It has been 12 months since Beary has arrived at the Academy from his tour aboard the Saber Claw. He enjoyed teaching the classes he had been assigned. At first, some of the older cadets resented the fact that their instructor was younger than they were. Then they would see the ribbons on his uniform and hear the rumors. Ben, of course, helped spread them. Flight training was going well. His many hours in jump ships were proving to be a blessing instead of a curse. He expected to graduate early from flight training. Caesar had spent six months at the academy then shipped off to aid a hospital ship that had lost one of its surgeons to an accident. The Hospital ship was trying to combat a new disease that had cropped up on an agricultural colony in the Darius system. Once again, his work under Dr Maxumus was proving invaluable. Ben, along with taking accelerated classes, was teaching a class in survival and weapons. Ben had taken to this task with enthusiasm. With the help of two of the Marine Professors, he wrote the training manual for the course, which they used as a major project in two of his classes. The class he taught was so popular there was a waiting list. Pompey kept busy trying to prepare for the cub, which was due in three months, running two homes, plus working for her new father- in- law on special issues. Senator Maxumus was busy trying to get the Senate to strengthen its rules. He did not want to see new conspiracies flair up. The idea that eight senators some in critical positions could become traitors had shaken the Senate. The Bearilian house of Representatives was demanding a full and open investigation as it scrutinized its own members. The Arcrilians had suffered such a devastating defeat that they were asking for terms for a treaty and for aid. The Bearilian President immediately started negotiations along with the Antillean Supreme Council. The result was the removal of all Arcrilian ships from Bearilian and Antillean territory, in exchange for food and raw materials purchased at a reasonable price. For the Antilleans this was a big win. For Angelina Maxumus the last 12 months had been hectic as she tried to balance her time between Bearilia Prime and Andreas Prime. She enjoyed being a Neuro-surgeon a lot more than being an Empress. She even found that she had to show up at State functions not as a wife of a prominent Senator, but as a Head of State. There had also been a need to appoint representatives to the two Bearilian Houses. One of her second Brother's sons, Iacomus Augustus, had joined his cousins on Andreas Prime. He found some unclaimed land near the western ocean connected to the Augustan land. A young Dragon, Silver Tail agreed to be his Family Dragon. The Dragon Counsel suggested that he be appointed as the Planet's Senator. A young nomad also moved to Andreas Prime. He had no family or land. A young Dogon, Saraina, approached the Dogon Counsel and asked that this young Nomad be given its sheep and become its family. His name was Khristophoros. The Dogon Counsel gave him the last name Theodoros. Khristophoros Theodoros was called before Angelina. She questioned him for several cycles. She found out that he had been part of a servant family to the Pompaius family. She found goodness and strength in this young Bear. After talking with both counsels, she appointed him to the House of Representatives. He would prove to be a loyal and excellent choice. Savato Artemus was not happy. He loved the Crimson Blade but he could not find a gunner that met his standards. He also missed his friends. Captain Centaurus found he hated the paper work of a ship's captain as much as Atilus had. Yet he loved the Saber Claw, especially with the new upgrades. Commodore Atilus was a taskmaster with his Destroyer Squadron. Only Centaurus had no complaints. Yet Destroyer Squadron 9 was shapin
Homecoming is that surreal feeling that a soldier has when he has returned home. For our heroes, each is facing new challenges, hopes, and fears. Ti is worried about what the shape-shifter major told him. He wonders what other secrets might be hiding in the shadows and what dangers they might hold for his family. Beary and Crew have returned home to build a new warship to face the growing threat to the Bearilian Federation. It is one that is pointed directly at his family like a dagger to his throat. Angelina and Octavious have discovered that old enemies have joined in the vendetta against their family. Old secrets may surface. Old threats may appear. All the pieces are now in place. It has been a month since everyone has returned.
In 1976, there were 38 countries, comprising nearly 50% of the world’s population that self-identified as socialist states, yet by 1991, only one remained. In 1976, the annual GDP per capita of the 38 socialist countries (in inflation adjusted dollars) averaged approximately $5 thousand. By 1990 it had grown to about $8 thousand. During that same period, the GDP per capita, in comparable numbers, for the United States grew from $24 thousand to $36 thousand. The socialist countries never grew their per capita income to more than 22% of the United States. Even China, which today has an economy almost as large as the United States, never saw its per capita GDP grow beyond $2 thousand per year during the twenty-eight year period as a socialist state under Mao Zedong. But, after the death of Mao, China converted its economy to the capitalist model with spectacular success, lifting a billion people out of poverty and challenging the United States for worldwide economic supremacy-an outcome that would have been unthinkable under socialism. Why has capitalism proven to be such an extraordinary success and socialism such a miserable failure? Charles Ladner argues that the success or failure of economic systems can be traced to the degree to which such systems are congruent with the primal force of evolutionary natural selection. This is the most fundamental need of every living thing to survive and reproduce. He encapsulate these forces into the term: selfishness. Capitalism, he finds, is grounded in such selfishness or self-interest, and therefore is fully congruent with the biological needs which provide the aspirational motivation that cause capitalism at all times and in every place, to be successful. Socialism, on other hand, requires and cannot function without, authoritarian rule to suppress expressions of self-interest. Its operation at the level of the state, serves to frustrate the biological needs and thereby will always produce poverty and failure. The historical record, he says, categorically demonstrates this. Capitalism, however, has a fatal flaw, and that is its inability to restrain the expression of selfishness, which ultimately leads to such extremes of wealth and income inequality that the system can self-destruct. In the final chapters, Ladner offers possible remedies for the United States, which he believes is already in the very early stages of such self-destruction.
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