two ideas……

I’m sick of seeing companies pitting communities and states against one another for tax subsidies, with the receiving community offering more than they should to get the jobs, and the home community offering more than they should because they can’t afford to lose the jobs.

Here’s a solution.  If a government body offers incentives to an existing business from someplace else, they will lose federal funds equal to the incentives or tax breaks.  That way, a business and community will make a decision based on the merits of the move and not the incentives involved. 

It’s pretty simple; taxes come from all of us.  So, to use taxes from one community at the expense of another is like us negotiating against ourselves.  That has got to end.

The second is something I’ve talked about before.  We need to think of products coming into our country as tax payers, not objects.  What will it cost to dispose of those products?  What will it cost to house those objects?  And, how much social responsibility should come attached to those objects?

Right now, we have higher taxes associated with goods made in the U.S. than those produced outside.  Each of us is required to pay FICA and Medicare on all wages paid.  That is a tax paid on the labor to make domestic goods.  We have to pay property taxes on our factories and warehouses.  We have to pay income taxes on all goods produced, which are also a tax on the labor to produce goods.

As a guy who has products shipped in from China, I’m in favor of having tariffs on all goods coming in, the higher the better.  Then, we would be forced to work domestically, instead of the current system that forces us to produce offshore. 

Because the U.S. is a consumer dominated society, we have the appetite for goods and services that is unrivaled in the world, with markets and demand already established.  It’s a total no brainer.

And, maybe that’s why it won’t happen.

the dignity of the worker……

With the way the economy  has been over the past few years, I’ve been involved in a lot of conversations with people about work, or more accurately, the lack of work.  Unemployment seems to be as common as employment, or it at least it feels that way.

Many of  the conversations revolve and evolve into discussions as to how people define themselves.  Some who define themselves as carpenters or auto assemblers or welders or furniture makers have seen their livelihoods and their identifications leave.   They are no longer important, no longer viable.

Where can they find the importance in their lives they once enjoyed?  It used to be people did the same things all their lives and they retired, elevated into worker emeritus, someone to be respected for the work they did, the things they built, and the family they supported.

So, here we are, in an economy that reports that one in eleven is not employed, is not economically productive, and is dependent on the State to support themselves and their families. 

The jobs that are available don’t measure up to how they see themselves, that they are somehow better than what is being offered.  And, the jobs that are available, barely cover what they are being paid on unemployment.  Why should a person work when they get paid nearly as much, or less, not to work?

And, there’s the rub.  In an environment where workers have been treated like machines, where they’ve been disposed of like last week’s trash, where economic considerations only put them into this position; we’re asking them to make economic decisions that don’t make sense in a business way.

We’re asking the worker to act differently than the corporation who taught them to think in a “me first” way, taking the tax break, moving offshore.  We’re asking them to work when work is not the best deal for them.

While we feel it’s the corporation or the government who should lead us from the morass we’re in, it’s the worker who must.  We must rebuild our country from the ground up, not the top down.  We must rely on the dignity of the worker to do what sometimes doesn’t make sense.

Because, it’s the person who builds things, who gets dirt under the fingernails, who provides for his or her family who defines this country.  There is dignity in the worker.  There is dignity in work, no matter the task.  Let’s never forget that.

what now…..

Ding dong, the witch is dead!  What now?

I’ve waited a few days to write a post about the assassination of Osama bin Laden.  I think I’m ready now.

I’ve never rooted for anyone to die.  It seems not Christian, like it would make me like him, an evil doer.  But, I can’t help but feel some satisfaction over this, that wounds have been healed and unfinished business resolved.

So, here we are, the great Satan is no longer, but we’re still at war, still watching our own maimed and slain, still watching our own, away from home trying to make things right.

When will it end?  Who is the next Hussein or Osama?  Muammar Gaddafi?  When we kill him, who then?

In a global game of whack a mole, our government seems to stand over governments with oil or strategic geography, hammer in hand, waiting for the next head to bop. 

What happens when we don’t have heads to bop?

It never seems we go after the evil doers in countries that don’t have desired resources or geography.  Sudan?  Nope.  Somalia?  Forget it.  Myanmar?  Really, are you kidding?  Most of us think that is some kind of a shiny balloon fabric.

I’m not advocating we go after every problem in the world.  What I am saying is that I think we can tell the truth when we do go after another leader, that there is something in it for us, that we are working from self interest, not some altruistic vision of ourselves.

So, you can be a bad actor if you don’t have oil.  You can torture your subjects if you don’t have strategic geography.  You can do anything if you have nothing we want.  Because, in those locations, there is nothing for us.  As Edith Ann would say, “and that’s the truth”.

the fix….

I few months back, I went to see “Restrepo”, a documentary directed by Tim Hetherington.  Hetherington died last week in Libya, a casualty of the wars he covered, just like over 4000 plus soldiers since we decided it was our place to mediate all of the Middle East.

For those who have seen “Restrepo”, the feeling of helplessness can’t be overstated.  Why is it that we feel the need to fix these unfixable places with people whose best interests are not served by the fix?

I’m not sure what the answer is.  But, I do know this.  When somebody drops bombs on my home, threatens my livelihood, and then tries to call himself my friend, I’m skeptical, no matter how noble the cause.  And, that is the role we’ve chosen in Afghanistan.

Hetherington’s movie shows us the difficulty in fighting in such a place.  The enemy and the friend looks the same.  The enemy and the friend make deals for survival.  The enemy and the friend don’t want the war we’ve imposed on them.

He shows us how horrible the war is, and that the scars don’t need to be visible to be real.  He shows us that wars aren’t video games, but life and death realities whose outcomes aren’t about who’s right or wrong, but who’s in front of the bullet when it arrives.  And, in the end, it may be the survivor who’s most injured.

Survival there isn’t about what is right, but who will pay the most.  Does the Taliban have the better deal?  Does Al Qaeda offer cover?  Does the eradication of the poppy fields really mean a better life? 

The people of Afghanistan don’t have TVs, or understand the world situation.  They just want to survive from one day to the next.  The future is an esoteric argument, something to deal with tomorrow by thinkers, not survivors.

So, it is in that light that we fight.  We are just the next in line trying to fix this unfixable place.   And, eventually, we will leave, just like everyone else.

a misunderstanding…..

I just read a blog of a friend of mine who saw “Waiting for Superman”.  For those of you who have not seen this movie, take the 90 minutes and take a look.

The basis of the movie is how our educational system is broken, the people out there trying to fix it, and running into the traditional roadblocks of unions and poor administration trying to protect their personal interests.

I’ve written several blogs about how I believe unions are bad for education, and really, most public jobs.  I don’t belong, nor would I ever belong to a union, not because I don’t believe in their validity, but because they would restrict my ability to earn to my potential.

I actually believe unions are in place because administrators are lazy, that administrators don’t want to do the hard work of evaluating their employees.  It’s easier to index everyone into one standard, no matter how different the output is.  Oversight is hard work.  And, this is the bargain we’ve made.

So, as I rail against unions, and more specifically teachers’ unions, it’s not about wanting to reduce the pay of teachers.  I don’t like that great and poor teachers are paid the same.  Where is the incentive to be excellent?  Why should that great teacher be paid the same as the poor teacher?  And, why are we even paying a poor teacher?

I’ve always felt that education should be about the kids, not job protection.  Yes, we need to be fair to the teacher, but the only way to do that is to treat them differently, not the same.  The good teacher should be paid more, much more. 

Maybe, with that system, we’ll draw better teachers, instead of people choosing an occupation because it has three months off in the summer with an almost lifetime guarantee, and retirement benefits before the age of 60.

We need to do better.

I’m baaaaaaack……

You might have noticed I’ve slowed down on blogging recently. 

On March 4, I left for a visit to Omaha, Nebraska for a meeting with a company called Hayneedle.  This was the first in what could be called a mega travel month. 

The following day I left for Los Angeles to do a photo shoot for four days, and then China for a week before I made my way to Tijuana, Mexico for a couple of days, then to Seattle for a couple of days, Chicago for a day, Salt Lake City for three days, High Point, North Carolina for five days, Boston for a day and Philadelphia for two days.  Needless to say, my suitcase got a workout. 

While in China, blogging and Facebook are not available, so I kind of get out of the habit.  By the time I was in Mexico, I was getting a little tired.  The time changes and sleep patterns change so much, it’s hard to figure out when to have my eyes open and when to have them closed.

By the time I got to Seattle, I was on autopilot.  That’s not a time for real creative or constructive thought.  My brain mostly thinks about how to get the easiest meal and find the most comfortable pillow, and to seem somewhat competent in my job.

And so it went, city after city.  But, now the crazy travel is over.

So, if you’ve noticed I haven’t visited your blog, I apologize.  I will return, and maybe you’ll be sorry about that.  I will try to sharpen my skills and challenge the thinking that I find so interesting out there in cyber world.

justice evaded……

In 1980, Tim Hack and Kelly Drew attended a wedding in the town of Concord.  They were never seen alive again.

Decades passed before their killer was found, a now elderly, infirm man named Edward Edwards.  He was in a mood to clear his conscience of these killings, along with others he committed over the years.

He was found guilty in Jefferson County Court and was given life in prison, which in his condition, was little more than a parking ticket.  But, he wanted more.  He wanted to be executed.

So, he was extradited to Ohio, where he confessed to other killings, and where they have the death penalty.  He was found guilty on March 8 of these murders and was given the death penalty.

Edward Edwards died on Friday of natural causes, exactly one month after the conviction that would lead to his death.  So, even in dying, he managed to evade the justice he so rightly deserved.

I’ve never believed in wishing harm on others, or damning someone to Hell.  But, if anyone deserved it…..