Should We Have Stayed Farmers?

 

Explaining the Modern Economy

 

"No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." Thomas Hobbes.

I recently finished a book called “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Harari. It’s a very intriguing book with a lot of concepts and theories that will make you think about us as a species, the good and the bad (and there’s a lot of both.) One particular claim he makes, though, really made me sit back and say “whoa!” He suggests that we were all probably better off as . . . farmers? In his opinion, we gave up the agrarian life that humans had led for thousands of years, a period when we “just” had to go grow our own food then enjoy the simple pleasures of family and friends (and living until 40?) Thomas Jefferson, noted urban hater, would agree. He said, "Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness." Like Jefferson, Harari blames a lot of our real (and imagined) problems on leaving the fields to go “work for the man.” 

As enticing as it sounds to go back to the soil, it’s not going to happen. This made me think, however, about modern life and, more importantly, about what we can - and cannot - control in it. For example, how many and what kind of jobs there are.

In the 1940’s an economist named Joseph Schumpeter came up the idea of “creative destruction” to describe the modern economy; new ideas and businesses drive out the old, old jobs replaced with new ones. Over the last forty years or so it has destroyed millions of the jobs. True to form, it also created millions of new jobs. Many of those destroyed were ones that a majority of “working” Americans like my dad had depended upon, for example like coal mining and manufacturing, while the bulk of those created are in our so-called service economy, most with low pay and few or no benefits. Today, my dad would probably be out of luck. Like a majority of Americans, he would find that jobs for people like him either don’t exist or the pay is so low that you have to work multiple jobs to live even a vaguely average life. Or give up.

Good jobs were created too, of course. What's a good job is open for debate but I think most people would define a good job as one that pays enough for a family to raise their kids, buy a house, save for retirement and maybe take a vacation from time to time  - forget saving for college education or healthcare though. Let's say 100k/yr. (Unless you live on either coast!) According to the data, 34% of households (that's families not individuals) earn that in the US. So, yes, there are good jobs - that are held by relatively few workers - but in the end we all just take the jobs the economy creates (like good, little drones as Jefferson might say?)

Now, rather than go down the “capitalism is bad” road (even though I personally doubt that what we have going on in America is actually capitalism) and blame globalism, big corporations and greedy rich guys, I choose to say this is just the reality of our economy.

Of course you should get a degree or some training for your best chance at a better job. The fact is, though, that you can get all the training you want but you will still have to take the jobs that the economy creates. For example, one of the fastest growing jobs is a Personal Care Attendant (PCA, average pay $14/hr).  Other fast growing jobs: restaurant cooks, construction laborers, RNs and LPNs. Can you imagine a former coal miner or auto worker re-training for them?? Nope, nope, nope, nope and nope. There is always lawn care, nail salons and yoga instructors too - all are perfectly honorable jobs - but it's hard to envision a middle class built on them either.

We can gnash our teeth and rend our garments about it but in the overused vernacular, it is what it is. Now add racism, radicalism and general stupidity. And we wonder about the anger and frustration that’s expressed through riots and electing horrific politicians across the political spectrum?  

Generally, most of us don’t think much about how complex modern life is so we may not grasp how fragile our existence has become. (See Covid or recent cold snap in TX.)  Modern society, however wonderful its fruits, often breaks down and at the worst possible time for many. Today, you don’t need to do anything “wrong,” you just kinda get steamrolled by “progress” - and this is not a bug of the system, it’s a feature.

I wish life was as simple as good, old Tom Jefferson envisioned but it isn’t. It’s a complex and changing world that was impossible to foresee in the 18^th century. In the blink of an eye any of us can lose our job, health, home – our future.

Fortunately, we’ve come a long way from a Hobbesian life - but it may not seem like it for a lot of our fellow Americans. Hopefully that’s something the rest of us can try to remember.

 

 

 

It's Hard to Say Goodbye

 

I’m helping to undertake one of the most difficult, painful, irritating, aggravating and downright crappy jobs that I have ever done in my life (and I've had some doozies!) Mrs. Dear Leader and I are tearing apart the results of her long, creative musical life; we are getting rid of the many boxes of cds of her different albums and first we have to take each cd apart individually.

Before you ask, it’s because nobody buys cds anymore, actually they haven’t for a long time. As to why we have several boxes of them stored (that is, thousands of cds!) Well, you can’t blame her for her optimism when she had them made. After all, like any entrepreneur – especially someone creative – if you don’t think you have something that people will want, why would you even start in the first place, why wouldn’t you have inventory?

Like many, and more than most, the music industry has been disrupted by technology and the internet. It was Lizzy Rain’s bad fortune to produce her music just as it was going online with downloads for sites like Apple iTunes and Spotify. The rest, as they say, is history. And a sad history it is. Artists receiving pennies – or a percent of a penny – per download, people stealing the music and sharing it with friends with nothing paid to the artist, big companies like Apple and Amazon getting rich off the backs of artists. (Lizzy has had thousands and thousands of downloads all over the world which is marvelous, people enjoying her music - and made about a hundred bucks.) It’s not fair but who said life is fair? While all that is bad enough, somehow it’s not the worst of it.

I claim no artistic talent – and pretty much everyone would vouch for that – but I have always admired most artistic efforts and especially music. As I have gotten older I have come to appreciate that artists of all stripes are the keenest observers of society and the conscience of the average person. When you want to know what is actually going on in a country or culture just listen to the music, read books, look at the paintings, stare at the statues: George Gershwin, Van Gogh, Big bands, Rodin, gospel, Picasso, blues, JD Salinger, rock and roll. Just by the music alone an astute person could understand where the country was going and watch it change before so-called “leaders" have a clue. 

And yet we treat artists and musicians as second-class citizens – or worse - there to entertain us for whatever pocket change we generously throw them. I’m not talking about the few big names who manage to get all the attention and can tour the country and make the big bucks – good for them! I’m talking about people like Lizzy Rain and the millions of other talented musicians for whom there is no way to get their music in front of fans except online AND the drudgery of nonstop touring in little shitbird towns all over the country. Today, right now, bands full of great musicians play at bars for 75-100 bucks for 5 or 6 hours of work – and yet they do it night after night. Why? Because they love making music. Forget radio, nearly all stations are owned by just a few big conglomerates with automated play lists and fake formulas. Forget the music labels, they’re dying. (For which there is some karma since they were the ones screwing the artists before artists started getting screwed by Apple.)

Look no further than education for our concern for the arts. Budget problems at the school? Cut the music and art departments, for God's sake, not football! World full of complex problems needing new and creative ideas and we demean the most creative people - what a brilliant idea! Yeah, we need science and math but we also need the other side of the brain, we need the much disparaged – and greatest - form of education ever created, we need the liberal arts. And another thing . . . Sorry, whew, boy, I didn’t mean to wander off into a rant. Lord knows we have enough old white guys ranting about something out there.

Anyway, we need to get back to work dismantling thousands of cds. Just to add a little salt to the open musical wound, you can’t just recycle them whole you have to separate all the packaging - jewel case one way, liner notes another and cd yet another - and get rid of each separately. In a fit of pique it would be easy to say to hell with it and just take the boxes to the dump – but we like to think we’re better than that. (Well, Lizzy Rain is better than that.) Besides, this is still the work of a lifetime for her and they deserve a decent funeral. 

But no need to mourn just yet, it's not really the end of Lizzy Rain's music just these pieces of plastic. The muse still visits her often and there's still a lot of great music inside that beautiful, blond head! 

(This post is approved by Lizzy Rain)

On another positive note, as of today the Resolute desk is now occupied by a deserving president.

Hail to the Chief   

Another Day of Infamy

 

My hope is that our country makes Jan 6^th 2021 another day of remembrance to equal Dec. 7^th and 9/11. Like those dates, today was a day we were again attacked but sadly it was neither a sneak attack nor an attack by an outside enemy. We were attacked by our own citizens bent on destroying essentially everything we profess to believe in. We have lost more than what little was left of our innocence, we have lost a part of our soul. And it ain’t coming back.    

Does waving an American flag make you a Patriot?

Jan. 6^th is a day that no American ever thought could occur. We are special, we are told. Our leaders are strong and noble and hold the Constitution in the highest esteem, we said. We have been led to believe that despite our differences no one would ever consider overthrowing the government of our fine country like that which last happened in 1861. But today they tried. They didn’t succeed - yet - but the damage has been done.

It should be a day of shame for those people - but they are people who know no shame. This starts with a President who has spent his entire four years spewing lies and falsehoods too numerous to count. And we just tsked tsked – or applauded. His corruption, incompetence and general ignorance were obvious to anyone with an IQ above a kumquat (perhaps why he was crushed by over 7 million votes?) Yet there were no consequences. And then he told his biggest lie of all, the lie that he was cheated out of the election. He knew it wasn’t true. His shameless family knew it wasn’t true. The shameless people around him knew it wasn’t true. The shameless Republican politicians knew it wasn’t true.  Yet, like Nazi propaganda, he kept repeating and repeating and repeating it until his millions of sad, uninformed believers - people who, for whatever reason, consider him to be their messiah - didn’t know that it wasn’t true. So here we are, the blackest day in the country since the Civil War.

In the 233 years since the Constitution was written the Capitol has only been violated once before and that by the British army in 1814. And now, today, it’s violated again by a bunch of brain dead, right wing radicals led by a “washed-up reality star pretending to be president.” * And, of course, his Republican henchmen who are out doing each other to claim his “powerful base” (read: cult) for their own craven purposes by protesting a legitimate election outcome.  

So it’s out in the open. There’s no more pretending that it’s just political differences; we are a country at war with ourselves and it’s time to choose. I know that neither side is particularly savory or pure but the difference is very clear as is the decision. Can it be the Republicans, with their sniveling, self serving acceptance of a man who has no regard for what they once stood for and showed all the honor of modern Benedict Arnolds? The Republicans and their unseemly pandering to his swarming mass of MAGA hat-wearing, sign waving, slack jawed goofs that would be funny if not so frightening? The Republicans who gave total acquiescence by treating an American president as a dictator right up until this very day? And, as added insult, there is the utter gall of all these “Republican Leaders” coming out today to protest - in the strongest terms, mind you - Trump’s actions? My God, there is no word to describe their hypocrisy! Sorry, it’s just too late.

Security! Security! We need security!         How about a backbone?!

You don’t have to be a Democrat or Independent or any other political persuasion to ask how this can all be forgiven. The answer is that it can’t, there must be consequences for the Republican party - perhaps starting with a trip to the political wilderness for a generation.

We must not forget this day, another day of infamy, and who is totally responsible for it. It is up to them to make amends – and not for the rest of America to forgive. Perhaps they could start by immediately impeaching this president and censuring all legislators who are trying to undermine the Electoral College certification.

God bless America.

*My very sharp – and sharp tongued – daughter coined the phrase and I take credit only for being her father.

Our Proud American Patriots 

Winter Solstice 2020 - Annus Horribilis

 Solstice Dawn 

(Geez, seems like it shows up in same spot every year!)

Annus Horribilis. (No, it doesn't mean horrible pain in the ass - although this year might qualify.) It means "Horrible year" and that's what Queen Elizabeth thought of her 1992. Kinda makes you wonder what she thinks of this year. Anyway, it's been a stinker alright but hold fast, the greatest day of the year is at hand! 

For the past many years I have done my best with various solstice stories to help my fellow Northern Hemispherians get through this longest of nights. I had hoped that I could retire or at least slack off a bit but no, this horribilis year requires that I man up and see you through this vale of tears once again. This has been a terrible year, no doubt about it, a horrible year and some say the worst ever. But is it? Let's see:

1347AD, Black Death, 200 million dead. 1520, Hernan Cortez invades Mexico, kills of 9 of 10 Aztecs through war and disease. 1943, WWII rages, millions of Jews murdered, millions of soldiers and civilians dead, food/fuel rationing. 1968, height of Viet Nam war, 16,592 GIs killed in single year, thousands of civilians dead, My Lai Massacre, two tragic assassinations. 2001, 2977 civilians killed on 9/11, 20 years of non-stop wars started with thousands more GI's and civilians killed. 2020 sucked but it has a way to go on the all-time hit parade.

Where was I? Oh yeah, on these cold December nights it can be hard to remember that dawn and spring always come. Well, okay, have always come in the past. Right, okay, that doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed but it is really likely. Besides, there’s a lot to be thankful for this year. No, really, there are many positive lessons the pandemic has taught us about ourselves (well, mostly positive.)

First, let’s get the political stuff out of the way. There’s been 59 presidential elections in this country and in only one has the outgoing president tried to throw out the Constitution and overturn the legal outcome so in one sense that's not too bad in 232 years. Also, despite massive fraud - it’s pretty clear that Biden won by a lot more than seven million votes – we will have a new president on Jan. 20^th so our system, while a bit shaky, still seems to work. I think it is important now that we all move on, let our national wounds heal and again become the great nation that we once were. (Remind me, when was that again?)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Oops, Wrong Great America!   

Healthcare Providers   

Our first responders and care givers have been magnificent – but at a high cost. Over 1700 healthcare workers have died of the virus and countless more sickened. (And for about 14 bucks an hour for nursing homes caregivers.) How can we possibly thank them enough?  

                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                        The Greatest Generation 

We learned that, as usual, we could count on our parents’ and grandparents’ generations to make the real sacrifices for us. Sure, we did lose a few grandma’s and grandpa’s but as the Lt. Gov. of Texas said, “There are more important things than living and that’s saving the country.” Gee, thanks Nana and Bumpa. (I can think of someone I'd like to sacrifice for the economy.)

                                                                                                                                  Service Industry Workers   

 While 2020 might not be the worst year ever, it's all in the eye of the beholder. It’s not too bad for all the folks that can work from home – and those in the stock market – but it’s been awful for the millions of service workers who paid for the pandemic with their jobs. Yet many managed to keep things going at grocery stores and food delivery even while about 20% of grocery workers caught the virus and many died. Look up unsung heroes in the dictionary and you should see their pictures should be there.

                            Mr Covid 19

 

We also learned that the rotten little bug doesn’t discriminate by race, gender or religion. You might say that, unlike us, it doesn’t bend a knee for (or on) anyone. (So take the damn vaccine when you can!)

Finally, there’s this. From the mouth of babes come some of the simplest and most honest observations in life. A neighbor, who occasionally (okay, often) forces me to have an adult beverage with him, shared something with me that his young son recently told him. “Dad, I know lots of people are sick and have died and that’s terrible but there’s some good things too. Since you’ve been home, we’ve had so much time together, all of us. You know, walking and biking and watching TV. It’s been great!”

 

If nothing else, hopefully a lot of families have come out of this mess with this same realization.

                                                                                      Parting Solstice Gift?

Just a Coincidence?

Anyway, I come not to curse the darkness but to proclaim the light at the end of the tunnel that is the solstice night. (And, no, it is not the headlight of another expensive, underused light rail train.) It will be the dawn of a new day that will be longer than the last one and shorter than the next. 

But wait, there's more! 

Unless you have retreated to your safe space without any sort of news (probably not a bad idea these days) you know that we are receiving a sort of astronomical bonus this year.  On the solstice the two biggest planets in the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, are so close together that it will look like one, huge star in the western sky. As far as we know, the last time it happened around the winter solstice was about 2000 years ago (2000 yrs ago, solstice, big bright thing in the sky, hmmm, sounds familiar.) Everyone knows that the most recent that these two were this close together was in March 1226AD but did you know that King Louis VIII of France died later that same year? No? Well, then you probably didn't know that he was married at 12, had 13 kids and was dead at 39 and no wonder, that's a lot of playing catch, kids baths and school conferences! Oh yeah, and his wife outlived him by 26 years (Reports of her later marriage to the harpsicord player were never confirmed.) The point is that, like us, old Louis had a bad year but at least he too enjoyed a special celestial event. (I know, that's just me, Mr. Positive, making lemonade out of lemons.)

Back to OUR planetary bonus. Yup, it's been a grim year but what a way to say good bye to it, huh? Do you think it's a coincidence that after this terrible year we see a a big star-like vision on the solstice? That's got to be a good sign, right? You bet it is! So stay “Negative” my friends and it will be 70 and sunny before you can say “Windchill Alert” - and everything is going to be alright. (Well, until June 20th anyway.)

A little music to help you make it through the long solstice night . . . There's Got to be a Morning After 

You're welcome.

(As an interesting aside, the video clip for the song was actually filmed during an early Pederson family New Years Eve party. Understandably, that was the last one that Liz let me plan.)

Solstice Evening

What is Going on in Our Country?

 

I’m an older guy, a retired military officer and a person who thought he had seen everything in this crazy world. Yet here I am, as bewildered as the next person and wondering what is going on in my country.

                                                                    President-Elect Joe Biden

We just had an election in which the pollsters were apparently wrong again (except in MN, thank God!) Despite projections – and fervent hope by Democrats – the election was very close in a lot of races and went the opposite way in many others. The big surprise, at least to me, is not that Biden won the popular vote by a substantial margin (which sadly doesn’t matter with our goofy electoral system) but that Trump did so well. I am shocked, as are many others, I think, that millions of our fellow countrymen would vote for someone that a huge number (most?) of Americans see as deeply flawed and totally undeserving of re-election. In fact, I'm shocked that anyone is shocked that he lost! Of course, we are all subject to biases and driven by our favorite information sources so that certainly accounts for some of these opinions but holy mackerel, really? 74 million people voted for Trump even after 4 years' experience with this dude!? Plus, now the unprecedented attempts by the president - and by their silence and acquiescence, all Republicans - to essentially overthrow the election? (Sadly, not unexpected from this lot.) So, what’s really going on here? 

First, let me say this, 2020 was the first election since 2004 that I voted for a candidate from either major party (you know, against the previous worst president in history – and I failed.) I am as disillusioned as anyone in our two party system. More importantly, I have some friends – not many but some – who voted for Trump, probably both times. It has been a source of friction but, except for a couple of people, it hasn’t ended our friendship. They are all solid, smart, successful people who normally wouldn’t trust a person like Trump to walk their dog. To their credit, they claim they don’t actually like Trump, his behavior or preposterous nature but, well . . . just had to vote for him. Being generous, maybe they were voting against Biden. A lot of us don’t vote FOR anyone much anymore but AGAINST someone or something. This was really apparent in this election and is a sad comment no doubt. But still, Trump?!

What's going, I think, is fear. I’ve come to the conclusion that most of us are simply afraid. Instead of the optimism that America has been famous for, we, for the past many years, are now mostly driven by fear. Just to name a few, and not counting covid: fear for livelihoods; fear of foreigners; fear for the kids’ future; fear of different lifestyles; fear of not allowed those lifestyles; fear for religion; fear of religion; fear of bigotry; fear of government doing too much - or too little. In the simplest terms, it’s the human fear of change. For many, America is either changing too much or it isn’t changing fast enough. Oversimplified for sure but I think fairly accurate. This goes for people of all persuasions, liberal, conservative or whatever. Trump supporters, however, seem to exist in a separate galaxy of fear. What gives?

"Come on, kids, it's time for Leave it to Beaver!"

Make America Great Again! A brilliant slogan, sounds terrific but is totally meaningless - except as a code embraced by certain folks. Simple, let's just go back in time to someplace in American history when we were great. You know, when mom stayed home, dad went to the office and the kids walked to their beautiful, clean new schools (in my case, with Norwegians, Swedes and Germans.) Of course, people of color, non-Christians or gays were polite enough to stay out of plain sight. America was truly great then.

Unfair? Perhaps, but it does represent a pleasant kind of allegory for a huge cohort of people. Certainly it doesn’t mean that they are all necessarily racist or homophobic but it does have an appealing simplicity that Trump brilliantly tapped into and promised his acolytes, not just Republicans but disaffected Democrats as well. Then consider his rallies.

They had a huge attendance by adoring fans (almost, but not quite, exclusively older and white.) One has to assume that on any other day these are good neighbors and fellow workers; they would seem like normal Americans. How then to explain that these same people cheered even his most misogynistic, racist and/or ignorant rantings? (And who can forget his hilarious mocking of a handicapped reporter and Gold Star parents.) This self-generated cult of the individual would be frightening in Kyrgyzstan let alone in America – all that’s missing is the Kool Aide used at Jonestown. And this is the man that the Republican party has embraced for four years?                                                                              

                                                                   Raucous MAGA Rally!

                                                

                                              Other Raucous Rallies

Ironically, Trump is not now nor ever has been a Republican. Doesn’t matter though, the fact that he gave Republicans their deepest desires - lower taxes for rich people, gutting regulations and placing reactionary judges at all levels - makes him Republican enough. That he is a singly out for himself? Doesn’t matter. His assault on the First Amendment? Doesn’t matter. His authoritarian tendencies? Doesn’t matter. His treasonous actions stirring up the least informed of his followers about the election results? Doesn’t matter, he's delivered the goods.

So here we are. He lost the election as he should have yet he will leave behind anger and frustration and turmoil that will affect us for years.  I hope his promises of returning us to an America that never was or will be were worth it to the Republican party (a sin for which they should be sent to the political wilderness for a generation.)

                                                      Attack on Ft Sumter   Apr 12th 1861

So what is going on in our country? Fear? Madness? I guess I really haven't a clue. Still, it is clear that America is not just split on many issues but that we are nearly at the point that they can’t be resolved politically as implied with this last election. That is a very frightening thought. The last time we got here was in 1861  . . . and we know how that turned out.      

When Two Parties Aren't Enough

 

Like over 75 million other Americans – the greatest winning vote total in history - I am happy with the defeat of Donald Trump, who shockingly had second highest vote total. Yet somehow, I find it hard to be happy about the overall outcome. I’m not talking about politically disappointing, although that is probably true for pretty much everyone on both sides who voted. No, I‘m very dissatisfied with continued gridlock. More accurately, I am unhappy that most of us consider this a good outcome. It strikes me that when the only thing we agree on is that gridlock, for one reason or another, is a natural and positive goal – I won’t get anything but then neither will you! - it speaks to a uniquely American preference for wanting a government that doesn’t work.  

I know, I get it, the Founding Fathers in their wisdom created this interbranch tension to make sure no one branch could overpower the others; they obviously they wanted to limit what the government could do and it worked great in 1788 when there were 13 states and 3,000,000 white people (slaves didn’t count, of course, except for Electoral College.) It’s the 21^st century, we have 50 states and a very diverse population of over 330 million people. Like it or not, the "little government" train left the station a long time ago. So here we go, another four years of ignoring the many huge issues and problems facing our country. Is this the way the supposedly greatest democracy in the world should function? Do you really think that they intended this kind of governmental incompetence? If so, maybe they weren’t as smart as we made them out to be.

Or maybe it’s not that they weren’t wise, maybe it was something they didn’t anticipate. Perhaps it was the rise of dysfunctional political parties. 

You know, there were never supposed to be political parties. In fact, George Washington warned against them when he left office and people listened – for about two minutes. Parties are as inevitable as sunrise and the changing seasons; the system doesn’t work without them. Parties have come and gone – think Federalists, Whigs, Democratic Republicans - while others have changed over time in both name and philosophy yet somehow we still ended up with just two main parties. In this, like so many things, America is different from nearly every other democratic country in the world (most of which use a parliamentary form of government with several parties.) However, for the first couple hundred years the parties more or less agreed to cooperate in governing the country. Maybe not happily but at least relatively effectively. Somehow, somewhere along the way that agreement has disappeared.

Part of the problem is the politicians themselves. For example, we have a 74 yr old soon-to-be ex-president, a 77 yr old president - elect and countless septuagenarian and octogenarian legislators who are in office for 30-40 years and simply refuse to leave and let in new blood and ideas (too good a gig, I guess.) This is ridiculous - no other modern democracy allows itself to be run by the geriatric section of the hospital!

Also, most astute observers can see that neither party really seems to have a clue about what most Americans actually want. Oh, they get what we are fearful of and work hard to exploit it. Yet they only come up with “cures” for those things that the individual party philosophy is capable of identifying which, in the end, are simply the Republicans trying to takes us back to the 50’s and Leave it to Beaver and Democrats want to solve every possible human boo boo with the government. The parties used to somehow reach agreement and at least do something functional. Not anymore, their main accomplishment is to have turned us into a divided country of “blues” and “reds” at each other’s throats with no hope of compromise.

Further, neither party trusts the other even though they are essentially flip sides of the same monolithic – and corrupt – system which can be expressed by one word: money. Both parties take money, lots of money, from exactly the same big moneyed interests. (Is it a coincidence that Wall Street loves gridlock!?) So, no shock, the average person is essentially ignored. Add to this the bizarre nonsense of the Electoral College and it’s actually amazing we’ve made this long.

What to do? If it was easy it would have already been done but a few things to consider. For example, several of these issues could be resolved with a few tweaks of the Constitution: term/age limits, restricting money contributions and/or eliminating PACs e.g. corporations are NOT people! Also, standardize national elections and eliminating the Electoral College (before it literally causes a civil war.)

Alas, we know how the founding fathers felt about making changes to their baby. Add to that American’s odd belief that the Constitution was somehow brought down from Mt. Sinai right after Moses and you can see that this is not going to happen. (Ironically, none other than Thomas Jefferson thought the Constitution should be reviewed every 18 years for changes. What a concept!)

The truth is our two-party system doesn’t work for anyone but insiders. Furthermore, this country is now so large and diverse that there is no way for two calcified parties to meet our needs. That leaves only the great American love of competition to fix this mess. We need strong third, fourth or even fifth parties that can bring forward much more diverse sets of ideas along the lines of Parliamentary systems.   

America has always been a land of opportunity and optimism up until about the last forty years. We now seem to be a land of fear and anger. We all fear for many things: our livelihood, expensive education and healthcare, future for our kids, income inequality, racial inequality – fear that America will never be like the 1950’s again? Essentially, fear of change in a rapidly changing world. Yet what do we get from the parties?  Acrimony and disfunction. 

Sorry, that’s it, that’s all I have. If you have any better ideas now would be the time to share them – before America is not worth gridlocking.

Celebrating Labor in a Time of Pandemic

What could be a better time than this particular Labor Day to contemplate the nature and meaning of labor in modern America – and, of course, offer the workers our thanks.

When I was a kid, a long time ago, I didn’t think about workers or labor very much. My dad was a laborer and I always worked from the time I was in high school on but I just didn’t think much about it. I guess I always had the image of average men and women going off to work every day doing regular jobs at factories and folks like carpenters and plumbers. Working-class people doing things like building the Hoover Dam or the Interstate highway system and, when I was 21, helped put a man - an American man - on the moon. Solid, middle class folks.

Certainly we still have many tradespeople but much of that world is gone now; this is a modern service economy. Today many of us work from home, attending (Zoom) meetings, creating spreadsheets and PowerPoints and doing marketing stuff. To our credit we have also invented such helpful things as Facebook and Twitter. Don’t forget that we excel at creating Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and the best weapons in the world too. All (mostly) honest work, no doubt, but not exactly City of Broad Shoulders or Rosie the Riveter. So, while we are indeed working it just doesn't SEEM, you know, like actual labor. 

Now we have the pandemic that has killed our parents and grandparents and devastated the livelihoods of millions of our neighbors. The one thing this economic meltdown has in common with the past is that it has crushed those at the lower end of labor spectrum. The big differences this time, however, are the number of people affected and the huge gap between them and those that are relatively unfazed.

  

Houses are selling like hot cakes and the stock market is soaring - Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Google and Target all have record profits. We are supposedly in the deepest slump since the great depression yet families in the top 20-30 % of incomes might not even know it (recently confirmed in a survey.) For the nearly 30 million receiving unemployment compensation and most everyone else, however, the recession is very real.

Now here’s the irony, many of the same people who are struggling the most are also those who were deemed “essential” and have been getting up and going in to work ever since the pandemic struck. No staying home to do Zoom conferences or creating marketing plans for them! Yup, it’s the clerk at the grocery store ($12/Hr.) The gig workers delivering food and hoping for a tip ($12/hr.) There are also the personal care attendants taking care of grandma and grandpa at the nursing homes that are under siege from the virus ($14/hr) and hopefully the daycare workers will soon be watching our kids (for $12/hr.) And don’t forget the many people - mostly immigrants – working in meat packing plants so we can keep eating our hamburgers and chicken wings ($13/hr.)

Shocked at the pay? You shouldn’t be, in the last ten years 75% of the jobs created pay less than $24/hr. Got that? More accurately, the majority of those jobs have been $15/hr or less. And that’s from the greatest economy in history - Woohoo! One could say there’s not much fruit for many of our fellow Americans’ labors.

It’s not clear to me how we can possibly thank these people enough. Every day, they get up and, like generations of (formerly) middle-class workers, go to work. Among them are all the other service economy workers in nail salons, yoga studios and yard care. There are also the thousands of people driving us around in their cars, renting out bedrooms or selling stuff on eBay. I would gladly acknowledge the millions of bartenders, restaurant servers and travel industry workers too but sadly most of those jobs are gone now and most probably forever. Separately, we certainly can’t forget the thousands of teachers who will be trudging back to classrooms with uncertain covid conditions.

Obviously, there are millions of other workers I haven’t mentioned here that work for less than optimal pay and in some tough work conditions - yet off to work they go. Now here’s the kicker. Most of these folks have no realistic chance of ever achieving what was once considered the American dream: buy a house, help the kid through college, maybe take a nice vacation once in a while and hope to retire before dying in the harness. (Sorry folks, we traded your future for cheaper TVs and a stronger stock market.) Yet they get up and go to work every day anyway. Do they go to work happy? Probably not - would you?

So on that note, I say thank you to all workers who keep the wheels of commerce turning but a special thanks to those of you who have done so much for so little to keep us all going. I hope you have a well-deserved day of rest.

Billy Joel said it best several years ago . . . 

Billy Joel   Allentown