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I heard on NPR the other day that the average (yes, that’s AVERAGE) wage at General Motors is $70 per hour. Now, even taking into account a couple of highly overpaid CEO/COO types, that’s pretty frickin’ high. I could work in my job (it ain’t manual labor, but I wouldn’t call easy) for my entire life and not get raises to $70/hour, even with inflation. And they’re asking for a bailout?!?
Now, I’m not a Communist, but this just seems unfair. When did we get away from the lowest-paid jobs being a few percent below the next highest-paid, and then another few percent, and so on up to the top brass only making 5-10% more than their subordinates? When did a line worker at GM become worth twice as much (that’s 100% more, folks) as me? When did CEOs become worth millions of times more $$ than the guy sweeping the floors? Or the door greeter, who these days is being asked to risk his life to the possibility of being trampled to death on Black Friday? And when did government start subsidizing those massive salaries?
Speaking of taxpayer money, have you heard the funny story about AIG’s “retention packages” (aka “bonuses”) that they’re using part of their $150-billion bailout money to make, instead of using that money to free up credit and…oh I don’t know…FIX THE F***ING ECONOMY like they’re supposed to??? Can someone explain to me why, oh why, that bailout money didn’t come with some…oh I don’t know…RESTRICTIONS AS TO USE???
This all ties in to my general feeling that our economy is heading for a big crash. And by “crash” I don’t mean a (*gasp*!) year in which retail spending actually decreased during the holidays, like 2008. (Fun fact: did you know it’s never gone below flat, and has averaged 8-10% increases for the last 3 decades? Someone do the math and tell me how much higher than inflation that comes to. Can we all say “living beyond our means“?) I mean that the whole thing is just going to implode.
We no longer use our money as a surrogate to trade goods for services, or vice versa, as it was originally intended. We have these enormous bank balances, retirement accounts, stock holdings, bailout packages. It seems as though it’s all play money, because if a company that’s been paying its workers an average of $70 per hour can’t afford to do so any longer, and the workers would rather see their company go bankrupt than give up their wages (mostly because their union will keep paying them 90% of their current wage if they get laid off so they’ll basically get paid for doing nothing), we’re in a death spiral.
Isn’t this something the new administration should work to change as they try to create 2.5 million jobs? If we create massive infrastructure projects, shouldn’t those jobs ALL be compensated at a level that allows a living wage (as opposed to the “workers” being paid minimum wage while the “supervisors” make a bundle)? And what about hiring private companies to do infrastructure work? I would hope that Obama’s people would at least vet any private contractors (hopefully better than McCain’s people vetted Sarah Palin), but that wouldn’t prevent the Dick-Cheneys of the world from getting rich off taxpayer money.
I hope Obama and his amazing team can figure it out. We have so many lessons we can learn from, both in our own country’s past and in other countries. Let’s not keep making the same mistakes.
This is probably one of the best things to happen to our country in a quarter-century-er’s lifetime. That made me start thinking about our age group, and what this election says about our politics and our lives. I think it’s telling that only the oldest demographic went for McCain…although it worries me that as we age we’ll become fuddy-duddies and fiscal conservatives (fiscal conservatives…like Sarah Palin! : P) and anti-abortionists etc etc as well. Just how much of that GOP-leaning political view is a generational thing? I know we chalk a lot of it up to the common experience of a particular war or cultural direction, but is it perhaps destined to be part of the common experience of aging? Will I, some day, become a born-again Christian who is scared of people from other countries and wants to build a wall on our southern border and votes for obvious hypocrites because they look like me? That thought scares me to death.
How does one avoid becoming what one used to hate? Looking back on life, I know that I was once things I now detest (i.e. middle-schoolers!); how can I ensure that the opposite doesn’t happen? I was watching a MASH rerun last night in which Major Houlihan had a close friend point out to her that she had become one of the dried-up humorless old nurses they used to make fun of. I don’t want that to be me! And yet I’m not sure how to keep it from happening.
Any ideas? And in the meantime, I’ll be happy with the Change we have!
you’re not alone. if you have concerns about what might happen today, tomorrow, or in the Supreme Court a month from now (ala 2000), here are a couple things to do:
first, go to stealbackyourvote.org and print the handy-dandy pamphlet on how to keep your vote.
second, go to videothevote.org and learn what you can do to help document results today, at your local polling place.
and then, go out there and vote with pride, knowing that whatever our problems are, at least no one broke into your house last night and roughed you up and told you if you didn’t vote for a certain candidate (probably mccain) you’d never see your kids again…I hope.
It’s begun. The big corporations simply cannot sit idly by and watch everyone else (insurance, home mortgages, banking) get handouts. Now the “Big 3″ auto manufacturers have officially requested a piece of the pie. They say it will be impossible to navigate the credit crisis without government-backed loans.
I say, let ‘em go broke.
If their market share is lower than it used to be, well, that’s because they banked on soccer moms buying SUVs, and forgot that when we war on oil-producing areas, the price of gas goes up! They say if just one of “the 3″ goes under, it will affect not only their factories, but those of parts suppliers, costing millions of jobs from here to Asia. I doubt it. Those suppliers will change over to making parts for Honda, or Toyota, or another company that started making fuel-efficient vehicles years ago and is currently weathering the global economic havoc.
And the last thing anyone wants right now is another car. While that’s partly true for the crunch (and I’m sure that auto repair facilities will see their sales skyrocket as we all try to squeeze another 1,000 miles out of the old beater!), I believe it’s also true for the long haul. Eventually cars will become obsolete, and long before that they’ll become more fuel-efficient and longer lasting, leading to lower turnover. This means the market is ripe for at least one (if not more) of the existing manufacturers to exit.
How does it make any economic sense for us to continue to keep companies in business when all we’re doing is prolonging something we have no need for? I would say the same of the airlines – if the American populace does the belt-tightening we should have done a decade ago, we will be flying less, and some airlines should merge or go bankrupt. Sounds callous I know, but it goes hand in hand with the overpopulation that we’re also going to have to face up to one of these days. Less people on the planet, less jobs, no more “growth.”
Growth is not the answer. Recession is not the devil. Let it begin with the car manufacturers.
Not the best-made video ever, but it made me tear up…mostly because I was thinking about how the world will view us if McPalin becomes our leader, vs. what it would say to the world if we elect Obama.
(Warning: random ranting ahead.) I got called a f—ing b—h at work yesterday because I interrupted a customer’s tirade to tell them we were absolutely going to take care of them…not during the tirade, but because when I tried to assuage them I happened to interrupt. That right there is McPalin energy at work in America. In any workplace, when the boss is in a bad mood, the lowest worker on the chain will be affected by it and have a worse day. I think the same is true to an extent even across an entire country. All this negative energy, fear-mongering, racial slurs. It was the craziest day yesterday – only federal employees had off, so I know they were our primary customers, and they were ALL in a terrible mood. And it definitely wasn’t they economy, because they all had money to burn too! (Most of it probably taxpayer dollars purchasing their clothing allowance!)
Also, have you seen the shit recently about “Obama may not be a natural born citizen”? $*#&bleep($!#* is what I have to say about that. If Obama’s race is compromised by some idiotic person claiming he shouldn’t be President based on some idiotic law that really shouldn’t even exist, I may have a nervous breakdown. Or finally get it together and move to Canada. I’ll keep you posted.
President Barack Obama!!!
What did you think? Please discuss.
I watched a very fascinating liveblog/chat in which many people expressed annoyance and disgust at McCain’s continued use of “my friends”…ranging from “you’re not my friend!” to “YUCK!!!” I had never had quite that visceral reaction to it, so that was quite interesting.
On the flip side, I found out that my worst nightmares about ignorance in this country are confirmed even within my workplace. As everyone was leaving for the night, the debate came up (since we were all rushing home to watch it), and another employee said “I think Obama is scary.” When others responded “yeah, they’re both scary in certain ways,” he said “well the terrorists and Osama bin Laden would be pretty happy for Obama to become president.” When asked why, if it was because he thought Obama wouldn’t keep fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said “no, because he’s a Muslim.” While it’s quite possible that the comment he went on to make is correct, that Michelle Obama made Barack start going to a Christian church so that he would be considered suitable for political office, I was shocked and concerned at his further assertion that because of Obama’s Muslim leanings, he is obviously an undercover operative for a terrorist organization, and would assist them if he got into office!!! *slaps hand against forehead* This individual is representative of the conservative Christians in our country; not sure which branch but I know it’s an orthodox one. Yikes!!!
So what else happened last night? And more importantly, what will SNL do with it this weekend?!?
I have to come right out and say it:
I did not watch the debate.
Yes, that’s right. I couldn’t stomach it. I’ve gone right off this election.
I finally looked up the Couric-Palin interview on youtube today and made it through a whole 5 minutes before shutting it off (if you haven’t seen it, watch the part where Palin says we may be in for another Great Depression - scare tactics at their very best). And I read a few breakdowns of the debate. I may watch part of the VP debate (if it doesn’t get finally scrapped in favor of the Bristol-hockeyplayer wedding, that is), simply because everyone needs some soap opera in their life every now and again.
But on Friday, having made my choice with no possibility of a reversal, I couldn’t stand the thought of listening to two men try to figure out polite ways to be nasty to each for a couple hours. The humiliation I feel for our country knowing the trite reasons people are going to use to choose our next leader is overwhelming – “McCain didn’t look Obama in the eye!” “Obama was smirking!” I couldn’t imagine I would hear much more of substance than I already know about their views, and I knew there was nothing that either Obama could say to drive me away, or McCain to convince me to come on over.
By all accounts it was either a tie, or Obama ‘won.’ Looking at poll numbers it’s hard to say whether the first debate changed anything. But then, I obviously don’t understand polls, or the American people, because I continue to be shocked that McCain’s corrupt, ignorant, power-hungry choice of a running-mate hasn’t hurt the poll numbers.
Side note – I was disappointed to hear that Obama favored going into Pakistan after terrorists. Don’t continue the war on terror, please Senator. If ever I’d like to see someone break a campaign promise, that would be it. Humor the Right, tell them you’re gung-ho for going after terrorists (throw in something about WMDs too, that’ll string ‘em along), and then promptly proceed with a full troop withdrawal from every damn place we’ve got troops, the day you become Prez.
So now the debate is over. And now we wait. Wait to die. Wait to live. Wait for an absolution that will never…oh, whoops! Sorry, that’s Titanic. Though the part about absolution is probably right. But here in America, we wait for the next episode in the farce that has overtaken our country. Perhaps it will be the VP debate, or the next Obama/McCain matchup. Perhaps it will be the wedding of two young people who accidentally got pregnant in a moment of passion that probably didn’t mean they wanted to dedicate their lives to each other, turned into a media frenzy in order to take the nation’s attention away from anything bordering on a real policy issue or the question of whether the governor of Alaska or her husband should be in jail. Or something totally different and unforeseen. I will try to get up the gumption to actually watch instead of turning away in shame.
What is it about the human condition that inspires communication? The evolutionary gains are obvious – finding out from someone else instead of having to test for yourself which plants are poisonous; arranging marriages; being able to come up with bad pickup lines to use on single women in bars…okay maybe not that one. But these days we have so very many communication tools at our disposal, and we’ve moved beyond the evolutionary basics. Some people have a voracious appetite for news and information from all sources, and a similar insatiability for sharing what they’ve learned – they’ll spend their odd moments through the day reading blogs and online newspapers for national and international tidbits, and writing their own blogs or commenting on others, they dash to the watercooler for the latest office gossip, and can’t wait to get home to tell all and hear about their partner’s day.
I find myself trying to consolidate my sources. I would love to be the person who gets through everything, but I simply don’t have the time. So I have this blog, my three or four other favorite places to catch up on world news and friend news, and my spouse. One of my A-list bloggers was making fun of Sarah Palin for not knowing the capitol of Uzbekistan…but I couldn’t tell you that if you paid me! Well, not unless I had Google or Wikipedia handy.
On the outward communication side, I sometimes feel a hermit-like tendency. We all have a subconscious list of priorities, and for me, sharing things about my experiences is generally low on that list. I’m a terrible correspondent, an even worse diarist, and I have a very hard time thinking of things to write for this blog. Perhaps it’s the buried instincts telling me I really have nothing important to contribute from an evolutionary standpoint – I didn’t test any foreign plant life or come up with any new pickup lines today.
So what’s your take on communication, fellow quarter-century-ers? What do you place importance on? Do you primarily take in information or do you prefer to share? If you write a diary or a blog, is your main goal to chronicle experiences for yourself, or do you see yourself being a source to others? And tell me…how do you find the time?!?
As a quarter-centuryer who is the boss of others, I try to be mindful of the generation gap. I understand that I will always have employees anywhere from 10 years younger to 50 years older than me in my workplace, or reporting directly to me. I’ve often wondered in the past, just how important is the generational issue? In school in this country, we are generally taught to be aware of others, to be careful with their feelings, to “understand where they’re coming from.” But we all come from different backgrounds and have lived through different experiences. Are those differences caused by age really that important?
The research would say they are. For instance, having 9/11 as the focal experience of your youth leads to a very different life view than if you grew up during the Depression. Or with the Vietnam War. Ongoing events in the world around us are pivotal in forming our outlook on the world, and that outlook shapes our personalities. As does the overall atmosphere of a generation – just look at the 60s reacting to the 40s/50s, and what a different group of individuals it turned out.
Even the day-to-day experiences of different generations can have a big impact. If you started trying to learn about computers at age 60, you’ll probably never be as proficient as someone who got online at age 6. You can work at it, sure, but you may not even think it’s important to work at it. In an increasingly online world, and ever more technology-powered work environments, this can be the difference between just doing, or excelling at, your job. Or in some cases, even the difference between having a job or not.
And looking at technology and its effects on Generations X & Y, typically studies on the generation gap are most geared towards “young” bosses of “old” workers. But what about the reverse? Youth may be on the rise in the workforce, but the status quo continues to be that career folks are managing college graduates, in both blue and white collar business. Can someone who doesn’t like computers understand an employee who spends their break intervals on Facebook or [insert-newest-online-community-that-replaces-facebook/myspace/friendster]? Or someone who grew up with segregation embrace a focus on diversity in the workplace?
In many ways it seems as though the young manager of older workers would have an easier time of it. It’s been proven that in general, it’s easier to learn new skills when you’re young. A boss approaching retirement, faced with managing the newest generation of incoming employees, is going to be hard put to succeed. I know the older boss I work for has a hard time getting it. More to the point, he doesn’t think trying to understand the differences is important. I can’t help but think that any company whose upper management takes that attitude isn’t long for this world.
Looking back is difficult, for all of us. How did you feel about yourself when you were a freshman in highschool? Probably thought you were a pretty okay kinda guy/gal, right? Fast forward 4 years. What did you think of the freshmen class when you were a senior? ”Scum of the earth” too strong a phrase? (And I bet you capitalized “Senior,” didn’t you?) It’s important not only to remember our own prior experiences, but to learn about the experiences others are currently having. The life of a quarter-century individual in 2025 may be drastically different than ours. What if college tuition costs continue to rise? Maybe college won’t be viewed as important any longer, and I’ll have to change my outlook on hiring “college grads.” Who knows?
I hope that as I move past the quarter-century stage I can keep up (at least to some extent) with the ages below me. That’s part of what this blog is about for me…chronicling, looking back, and learning. Please comment.
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