I hate to be the one to tell you, but the jobs that were lost in the debacle that resulted in part from the real estate bubble, are not coming back. So if we are going to have 10% unemployment (it’s really more like 20% but we don’t count the people that had given up looking for work), more or less permanently (although will likely get worse), then what does this mean for our country? So is there an alternative? Yes, we can go back to the promise of a four day work week, something I was told to expect when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s. If we reduced the work week to 32 hours, after a period of adjustment, everyone could be employed. Continue reading
Category Archives: Government
The story of USA Industries and its new CEO
When the old CEO’s contract was up,many members of the board felt they needed a different kind of CEO. They wanted someone young energetic that would break out of the patterns established by his predecessor. Other members of the board were concerned about making any changes and felt that business would just come back if they just gave it time. But they also felt that there should be substantial cut backs in the companies spending. One of the old guard was also considered for the role. Both candidates presented their ideas to the board. Enough of the board believed it was time to change course and so the young man was brought in as the new CEO. Continue reading
The USA: A nice place to live but I would not want to invest my money there.
A few days ago, I had my quarterly visit to JP Morgan to visit my money. Like many of you, I am unemployed but in my case it is by choice although I shudder to think about what would happen if I wanted to get a real job at the age of 66 . This … Continue reading
Stop the world, I want to get off.
Fifty years ago almost to this day, Anthony Newley’s production of “Stop the World I Want to Get Off” was performed in London. A few months after that Yuri Gagarin as Soviet cosmonaut was the first person to leave the earth behind. A year later, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. … Continue reading
cancer / Government / security
How many people will the “Underwear Bomber” kill”?
The TSA argues that the amount of radiation that is received is considerably less than the additional radiation that one will receive just by flying. The the TSA’s data like much of the data our government produces, is questionable. But here is the issue, radiation even small amounts can cause cancer. It is a probably issue which may be hard for many people to understand. X rays are like Hamas sending unguided missiles into Israel. Most of the time they just land on some dirt somewhere but every once in while they find a house, car or even a person. The more sent the greater the chance of hitting something. So while the chances of any one individual getting cancer from a body scan at the airport is very small the chances of someone being hit is very high. I don’t really know that they increase changes are but lets say that having a whole body scan give one a risk of cancer that is one in million. Then if a million people are scanned, the chances of someone getting radiation one. So there are a billion scans there would be a 1000 incidents of cancer (this may be much higher or lower in my example in reality). There is a reasonable chance that more people will die from the scanners than would die if a plan blew up. Continue reading
Dear Mr. Obama, please announce you are going to be a one term president.
Sir, you have a good chance of losing. Instead, you could announce you will not run again so you can spend your time leading our country. This will allow a new democratic candidate to emerge. You should state that you will support the candidate selected by the democratic party but not be involved in the primaries. After your first term, you will still be very young. You can spend the next eight years (or four if the republicans win) learning from you mistakes, strengthening your abilities in economics and maybe helping the world deal with some of its greatest issue. Then you can run again Continue reading
Happy Memorial day! Would you like chicken or steak?
Please read this op-ed by Bob Herbert. I could not have said it better. Frankly, I think we deserve everything we are about to get but do our children and their children deserve it? If they survive and I really mean this question, they will hate us for what we did to their future by our shameful greed, neglect, ignorance and laziness. Continue reading
Cyberwar: Yet another thing to worry about
And I am pretty sure that some of the most powerful people in the world are 17 year old Russian cyberthugs drinking vodka and playing with our computers and available for hire. Continue reading
iPad and the Titanic
I love my iPad. And like all friend John Doer, I do think it is the next big thing. But I am very conflicted. I feel that those of us that are creating technology are maybe the band member on the RMS Titanic. I try to be objective as much as I can about the … Continue reading
Our Government at work
Needed a new Social Security Card. After four trips to the SS office to bring them additional info (they always asked for something more), I was told they had everything they needed. Two months later, got a letter saying they could not verify my birth certificate with the state of California (I had brought SS … Continue reading
Two Thirds Done 