A Letter to the President

Mr President,

               My qualifications are only that I am an American citizen, that i pay my taxes, and that I like to pay attention to the news. Since being elected to office, you have shown that you are not a man of few words, and you have made decisions in order to influence not only this country, but the entire world. Since you have worked tirelessly to do so, I applaud your efforts. There are so many things in this world that cannot be controlled, and we are all human. I understand that life is a struggle, but it is also a dance, beautiful to participate, though ugly at times. You have made many contributions to this planet that will shape our future.
              Criticism is something you receive everyday, Mr. President, taking the good with the bad. I do not believe that the following items are your fault at all, I'm simply stating what you are faced with at this time.

1. The Economy of the U.S. is struggling, without manufacturing as a backbone like we had during and after WWII, we cannot produce our own goods, and have given some of our power away to other countries so that we do not have to.

2. Corporate and Private sectors are shrinking, and with them our wealth and image as a strong Capitalist nation will disappear.

3. Families are struggling, the adults uncertain, the children scared that something bad will happen.

4. There is no world peace right now, our soldiers are moving from one country to another, still fighting, still dying to protect us.

5. You have very little time until the end of your term Mr. President, and much of your attention will go to focus on getting a second term in office.

              I am aware that there is so much to face as the leader of a country, that politicians and constituents are pulling you in every direction. I am aware that the political body of this country does not want or believe in heroes. Heroes lose things in the end, they may save the worlds but they lose their friends in the process, they lose their families. People turn their backs on heroes, never thanking them for what they have done to save people, but instead judging them and walking away.

I don't want you to be a hero, Mr. President.

             I would like to ask you to be a guardian instead, one that finds away to create simple yet effective answers to our struggles as a people and a country. If you do not wish to be that guardian, then let someone else take over, and maybe they will make those changes. You still have plenty of time though, so make the best of it.

The country is a beaten soldier on its knees, pull it to its feet if you can.


Sincerely,
The People

Pictures in Cities

It's been a while. Last week i had the opportunity to have a small photo shoot in Baltimore, Maryland, in the U.S.A. The city is beautiful at night. The shoot was for a possible front cover for my new album, The Drive. Just wanted to share a few shots of the city.

Economics

The problem with money is it SUCKS. Right now as a country we're struggling with our economy, but we're not alone. Europe is struggling, Greece in serious trouble specifically. I was told not long ago that if we were asked to pay the amount of money we as Americans would be responsible for if we had to pay off the country's debt tomorrow, it would be roughly over $700,000.

That's a lot of money. Seriously. I don't know if i'll see that amount ever in one year, there's a small percentage of Americans who do. Yeah we see the millionaires and billionaires on tv talking about how amazing their lives are, and how they got there, but I can't say everyone is going to be wealthy. I can say we all want to try.

Rule One: 1've learned you have to spend money to make money. Right now our stock market isn't doing well because people are afraid to spend money. They're "saving" which is causing other people's jobs to falter or employees to be nervous when businesses aren't doing as well.

Rule Two: I've learned that everyone likes something that looks pretty, but a loyal customer will buy something that works consistently. Selling a customer a product that will break will change that customer's mind immediately regardless of the look of the product.

Rule Three: Innovation. Look at Steve Jobs with Apple products. Change your thinking, change the world.

This actually applies to the music industry. Musicians get signed to the record label, the record companies pay so much for the recording studio, the advertisements on the music, the radio stations. But what if one small change could save money and put it back into the pocket of the musician?

Answer: Learn the technology you have and use it as much as you can. Getting discovered in a country where everyone wants to be discovered makes for a lot of people only paying attention to what is given to them. So give them something to look at, and people will start paying attention. It applies to most every business.

Just a lot of food for thought. Have a nice week