The Hourglass Mug, designed and handcrafted with hand-painted tear drops by Weston Neil Andersen in the 1950s

I ended my last post with forward-looking hope of a federal administration that understood that work isn’t only about the money. Now we are told Trump won and with every single swing state- no less! I hear pundits saying that Democrats don’t listen to the working class people but Harris was saying something very essential to the values of working people- that work isn’t only about the money, an idea that I have never heard a politician voice before and so she was hearing me and I believe many others in the working classes- because the working classes like to work! We are not just instruments of the plans of institutions. We have our own meaningful lives to guide us and desire work that both produces an income and is aligned with what is meaningful from our internal perspective. Kamala Harris gets that because she is one of us. Unlike Trump, she was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth.

I believe it is more possible to realize the value of the work process in a small-scale working environment, and as misguided as Trump's policies are, through no fault of his own, his policies may work to the advantage of small-scale American businesses. 

 If Trump succeeds in implementing his tariff plan, it will create great uncertainty in the global market. Trump believes that implementing tariffs will cause other nations to build factories in the USA creating high-paid jobs for Americans but the reason production was moved overseas in the past was to locate the factories in the low-wage labor markets. Other nations are likely to retaliate against Trump's tariffs by instating tariffs on American-made products, If products are produced in a high-paying labor market and are subject to tariffs when imported into other countries they will be very high-cost products and so many expect inflation to rise now at 2,4%

With global markets tumbling into an unpredictable state, investments in global corporations will be riskier but the bright side might be an opportunity for small entrepreneurial makers to find support and investments. Andersen Design is a company started in 1952 designing and handcrafting slip-cast ceramics, made from raw materials sourced in America and crafted into original Andersen Design glazes and bodies used to produce our original classic lines of functional forms and wildlife sculpture. Andersen Design did not move its production to low-cost labor markets as most of the Western ceramics companies did in the 1980s. We have an established brand name, an established base of collectors, and a large line of slip-cast designs. We need to match that with capitalization and a team that can carry Andersen Design into the future.

I believe it is more possible to realize the value of the work process in a small-scale working environment, and as misguided as Trump’s policies are, through no fault of his own, his policies may work to the advantage of small-scale

 In theory, even in these dark times, there might be a silver lining for small American manufacturers. Trump’s tariffs will put the global economy into a tailspin. Trump’s tariffs will drive the cost of imports sky-high. including those of Andersen Design’s competitors. Will our handcrafted Made in Maine mugs be competitively priced with Walmart?

Slip-cast mug with hand-carved spiral pattern, designed and hand-crafted by Weston Neil Andersen

As a small company, we need only a market that matches our size. With many large-scale companies intrinsically invested in the global economy, investments in those companies become riskier, Small United States-based companies are less risky during such times but there is too much in play to say anything with certainty. Trump’s tariff plan alone will reset the entire global economy. Does he think other countries will not respond by setting tariffs on United States imports? Will the public have money to spend on anything beyond the bare necessities? That is the question.

Back to my continuing story:

It took more than a week for TOOBig Corporation to respond with a modicum of specifically to the issue I raised only to justify exploitative policies described by one online commenter as a “digital sweatshop” I did what I should have done in the first place and found online conversations that are consistent with my own experience, except a few that say they had a good experience, and who knows if they are real.

Is not paying workers a winning strategy?

Outlier AI
Outlier is a SaaS software platform that enables businesses to become more nimble, market-responsive and data-driven in their decision making. Outlier is most commonly used to maximize marketing programs and customer engagement, as well as optimizing supply chain operations. Forrester Consulting found that Outlier can deliver a 200% return on investment (ROI) with a payback period of just three months. CBinsights  (emphais by author}

It makes it easier to deliver a 200% return to investors if the company can avoid paying the workers who work in their own spaces on their own equipment.

TOOBIG Inc. may reason that it can keep adding and disposing of workers but that will only work for the most basic mechanical AI descriptions, such as policies described by one online commenter as a “digital sweatshop” I did what I should have done in the first place and found online conversations that are consistent with my own experience, except a few that say they had a good experience, and who knows if they are real. as operating instructions. In more complex AI tasks, quality matters. Many of the AI evaluators have STEM skills and some complain that they are given tasks that do not use those skills.

I have spent the past few years reviewing academic papers on theories about how to encourage workers to use their talents in service of the corporation, but simple relationships based on respect and consideration, listening, and engaging seem to be too metaphysical for the academic-corporate world to understand. The entire hegemony relies on so-called experts to come up with theories about how to optimize the workforce because they lack a direct connection with the workforce, which reverberates with the reason attributed to Trump’s win. People feel they are not being heard.

I asked Google “ Does Smart Ecosystem, Inc. have a physical company headquarters?”

This led to Cruchbase, which reports that Smart Ecosystems is “a portal for young entrepreneurs who wish to discover new opportunities”, listing Warszawa, Mazowieckie, Poland (Warsaw) as an address. You can click on the address link to see a list that appears to be 1,562 companies located in Warsaw.

The legal Doc Data Processing Addendum, concerning the privacy of personal information, identifies that the agreement is with Smart Ecosystem, Inc. which is not BBB accredited, and is located in San Fransisco. That should mean the company is governed by US IRS code and the legal US definition of an independent contractor, but right after the introductory paragraph identifying the name of the company, is the definition section that states”

Definitions

“Adequacy Decision” shall mean a decision by the European Commission or the UK Government that a jurisdiction located outside of the EEA or the UK provides an adequate level of data protection, and that Personal Data to which the GDPR or UK GDPR applies may therefore flow freely to that jurisdiction without further safeguards being necessary, including but not limited to, the Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK Addendum.

To learn that Smart Ecosystem, Inc is located in the USA, requires an online search. The Addendum never explains why it references the laws of the European Commission and the UK government, which continues throughout the document.

Smart Ecosystems is consistently referred to as a portal or some other term that indicates an online platform and is associated with many different countries. My guess is I got the version that says it is located in San Fransico because I reside in the USA. The Better Business Bureau gives Smart Eosystems in San Fransisco a  D+ rating, a reason given for the rating is that it does not answer complaints.

My complaint was finally answered, sort of. At least it addressed my complaint at a closer subcategory level while avoiding what I was saying about what is transpiring at that level. That’s OK. I can do that too! I ignored their message as they had ignored mine, and responded, politely with quotes from the IRS code, Delaware law, and the company’s own user terms of agreement all of which you can find stated herein. Then I suggested a better way of working that is consistent with the definition of an independent contractor.

At the end of the Data Processing Addendum, is the following:

Choice of forum and jurisdiction 

(a) Any dispute arising from these Clauses shall be resolved by the courts of an EU Member State.

(b) The Parties agree that those shall be the courts of the Republic of Ireland.

(c) A data subject may also bring legal proceedings against the data exporter and/or data importer before the courts of the Member State in which he/she has his/her habitual residence.

(d) The Parties agree to submit themselves to the jurisdiction of such courts.

The Terms of Use contract states that the company is a Delaware Corporation

This is how an independent contractor is defined in Delaware Law. Addendum, consistent with US IRS code and the legal US definition of an independent contractor.

What is a Delaware Corporation?

Pursuant to the "internal affairs doctrine", corporations which act in more than one state are subject only to the laws of their state of incorporation with regard to the regulation of the internal affairs of the corporation.As a result, Delaware corporations are subject almost exclusively to Delaware law, even when they do business in other states.

……In February 2013, The Economist published an article on tax-friendly jurisdictions, commenting that Delaware stood for "Dollars and Euros Laundered And Washed At Reasonable Expense". Wikipedia Delaware General Corporation Law

But none of that matters because The Terms of Use that independent contractors must sign state the legal definition of an independent contractor:

1. Worker Status. By signing up … to complete tasks for third-party …. clients or perform support services related to such tasks (collectively, “Tasks”), you understand and agree that you are an independent contractor …and that you assume all liability for proper classification as an independent contractor or consultant based on applicable legal guidelines. Nothing contained in these Terms is intended to constitute or create a contract of employment or agency relationship…… (The company) will have no right to, and will not, direct, control, or supervise you in connection with the Tasks you perform. You will not at any time during your affiliation …receive any benefits or other incidental perks of employment. …..

Delaware law ties benefits to employee status and defines independent contractor status by the degree of self-direction the worker is allowed.

Any tasks that are direct, control or supervise the work process by the company, disqualify a worker as an independent contractor. For example, automatically ending the work process with a timer, (the company controls the task performance) as opposed to the independent contractor ending the task when the work is completed and submitted. Submitting the task must happen for the worker to be paid.

Delaware law  specifically ties the worker and unemployment compensation to the definition of an employee and excludes independent contractors from receiving benefits. The distinguishing factor between an employee and an independent contractor is the extent of control the employer exercises over the work process, which is none for the definition of an independent contractor. The terms for receiving benefits as an employee involve having worked for the company consistently for a certain length of time.

Many companies do not comply with the law, governing the work process of independent contractors as if they are employees. They seem to believe they can get away with it, likely because their might is so much greater than that of an independent contractor. Those companies can be identified as serving the interests of the wealth-concentration industrial complex, which is made up of the merging of large-scale institutions, including government, non-profits, for-profits, and educational systems.

Non-compliance with the law proliferates across the large-scale institutional sector, in which all the individual components merge their advantages. The State owns and operates industry working through the public educational institutions. industrial leaders write the laws to their self-advantage, non-profit corporations have for-profit subsidiaries, and for-profit corporations treat their workforces as unpaid labor, noting that the Maine State Space Corporation has a non-profit web address. What does that forebode?

There is an emergent countermovement. Art Storefronts is a platform that stands out by featuring regularly scheduled live human support. This matters. Imagine working and living in a world where all your communication is with autoresponders trained to identify large categories but incapable of understanding the distinctions within those categories. AI can recirculate the expression of ideas, but to AI, the apparent expression of ideas is just data processing because AI is not a living entity, capable of absorbing meaning. An environment in which all communication is through AI is an environment characterized by alienation. What happens when that is the only form of interaction within a working environment?

Another counter-movement platform is FUD Inc. which brands itself as a social husting community.

Art Storefront offers online human relationships but real-world human relationships in a non-hierarchial system make for an even stronger attraction for the workforce looking for better life than being an instrument of state and corporate interests. A Peninsula is an ideal environment for such an alternative but the hierarchical income-capped, overcrowded, over-production of housing project currently underway by the Boothbay Region Development Corporation treats the working class as second-rate citizens, not entitled to partake in the quality of life traditionally associated with rural communities. The enjoyment of rural living is incrementally becoming the exclusive terrain of the transient community. The large-scale income-capped housing camps are consistent with a master plan that incorporates the demolishing of the mid-century high school to be replaced with a tower of corporate power, like the planting of a flag-claiming territory. But the Boothbay Peninsula can say no to that path. It can be unique. A peninsula is geographically a world of its own. Is a difficult battle to win but we are in a time when battles are difficult. The small-scale alternative is best in a small-scale environment, which is descriptive of the geography of a peninsula.

 

Inhabit: Territories

The Struggle Against Mining in Maine

As people in the Caribbean Sea and on the Atlantic Ocean try to survive another hurricane season exacerbated by climate change, we’re reminded that we are already living through the catastrophe. Not content to let a good crisis go to waste, mining and energy companies are busy opening up new sites for extraction, using the “green transition” as cover to…

Read more 15 days ago · 6 likes · Inhabit

The article above is highly recommended, both for being highly informative and a great story of successful grassroots organizing. The article states” There are however small pockets of very engaged grassroots resistance, particularly in the Midcoast region where specific threats have materialized.: but does not explain the comment further.

Our peninsula is under assault by those whose ideas are the product of the values of the wealth-concentration industrial complex. For years I delved into the history of the policy that created what exists today, built with rhetoric that washes away with the tide, meant to be forgotten by short memories that do not take in the large arc of history advancing through incrementally planned stages.

I have been advocating that the path to real change requires citizens to use the legal process of their own initiative. Town leadership will not act in defense of their own Home Rule rights so it’s up to the people. After the Town ran a reconsideration vote in April, almost identical to the vote that lost in November Patty Minerich organized a reconsideration petition  and moved the middle school project to the court system> There it still sits but the petition has already been successful in finally getting the CDS Trustees to move forward with a budget for critical repairs, at a very modest cost which has been stalled too long by the attempt to push a demolish and replace the highschool at considerable expense, This should have been done belong ago but it took private citizens filing a legal petition to make it happen! So legal courses of action can be effective in unexpected ways. CSD Trustees narrow scope for 'critical' repairs

The planned incremental change begins with claims about solving a problem affecting those with the most need but in a short time, the program is transformed to benefit those who are well off, if not those with the most.

The latest unfolding of this strategy is seen in the rapidly evolving manifestation of LD 2003 and its effects. The planning for LD 2003 began as far back as 2018 in this Boothbay Register article. Recently I clicked on the link to the article in a past newsletter and found that it opened to a page with a title but all the text and images were removed. I commented on that fact in the Boothbay Register comments and very shortly thereafter the text and images were displayed as they should be. I have found other linked stories in this newsletter related to the Boothbay Regional Development Corporation that also now lead to pages that will not display the story.

And so in closing, I am reposting this quote from the restored text of the aforementioned page, which shows that LD 2003 is the accumulated effect of long-term plans:

^{Affordable housing means the cost of housing – including insurance, heat, electricity, taxes, etc. – is no more than 30 percent of a household's gross annual income, she said. Low-income, as defined by US Housing and Urban Development, is a household earning no more than 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). Very low and extremely low income are considered 50 and 30 percent AMI. Cooperrider explained that "market rate housing" and the cost of a unit is directly correlated to a private developer's cost of development and return on investment.}

^{In the last decade, affordable housing developers started using the term workforce housing during permitting to describe the financials with the low-income housing tax credit, Cooperrider said. The income bracket the projects target includes many service sector jobs. Workforce housing also avoid using the term low income or affordable to describe the projects, she added.}

Portland is among communities that have started referring to workforce housing as a household earning between 100 percent AMI and 120 percent AMI, she said. Cooperider added, other communities have been targeting more specific industries or types of jobs, rather than income brackets. Housing, water projects highlight Planning Commission annual meeting

Tall Gingerbread Mug with White loops on a blue background designed and handcrafted by Weston Neil Andersen