Hi everybody, this is officially my first blog entry for this new site. Some of you have been taking a peek at the site for a few weeks now and seen some, I guess I would call it, "plug" stuff here as I've been testing and revising the site. For those of you that gave feedback I thank you. Hope you will continue to do that. I know your input will make the site more interesting.
So, welcome to you all. Let me see; Where should I start?
WEATHER: March has roared in like a cowardly lion around these parts. The snow storm that was supposed to blanket the area with no less than a half a foot of snow howled dumping buckets of wet show but quickly quieted to a whimpering, reluctant rain. For snow lovers, and that included me this time around, it was a real disappointment. The good news is, it saved thousands of people real workday headaches. That was Wednesday the 6th. The next day was sunny and almost balmy with temperatures in the 50's. Today (Friday) we slipped back to the mid-40's but the sun is in full blaze and every trace of the lion has disappeared.
POLITICS: What a time to be in the DC area. All eyes are on our national government and its chronic disfunction. It seems nothing can be done about it. It matters none at all who gets elected. How do you figure that? There has been a lot of talk lately claiming that lobbies from every sector are to blame and every branch of government is cowed into inaction by them. I don't know, I'm sure that's partially true. However, while that sounds like a reasonable explanation for some inertia, i tend to think the greater reason for the current disfunction really stems from a general dumbing down of "we the people" about how to effectively pick and choose good representatives and hold them accountable. As mundane as it sounds, I think that over the past thirty or so years too few of us have paid attention to the things we were taught in civics classes. I fear that at this point there aren't enough of us that understand enough about government or how our particular democratic process works. The strength of our democracy depends on a well educated, and in my opinion, open minded public. I haven't encountered a lot people demonstrating vigorously either of those qualities lately.
ECONOMY: Unfortunately, the plight we face doesn't stop there. The same mindlessness has lead to allowing corporate power to grow so disproportionately great that we are in danger of slipping into a nation of haves and have nots. The sinking of a significant portion of the middle class to the ranks of the lower is very real. Wage stagnation, if not shrinkage, in favor of higher returns for an investor class is now the rule. What's heartbreaking is that the very people falling behind buy into the notion that there is something wrong with their effort not the economic system we're in. They, blindly buy into the notion that those that can't figure out a way to gain admittance to the club of the privileged are just unambitious losers, and it's their own fault but never look in the mirror and see their own circumstance.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
SI-FI (KINDA SORTA): Here's a related tid-bit, I have felt for a long time that "we the people" young, old, and in between, are over due for thinking creatively about how we do the thing we call "work." For a couple of generations now the strategy for getting work has been by getting trained and "finding" a "job" with someone or some entity that has figured out how to make money by collectively using our labor. That has worked fine up to this point, but the efficiency, and the profit, in this model comes from figuring out how to produce more with less. The whole goal for work under this scenario is to produce as much a possible with fewer and fewer people for less and less outgoing money. With an abundance of young people and emigrants willing to work for next to nothing, making a living wage on one job is next to impossible. Coupled with rapidly advancing robotic technology and software driven electronic work flow strategies, the need for people, especially moderately skilled people, is diminishing constantly. Logically almost every producer/owner would be foolish not to think, "Why not take advantage of every option I have to raise my personal profits?" So, we're left it seems with two possibilities going forward: The hope that new types of jobs will be created and people will train themselves for them or, there will be, because of technology, less demand for human labor and there just won't be "company jobs" enough to go around. Historically, the former notion has always proven true. New kinds of job opportunities have developed and people have found their way to them. The fact is though, we may have reached a point in time when that dynamic is stalling out. It is possible that we have reached or are very close to reaching a time when focusing on evolving more capable technology is more desirable than the more costly human development. This is particularly true now that we are concentrating more and more on finding ways for machines to do not only physical but mental labor as well. The net result (perhaps): A surplus of human time and energy in the form of people for whom there is no "company" work. Under that scenario , what do we do?
Who among you is making your own job? What are you doing? How did you come to the decision to do it?
For those of you I haven't had the opportunity to wish it, "Happy New Year!" It's going to be another challenge.
