by degrees. It is a very simple concept really: we are going to treat people with the dignity that we treat other Intangible Assets such as with Limited Life; Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, Licensing rights, Franchises, and Goodwill.  The argument will come to be about what a human being brings to a business. Think of a computer without the software. The physical body is something that is secondary to the equation; however, with the skills, competencies, experience, and things which are difficult to measure such as intuition and unrealized potential those things make up the Asset which is Human Capital. Humans really do have untapped abilities and potential which is worth something innately. This is just a part of the case we are facing today; people are being repressed, having their wages suppressed for some time now, the system must be improved, it must be adjusted. The good news is that changing the equation will actually stimulate the economy and improve economics and in a relatively short span of time. The simple adjustment (or redefining )of the basic accounting equation will come with much less hardship, a less painful transitioning than any other option or the effects of doing nothing. Even more grossly negligent action would be to continue kicking the can down the road, running it till the wheels fall off, or putting Band-Aids over deeply cut wounds which would fester.

I also believe that when exploring how to pay for and/or compensate the Human Capital stakeholders will consider advantages and disadvantages of Equity and Debt financing. I do not think it wise to continue to look directly to the banking sector for fiscal support/investment because of the current crisis; incidentally the banks have too much power and leverage and for the health and security of our global economies therefore I believe it best to look to Equity financing and not Debt financing. “Whenever a company needs a large amount of long-term financing executives will have to decide whether to obtain it by issuing new stock to investors (called equity financing) or borrowing money from lenders (debt financing) and by using Equity Financing, which does not have to be repaid, the company could obtain the financing it needs”. Competition will influence whether to pursue additional equity or debt financing depending on the circumstances. Much expert opinion and testing will come adding great detail and many improvements to this basic outline.

Amortized Human Capital is fair and sensible; it is a practical and ethical way forward. The bottom line is, now is the time to implement this change. Presently, companies can create, sell and buy “’goodwill’ the most frequently reported intangible asset…which encompasses lots of good stuff like a favorable location, an established customer base, a great reputation, and successful business operations”. This proposal is a remediation between the ideals of capitalism run amuck and a increasingly chosen path towards socialism. At the heart of people, if properly informed, neither of those outcomes is desirable which is why we must make this adjustment I am proposing.

God speaks to us in our conditions and our situations in life and the cold hard reality is that we have a major economic crisis hanging over our heads and our brightest minds, our leadership cannot come up with any meaningful solutions out of this economic wreck. We cannot continue to run our economies in ways to which the wheels are about to fall off. The discourse however must continue and the solution lies in the private sector to innovate our way out and then by a grass roots approach we must create policy and pass legislation to inact these new economic principles to the present accounting rules. Period.

This proposal comes with the notion that Corporations will acquire talent and build contracts for acquiring talent and the people (Human Capital, as the entry name shall be) will negotiate terms, per-say, a five year contract, at such and such amount for such and such a time, which would then undergo Amortization and be entered into the financial statement in incremental amounts per period. In other words “spread on a straight-line basis over each period of useful life in the process of Amortization. Presently “The accounting rules that apply to the use of intangible assets, after they have been purchased, depend on whether the intangible asset has a limited or unlimited life”.

Preparing a firm’s budget this way would stabilize the Global economy by incidentally creating firmer accountability practices and fostering better fiscal sustainability. It also goes in toe with the empowerment demands by the people; Occupy Wall street, Arab Spring…. Global connectedness requires a better, quicker, and more thoughtful response from upper management in business and banking. The nation’s businessman and bankers are extraordinarily talented at organizing and implementing policies and affecting change on grand scales. I know we can get this done.

Kelly, M., McGowen J. (2013). BUSN 5^th Student Edition. South Western, Cengage Learning.

South Western. Mason, OH

Phillips, F., Libby, R., Libby, Patricia (2011). Fundamentals of Financial Accounting 3^rd Edition.

McGraw-Hill, Irwin, New York.

 

We will also use this endeavor as a platform for my new economic proposal. I’m going to adjust the basic accounting equation where humans are presently counted as a cost to be reduced, to be cut as is the nature of profit seeking capitalism. I will simple redefine Human Resources (wages payable  into the equity portion of the basic accounting equation to an equity entry with a time-value which that’s what is being invested into the company of course, so people can invest time and money or one or the other. The New Bank Paradigm will dramatically improve the economics and finance issues without hurting freemarket capitalism and it will garner better wages for the people while better incentivising competition and rewarding that in a fashion which is just. The middle class will benefit the most and thus stimulate the economy as we need and thus the corporations will perform better by posting higher earnings.

Justification of the basic accounting equation

Justification of the basic accounting equation

“You learn to make the most of everything you have. I was lucky; I had retained more assets than many–a vehicle,  a trailer, a laptop, a phone, a little bit of money, a decent resume’. Many homeless people have one or more of these things. Many homeless people have one or more of these things. Many have none. The only resource that all of us have is ourselves.”

I love this quote because it fits into my vision on changing and redefining the basic accounting equation A = L + SE; Human resources is currently a L (liabilty) not an asset, it is a liability, a cost to be cut which is the nature of the corporate business model which now is the time to change. This is in order to put more money in the pockets of the middle classed which stimulates the economy. Human resources should be not be entered under L but under SE as and intangible assets which is amortized and has a limited life just like all the other intangible assets (look it up).

This quote is a great example about how the future of business must shift to and the current economists can not see outside the box. They and the bankers and the CEO’s of mega-corps would not think of such a preposterous idea even if it meant balancing back out the world economies while safeguarding the healthy competition and innovation inherent in a free market capitalist system. Right now our leadership is running us into two different directions; it is simple, one: give up on ethical businessman and banking and turn to socialism which is also corrupt and lacking moral compasses for the most part, and two: holding onto the same paradigm until the economies crash and all the world banks are still positioned to reset the world wealth system so either way they maintain control of the banking sector and ultimately control of anything they want to in all reality.

Or, we could demand to start a change of the basic business accounting equation. This is the basics equation in which all business is based. We had GAAP for the US to govern our financial accounting system but now as of this past couple years we have begain to go to a global accounting system IFRS where all countries bow to the same accounting policies. But the basic accounting equation and the changes I propose would liberate the people and infuriate the powers that be but it would save the economies or at worst it would rebuild a major collapse with the people in mind, where we have a time-value and an intrinsic value attached to us not considered a liability, a cost to be cut. It is not wonder wages are always being repressed folks. The middle class is the engine to a healthy economy and we are eating ourselves alive. The system that relies on these principals has much to lose, but the odd thing is, they have more to lose by continuing to kick the can down the road and do nothing different, only the bandaid effect. We must educate ourselves about he basic accounting equation and move for a philanthropic economic restructuring not a redistribution of wealth, just a redefining of the human resource capital under the basic accounting equation. It is time, the people are in unrest with greater and greater frustration. WE must begin to ask questions and dig for answers and be proactive, starting the conversation is the first step.

CrowdFund Buzz…

CrowdFund Buzz Sun, May 5, 2013 at 8:26 AM
To: jacob.lee.hedman@gmail.com
Hello Jacob,

I wanted to confirm that we have received your order and project information. Great project!

We will get started right now. We will start using our Social Media accounts to promote your project within 24 hours.

We will send you a press release for your approval within 48 hours. Once you approve the press release we can submit it to our PR services.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1372871463/a-action-adventure-drama-and-original-enduring-lov 

CrowdFund Buzz <info@crowdfundbuzz.com>	Sun, May 5, 2013 at 8:26 AM
To: jacob.lee.hedman@gmail.com
Hello Jacob,   I wanted to confirm that we have received your order and project information. Great project!   We will get started right now. We will start using our Social Media accounts to promote your project within 24 hours.   We will send you a press release for your approval within 48 hours. Once you approve the press release we can submit it to our PR services.   Please let us know if you have any questions.   Thank you CrowdFund Buzz 1942 Broadway Suite 507 Boulder, CO 80302 888.983.1682

A large majority of films coming out of Hollywood follow the same formula, when was the last time a Quentin Tarantino came an shook up the industry with a film that broke the mold and emboldened filmmakers and the gave the audiences a fresh look a film genre? When did we last have a Blair Which project and how do you think the Hollywood system reacted to the ideas and the creators of such films at first? 

 

I am going to shake up the system with this film In Search Of by giving the audience a real independent approach by telling a dialogue driven story with an action backed thrill. Combining these tones with an enduring love story and a journey about relationships and the trails of life that we all face today in the changing landscapes of carving our niches out of the difficulties in life.Showing characters seeking their hearts passions while trying to survive in today’s demanding world. Can we throw caution to the wind and journey outside our world views? That is what the film In Search of is about and what we examine as we follow the lives of Steve and Drew on their quest for fulfillment in today’s world

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1372871463/a-action-adventure-drama-and-original-enduring-lov

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1372871463/a-action-adventure-drama-and-original-enduring-lov.