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Reporter Shows Lack of Balance in Statements - Dennis Cauchon from USA Today business news dept appeared on C-SPAN early April 17th to discuss the unemployment rate in America. In his presentation he pointed out that the decline in employment has particularly effected men. He said Michigan and Ohio, his states of particular interest, have huge losses in male employment as many factories have moved offshore.
Later a caller pointed out that Wal Mart was selling a lot of stuff made in other countries and wondered if male employment might not improve if these things were made in America. It was shocking how quickly Cauchon switched. He began talking about the importance of the Wal Mart's low prices saying "Wal Mart is probably the best anti-poverty program in America". Here is the basic problem. To equate the value of a low priced product with the value of a job for a male, who is both a father and a husband, is silly. Male employment allows men to hold up their heads; it earns them respect in the eyes of their wives and children. An employed male is less likely to find himself involved in anti-social activities such as excessive drinking or crime. An employed husband is less likely to be involved in divorce proceedings.
Dennis Cauchon needs to stop talking and writing for awhile and just think about his priorities. Having more employed males and intact families is hundreds of times more important than having cheap stuff at Wal Mart. If he doesn't understand that he should not continue in his current position. ........... (Prepared by Hugh Murray on 4/18/2011)
American is Troubled by a Constant Need to Build, Tear Down, and Build Again - There are many manifestations of and causes for this American curse.
Consider:
1) There is the constant urge by the middle class families to escape the crime spawned in and spread from America's inner cities. This process has created suburbs, and now even exurbia where people live beyond the reach of public transportation. This process is exascerbated when middle class people find their children caught in school systems that have been turned into crucibles of social experimentation via such things as busing. But regardless of cause the amounts of capital that is needed to convert farmland into neighborhoods with roads, sewers, water lines, electric grids, not to mention, the new homes themselves is mind numbing.
2) Lately there has been a significant push for "young singles" and "newly marrieds without children" to occupy new apartment and condo developments near central cities. These are desirable because they allow short commutes to downtown jobs and entertainment venues. These developments are typically built on "brownfield" sites which formerly contained the homes of the first citizens of the city. These early homes were oftentimes very well constructed but over the years had been poorly maintained. Such structures, if allowed to deteriorate, become impossible to save except at great expense so they are oftentimes leveled so criminals aren't tempted to operate from them. This leveling process creates the "brownfields" used for the "close in" developments mentioned above.
3) Another lesser cause of the “tear down and build up” urge is the ego filled American executive who want to place his mark on society. These leaders act as though they lack a sense of the transcendent, of man's place as dependent creature in a world created and maintained by God. They seem to feel that their success entitles them to waste money destroying perfectly good, but older, headquarters buildings and replacing them with new, expensive buildings ornamented with unneeded dramatic gingerbread or striking features. Perfectly good capital which might be used to create long lasting factory jobs is locked up in new eye-catching buildings.
4) New stadiums construction is another specialized form of ego satisfaction. Local political leaders seem to have egos at least as large as the local business leaders. In order to round up the $400,000,000 of capital for a 70,000 seat stadium local leaders organize bond issues and statewide tax increases that sometime reach unaware citizens hundreds of miles away. These new stadiums involve destroying six to twenty square blocks of prime office or industrial space near downtown. It also usually involves the destruction of a quite functional older stadium. The blase' attitude of these local leaders toward such irresponsible use of capital and toward the destruction of perfectly good older buildings owned by businesses that are effectively using already deployed capital. These displaced businesses oftentimes have trouble replacing the structures that they are forced out of particularly if the building vacated is a building that was constructed for a special purpose.
5) There has been a failure to maintain structures and mechanical systems in older well constructed homes, apartments, and neighborhood retail buildings. This "failure to maintain" has occurred because a) ownership of these structures has fallen into the hands of people who lack the resources and/or the skills to maintain these structures, and b) local governments were slow to enforce building and maintenance codes which might have forced transfer of ownership into stronger hands sooner and thus saved these solid structures. One thing that speed up this process was court ordered integration which encouraged talented people in old neighborhoods to move out leaving the structures to the "tender mercies" of their poorer, less capable neighbors. The millions of buildings that eventual met the wrecking ball at the end of this processes represents a huge loss of capital for the US.
There are a few side issues, that bare on this discussion, which need to be mentioned here:
1) As briefly mentioned above, the capital cost of creating new neighborhoods out of farmland goes well beyond the homes themselves. These other costs include: schools, shopping centers, churches, streets, access highways, sidewalks, sewers, water purification and sewage treatment plants, water lines, electrical, municipal structures, phone systems, etc. New political units sometimes need to be created and financed. These include: town governments, school district organizations, fire protection districts, water districts, etc. The capital consumed constructing all this support can easily equal or exceed the cost of the new homes.
2) The integrated, close knit neighborhoods that were abandoned as people move out were often pillars of America's social strength. There were Catholic neighborhoods, Irish neighborhoods, black neighborhoods, Italian neighborhoods, etc. where everyone shared the preferences of their neighbors - food, methods of showing emotions, practices for raising children, methods of helping the less fortunate and elderly in the community, etc. When such neighborhoods are broken up the social fabric, that had been woven over generations, is ripped and torn. Church congregations and extended family friendships were cast aside.
3) There was a movement away from compact neighborhoods where much shopping, visiting of friends, and getting kids to school could be accomplished on foot. People moved to neighborhoods where every activity required the use of a car. The country had to increase it purchases of foreign oil for gasoline; this hurt America's foreign exchange and currency positions. The movement also caused many people to give up the use of public transport which is a form of intra city transport that only becomes effective when population densities exceed 10,000 people per square mile.
4) There is a practical limit on the magnitude of debt that individuals, businesses, and governmental units can take on during any generation. America has pushed debt to its limit. It is true some individuals, corporation and governmental units are strong enough to take on more debt at this time; but the vast majority are well beyond where they should be. The American dollar is a reserve currency so the world financial system has not yet demanded that America end it abdication to debt. But the day of reckoning in not far away. China's central banker recently announced he was not certain China would be buying more US debt.
5) The environmental cost of this "tear down and rebuild" fad is huge. Landfills are filling up with debris from tear downs; and of course huge amounts of new copper, iron ore, gravel, lumber, sand, and limestone (needed for cement) has to be mined, transported, processed, and installed to accomplish all this building.
6) Finally, this steady encroachment on the farmland around many cities has reduced America's ability to do its job of being the low cost marginal supplier of grains to the rest of humanity. Grain exporting is one of the few economic activities where America has a competitive advantage. Good farmland, which is a necessary input to this food production, should not be converted to other uses without some thought.
Before closing some countervailing forces should be mentioned:
1) Preservation of historically significant buildings has had the effect of slowing the decline of some city neighborhoods where one or more such buildings are located.
2) Stronger neighborhood crime fighting efforts has reduced the urge of some who might otherwise move out. However, neighborhoods are really built by families whose children are still at home; unfortunately this is the exact group that is most likely to flee if neighborhood crime materializes.
3) The availability of pocket parks can serve to counter the urge of families with young children to seek their own large large yard.
4) Gas prices and energy taxes will make long distant commuting more costly and might actually help to hold people in old "close in" neighborhoods. Of course, high energy prices can precipitate a decision to build new energy efficient work places in the suburbs where the more talented workers live.
5) America's courts seem to have reigned in their most destructive activists urges of late. They are to be congratulate for this. However, if the court starts dictating new experiments in social engineering, the migration of Americans away from their "central city" might speed up again.
This is a long essay of observations already well known to most Americans, so what is the point? The point to this: massive changes that involves new building and destroying old buildings has placed tremendous burdens on American governments, businesses, and individuals. These debts have been put on a 100,000,000 different IOU's, and they must be paid. The day of reckoning is coming. This American debt tsunami will make the recent Japanese event look like nothing. In general Americans must save a lot, make do with what they have, recject unnessary change, and live where they are. All this for at least 25 years. Perhaps by 2035, the country will see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. ..........(prepared by Hugh Murray on 4/21/2011)
Peoples’ Visual Focus Can be Key to Understanding their Emotions and Eventually their Beliefs - In the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo there is a description of an old black and white photo of a children’s parade which becomes an important clue to solving the mystery. The photo contains a girl whose gaze is not focused on the floats that everyone else is watching. Rather, she is looking off at an angle and her face is filled with dread while everyone else is smiling, laughing, and waving at friends riding on the floats.
What is the girl viewing? It would be wrong to give away the plot, but it is fair to say what she sees is causing her to be very serious and concerned. Needless to say her emotional response leads the detective to a belief that she, at that moment, felt deeply troubled.
So what’s so earthshattering here? Sure people react to the what they see - the pleasant image evokes good feelings - the unpleasant brings forth a more somber, a more deeply considered response.
IS THERE SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN A MYSTERY STORY TO ILLUSTRATES THIS POINT?
Now consider the visual impact delivered by the typical Sunday Mass. Here you have a congregation focusing on the priest, his demeanor, a beautifully decorated altar cloth and his things: a chalice, cruets, a paten, a corporal, a book on a stand, etc. The priest engages in a great deal of kneeling, bowing, praying, arm movements, reading prayers from the book, etc. The congregation which is mostly at some distance can get a general idea of what's going on, but not with much specificity. The visual effect is interesting and depending on the lay person's general feeling toward the priest the emotion is likely to be slightly good, neutral, or perhaps slightly bad. But regardless, no strong emotion is engendered, and no belief likely reinforced.
In the old traditional Mass, that was effectively eliminated by Vatican II, the priest faced the same direction as the laity - everyone in church facing a large Crucifix depicting the death of Christ. The back of the priest with his head above his larger body wearing a chasuble with a wide bright vertical strip combined to create a pointer that drew the lay person's vision upward toward the large Crucifix above the priest. So each lay person looking at the priest had his vision naturally drawn to the large image of the crucified Christ hanging above the priest. The image, through it represents the greatest act of love ever done, it is not pleasant and can not be viewed for even a minute much less ten or twenty minutes with out invoking very serious thoughts about Christ's death and that event's meaning for the viewer.
Naturally every lay person's thoughts would turn to "my sin, my redemption, and the perfect innocent God/man's decision to sacrifice himself for my sin". This process will naturally lead: 1) to a greater need to reform one's life, 2) to deeper belief in the need to confess one's sins, and, 3) most important, a greater likelihood, that the lay person in the pew will believe in Christ's command at the last supper “to do this in remembrance of me”.
SO WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN NOW?
The Catholic Church had a format that worked for 500 years. It brought the faithful to deep understanding of Christ, the tragic, loving, historical figure, and Christ, the person that comes back into our presence at every Mass. Can we go back to this Traditional Mass? Today's bishops would not obey the Vatican, even if they ordered it. So Pope Benedict should order two more limited changes: 1) a large Crucifix must be hung on the center line of the Church over the altar or attached to the front wall (the size of the Crucifix should be one foot of length for every six rows of pews (but never less than three feet)), and 2) during the Liturgy of the Eucharist the priest should always stand facing the Crucifix with his back to the faithful.
In a few months the polls should begin to show that the average Catholic is more inclined to believe in: a) the Real Presence in the Host at Mass and b) the need for frequency of confession.
........................(prepared by Hugh Murray on 4/22/2011)
America Needs more Jobs and America Needs more Tax Revenues - How blessed America is to have a tool at hand to solve both problems.
The protective tariff was one of the causes of the American Civil War, The north wanted a way to protect and provide additional jobs for northern factory workers whereas the upper crust in the south wanted to continue to import European goods in exchange for their cotton. The Republicans wanted a high tariff on European manufacturers. Southern leaders said no and seceded.
Again today the upper crust is saying “no” you can’t have a protective tariff to keep your factories. They want those factories in China or Vietnam or Haiti or whereever producing goods for next to nothing. These goods are dropped into American stores at prices perhaps twenty percent below the cost of making the goods in the US. An example might help explain this, take a pair of gym shoes which cost $16 to make in Vietnam and $100 to make in the US. The manufacturers will sell the Vietnamese made product at $95 in the US. Just low enough so US manufacturing can’t commence production but high enough to make an obscene profit.
If foreign manufacturer was faced with a $90 tax on its shoes from Vietnam, it would be forced to relocate its manufacturing to the US; Americans would be hired, the Wal Mart buyer would have to pay $120 instead of $95. The American shoe makers would make a nice profit, not an obscene profit, and American workers would have jobs, and perhaps most important, the US government would start pocketing either the payroll tax from the American workers or the tariff if imports continue to arrive. In any event, progress on a lot of fronts would be made
There is an aspect of this proposal that needs to be mentioned. Chas Murray the social scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, has pointed out that large numbers of low class American men have dropped out of the work force and are living off of their wives, girlfriends or parents. These men are most suited for loe end manufacturing rather than low end service jobs, which are more suited to women workers. Returning these factories to America would provide demand for the labor of these low skilled male workers which would do wonders for family formation, family stability, and male self-image improvement
A second aspect of this change should be mentioned, this change would help the many hundreds of manufacturing support companies located in America’s cities. Andrew Liveris, the Pres. of Dow Chem, has stated that if nothing is done to revitalize manufacturing in America, this critical core of support organizations will disappear in about ten years. These support organizations are currently under great stress for lack of business. After they disappear revitalizing manufacturing in America will be difficult; something like starting from scratch in a country like Zaire. A return of some manufacturing plants with all the machine related repair, training, electrical, mechanical, logistical support needs would allow America to keep its options open for the future.
Liveris further points out that over time, a decade or two, the higher end service jobs that America brags about in technology, research, and finance will follow the manufacturing companies they are designed to support. He says America is naive to think China will allow its R&D and finance activities to continue in America once the manufacturing is well established in Asia.
A third aspect of this change is movement of more and more income from the lower and middle levels of society to the very top brackets. In 1970 the top 1% of American society receive 10% of national income. By 2010 this top 1% group was receiving 23 % of nation income. This change has been accomplished by the transfer of jobs to workers who lack legal protections (e.g. OSHA, min. wage laws, the right to organize a union, etc.), some to illegal immigrants in this country, some to workers in low wage countries. This change has also been accomplished by rich financiers using opaque, highly risky financial instruments (e.g. CDO’s, CDS’s, etc.) to bundle and hide questionable assets (e.g sub prime loans, no doc loans, etc.). Regardless of cause, social scientists and historians have noted that long term, sever inequality of incomes in a society leads to social unrest and eventually rebellion. Although Thomas Jefferson suggested that his countrymen consider a rebellion every decade or so. However, Americans are by now out of practice when it comes to rebellion, so they should seek less dramatic means to address the problems set out above. ..................................(prepared by Hugh Murray on May 13, 2011)
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. This page hopes to bring a common
sense, old fashioned view to today's news. The comments displayed
on this page were prepared by
Hugh V. Murray, who can be reached at hvm@aol.com
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