Category: Personal Thoughts

For the moment I recommend you pay no attention to the political discourse going on. The primary season will arrive soon enough, and then our airwaves will be consumed with debates and negative ads. I use the term, debate, loosely because television appeals to the lowest common denominator by potraying social and political debates as people shouting at each other. Everybody on TV exercises his or her right to express dogmatic beliefs at the top volume, but we almost never see a model for deep, attentive listening. The value of genuinely being in each other’s presence, regardless of whether we happen to agree, seems to be almost completely lost in our social discourse. That’s why we get so little meaning from all our public arguments. It seems that we don’t even know how to facilitate genuine presence, the authentic being-with-each-other that may actually bring about real, positive change.

The Labor Department said Friday that the nation’s employers added 120,000 jobs last month, after adding 100,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent, after having been mired around 9 percent for most of 2011.
November’s jobless rate was the lowest recorded since March 2009. The rate fell partly because more workers got jobs, but also because about 315,000 workers dropped out of the labor force, and the jobless rate counts only people who are actively looking for work.

Isn’t this good news? Not to the 315,000 people who have been unemployed so long they have given up looking for work. We need to look beyond statistics and to the lives of real people. Try telling a factory worker after being unemployed for over two years, and actively looking for work the entire time, that the solution to his unemployment is “just give up.” Then he’s no longer unemployed according to the government. He’ll ask who’s going to pay the rent and put food” on the table. Their answer to that question is “that’s your problem, you’ve solved our problem by quiting. We can now crow about a recovering economy while our roads and schools crumble.” If you like statistics ask how many of these new jobs are Christmas hires who go away December 25, 2011. Those hires are not unemployed either. Maybe next the government will say the four million workers who have been out of work for over a year are technically no longer available for work. Then their numbers will look very good. We are back to full employment.

My laid off factory worker will quote Disraeli in response, “Statistics are lies.” (Technically the quote attributed to Disraeli — “that there are three types of lies — lies, damn lies, and statistics” — he never uttered. However, if our government can say someone who has been searching for work for two years and finally gives up is no longer unemployed. A little misattribution is chicken feed in comparison to the chicken **** the government is trying to get us to swallow.

Cheering 315,000 thousand people giving up looking for work reminds me of Orwell’s 1984.

If you’ve ever seen the look on somebody’s face the day they finally get a job, I’ve had some experience with this, they look like they could fly. And its not about the paycheck, it’s about respect, it’s about looking in the mirror and knowing that you’ve done something valuable with your day. And if one person could start to feel this way, and then another person, and then another person, soon all these other problems may not seem so impossible. You don’t really know how much you can do until you, stand up and decide to try. – From the movie — Dave.

Over four million Americans have been out of work for more than a year. This doesn’t count all the millions who get a job-lose a job, get a job-lose a job, work part time because they can’t get a full time job, quit trying, are disabled and can’t get a job doing anything, the list goes on and on until the reality is that close to twenty percent of able-bodies Americans who want a full time meaningful job can’t find one. Yet, since its old news its forgotten news. The media and our leaders focus on issues and events that are more sensational or look so far into the future they ignore the snake right in front of their nose. Neither political party, the tea party, or the occupy folks want to talk about the man or woman who simply wants the respect that a meaningful job brings. Until a voice sings their song, it is heard, and we join in the chorus — we are lost.

I read many criticisms about America’s latest showing of the power of civil disobedience. I hear it has no purpose, it is too disorganized, its being used, etc. maybe all this is true. I don’t know because I haven’t participated, but I do know this ask anyone who has participated in any act of civil disobedience, whether successful or not, they will say something like the following:

“I honestly don’t know if my act of civil disobedience had any effect of the government, but I can promise you it had had a great effect on me.”

Elie Wiesel once said, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

Many of my friends are blaming the banks for starting to raise fees for debit card holders– www.takleft.com. I think its an excellent example of the saying that “money talks.” When businesses started screaming like the Wal Marts, the large department stores, and oil companies about the fees banks charged them for customers using debit cards. Washington and the Fed listened. We now have limits on what banks can charge business, but no limits on what they can charge the voiceless customers. Everyone including the department stores and oil companies encouraged us to use debit cards. No one will take checks any more. Do we think the money the business are now saving as a result of their lobbying will find its way to the consumers with lower prices? If you do, Wal-Mart has a bridge in Brooklyn its trying to unload. Webb

This weekend’s papers were full of suggestions as to what Obama should do to get the economy going. Their suggestions immediately run up against a recalcitrant Congress and economists who say no and it won’t work. So while they all continue to try to come up with a “grand plan,” I’ll suggest a mini-plan to get a few people some jobs. (By the way, we had a grand plan once – the “Bowles-Simpson Plan” which at the time everyone promised to carefully consider and support, and then ran for the hills when it came out.) That aside let’s start somewhere without asking Congress’ approval.

• The Government’s fiscal year begins October 1. Traditionally each department spreads its budget for capital spending out over the whole year, more heavily weighted toward the end of the fiscal year. Reverse that process. As soon as the money is allocated for a capital purchase spend it immediately. Get the money out and spend it quick. If the department of Justice is allowed to spend $50 million for vehicles in fiscal year 2012 then buy all the trucks and vehicles before Christmas. (American-made hopefully.) Also have OMB demand that every governmental department accelerate its bid processes to allow purchases to be made quicker not slower. If only the department of defense would accelerate its bid processes and front load its purchases in the first quarter of the year, billions of dollars would flow immediately into the economy, and the military-industrial complex would have to add thousands of employees. Demand Mr. President, that wherever the government has the authority to make a purchase they do it now. To put it simply in fiscal year 2012 get the government’s money out into the economy sooner not later. If Congress screams saying accelerated bidding can lead to abuse, agree and say when you do your job and start creating jobs then you can complain, until then I’m going to do what I can to stimulate the economy – Now!

• Turn the SBA on. Most of the jobs that will be created in America will come from small business. Tell the SBA to turn the guarantee process up, loosen the regulations, and get the word to the banks, bring me your small business loans, we’ll guarantee them in a week, and get the money from the banks flowing to small business. Develop an accelerated process so loans of less than $500,000 can be made quickly and efficiently. Yes there will be a few bad loans, but it will be nothing compared to the trillions in bad loans made to unsuspecting homeowners to feed the greed of Wall street.

• Allow every former student to refinance all his/her student loans, not just government loans at today’s interest rates guaranteed by the SBA. This will provide immense relief to the hundreds of thousands of former students who are burdened by student loans. It will free up cash to a segment of the population that needs the certainty of a fixed low interest obligation and will increase liquidity to the segment of the population most likely to spend. This should be a way to also free up lending to that same segment for new business.

Yes the opponents will be able to point their fingers at a governmental agency making an unfortunate purchase, a business loan gone bad, or a student who scammed the system, but each of these will happen no matter how many safe guards are in place. It’s time to do the opposite of the banks’ current mentality, we need to loosen the government’s purse strings, remove the time constraints that discourage growth in small business, and to free our students from oppressive debt when money is cheap. Each of these suggestions do not take Congressional action only an Executive will. Now it’s everyone’s turn to shoot holes at them. Fire away.