This was on Facebook from a 26-year-old MBA candidate.

          Title: My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!

          I'm sitting in a coffee shop. Scrolling through my news feed. I see presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism.

          But, I see people talking freely, working on their MacBooks, ordering the food they get in an instant, driving nice cars and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it.

          Vehicles, fast food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought.

          In the United States, our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty-One Times!!!
          Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are un-appreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.

          Our un-appreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies within my generation continues to grow.

          Recently, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, the millennial generation came of age and never saw American prosperity."

          "NEVER SAW AMERICAN PROSPERITY!" Let that sink in!

          When I read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. (But) Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.

          My 26-year-old poster continued saying: My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity.

          With all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can see even sitting in a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity?

          We have people who are dying to get into our country. People that are really destitute and truly impoverished.

          Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity.

          The answer is this...My generation has ONLY seen prosperity.    WE HAVE NO CONTRAST!

          We didn't live in the great depression or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War, nor did WE see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.

          We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem; WE HAVE AN ENTITLEMENT PROBLEM, an

UN-GRATEFULNESS problem, and it's spreading like a plague."

          This lady's thoughts are certainly - Something to Think About!

          I'm Steve Sauder

          Jazz, really good jazz, will be front and center in Emporia over the next 16 days.

          Tomorrow night at 7:30 at Albert Taylor Hall on the Emporia State campus the ESU students and the music faculty will display their varied and extensive talents in a “high octane” Jazz Concert to benefit our annual United Way Drive.

          The spot we are running on KVOE says there will be Jazz, Swing, Latin, and Rock! This should be fun!

          Sixteen days later the show will shift to our historic Granada Theater at seven o'clock where Emporia native Jack Mouse and his amazing jazz singing wife Janice Borla will present an evening of Chicago style jazz-like most of us have never experienced.

          Here are comments about Jack and Janice from professional music critics.

          Grady Harp from Amazon said: Jack Mouse is mighty on the drums, on technique and on assembling a group of pros to bring this body of unique music together - this quintet plays their hearts out......

          Sally Evans-Darby wrote about Janice: "(She) Again demonstrates her impressive versatility as a musician… Her sheer vocal audacity… pinpoint precision… striking notes as truly as any instrument (and) her wordless vocalizing, flaunted to full effect…"

          Methinks these kids might be good - October eleventh at seven at the Granada and only $35.00.

          On a side note: Jack and Janice's concert has been totally underwritten so that 100% of the gate will benefit the Granada Theater. The performers started the ball rolling working this event at a very favorable price then the following group covered the rest of the cost: ESB Financial, Candlewood Suites, Emporia's Radio Stations, KVOE, Country 101.7 and Mix 104.9, Marilee Henrikson Donaldson and her husband Richard and Bobbi and Steve Sauder.

          Jack and  Janice will also attend his 55th-year Emporia High School Reunion while here and then on Monday, they will turn into Flash Point Creative Arts the non-profit foundation they started to promote the understanding and practice of improvisation as an essential life skill.

          Working with a Board Certified Music Therapist from Flint Hills Music and Hetlinger  Developmental Services Jack and Janice will conduct workshops all day Monday and Tuesday for youngsters and adults from our area, many with disabilities. This couple recently received a Paul Harris Fellowship from a Rotary Club in Chicago for their work with young people with an autism spectrum disorder.

          Jack and Janice are not only talented, but they are also generous!

          It's really good Jazz to support our United Way tomorrow night at ESU and on October 11th it will be more great jazz this time to benefit our Granada Theater.

          Ba, Ba, Ba Lu! I'm Steve Sauder

          The race to become our President in 2020 has begun with lots of people wanting to unseat President Trump.

          The experts suggest it's a three-person race with Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren leading.    

          But, enough about the front runners. Let me introduce you to the darkest of dark horses, the longest of the long shots - Andrew Yang. Yes, the Asian gentlemen without a tie in the last debate.

          Yang parents emigrated from Taiwan. He attended Brown University and Columbia Law School. He practiced law for less than a year - didn't like it, so he took a job where he learned how to start his own business. He's become a successful entrepreneur. Andrew Yang is a very rich American success story, but we are learning that doesn't necessarily qualify a person to lead our country.

          In Yang's words, he's running for President because I fear for the future of our country. New technologies - robots, software, artificial intelligence  - have already destroyed more than 4 million US jobs, and in the next 5-10 years, they will eliminate millions more.

          Andrew Yang is unique and a couple of his documented 160 policy statements are even more so.

          You may have heard about Yang's idea to give $1,000 each month to every American over the age of 18,---- forever! He calls it a Freedom Dividend designed to help people meet their needs expected or unexpected. He says the benefits will create a happier, healthier and more relaxed group of citizens.

          The cost, of course, is astronomical, but Yang plans to tax companies like Amazon and Google which he says have stolen lots of those jobs and reportedly don't currently pay any taxes. Plus he points out these Dividends would immediately go back into the economy creating a spike every month like a tax cut.

          He may not be crazy! Evidently Alexander Hamilton proposed a similar idea in his era.

          Along the same line falls Yang's Democracy Dollars idea which would give every American $100 to donate to a political campaign. Add it up! $100 times 300 million people would create a fund to make the Koch Brothers two or three hundred million dollars look somewhat insignificant.

          Now his idea on relocating large parts of cities like Los Angles to offset Climate Change might need some study, but Andrew Yang is not your run of the mill candidate. He is truly unique.

          No, I'm not endorsing Yang, but I am listening.

          There's Something to Think About, I'm Steve Sauder.

A very dismal season for our Kansas City Royals was interrupted last week when we learned David Glass was about to sell the team.

          A little history lesson seems to be in order here.

          In 1967 Charles O. Finley moved his Kansas City Athletics and his goats too, we assume, to Oakland. To avoid a legal battle Major League Baseball granted Kansas City an American League expansion franchise.

          Four groups applied with the founder of Marion Laboratories, Ewing Kauffman winning out. He and his wife, Muriel proved to be wonderful owners. Some say it was the finest trade ever made: Kauffman for Finley!

          Interesting point; One group vying for the franchise  had a plan to sell 75% of the team to the public like the Green Bay Packers do.

          The Kauffman's weren't afraid to "go for it." They built a strong farm system, developed players like Frank White in their unique Kansas City Baseball Academy. We fell in love with Famous Amos, Freddie, Big John, Splitt, Quiz, Bo and of course George Brett and they were successful winning the pennant in 1980 and the World Series in 1985.

          In 1973 the Royals moved into their new stadium that would one day bear Kauffman's name.

          Kauffman died in 1993. He won a World Series and was a central player in big changes in major league baseball including a players strike in 72 and the historic battle over the player’s reserve clause. Unfortunately, his Royals were not profitable most of his years.

          Unable to find a buyer Kauffman developed a plan to have the Royals operated by a charitable foundation after his death. David Glass was chosen as Chairman of that group until he purchased the Royals in 1999 for $96 million. Kauffman had paid $6 million for the franchise in 1969.

          Glass initially was a lousy owner. His unwillingness to pay stars like Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran who actually played in the same outfield before he traded them away demonstrated his faulty thinking.

          Glass evidently saw the light in 2006 when he hired Dayton Moore and turned the operation over to him. The Royals won the pennant in 2014 and the World Series in 15.

          Glass, now 84, is selling the franchise to John Sherman for a reported one billion dollars!

          Sherman once said, It’s a business, and it’s an interesting business, but if you’re not a fan, I don’t think you’ll enjoy the business.”

          Hopefully Sherman unlike Glass will be fan first and a businessman second. It should be interesting!

          I’m Steve Sauder