Thought for the Day

Hope is in the eye of the beholder. An old adage. Probably found in countless civilizations over thousands of years predating our existence on this stage of life. For some people hope is for food to fill a void in their stomachs. For others it is a good job that fulfills their sense of worth and produces income sufficient to pay life’s expenses.

Yet for others hope focuses on knowing the unknown, dreaming of long term futures or setting their eyes on a truly beautiful landscape. For these folks, hope is a broader term and less practical.

What is your hope today? Is it a practical one or a conceptual poser?

As spring warms our hearts and bodies, let hope fuel your thoughts.

Enjoy the weekend!

May 30, 2015 

The State of Ideologies

I have written before that I think the ‘script’ of America has changed. I say that because I sense shifts in ideologies, popularity shifts of several key issues, and the swing of the pendulum as Americans discuss their beliefs and hopes. I think people are shifting what they view as important and what we as a society ought to spend our time and energy on.

My ex-wife claims I am very liberal. I countered with the observation that I was middle of the road and have been most of my life. Indeed, if anyone has shifted position, it is her. She is conservative and has moved farther to the right. I point out to her that if this is true, then the relative space between her position and mine has expanded but due to her movement to the right. I’m still a staunch middle of the roader. Occasionally I hold a bold belief in a liberal concept, but that only tweaks my middle of the road position. It informs it, expands on it.

So, in the broad scheme of things, we have a camp of liberals on the left, a camp of conservatives on the right, and a whole bunch of camps in the middle. If the right expands and moves farther to the right, they are the ones who have changed. Not the others.

Pretty simple concept really. It's a relativity thing!

Over three years ago I posited the theory that ideologies could be viewed in three dimensions by imagining a globe with its equator line. On the right is the conservative ideology. On the left is the liberal. In between the two is the middle of the road ideology which focuses more on problems and their solutions. The trick with this camp is to properly order the issues in priority of their importance to all other issues so we really are fixing things in the best logical order!

Now, if ideologies strain at their borders and stake new ideological territory in their philosophy and values, then they are moving. In the past 20 years conservatives have expanded their territory by moving farther to the right. At least that's my opinion. 

At the same time I claim the liberal camp has done pretty much the same thing only moving to the left. My theory gains interest if we move the camps along the equator line in my imagined globe illustration.

Think of the conservatives moving farther and farther to the right. Where do they go on the equator line? Well soon they will disappear from our view as they circumnavigate the globe. But so too do the liberals trek along their equatorial path toward the left and around the backside of the globe.

Pretty soon both of these ideologies will meet up. On the reverse side of the globe. In their confusion and startlement of such a meeting, they may well understand that they really are very much the same! If conservatives push their ideology to the extreme they have a fascist, all-controlling state dictating what everyone will and will not do. The same goes for liberals. In order to gain control of expected results, governments become so powerful that they are also fascist. The state, after all, has assumed the control of the public in both instances.

Now consider where the middle of the roaders are! Why they are still where they were working like trolls on the hard tasks the public weal requires to survive. Through collaboration and cooperation of many parties, the work of a nation is accomplished. All while the purists and arguers waste their breath and lives and treasures on things that ultimately are the same.

It is time that America focus on what we agree on. Focusing on differences only exacerbates problems. The resulting gridlock accomplishes very little. Understanding the differences is necessary to accommodate application of solutions. But focusing only on differences and not consonance leads us no where.

I think the American people understand this. They get it.

If I’m right, both the republican and democrat parties will wind up in the dustbin of history as irrelevant. Governing for the common good of a people ought not be about power, influence and money. It should be about clean management of resources to build lasting quality of life for the masses. We can get to that point if we cooperate and collaborate. We can see each other as friends not enemies.

That would be a good start, anyway.

Has the script changed for America? I think so. More so, I hope so!

May 29, 2015

A Note for My Friday Night Teen Group

Last week you discussed the big issues of life – its brevity, reason for being, who made the world, God? Then who made God?  I had lots of thoughts at the time but it was your time to speak and share, not mine. If I were of quicker wit I would have shared pithy remarks and well-earned wisdom. But I’m not that quick of wit. Instead I pondered what you all said and come up with a response that might be of some use to you. Maybe not, but it’s worth a try. Here it is.

From my experience I learned each generation asks the same questions – Who am I? What is life? Why am I here? Is there a God? How do we know any of this? Discovering the answers is really a way of filling a void in our understanding and knowledge. We seek to know things. We search for bits and pieces of facts. We try fitting some of the bits and pieces together to see if they have a broader meaning.

Every now and then something clicks and we realize we now understand something that before we did not. That’s how each of us learns. We find ways to get along with others. We learn to survive weather with reasonable comfort. We learn not to touch a hot stove! And sometimes we know when not to ask mom or dad ‘why’?

Little by little we get to know our surroundings. Over time we roam farther from home and learn more about the world. Years later we use these learning skills to understand much broader topics.

Religion is one such topic. World history is another. Inner workings of my own brain and personality is yet another.

Eventually we realize that in a vacuum of knowledge, mankind asked the same questions and arrived at mythologies to make sense of the world. In early civilization writing and language skills were primitive. Over time language became more codified, writing followed, and recording events yet followed.

Becoming aware of culture and society raised questions of ‘why’? Thus was opinion and reasoning raised to higher levels of learning.

Is God a creation of Man in a conceptual form? Is this how Man came to understand his place in the cosmos? How much of this is factual and how much myth? We probably will never know.

In later eons of mankind’s collaboration, however, intellectual pursuits were organized, researched, documented and established as disciplines of study and thought. More eons later and we have universities, research institutions and entire religions of widely varying beliefs and dogma.

In the case of religion, all contain their truth; none is supreme to the others. All require faith in the unknowable to make sense of specific theologies. Many cultures form allegiance to one or two primary religions as the culture grows and matures over hundreds of years, maybe thousands of years.

American culture was founded on discovery of what then was considered the ‘new world’ and the explorers came with faith that they could settle a huge continent and create a new home for generations to come. They came to escape religious dogma enforced by their native lands. They came to escape prison terms or large debts. They came as laborers both skilled and not. They came as indentured servants and slaves. They arrived with full and empty purses.

Today many Americans think the nation is a Christian nation. It was not founded as such by the Founding Fathers – God fearing, but not Christ following. In time Protestantism provided a Christian stamp to colonial regions. Indeed, some church denominations sponsored specific settlements of areas that became whole colonies and later states. Massachusetts and Rhode Island are examples of these.

Although American colonies were forged out of the wilderness of the new world for a host of reasons, religious freedom became a halcyon theme. Such was not to require religious belief or loyalty to a specific faith but rather establishment of freedom to arrive at one’s own conclusion regarding religious belief and faith. That is exactly opposite what many people claim to be our history in modern political discourse! Interesting, eh?

At any rate the truth of the matter is that each of us has the freedom to decide for ourselves whether we will follow any religious belief.

In your program of recovery you are encouraged to honestly assess who you are and what you wish to become in the future. Some behaviors assist in this process; others hinder. Drugs and alcohol are behavioral components of life which have impact on our ability to live authentically and healthfully. Each of us must determine how authentic and healthy our lives will be with or without drugs and alcohol. Some are addicts and need to forever separate their lives from the addiction if life is to be lived healthfully and authentically. For those with addictions this separation is a must, not an option.

A condition of life is personal understanding and responsibility. We are not told who we are. We must discover that on our own. We are not told what to believe. We must discover that on our own and expand our understanding throughout life. Each of us has the responsibility to do these basic tasks. No one can do it for us.

Twelve-step programs of recovery have come into being to help individuals find a way to control their addictions on their own terms. The programs are sensibly offered for group attendance so we are not alone. We gather strength from others in this process. We can explore life together as it impacts our addictions. There is genius in that connection with others.

Now if you feel you are not an addict but that others have placed that label on you, well there is much work you need to do! Again, it is work only you can do. Ignoring it will not make it go away. It will remain a task for you to do eventually. Hopefully before you run out of time.

The intellect is powerful. It also can be abused and thwart understanding. Be certain you use your intellect honestly and for good.

Now, what is it you believe in? And how will you use it to enrich your life?

May 28, 2015

Heartfelt Letter to the Editor

Rocky found this on the internet on Memorial Day morning. He shared it with me. I read it. I was changed by it. And so I share it with you here.

ASHTON PITTMAN

on May 24, 2015 at 12:17 am

READ ONE OF THE MOST HEARTFELT LETTERS A NEWSPAPER HAS EVER PUBLISHED.

It seems that a century’s worth of progress has been made for gay rights since the dawn of the millennium fifteen years ago. Back then, not a single U.S. state had marriage equality. The term “marriage equality” was not even a part of the social zeitgeist. But today, marriage equality is the law of the land in all but a handful of states. It looks likely that the Supreme Court will soon rule on a right to marriage for all. And just yesterday, Ireland — traditionally a very conservative, Catholic country — became the first nation to pass (and overwhelmingly so) marriage equality by national referendum.

Even more importantly than marriage, a social revolution has made being an LGBT person more socially accepted — at times even celebrated — than the kids of the year 2000 could’ve ever dreamed. Still, there are constant reminders of the work that remains to be done.

We still see the forces of discrimination and bigotry hard at work to stave off the tide of freedom and acceptance that LGBT people are now experiencing. Evangelicals rally around viciously anti-gay reality show stars — like the Robertson family of Duck Dynasty or the Duggars of 19 Kids and Counting. And that’s why it’s important to remember that, for all these gains, there is still work to be done.

In April 2000, a mother named Sharon Underwood from White River Junction, Vermont wrote one of the most heartfelt and pointed letters to the editor that the Valley News has probably ever received. In the letter, she expressed her righteous anger at the local do-gooders whose moralism had for years inflicted pain and torment on her young gay son. That letter is still prescient today. Even now, it tells the story of thousands of LGBT youth trapped in communities where they still aren’t welcome.
Here is that letter, reprinted in full:

Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I’ve taken enough from you good people.
I’m tired of your foolish rhetoric about the “homosexual agenda” and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.
My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.
He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called “fag” incessantly, starting when he was 6.
In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn’t bear to continue living any longer, that he didn’t want to be gay and that he couldn’t face a life without dignity.
You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don’t know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn’t put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it’s about time you started doing that.
At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won’t get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don’t know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.
If you want to tout your own morality, you’d best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I’m puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that’s not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?
A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I’ll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for “true Vermonters.”
You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn’t give their lives so that the “homosexual agenda” could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.
He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn’t the measure of the man.
You religious folk just can’t bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.
How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage.
You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.
The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about “those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing” asks: “What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?”
Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?

Source: AndrewTobias.com

Rather than comment on this, just read it for you. Allow it to change you.

Peace!

May 27, 2015

Electric cars, Hybrid vehicles

We drive a Hyundai Sonata Hybrid sedan. We like it very much. It is a 2013 and has 53,000 miles on it. Not a speck of trouble so far. Gas mileage around town is 38 to 40 miles per gallon. Some driving conditions earn us 42 mpg and I’ve seen it as high as 48 mpg for a prolonged period.

So, our hybrid works quite well in suburban, urban and highway locales. We bought the car used with 42,000 miles on it. It is almost fully loaded with conveniences and everything works as it is supposed to. We are very pleased that the car functions extremely well and quite reliably. I’ve had similar experiences with Mercedes Benz products but even they had frequent scheduled maintenance and repairs. Each was costly. So far maintenance on the Hyundai has been limited to low cost oil and filter changes.

The car is quiet and has a firm ride. It does not sway at corners and delivers an excellent feel of the road. Visibility is very good. Seats are comfortable and give terrific back support. Rear seat passenger room is more than adequate and comfortable. Storage capabilities are perhaps better than most cars.

All in all we are very pleased with the Sonata. Anyone who rides in it says the same things we do.

Now I pose the question: why haven’t American auto manufacturers met this competition head on? Why are their products oversized, overpowered, over priced and underperformanced? When will domestic auto companies drive the market toward meeting consumer needs? Why must foreign competitors always beat the US to the true auto market?

The planet needs less polluting forms of transportation, especially the ones we use every day. We also need less power and noise. Size matters as well when it comes to transporting only one or possibly two people most of the time. And size matters when parking and housing the vehicles as well. Larger cars and vans are fine when the purpose calls for them, but most of the time the purpose doesn’t. So why are cars so large in the US, noisy and fuel-guzzling? They don’t have to be. In fact, they ought not to be!

It would be lovely if we all had money to drive a Cadillac or Mercedes but we don’t. So why don’t we fit the public with the cars they need?

While we are at it, why don’t domestic auto makers re-invent transportation entirely and replace the internal combustion engine? We know they have studied and researched this for decades. Surely they have discovered the means to build clean, reliable and cheap forms of transportation. They could lead the world with these products. Why have they not delivered them to a hungry global market?

What special interests are they protecting? Their own or the petroleum industry? Or political controllers? What and who is behind our lack of progress in this arena?

Anyone have an answer to this question? Anyone?

Please?

May 26, 2015

Tuk Tuk

I came across an internet news item the other day. It might affect urban transportation trends. Might, I said.

Well, Tuk-Tuks are small motorcycle vehicles from Asian countries. They are tricycles usually used as cabs and are everywhere – by the thousands! A two seat passenger cab at the rear with a fabric cover to protect riders from rain. The driver sits on a single seat up front at the controls.

Today, Tuk-Tuks have grown to seat four or five. Many of them have changed to electric propulsion to dampen street noise but also to greatly reduce air pollution. With more passenger protection from the elements, the vehicles are migrating to other markets where personal transportation in populated areas are well served by these small vehicles.

I wondered how they might fare in Illinois during the winter. Then my thinking leaped to how fast these things can go and if they could keep up with a 45 mile per hour speed limit on tertiary roadways in suburban locales.

I still don’t know the answers to those questions, but my thinking stopped cold when I learned that pricing of the Tuk-Tuks begins at $17,000 and runs as high as $25,000! I was hoping for a price under $10,000 and was calculating how large the suburban market might be for this form of transportation getting to and from the train station, local shops and visiting friends. Short errands nearby would be perfect for these putt putts. Just not at $20,000. No way. Small cars are available for less than that with highway capabilities, intercity routes, and fully enclosed passenger protection from heat, cold, snow and rain.

Tuk-Tuks are being licensed for manufacture in Western Europe, England and Canada. I doubt they will be introduced to American markets anytime soon mainly due to the price. If large scale manufacturing would take a crack at this form of transportation, it might be likely that price points would fall. Now if they can get the open air passenger compartments enclosed and heated and cooled, we might be in business!

Otherwise the Tuk-Tuks would be tut-tut!

May 25, 2015

Thought for the Day

  

An act of faith is planting flowers before Memorial Day. It could still freeze, don’t you know? Well, I’m planting anyway. Hope you are, too!

Happy plant shopping this weekend!

May 23, 2015

Memorial Day Weekend

Get the white shoes ready! We can wear them this weekend and all throughout summer until Labor Day. At least that’s what my memory dictates. Is it still true? White shoes only from Memorial to Labor Days? Of course white tennis shoes are legitimate year round, but hard leather shoes abide by a different standard.

I doubt the same fashion sense applies to shorts. Those are worn whenever the temperature allows it. Else we would freeze in cool weather and swelter in hot and humid days regardless of the calendar.

At any rate Memorial Day is here once again. This is the weekend – three glorious days – during which we remember all those men and women who lost their lives while defending our nation. Mostly these good people were lost during times of war but in peace time good souls are also lost while in the service of our military. Sometimes they are lost during training exercises, gaining the experience and skill sets they will need during a national crisis or war. But something goes terribly wrong. A training ship founders and sinks, a plane or helicopter malfunctions and lives are lost in the following crash.

So too are lives lost on faux battle skirmishes; a trainee loses his step and falls from an elevated sniper position, or off the side of a ship, or bridge. Maybe training ammo is a bit too powerful and body strikes result in fatal injuries.

Or common auto accidents while on a training mission out of country. The accidents that kill civilians also take lives of military personnel. Living has its risks, too, only much lesser so than military staff.

Lost lives. Disrupted family lives. Anguish of irreplaceable love and attention. Gaps that last and are never filled.

Oh, survivors pick up the pieces and move forward but always changed because of their losses.

All of this does not address the surviving military personnel badly injured, maimed and disabled. They remain with us in altered states attempting a return to a new normal. And the families? They too have their struggle to adapt and move on with the new normal.

Memorial Day recalls the sacrifice made by others for all of us. We owe them a great deal. We owe them our remembrance and appreciation. We continue to benefit from what they gave up for us. We are strangers to them but they paid a dear price for our well being.

Remember this during the weekend. Think of gratitude. Think of your thanks.

Now we can consider summer and its special joys. But only after we remember the others.

May 22, 2015

Bits and Pieces, Again!

What is Alibaba? Or who?

Well it is both. Alibaba is a Chinese company that performs retail/commercial activity similar to Amazon in America. It offers products and services over the internet and sells such for later delivery to the consumer.

Alibaba is also a person or persons. They are the owners and management of the organization. They are controversial because their vision sparked major business activity that excited both the investment and consumer markets. Two problems resulted.

First was overheated stock prices that grew exponentially and then collapsed. Complaints were leveled against the organization and its management team as blame was sought for swings in Alibaba’s stock price.

Second, so many goods in China are thought to be counterfeit. Knockoffs of luxury brands or chic goods become common. High prices were paid for cheap goods. Fraud charges followed.

So Alibaba is rooted in many controversies. Which are accurate reflections of fact and which are not remain as primary topics of discussion in the global community. Time will sort this all out. Meanwhile, buyer beware! All was not smooth with Amazon in their early years, either.

Red Tape Run Amok?

This is the continuing theories of conspiracy in every facet of our lives. Someone is stalking someone else to gain power, notoriety, money or some other thing. One firm attempts to undercut another so they gain market share and stock value. Government ‘partners’ work with a favored supplier to eliminate a competitor. Government regulations are manipulated to provide leverage to accomplish this skullduggery.

Ah! Red tape the problem? Or the fear of conspiracy the primary element? When so many people observe government by pocketbook they lose faith that the main objective of regulation is to protect the common good of the public. Complaints about red tape being an obstacle are often heard. When examined, however, there is another story.

Product safety standards and regulations are in place to protect the public, not the manufacturer or seller. Financial market regulations are there to protect the users of those markets so they get what they expected to get from the representations offered. In such environments crooks and scam artists have a harder time stealing from the unsuspecting. Still such crimes are committed; this circumstance is reason enough for the regulations and more so. Not less.

Setting public policy is difficult. So many players imagine being harmed by policy and regulation. If they would take the time to learn why the policy or regulation is in place, they might better compete fairly in the long run. If they are the honest players they have nothing to fear.

Presidential Candidates

At least in republican circles it appears that all members of the party are running for president in 2016! Every stripe of conservative is represented. Each sort of kook is also running for the ballot. Just think! Every issue you can possibly think of is represented. And for each, the negative perspective is the dominant theme. Anti gay, anti abortion, anti equal marriage, anti religion, anti business, anti regulation, anti, anti, anti.

The Party of NO! is at its game.

Word has it that republicans are so unpopular that they are not attracting new blood to the party sufficient to replace all the party elders who are dying. Well then! Perhaps this is a self limiting problem?

I’d like to think American voters are People of YES! What are the possibilities our nation can pursue for the good of mankind? How well will we all participate in the global community? So much possibility beckons our attention and energy.

It is stunning that republicans have gained a modicum of power simply by saying NO! I wonder what America and the world community would gain if more of us simply responded by saying YES!?

Biker Gangs and Murder

I should add Texas, too! Biker gangs exist throughout America but can you think of any state more prone to this weird development? And with guns, no less. Let’s have a meeting at Twin Peaks restaurant/club and discuss our differences in the restrooms with guns and knives. We’ll just make our point emphatically.

And nine people died. 18 were wounded, many critically. 147 were arrested. Lordy! Only in Texas? I don’t know, but I can’t imagine this taking place in Illinois, New York or Florida. Even California with all that desert acreage. Police powers are well organized there and I doubt the Waco event would repeat in the other jurisdictions. Well, maybe Arkansas and Louisiana, and maybe Alabama and Mississippi, too?

And serious motorcyclists wonder why the public wonders if all bikers aren't the same? And gun controls. Why are bikers operating their cycles fully armed? What’s with that reality?

Enough for one day! These four topics will do nicely.

May 21, 2015

Possibility

There are days and then there are days. Although each has possibility, not all are fruitful. Possibility? What is that, you ask? Well, let me see if I can answer that question.

Some years back when I was living in a very old house (the pride and passion of it!) I’d arise on a Saturday morning and review the list of ‘to do’ items. Lots of things listed: ‘repair front steps & repaint them; scrape back steps, prime and repaint them; review basement stairs to improve flow; is there any chance to do that? [absolutely none!]; determine when to repaint exterior and on what timetable; do one exposure at a time? beginning with which one?; time to replace furnace filters and set for summer suspension; install window air conditioners for summer; and so forth’. The list was long always. The house was 100 years old (now 120) and always in need of attention.

There was more to do than there was money or time needed to do them all. And so I whittled the tasks down to the really big ones and waited for a surge of income making it possible to hire a contractor to do the big tasks.

But there were days when what I decided to do never got done. A good book beckoned. A good movie was replaying on TV. Or the kids wanted to go for a ride and that’s all the excuse I needed to abandon the dreaded list of ‘to dos’! The possibility of tackling a task and removing it from my list was doomed. It remained in place for yet more months.

Possibility. Something to do that would make things better. Ignoring the same only left the possibility idling on the list.

Possibility, of course, pertains to other lists as well. What to do about potable water supplies so scarce in other nations, especially Africa? What about access to affordable health care throughout the world? And access to plentiful education as well. What are the class struggles in other nations and America, too? Are these truly class issues? Or are they made up crises designed to distract us from other pressing issues in need of attention?

Possibility. Potential. Promise.

The three ‘P’s’. They illustrate what could be if we only try. Failing that, they remain but the illustration is absent. No progress. Prosperity is restrained if it exists at all. What could be does not come into being. An opportunity is wasted, ignored.

And we all lose.

Unemployment struggles to abate, personal budgets weary on to cover the basic needs without all hopes fulfilled. The house continues to wear and decay. The car gathers more miles and loses its luster as its used status expands to near antique. Hopes of better days ahead disappear. A generation loses hope. Kids dream dreams that you and I could never imagine.

We Americans think most everything is possible. It is the way we were raised. Well, I suppose there are the families who were born into poverty that don’t dream the same way that the majority of us do. But in the main we grew up in a world where much was possible. In my day, scientific discovery was huge. The space race captured our imagination and dreams went higher than the sky.

Of course the space program uncovered many scientific goodies. We used the new found knowledge to produce new products like computers, cell phones, medical devices small enough to be implanted in the body to monitor and regulate many functions. Life was extended with medical advancements. Dreams were expanded with crazy new ideas to enlarge our ideas for products and services allowed by the ‘new’ sciences. We could now look at problems we could solve by simply applying new knowledge.

Social problems were another thing, but wait! Social problems were often resting at the feet of poverty. Provide more jobs, more manufacturing and the unemployed or lesser employed could raise their standard of income. Expand access to education and the poor could raise themselves out of poverty. Helping hands would lift entire classes out of low income bondage.

It didn’t work out that well. When all was said and done social problems continued. They grew to enormous proportions. Like a cancer large swaths of our population were not lifted up by new discovery and enhanced living standards.

Fixing these problems raised the specter of new, costly social programs paid for by government – our taxes. That prospect caused some people to resist the solutions to the problems. They argued that the fix would take money from them to pay benefits to others. And so the ideological divide was born and gave many a lot to talk about.

From that beginning we attracted users and takers and the political boon of ideological divide and conquer became an entire industry. Built on mankind’s baser instincts this industry was destined to become larger than life itself.

Now in 2015 we see the results of that industry. No politician – citizen servant – can get elected to public office without support from narrow interest groups with large check books. Good thinkers and willing servants are discouraged and left behind. They won’t play the game of the check writers. They disappear from the political scene and leave it to the moneyed residue.

Gridlock is the result because the ‘winners’ among us refuse to lose. The ‘losers’ among us refuse to give the ‘winners’ credit. So stasis results. Equal powers check equal powers. Nothing is gained. Nothing is done.

And possibility is the loser for us all.

We think we live in a democracy. We do not. We live in a republic fueled by money not ideas. Such a system avoids education and science. Facts are made up and bandied about as though they actually mean something. Our public discussions – yes, even our elections – are meaningless exercise of futility. Power and countervailing power checkmate each other. And those parties are happy. The ‘other’ is not allowed to rule. They have protected their ideological argument for another day, another time they just might win.

Possibility. It is our hope that things will be better, improved, healthier. Without possibility we are impoverished of hope.

How long will the majority of us allow this to continue? When will we realize that we are trashing our own future.

Governance is all about managing the common good of the body politic. It should not be about stasis of political bankers. Or ideology. We have tried big government and small government. And both were found wanting. Something else must be found that works.

Perhaps solving problems that negatively affect people is the answer? When will we get back to this discussion and exploration of possibility?

Will you join the march for possibility?

May 20, 2015

20 Million Left Behind

 

Howard R. Gold claims the U.S. economy has left behind 20 million Americans. In a recent article published in MarketWatch, he thoughtfully chronicles changes in the American workplace, how they happened, what their immediate effect was, and how their long range result took shape. When a plant closes things happen to the worker, to his family, to his household, neighborhood and probably to his entire community.

 

In a vibrant economy furloughed workers are re-employed at another plant or industry. The household remains economically viable. So does the community. And the life of the family continues to prepare the next generation for education, careers and independent lives that matter.

 

The opposite is true in an economy stripped of its vibrancy. The primary breadwinner is reduced to humiliation and a feeling of worthlessness. Children in the household witness the personal degradation of their parent and wonder what is in store for them. As the household misses rent or mortgage payments, a move is planned to less costly quarters. At the bottom of this process homelessness beckons with all of its trappings and horrors.

 

Worse, younger generations witness the decay of their lives and wonder how they will fare in a new world that does not care for them or their families. Education to move them out of this chaos is less accessible to them. Local schools suffer declines in budget, enrollment and worsening facilities. Scholarship is the first to go in the schools. Thus graduation rates plummet and poor kids become poor adults.

 

When industries move production overseas to reduce product costs and improve their competitive pricing, jobs are lost here at home. They may come back, but how soon? When the industry learns it is more cost effective to retain local manufacturing? When they learn that a vibrant American economy produces not only its own products, but also its own mass market of consumers? There is a quid pro quo to such business decisions. There are hidden costs to deduct from the surface benefits they once ached for. One of those costs is the social cost now borne by government agencies to care for the people left behind, abandoned by an unthinking business strategy.

 

Like minimum wage laws. Whole classes of workers earn so little they need food stamps, rent subsidies and medical care vouchers to survive. It is in our interest that they do survive well enough to raise themselves out of poverty and raise a new generation of kids that can do the same. Poverty is regenerating if left unaided. But it needs more than just aid; needs education, nurture and motivation to birth a generation out of their bonds of poverty.

 

Mr. Gold documents what happens when greedy, profit motive businesses forget their employees. Short term tactical thinking creates long term strategic issues in the society on the whole. Those issues must be grappled with and solved. Better handled if we all are doing our share to minimize the problem in the first place, and solve it in the second place.

 

Overseas production facilities are not more competitive. They are just cheaper. Eventually that cheap factor exacts its price.

 

Read Howard Gold’s article shown below. If you have an issue with his data, please contact him directly, not me! I’m involved in this discussion because of the larger issue and the public policy challenges that caused the problem in the first place and will need retooling to solve in the second place.

 

Happy Reading!!

Howard R. Gold is a MarketWatch columnist and founder and editor of GoldenEgg Investing, which offers free market commentary and simple, low-cost, low-risk retirement investing plans. Follow him on Twitter @howardrgold.

Tony, who is currently living at a shelter run by the Bethesda Project, pauses during dinner on October 22, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The program for homeless men is run by the Bethesda Project which serves…

Last month, when Baltimore was burning after a young African-American man died in police custody (six officers were subsequently charged), I did a Google search to find what David Simon thought about it.

Simon, a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun, was the creator and show runner of “The Wire,” which ran for five seasons on HBO and which Entertainment Weekly called the greatest television show ever. It was a brilliant narrative of the struggle for survival in a violent, drug-riddled Baltimore neighborhood much like the one that went up in flames.

In my search, I came across an interview Simon did with Bill Moyers a few years ago in which he declared: “ ‘The Wire’ was not a story about America; it’s about the America that got left behind. … These really are the excess people in America. Our economy doesn’t need them — we don’t need 10% or 15% of our population.”

Have 10% to 15% of the U.S. population really been left behind? I contacted Simon at his website to ask where he got the number, but he didn’t get back to me. So I did my own calculations, and he’s actually not too far off.

With a little help from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces the famous monthly jobs reports, I added up several categories of the unemployed, the underemployed and people on some form of public assistance.

My conclusion: About 20 million Americans, roughly 10% of adults of working age, have at best marginal ties with the U.S. economy. I excluded the elderly, because most of them are retired and getting Social Security, and children, whose lives and futures are often collateral damage in the economic struggles of their parents. Here’s how it adds up:

• 2.5 million are among the long-term unemployed, which the Labor Department defines as being out of work and actively seeking work for 27 weeks or more. That’s less than half what it was in 2009, but it’s still high.

• 6.6 million Americans are working part-time for economic reasons but would prefer to work full time.

• Another 2.1 million are marginally attached to the labor force, according to the Labor Department. That means they are “not in the labor force [but] want and are available for work, and … have looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.”

• Nearly 5 million adults from age 18-64 are collecting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits, which go to people who can’t work because of various disabilities.

• Almost 1 million adults receive public assistance from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and General Assistance (GA), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Those are temporary cash payments with some work requirements that replaced the old welfare system under welfare reform.

• In 2013, 3.3 million Americans earned the federal minimum wage or less, according to the Pew Research Center. If you think they haven’t been left behind, try living on $7.25 an hour.

Grand total: 20.4 million adults. Now, there is some overlap, and Labor Department figures are for people from 16 to 64, while the other stats cover those from 18 up. But those caveats aside, 20 million is a reasonable ballpark number — and a disturbing one.

What’s behind it? It’s complicated. But obviously there’s been a confluence of macro factors cited by both liberal and conservative thinkers, from globalization and outsourcing to technological advances to family breakdown, drugs, lingering racism, terrible schools, failed government programs (Sandtown-Winchester, where Freddie Gray was arrested, got $130 million in private and public aid, to little effect), and growing dependency on government. It’s hard to tease out which was most important.

But if I had to pick one, it would be the decline of decent-paying manufacturing jobs. That happened first in urban centers like Baltimore, which lost hundreds of thousands of such jobs even before the 2000s. That’s when 5.7 million manufacturing jobs vaporized in what IndustryWeek called “the worst decade for manufacturing employment in the Republic’s history.”

When breadwinner jobs disappear, families break down, kids are adrift, and desperation takes hold.

Fifty years ago, the sadly prophetic Moynihan Report captured the early stages of the breakdown of urban African-American families. Now, more than 70% of African-American children are born out of wedlock. But whites are catching up. Since 1980, their out-of-wedlock birth rate has tripled to almost 30% as the same economic chickens come home to roost.

Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point plant in Baltimore produced the steel that went into girders for the Golden Gate Bridge. The shuttered facility symbolizes so many once-great industrial enterprises that lifted Americans of all backgrounds into the middle class. Those jobs aren’t coming back. Until we find something to replace them, more and more people will be left behind.

A Day in the Life Of…

I’m 72 years old. Male. Gay. Retired. Caucasian American. I've had dreams to accomplish and satisfied several of them. I have an understanding of life and possibility that I want to share with others. Just how is yet to be learned.

Yes, reaching my age is sobering. There are limits to life. I cannot physically do what I used to do – walk, stand, jump, run – and all of that for hours on end! Climbing stairs is now very unpleasant; I avoid this activity entirely if possible. I still awake early and do a lot of ‘work’ before breakfast. Then I either do more work, or pick up a book and read until I slip blissfully into a nap. Afterwards I might do an errand, write some more, or eat lunch.

After lunch more reading or writing, then another nap! Being retired has good moments! At the end of the day we watch TV – usually marathon sessions of Netflix spooled TV series! And then to bed between 8:30 and 9 pm.

I know this doesn't sound exciting to most of you. To me it sounds just fine!

Other things of course occupy my time. Such as AA meetings. These gatherings are important, more so than attending a church service. Those not in AA probably wonder why I would feel this way, or any of my fellow AA colleagues. Here’s a little glimpse of why I think these sessions are important.

First, the gathering is mostly of people we have come to know. Occasionally a new person visits or joins our group. There is no formal entry requirement. If you wish to be with us, then you are OK to do so. Second, before the meeting gets started we catch up with each other, joke and share moments of camaraderie rarely felt in other gatherings of friends. Here we are pretty honest with one another. We are not in hiding or pretending to be something we are not.

Third, we nurture each other’s honesty to set the stage for sharing what’s on our minds. This is the business end of our gathering – to build an environment of freedom to say what is important to the person and unburden the inner self. Doing this builds a connection with others. We are not alone.

Fourth, building an authentic connection with others helps us become sober, be sober and remain so. If sobriety is well grounded in some of the attendees, their presence helps them help others become so. This is the primary outcome of AA and why it is so successful.

Fifth, AA fellowship is often deeper, more honest, and heartfelt than church fellowship. I attend two of these meetings each week, and a service meeting with teens also weekly making three AA meetings per week.

In addition I am active in my church. We attend weekly services, often participate in seasonal extra church services during advent and lent. I volunteer singing liturgy for the congregation, join choir duties when possible, and help plan worship services well in advance. I read scripture frequently as well and the pastor asks me to join in sermon related vignettes to enlarge the sermon’s message, lesson.

In other activities, I write this blog daily, Monday through Friday. Saturday is a ‘thought for the day’ item; Sunday I take off. The blog is now three and a half years old and I’ve published 1200 essays so far. That accounts for well over 700,000 words.

From this I intend to pull together a book if anyone is interested in such content. The process of writing a book is daunting and I do a little work on it each day.

I recently stepped away from being the managing editor of the local paper I helped cofound seven years ago. That has freed up time and focus for the blog and book.

A year ago I joined SCORE – the national Service Corps Of Retired Executives. A volunteer adjunct to the Small Business Administration (Federal Department of Commerce), our mission is to help small businesses form or to assist small businesses grow to a higher plane of operation. Our services are free and we mentor in small teams to enrich the small business persons succeed. SCORE has more than 11,000 mentors who helped start thousands of small businesses in 2014 creating over 47,000 new jobs. SCORE is now 50 years old and one of the best kept secrets in the business world!

I could easily spend 40 or 60 hours a week with SCORE. With discipline I manage to spend about 10 hours per week.

So, that’s a brief summation of how I spend my time. It is interesting and motivating so time flies quickly.

I also sprinkle in visits with the families of my daughter and son. They include two granddaughters and one grandson. These are the bright lights of the future and give me hope and pleasure.

Along the way we cram in visits to doctors, medical labs and drug stores. How we ever did this before retirement is beyond our imagination, but then we didn’t have as many ailments then, either!

I’d hazard a guess that this stage of my life is one of communing with community. One learns much of the inner richness of the community by participating in it. The learning grows rapidly if time is taken to drink in the workings of community. There are many lessons in listening and absorbing their messages. The lessons are invaluable teachers of the facts of life. They help me be me, and better.

Not a bad life to live each day! Each day tends to be better than the previous one. One can only imagine where this may lead!

May 18, 2015

Thought for the Day

It Takes a Village. That phrase is used often in public discourse. It refers to the cooperative, even collaborative actions of a community dealing with common issues. Practical solutions come from being close to the problem in question. Sharing the task and duty with others builds camaraderie and commitment to the desired results. Trial and error will tweak the methods until the desired result is attained.

Perhaps we can use this approach for other problems we face in common but at a farther distance?

I wonder what those might be?

May 16, 2015

The Rights of BP?

I’m still upset with British Petroleum. They have global operations in oil discovery, recovery, refining and distribution. They have operating agreements and contracts with many nations to accomplish their work. They are a major provider in the supply chain of energy products, mostly oil and its many by products, as well as natural gas.

I’m sure they are a reliable partner in their operations. But there are questions to be asked and answered.

In 2010 BP’s oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig sank 5000 feet to the ocean floor. Eleven crew were killed. In a space of 87 days an estimated 3.2 million barrels of crude oil had spewed into the Gulf. The site of this disaster is 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Believed to be the worst oil spill in the history of the US, coastal damage extended from Florida to Texas befouling beaches and any business operations (retail or commercial) relying on those beaches. Worse still was the ecological disaster wreaked on fish and fowl life in the region as well as the delicate sand/soil and flora Eco systems that protect marine life and land masses along the Gulf coast.

In response to the disaster our federal government asked BP to fund a $20 billion recovery fund for businesses and communities damaged by the oil spill. Five years later the fund has yet to be fully disbursed to claimants. BP also pledged $10 billion to reclaim the oil and restore Eco systems as best they could. Whether all of those funds have been fully deployed on their mission is not known to me. However, it is known that much of the ecological chaos from the spill remains to be cleaned up.

Now comes the news that BP is appealing some damage claims of its Gulf oil spill.

I beg your pardon? What about the havoc Gulf coast communities and businesses endured and still have unpaid claims? What about the enormous ecological damage sustained in the region which continues to ask for help with the problems?

The risk of deep water oil drilling is huge. Yes the rewards are also huge, and those rewards are felt by society as well as the owners of the oil corporations that take on the financial risk of exploration, discovery and recovery. But so are the risks felt by everyone. The price of oil and its by products are not fully reflective of that risk.

The Deepwater Horizon was thought to be a high quality, high tech rig. It turned out otherwise. BP and its contractors were proven to have taken shortcuts that increased the risk of failure. The shortcuts were to reduce costs. Instead they increased costs exponentially. Risk assumed; loss realized.

The issue here, however, is the whole cost to the American society for the loss incurred by the corporation. So far their cost is $30 billion. The entire cost, however, is likely to exceed $50 billion. Who makes up the difference?

And yet BP is appealing damage awards to claimants. That is truly a paradigm of chutzpah! The nerve of this company to be claiming it is a hurt party! The nerve!

Energy is a vital topic to the well being of the global community. Energy supplies must be plentiful and reliable. They also must be ecologically viable, both in extracting the supplies, and the use of the supplies. Is the planet better off with this form of energy?

That is a large question that must be asked, and the answers developing over the past 100 years increasingly point to a large negative. Oil-based energy is a net liability to the global community. It is time to find replacement forms of energy. Physics and other scientific disciplines are tracking energy sources for the future. How soon will they be ready to supplant the role of oil? Perhaps it is too early to say, but it is also true to report that oil interests are slowing the acquisition of those new forms of energy. They have much to lose if oil is replaced by another dominant energy form.

Maybe it is time to turn this critical task over to academic consortia? Let them research, discover and propose the best solution for the long term? This may damage asset values for oil companies, but who knows what they would gain if they were part of the solution rather than the obstructionist?

The energy free market is encumbered by too many risk-limiting subsidies. It is not a free market in reality. We the people are actually taking on the risk, not the oil producers. It is time that governments protect their publics against this unconscionable risk.

Researchers to the rescue, please! Let the free market of ideas and discovery rule in this matter. With proper government protections we may actually find a solution to the big energy questions. The trick is to ask the big questions and honestly look for the best answers.

May 15, 2015

 

Trusting Government

Well, this is one hell of a topic to tackle. Think about it – we trust our very lives to police and fire personnel everyday. We don’t even think about it. They are there when we need them in disasters, accidents, fires, explosions, riots and crime scenes. They take charge of the scene. They immediately restore order and save lives. They administer health care and transport to hospitals. They catalog our names, roles in and at the scene, and begin the documentation that will later be used to understand what happened and why. This is detailed work. This is also dangerous work. Their lives are on the line just as ours are as victims.

Extraordinary effort, training and judgment are required of these responders. I think we take them for granted. We also expect them to place their lives on the line to protect us. This may never happen to us, or once in our lifetime, but for the responders it is frequent. Each situation is a hairy one.

For some reason we expect their devotion to our needs and yet we pay them what? And do we provide medical care, health insurance and retirement benefits in accord with their spectacular service? Well, that depends on the figures at budget time, doesn't it? Most often we attempt to get these incredible services at the lowest cost, forgetting what these people bring to the table daily to serve and protect us.

I’m embarrassed by all of this. I think we owe so much to these people it is impossible to calculate what we ought to pay them. I want their lives to be as meaningful as I hope mine will be. I want them to be as happy as possible in spite of the terrors they are subjected to. And I want them to know they are respected by us, the taxpaying public.

On a daily basis we are served by armies of public servants – teachers, doctors, nurses, military personnel, researchers, statisticians, writers, clerks, computer system managers and developers. All are on the mission to serve the public in ways the rest of us cannot possibly understand or appreciate. But when budget time comes around we somehow devalue these people.

I worked for the University of Illinois for 17 years. I loved working for the institution and its people. The work we accomplished provided value added miracles to the lives of each student, their families, their employers, and their communities to say nothing about the state of Illinois. We took our jobs seriously. What we did mattered in the broader scheme of life and community. We couldn’t accurately map our results, but we took it on faith that our efforts mattered.

Cynics would say that all public employees are feeders at the public trough and suspect. But then I think of the people who staff the courts, the parole offices, the rehab centers for all kinds of addictive behaviors, the detention centers for youth who are woefully off track. Who cares for these people? Who attempts to salvage them from the pits of hell if their problems are ignored and allowed to grow and fester? Someone needs to. And that job belongs to society as a whole.

Not all tasks belong to government. But government is our social conscience and needs to be aware of problems, potential solutions, and the resources to address the same. Some resources are voluntary; others are charitable organizations; still others are religious communities doing their good works. But when families fail to contain the damaged persons and their effects on others, then it is society which needs to step in. Do we really think volunteers can handle all of this?

No. So we need other responders to contain the damage and hopefully return the sufferers to a productive role in society. That’s why we heal and cure patients. It is why we teach students. It is why we serve and protect the public in the first place.

So why do we so easily distrust segments of the government and their agencies?

I spoke to a senior citizen the other day – active, involved, highly productive – and he claimed facts are made up, reported as true facts, and policies are formed by government contrary to reality. He was especially riled about the EPA. He doesn’t believe in global warming in spite of the fact that I reported to him that scientists now can measure current global warming and project the variances from norms long term of this phenomenon. These same scientists can measure the causes and behaviors behind global warming. They can monitor our attempts to moderate global warming to learn which methods are effective and which not.

He didn’t buy my argument! I guess when his ocean front vacation home is inundated in 40 years he might change his opinion; but wait! he won’t be around unless we make truly remarkable gains in medical science.

We pay people to pursue science and guide policy makers to better serve and protect the public. That public includes future generations yet unborn. They will be our progeny. We do not serve and protect just the current public, but that which is yet to come.

The planet is our home. Whatever we can do to protect it so it is healthy and capable of sustaining life on the planet for the future is something we ought to be doing. Ought to be doing. It is an ethos. What is wrong in believing we have a custodial obligation to leave the planet as healthy as possible in spite of our use of its treasure for the short term.

I trust in government. I believe in monitoring government. I believe in telling government my opinions and concerns. But I also cooperate with government so good things happen. Shouldn't we all play a similar role?

It seems to me that the real problem here is not trust in government as much as it is distrust in politicians who manipulate public opinion. Now in that we have more control!

So why don’t we exercise that control? Because I think too many of us are lazy and leave the hard work to other people while we selfishly pursue our own happiness regardless of its cost to other people.

It is easy to fall into this lazy cycle. But then we must face the challenge of undoing the cycle. Too much is depending on us not to do so.

Please join others in discussing these issues so next time we can vote intelligently and make real change possible.

Thank you!

May 14, 2015

More Bits and Pieces

There are a lot of news stories bouncing around that just beg some reaction from me. I can’t help it. Really!  I tried. But no; I am uttering some words now on these beauties.

First is the lawsuit by a Raleigh, North Carolina police lieutenant who bought a cup of coffee from a Starbucks outlet, returned to his police car, and proceeded to spill the coffee in his lap. In truth, the cup was defective (it collapsed too easily), but rather than seek help immediately, he returned to his police station, transferred to his own truck, drove home, remained there for some time, and finally, two and a half hours later, sought medical care.

This event so unnerved the officer, his Crohn’s disease kicked up, and he was treated for several months including surgery to remove a portion of his intestine. He was out of work for a prolonged time but less than a year. His wife joined the lawsuit claiming loss of consortium during his prolonged and difficult recovery. They sued for $750,000.

The jury decided in favor of Starbucks. Defense attorneys were successful in demonstrating that the plaintiff was already battling diseases that were debilitating and that he was unable to prove fault on the part of Starbucks.

Comment:  Thank God the jury got it right! Drinking coffee is hazardous because the liquid is hot and expected to be so. Portable paper cups are unstable by nature and an added hazard the consumer knowingly engages in order to enjoy a portable cup of coffee. Taking inordinate time to seek medical care begs the question just how serious was the customer’s injury? There are risks we all take responsibility for just stepping out the front door to go to work. This is one of those daily risks.

Second, if public authorities deliver shocking news to a citizen, they cannot sue those authorities when the details turn out to be incorrect. Such was the case when police reported the death of a loved one to a family only to learn later that they had mistaken the identity of the family. They had notified the wrong family, who in turn, sued the police authorities for the pain and anguish of the shocking news. The court, however, had a different take on the matter and chose in favor of the authorities. They said such unintentional errors are not made with the intent to harm and thus damages do not apply.

Comment: Try as they might to get the facts straight, police personnel have an often chaotic set of circumstances to deal with in determining what happened, who were the responsible parties, who receives medical attention, who gets the coroner’s services, and who are the next of kin to be notified. Think about that. The confusion, adrenaline and emotional upset of first responders. The family is not present in this situation; others are on their behalf. The family cannot possibly appreciate the pressure to perform most police accept as their daily burden. Perfection is not easily accomplished in such straits.

  

Third, who is the Middle Class? Does anyone truly know? What data sets are uniformly applied to define the middle class? And are the denizens even willing to admit they are middle class? The answer is not clear. Most of us identify as middle class but age, household income, education, employment and housing quality are not necessarily solid delineators of middle class status. Most of us aspire to higher incomes, more disposable wealth, secure financial investments to be used in retirement and economic downturns, and fancier cars and homes. But we don’t all actually acquire these things. Even if we do not, all of these are a sign of wealth but a harbinger of enormous debt! And thus more worry and fretting.

The middle class standard of living would be made up of many aspects, many not measurable. Until the discussion includes adequate details I think we need to monitor our conversation on this topic. Do the research. Ask for expert inputs. Determine the norms. Then discuss. Now get to work!

Fourth, Russia and its role in unsettling global power. I've hazarded opinions on this in the past. In this instance, however, Russia marked the 70^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War with a massive parade of military personnel and equipment. And speeches, oratory, really, ballyhooing Russia’s involvement in the war. Missing were most of the allies who did the heavy lifting during the war. Also missing was Russia’s honesty in representing the chronology of their engagement in the war. They were begged to step in much earlier but did not. England and France played an early role. Later, so did the United States who went on to the bitter end making commitments to defeat Hitler and rebuild war torn nations in Europe. At the same time they waged a successful war against Japan. Two theaters of war across two oceans separated by a vast continent. Where was Russia in those terrible times?

Well, at least they can hold parades and flaunt war materiel as though they are ready to continue their heroic command of the global community. They toy with peace like a child. Empty nonsense history already knows about.

That’s enough for this go around. There’s more of course, but that is for another time. Until then, read the news with care and ask questions! Then begin to understand the facts.

May 13, 2015

Roles of Government

I attended a business meeting the other day and was early to beat traffic. Had a surprising discussion with a colleague I hadn't expected. It focused on his belief that government isn't working very well, that executive functions are going well beyond their authority and holding private enterprise back from what they could be accomplishing in our economy.

I took this to mean that private enterprise is shackled by government regulation thus extending the current economic recovery. He said no, the problem is that executive departments of the federal government have overstepped their bounds and are making regulations and ‘law’ that were never intended.

I asked which departments he was most concerned with. His reply: the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and we also talked a little about the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).

When asked for more details he didn’t really have any specifics. But I did remind him these agencies may be ensconced in the Executive Branch of the government, but they were formed by the Congress, are authorized by the Congress, are further driven by policy and protocols designed and written by Congress, and are subject to oversight by Congress. These agencies are part of the Executive Branch in name only. They are congressional beasts and the upset or blame for their actions need go directly to Congress.

Congress, of course, is super partisan and cannot administer itself out of a paper bag.

In the case of the IRS, Congress even authorized a separate administrative court system and protocol to keep the massive case count out of the normal court system and keeping the latter from getting bogged down. The unintended result: the IRS is a government unto itself and fully the super organizational beast of the Congress. They have full control and authority over the IRS, not the President or Executive Branch.

My colleague went on to complain that people don’t speak about facts. Rather they make up things and label them facts. How this complaint pertains to government specifically was left unstated. My contention is that partisan politics have poisoned the halls of government in Washington, DC so badly that no meaningful dialog is possible at this time. I suggested to my colleague that political parties should be ignored and that we all ask our elected representatives to begin the arduous task of identifying issues of importance, ranking them for priority of solution, and then getting down to fixing problems without determining political ideology.

I pointed out that political ideology has distracted the American people and its government from actually getting anything done. Gridlock is not a productive partner for any dynamic organization let alone a government.

He didn’t accept my point of view, but at least I did not pretend polite agreement to forge a false working relationship. We both have points of view. Both must be expressed equally or both should remain silent. A little push back from time to time might be helpful.

In the meanwhile I came away from our interaction deflated. I had thought there was more intelligence and deeper reading of current events in my circle of colleagues but evidently I am wrong. I truly respect and like these people. However, increasingly I am aware of their ever present reactionary conservatism that accepts broad ideas and positions as correct without analysis. It’s in need of giant fact checking all the time if honest discussion is even possible.

Luckily this group of colleagues is in their 70’s and 80’s. They are all retired careerists. Most all of them led quite successful business lives. But they have a huge blind spot: public sector, non-profit organizations work on the basis of grand ideas and purpose rather than the profit motive. Dollars earned at the end of the year by the organization is not the motive of such organizations. Social purpose and mission are the motives. And they work for the common good of the society at large. Some of them are fueled by public tax dollars, but most make giant strides with private dollars raised in the good old fashioned entrepreneurial fashion. 

They seem blind that such organizations are positive contributors to private enterprise as well as social stability. Such is the operating environment for private business, an environment that builds success and healthy living conditions for most.

Non-profits are not always charities. They are social service agencies, environmental protection entities, educational organizations and research and development structures of formidable genius. We need them all if our nation is to succeed. We need them all if entrepreneurs are willing to take on an investment in a less risky environment.

There is a balanced approach to viewing all of these issues. It is not healthy to jump to the conclusion that a conspiracy or ideological war is at work. Better to calm down, assess the facts – all of the facts – and then set about doing the work in need of doing.

These retired captains of industry should know better and do better. Is that why I’m suddenly in their midst? Hopefully not; that would be a mighty task for one person to take on. Oh but then the mighty prayer of serenity enters the play: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Alas, the entire prayer is tough to live; but the last phrase begs a wisdom few possess!

May 12, 2015