Tonight I was watching PBS Newshour and they did a story on Erie, Pennsylvania and about the loss of manufacturing jobs there. This county had previously been a Democratic stronghold but flipped in the last election to vote for Trump. It was familiar story: People lamenting the loss of good manufacturing jobs.
In previous posts, I have discussed my thoughts about automation and how many manufacturing jobs are simply not coming back. I have also discussed the need for individuals to be proactive and to seek new training. In addition to re-educating our work force, we need more discussion about the need for workers to relocate. I haven't seen many news stories about this aspect of our economy. The following article in the National Review by Kevin D. Williamson addresses this very subject. It is definitely worth reading.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444841/help-poor-relocate-find-better-jobs-opportunity
The article notes that "Americas mobility has been declining since the 1980s". It further states that "This lack of geographic mobility correlates strongly with a decline in income mobility (the ability to improve ones financial lot. It is a compound stagnation."
To me it seems like we are in a period of adjustment similar to the years from 1880 to 1920, the American Industrial Revolution. This is when vast numbers of rural citizens left farming for urban areas in search of better jobs. Areas where industries that have been hard hit by globalization and automation are the rural areas of the late 1800s.
The lack of mobility of our citizens is a huge drag on our economy. Has technology decreased our desire to move? Does the ability to follow the world on our phone make us unable or unwilling to see what's in our own backyard? Has technology enabled us to ignore the hard decisions and to be lazy in our lives? Politicians are not doing anyone any favors by promising to return our lives to some fantasy of a by-gone era. Even if more companies begin to manufacture more goods here in the U.S., the automation factor is only going to continue it's march into the future.
The article states "The people who remain are to a very large extent those who lack the resources-financial or spiritual-to leave." To me this illustrates many citizen's refusal to take personal responsibility for their situation. We are never going back to the past. MOVE people! I know it is hard. I have personally had to do this very thing. It sucks to leave a place you love or leave family behind. However, we cannot just expect our politicians to wave a magic wand and create jobs.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
Lather, Rinse, Repeat
In my day job working with numbers, I occasionally have issues with the dreaded circular logic error message within an Excel spreadsheet. Can anyone else relate to this? Trying to find the error within a formula that is buried in a massive spreadsheet can really ruin a bean-counters day. While counting my beans today, it dawned on me that this is what's going on with President Trump and the Media. A seemingly endless loop.
1. Trump watches the news on cable television.
2. Trump tweets or comments on an item from the television news.
3. The Media run stories regarding his comments.
4. Trump doubles down and reasserts his comments.
5. The Media ask for facts to back up his comments.
6. Trump asserts that the Media is running FAKE NEWS.
7. The Media run stories about the FAKE NEWS comments.
8. Lather, rinse, repeat.
This cycle is playing out multiple times each day. I'm willing to bet that most of the country is becoming exhausted by this never ending cycle.
Recommendations from a bean counter:
1. Trump: Stop the tweeting and commenting on television news stories, stop whining about FAKE NEWS, make policies, nominate qualified people, and learn from your mistakes.
2. Media: Report the facts without screaming headlines, defend your fellow reporters, and don't let cries of FAKE NEWS hamper your quest for facts.
3. Citizens: Stop feeding this endless loop, require facts from both the Media and Trump. And above all, put the needs of our country ahead of either political party.
1. Trump watches the news on cable television.
2. Trump tweets or comments on an item from the television news.
3. The Media run stories regarding his comments.
4. Trump doubles down and reasserts his comments.
5. The Media ask for facts to back up his comments.
6. Trump asserts that the Media is running FAKE NEWS.
7. The Media run stories about the FAKE NEWS comments.
8. Lather, rinse, repeat.
This cycle is playing out multiple times each day. I'm willing to bet that most of the country is becoming exhausted by this never ending cycle.
Recommendations from a bean counter:
1. Trump: Stop the tweeting and commenting on television news stories, stop whining about FAKE NEWS, make policies, nominate qualified people, and learn from your mistakes.
2. Media: Report the facts without screaming headlines, defend your fellow reporters, and don't let cries of FAKE NEWS hamper your quest for facts.
3. Citizens: Stop feeding this endless loop, require facts from both the Media and Trump. And above all, put the needs of our country ahead of either political party.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
We Need Answers
Is is just me? In my world, logic is like the saying if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck....
For the last few days the news has been dominated by the story of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and his contact with the Russians. Additional stories are discussing other contacts between former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Then we have the continual defense of Putin and Russia by President Trump in speeches and on Twitter. Add all of this to the report of the Russian hacking of our elections and what do we have? From my seat it sure seems like the situation is walking and talking and smelling like something illegal.
President Trump and his administration owe the American people some straight answers about this situation. Period.
I'm failing to understand why ALL of our elected congressional leaders are not unanimously demanding an independent investigation of this situation. As a loyal U.S. citizen, anything less is absolutely a dereliction of duty. Call your Senators and Representatives and DEMAND an independent investigation into all of this mess. Here are links if you need to find out how to contact your Senator or Representative.
https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
For the last few days the news has been dominated by the story of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and his contact with the Russians. Additional stories are discussing other contacts between former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Then we have the continual defense of Putin and Russia by President Trump in speeches and on Twitter. Add all of this to the report of the Russian hacking of our elections and what do we have? From my seat it sure seems like the situation is walking and talking and smelling like something illegal.
President Trump and his administration owe the American people some straight answers about this situation. Period.
I'm failing to understand why ALL of our elected congressional leaders are not unanimously demanding an independent investigation of this situation. As a loyal U.S. citizen, anything less is absolutely a dereliction of duty. Call your Senators and Representatives and DEMAND an independent investigation into all of this mess. Here are links if you need to find out how to contact your Senator or Representative.
https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Monday, February 13, 2017
Thoughts on "Hillbilly Elegy"
Recently I finished reading the best selling book "Hillbilly Elegy, A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis" by J.D. Vance. This book has been much discussed in relation to the white working class voters that propelled Donald Trump into the Presidency. It's the true story of J.D. Vance, a Yale educated lawyer, and how he managed to escape the world of the poor working class of rural Kentucky and Middletown, Ohio.
J.D. Vance, whose mother struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and multiple marriages, was raised in a chaotic and unstable environment by his family who had moved from Appalachia Kentucky to Ohio. While his grandparents did manage to do better financially in Ohio than much of their extended family who stayed in Kentucky, many of the problems of rural Appalachia followed them. In spite of his mothers problems, Mr. Vance was fortunate enough to have a grandmother who took him in permanently in early high school. He credits his grandmother's stability, the Marines, a college education and his wife with helping him to overcome the cycle of poverty and abuse that surrounded his childhood.
Mr. Vance discusses how his first job at a grocery store in high school left him with the impression that the poor who received welfare and food stamps seemed to have more luxury items (such as cell phones) than the working class could afford. Regarding income taxes taken out of his paycheck he noted, "our drug-addict neighbor would buy T-bone steaks, which I was too poor to buy for myself but was forced by Uncle Sam to buy for someone else." He also stated that it was at this point (age 17) that he began questioning the policies of the Democrats.
He spent a lot of time describing the chaos in his and neighbors everyday lives: the hitting, screaming, drug and alcohol abuse, the little emphasis on education, irresponsible money management, poor nutrition and exercise habits and the abdication of responsibility. He noted, "We talk about the value of hard work but tell ourselves that the reason we're not working is some perceived unfairness: Obama shut down the coal mines, or all the jobs went to the Chinese. These are the lies we tell ourselves to solve the cognitive dissonance-the broken connection between the world we see and the values we preach."
Mr. Vance discussed how the working class have lost trust in the basic foundations of our society. They mistrust the news, the politicians, and the education system. This group mistrust has created a group mindset with a double edged sword. He stated that "If you believe that hard work pays off, then you work hard; if you think it's hard to get ahead even when you try then why try at all?" Mr. Vance said that the message of the conservatives was that "it's not your fault that you're a loser; it's the governments fault." He further noted that his own father genuinely wondered where he had "pretended to be black or liberal" when hearing that his son had been accepted to Yale Law school.
This sense of mistrust has been cited as one of the reasons that the white working class voted Donald Trump into office. They desperately wanted change. It's always a risky thing to make generalizations about a broad group of people. However, from my seat as a moderate here in the heartland, this statement seems to hold some weight. I heard this mistrust echoed by friends and relatives on both ends of the political spectrum. Much of their distrust was and is directed at the media. This breakdown of trust is driving such a partisan wedge into our society that I'm not sure how we can overcome it.
The message that I took from this book was primarily that while the government can help many people with certain aspects of trying to build a nice middle class life, most things are beyond the control of the federal government. Toward the end of the book, Mr. Vance stated "These problems were not created by governments, or corporations or anyone else. We created them and only we can fix them." Amen Mr. Vance.
J.D. Vance, whose mother struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and multiple marriages, was raised in a chaotic and unstable environment by his family who had moved from Appalachia Kentucky to Ohio. While his grandparents did manage to do better financially in Ohio than much of their extended family who stayed in Kentucky, many of the problems of rural Appalachia followed them. In spite of his mothers problems, Mr. Vance was fortunate enough to have a grandmother who took him in permanently in early high school. He credits his grandmother's stability, the Marines, a college education and his wife with helping him to overcome the cycle of poverty and abuse that surrounded his childhood.
Mr. Vance discusses how his first job at a grocery store in high school left him with the impression that the poor who received welfare and food stamps seemed to have more luxury items (such as cell phones) than the working class could afford. Regarding income taxes taken out of his paycheck he noted, "our drug-addict neighbor would buy T-bone steaks, which I was too poor to buy for myself but was forced by Uncle Sam to buy for someone else." He also stated that it was at this point (age 17) that he began questioning the policies of the Democrats.
He spent a lot of time describing the chaos in his and neighbors everyday lives: the hitting, screaming, drug and alcohol abuse, the little emphasis on education, irresponsible money management, poor nutrition and exercise habits and the abdication of responsibility. He noted, "We talk about the value of hard work but tell ourselves that the reason we're not working is some perceived unfairness: Obama shut down the coal mines, or all the jobs went to the Chinese. These are the lies we tell ourselves to solve the cognitive dissonance-the broken connection between the world we see and the values we preach."
Mr. Vance discussed how the working class have lost trust in the basic foundations of our society. They mistrust the news, the politicians, and the education system. This group mistrust has created a group mindset with a double edged sword. He stated that "If you believe that hard work pays off, then you work hard; if you think it's hard to get ahead even when you try then why try at all?" Mr. Vance said that the message of the conservatives was that "it's not your fault that you're a loser; it's the governments fault." He further noted that his own father genuinely wondered where he had "pretended to be black or liberal" when hearing that his son had been accepted to Yale Law school.
This sense of mistrust has been cited as one of the reasons that the white working class voted Donald Trump into office. They desperately wanted change. It's always a risky thing to make generalizations about a broad group of people. However, from my seat as a moderate here in the heartland, this statement seems to hold some weight. I heard this mistrust echoed by friends and relatives on both ends of the political spectrum. Much of their distrust was and is directed at the media. This breakdown of trust is driving such a partisan wedge into our society that I'm not sure how we can overcome it.
The message that I took from this book was primarily that while the government can help many people with certain aspects of trying to build a nice middle class life, most things are beyond the control of the federal government. Toward the end of the book, Mr. Vance stated "These problems were not created by governments, or corporations or anyone else. We created them and only we can fix them." Amen Mr. Vance.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
National Vacation
When I started this Blog, my intention was to write about the current activity with regards to our national politics. Naively, I thought that I could delve into current issues somewhat in-depth and discuss how I, as a moderate, viewed what was happening. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the complete deluge of information being spewed from Washington on an HOURLY basis. It is IMPOSSIBLE to keep up with this constant barrage. Information is changing in real time and by the time I get around to composing my thoughts, I'm completely talking about old news.
The thoughtful, measured deliberation by our elected officials on issues both foreign and domestic seems to no longer exist. While there has long been an acknowledgement that Washington fails to get much done a lot of the time, this crazy pace for trying to tick off a laundry list of actions cannot be good either. The one thing I can say for sure is that everyone is blaming everyone else for whatever perceived wrong. The new national pastime seems to be watching the blame game between all of us.
The President blames the Media, Congress, Judges and the Obama administration for anything he doesn't agree with.
Congress blames the President and each other for anything they don't agree with.
Citizens blame the President, Congress, the Obama administration, and the Media for anything they don't agree with.
GOOD GRAVY!! I'm going to have to modify my attempts to discuss political issues to a broader picture since it would appear that I will not succeed at keeping up with the frantic pace that we're now living in.
This country needs a vacation (and maybe a stiff drink).
The thoughtful, measured deliberation by our elected officials on issues both foreign and domestic seems to no longer exist. While there has long been an acknowledgement that Washington fails to get much done a lot of the time, this crazy pace for trying to tick off a laundry list of actions cannot be good either. The one thing I can say for sure is that everyone is blaming everyone else for whatever perceived wrong. The new national pastime seems to be watching the blame game between all of us.
The President blames the Media, Congress, Judges and the Obama administration for anything he doesn't agree with.
Congress blames the President and each other for anything they don't agree with.
Citizens blame the President, Congress, the Obama administration, and the Media for anything they don't agree with.
GOOD GRAVY!! I'm going to have to modify my attempts to discuss political issues to a broader picture since it would appear that I will not succeed at keeping up with the frantic pace that we're now living in.
This country needs a vacation (and maybe a stiff drink).
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