Some good news to take with a large grain of salt: The economy grew by 3.5 percent after four consecutive quarters of declines. The report was released today and exceeded expectations. However, how much of that growth was driven by the government's temporary "cash for clunkers" program that boosted the auto industry? As with improving real estate numbers mostly due to new government tax incentives, one has to question whether these improved statistics can be sustained without the stimulus money and government intervention.
I suspect that until jobs return and people begin feeling stable in their careers, any recovery will be skewed by various short-term government programs that are propping up certain industries. Ideally, spending must come from individuals not the government for there to be a true economic recovery. Spending won't return until folks feel comfortable with their incomes. Employers must become confident they can begin hiring again. In that regard, there is still a lot of work to be done.
I no longer look to Wall Street or the U.S. Commerce Department for accurate indicators of where the economy is going. It's nice to hear of good news coming from both of those places, but the job market is the engine that provides the power to the economy. Plain and simple, a lasting recovery will be built by opportunities being restored to those who want to work. The middle class has been the backbone of America and will be again if we can reverse the only numbers that truly count -- the unemployment and underemployment numbers. The government can help with this but it can't continue to spend billions to create the temporary illusion that things are improving.
Fiat is coming to America. Chrysler recently merged with the Italian car maker. What that means is that fewer traditional Chrysler products will be made while more Fiats will line American car dealerships in the near future. I have mixed emotions about that, leaving aside the whole American-made vs. foreign-made debate.My first car was a Fiat Spider (like the one pictured above). It was the coolest car that I have ever owned. But I do admit, it fell short of being reliable. Still, a green European two-seater at age 18 isn't a bad ride. It was used and cost me $2,500 in 1979.Now I own a Jeep. But rumor has it that many Jeep models (which are Chrysler products) will be discontinued. That, of course, will make it harder to get parts for certain models in the future. And forget about resale value.So while I would appreciate giving a Fiat a spin again one day, I want to keep my Jeep for as long as possible for a variety of reasons. Just not sure how long that will be as Fiats roll onto American shores.
The World Series is off to a brutal start for the New York Yankees. The lack of timely hitting and poor relief pitching, which nearly did them in during the ACLS, worsened during tonight's game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Even Alex Rodriguez reverted to his unproductive post-season ways, striking out three times. The Yankees better wake up and realize that the defending champion Phillies aren't going to give games away with sloppy play like the L.A. Angels did in the prior series.
I have hammered away on this blog about the seriousness of the unemployment problem and the lack of viable opportunities for the baby boomer generation. I have also told people face-to-face about how bad things are in the job market. Still, I don't get the impression most people understand what is truly happening in this country. On a more personal level, I don't think there are many people who can relate to the feelings of the unemployed or underemployed. Last night, my feelings were once again validated.If you didn't catch PBS's Frontline show Close to Home last night, I would recommend you go to this web site and watch it: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/closetohome/.
While at the site, I would also suggest reading some of the articles about how the middle class, and particularly men over 50, are being systematically eliminated from the workplace and not being permitted back in. This is no longer opinion. This is a fact. Baby boomers, for whatever reason, are being plucked out of the workplace at a time when they should be paying their children's college tuition or accelerating their retirement savings. What was once considered the prime earning years are now a financial wasteland for many families. Even folks getting by on one salary have to wonder what the future holds if the other spouse, usually the husband, can't return to work in 2010.
Maybe some employers view these older employees as too expensive to keep in bad times. But as someone pondered in Close to Home, would that commercial jet have landed safely in the Hudson River several months ago if a lesser-experienced pilot was in command?
Experience use to count. In my mind, it still makes good business sense to retain as much institutional knowledge as possible. But in the panic to throw people overboard in order to save money, companies are often cutting lose people who are least likely to find new work in a terrible recession. Perhaps some of these people have grown stale and haven't learned new skills, but most folks are more than willing to be retrained or have taken the initiative to stay current on their own. Many are even willing to take pay cuts in order to stay employed. Those options are only explored by the best of companies such as CF Martin Guitars, which I explored in an earlier post.Why should you watch this show? Well, even if you're employed or young, you are probably going to know of someone soon who loses their job or can't get back into the workforce. Could be a spouse or a parent. Could be a good friend. If you want to remain in that person's life, you better understand what they are facing on a daily basis. It's not just being without a paycheck. It's bigger than that and it eats away at the inner fabric of what once made those folks productive members of society. Few have ever accused baby boomers of being loafers, yet many are collapsing under the hopelessness of the current job market. The unemployed are losing their identities. Empathy can help to a degree, particularly from close friends and former colleagues. Job leads can help even more, of course.The unemployed are being silently cast out at an alarming rate. If you can't find a job, even though you've led a responsible life and are doing all the "right things" to seek work, something is wrong. The deck being stacked against the over-50 crowd creates individual and societal hardships. When their diploma and 30 years of experience are deemed as negatives by employers because they're too old or too overqualified, and when they get tired of trying to swim upstream or reinvent themselves, bad things can happen. There is a domino effect. Nothing as bad as this crisis happens without spilling over into almost every segment of culture and economy. Even businesses that are somewhat immune to the recession will face problems.
If my neighbor's house is foreclosed on, the value of my home goes down. We all have a stake in this.
When a 60-year-old man hasn't been employed in years, do you think he's going to be able to afford a proper funeral for his parents? Not even the classic, so-called recession-proof funeral home business is going to go unscathed if people don't get back to work soon, rebuild savings and pay taxes. As it is, teachers, once thought to be in short supply, are losing their jobs in cities such as Detroit and Washington.
The PBS docu
mentary, filmed mostly in New York, is very well done. It tells the stories of the unemployed through the words of the victims and the hairstylists who come into contact with these middle class folks on a daily basis. People who cut hair tend to be like bartenders -- they hear it all in a very up close and personal way. They don't need unemployment statistics to understand how widespread this problem is becoming and what the ramifications are if things don't improve. In some ways, hairstylists have more empathy for the unemployed than the friends and former colleagues of layoff victims do. I don't think that is because friends and former colleagues are bad people. I just think the problem isn't on their radar screens every day.At one point in the show, the film-maker follows a former human resources manager in his mid 50s to a support group for jobless people. She is struck by the overwhelming number of men in their 50s attending the event. These are mostly people who held white-collar jobs, which dispels the myth that this recession is mainly hitting the manufacturing sector in the heartland.The film also makes the point that people who are being laid off today are well-respected, talented folks who did nothing to deserve being let go from their jobs. Still, it is hard to break the stereotype that anyone who has been laid off is somehow damaged goods or of lesser ability.We're entering a critical time with this unemployment situation. Things are not getting better despite what you might hear on the network news, which itself has been hit hard by the recession and is of lesser journalistic quality these days. State benefits and personal savings are running out. Folks in their 50s are beginning to give up, or worse, get sick from the stress of looking for work. They spend hundreds of hours applying for jobs that they have no chance of landing because of age discrimination or application saturation.
Why are political leaders allowing this to continue? It seems we need a summit of sorts to attack this problem on multiple levels. Businesses need to be more fair in hiring and firing practices. That's not going to happen unless there is a mandate to clean up practices that have led us to this mess.
Where is the mainstream news media in all of this? The best reporting on the unemployment crisis seems to be on PBS and HBO, as well as some fringe publications and blogs. Everyone else seems to be trailing behind, like they did going into the Iraq war.The documentary points out that the wealthy, in this case in ritzy Manhattan, don't really notice what's happening to the middle class yet. No surprise there. I would add that those who are currently employed, even at lower incomes, also don't have a full understanding of the situation. But with each passing day, more people are getting first-hand knowledge of the tragedy of prolonged unemployment. Even the rich will eventually feel the pain if no one is patronizing their businesses.
If those who are in their 50s don't get a fair chance to become reemployed soon, the next 15-20 years will transform this country into a sea of elderly welfare cases. Not a pretty picture. Those who are working will have to support the millions who haven't worked in years. The strain on social services and the deficit will spin out of control. There will be streets lined with senior citizens begging and living in tent cities - folks who once were tops in their fields. Close to Home profiles several people who are candidates for this sort of fall from grace.President Obama likes to use the phrase "now is the time" when giving speeches. But it seems those were just campaign words. I don't see a sense of urgency in him when it comes to job creation or in enforcing age discrimination laws. Just enforcing labor laws alone would create a more level playing field for 50somethings. Instead, Obama seems to distance himself from the problems that are truly becoming a national disaster, maybe because he honestly has no viable solution. Or, like with other people of considerable privilege, any president would be too far from the problem to see what a hairstylist sees every day. If he really wants to give people hope, he must find a way to get people of all ages back to work.
The unemployment problem is moving closer to home each day. Companies need to do more to jump start business. They need to hire people and to give everyone a fair chance regardless of age. Government needs to play a role in the recovery, too, but not just by throwing around stimulus money. Small businesses need a break. This is a national emergency and needs to be treated as such. I don't have the answers. I just having a growing sense that more attention needs to be given to this problem so that millions of unemployed people aren't forgotten.
Like during the Great Depression, there are too many once-proud workers who aren't being given a chance. Companies are failing, stores are closing and tax rolls are declining. The American dream is turning into a nightmare for millions. The unemployed don't have ribbons or marches in Washington. But in terms of numbers and ramifications, I can't think of too many causes more in need of a cure.
In the movie, A Bronx Tale, Sonny (the local mobster) tells an impressionable young boy who he calls "C" that he shouldn't care about Mickey Mantle because Mickey Mantle doesn't care about him. The boy, an avid Yankees fan, takes the advice to heart and soon realizes the mobsters can do more for him than any baseball idol.I root for the Yankees and am glad they are going to the World Series. I even met Mantle back in his playing days. But at age 52, and in one of life's real binds at the moment, it's hard for me to generate the kind of enthusiasm that I once had for sports and professional athletes. I am happy that Alex Rodriguez has broken his post-season slump, but in reality, A-Rod isn't going to solve my problems. The Yankees aren't going to make me feel better about the dismal job market or the future of our economy.At best, for most fans of a certain age, sports is a distraction from life's problems for a few hours. Similar to a movie or concert. Grateful the Yankees can take my mind off of a couple hardships, but very well aware that those issues aren't going to go away when the game is over.
The good news is that existing home sales are up 9.2 percent from last September. The bad news is that average sale prices are down 8.5 percent. So it seems that if you're looking to sell your house you might have a better luck now in finding a buyer. But don't expect to get top dollar.
I think many potential sellers in an area like Northern Virginia are feeling some relief knowing they can unload their homes if they have to in this still-struggling economy. Home ownership has many benefits, but mobility isn't always one of them. If you lose your job or have to move out of state for personal or professional reasons, a mortgage can be like a ball and chain.
Homes don't always appreciate in value, regardless of the economy, and aren't always easy to sell. Mortgages can potentially create a nasty trap. I owned a modest townhouse in Florida for five years in the 1980s and didn't make a dime on the sale of it. Yet, I had to move before it was even sold. Talk about pressure.
We owned a condo in Manassas, Va., in the 1990s that took nearly seven years before it modestly increased in value. The second it went up, we sold for fear of never being able to get out of the tiny, apartment-like dwelling if we didn't strike while the market was hot.
Today's news of existing homes selling faster is good to hear. As the future appears more cloudy by the day, one needs options in order to simply survive. Being able to sell our house gives us an out, allowing us to move to cheaper digs if the job market continues to worsen. Perhaps it's not an ideal option, but at least it's not another impassable obstacle. Of course, if prices continue to fall, there will come a time when selling is no longer financially feasible. So as I mentioned in an earlier post, the pressure is on to figure out whether to stay or go.
It appears that this recession is creating a vicious vortex in many ways. Once you get caught in it - through job loss, real estate issues or other hardships - it's difficult to find your way back to a relatively sane existence. For the first time in my life, traditional methods of getting back on my feet aren't working. I find myself clinging to every piece of good news that I can find, including today's real estate report. Unfortunately, each tidbit of positive news seems to be followed by a wave of new disappointments. It gets tiring to say the least.
Source: United for a Fair Economy, Executive Excess 2005, based on annual CEO pay studies conducted by Business Week (1990-2004) and the Wall Street Journal (2005).This chart shows how many times more CEOs at large companies earn than their employees. Some fairly bright folks believe that this out-of-balance pay scale is yet another reason for the current economic collapse. It is also believed that the lack of jobs and layoffs are somewhat due to greed at the top of these companies.
When you consider the numbers in the chart above, it's easy to see why we are potentially heading for class warfare. There have always been rich and poor people. But the middle class has almost always been dominant in numbers and gotten its fair slice of the pie. Now, however, the middle class is being shut out with greater frequency by modern-day corporate kings. Jobs that could be generated simply by the elite being a little less greedy are nowhere to be found.Capitalism works best when everyone shares in the riches. Everyone does not need to be paid the same amount of money. I am not a proponent of socialism. Those who work the hardest and are the smartest should have salaries that reflect their worth to a company. But at the same time, does anyone believe a typical CEO, regardless of his or her competency level, is worth 500 times more than your average middle manager or hourly worker? Does anyone with any sense of fairness support a company laying off 100 viable employees while dishing out million-dollar bonuses to top managers who drive their businesses into the ground? Why do certain board of directors keep rewarding failure?
I am certain there are very smart people in this world who can manage companies far better and for far less than some current business leaders. One of the keys to solving the unemployment problem is in getting these intelligent, fair-minded visionaries into leaderships positions. They will create efficiencies and level the playing field so that businesses operate in a more productive and honorable manner. They will help generate new products and new jobs. Simply sticking with the greed-laden, "business as usual" model, where failure and mediocrity are rewarded, will not get us out of this economic mess. We need innovation from our CEOs, not more vacations homes in Palm Springs. Throwing endless streams of money at these guys will not make them better managers or elevate them as human beings.The big question being debated is whether government should have any oversight of CEO pay. It appears in cases where taxpayer money was used for large corporate bailouts, the Obama administration is going to try to limit the greed at the top. Good luck with that. The worst corporate offenders are experts at finding loopholes in everything from tax laws to zoning regulations. Until they start going to jail, nothing is likely to change.
Twenty years ago I would have been against any sort of government meddling in the salaries of any business. Of course, 20 years ago, CEOs were only making 100 times more than the average worker. Prior to that, the gap was even more narrow. Maybe if CEOs and board of directors can't restrain themselves, some government regulation is necessary. It's either that or watch millions of more Americans lose their jobs, homes and dignity.
For anyone who thinks the job market is getting better, or that employers are becoming more willing to hire people who want to make a transition from one field to another, read this New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/us/22hire.htmlUnemployment statistics for the D.C. metro region were released this week. The numbers showed another slight increase in joblessness. Even in Northern Virginia, which remains relatively healthy compared with the rest of the country, unemployment was up. One has to wonder how long this will gone on before our entire society is transformed into something unrecognizable.
Note: This post was updated (below) on Oct. 23.
If you listen to sports talk radio in the D.C. area, the soap opera that is the Washington Redskins is fairly entertaining, particularly on FM 106.7, which is the non-Redskins-affiliated station. No pulling punches on that station. But even more than being a show, the team's misery is quite an example of what happens when fairly direct, honest people collide with masters of spin in the world of business. Doesn't seem to matter what the business or issues are. Frankness does not mix well with deception.Coach Jim Zorn was, in a sense, demoted this week when the team's quasi general manager, Vinny Cerrato, "suggested" Zorn not call plays anymore. According to Zorn's old teammate and former congressman, Steve Largent, Zorn was given an ultimatum. Stop calling plays or else. However, Cerrato denies that claim by Zorn's old pal from the Seattle Seahawks. Zorn himself stopped short of calling the suggestion an ultimatum.It is clear to most people what is going on in D.C. It's the oldest game in the book and it's not played on the field. It's most likely management/ownership wanting to force someone out without having to pay them. In Zorn's case, he has about $4 million owed to him if his contract is terminated now by Cerrato or team owner, Daniel Snyder. If he quits, however, the team wouldn't have to pay Zorn. Even for a rich guy like Snyder, this is not the time to be throwing away millions. In addition, I think Snyder and Cerrato want to save face and not fire another coach, which is in essence would be an admission that they keep hiring the wrong people.You have to wonder how Snyder and Cerrato have gotten as far as they have in life. Their antics have become so transparent that any casual fan in D.C. can see right through them. One doesn't even have to be a sports fan to understand this game.To make matters worse, the new play-caller for the team is a 67-year-old retired coordinator who hasn't coached in five years. In fact, Cerrato in a recent interview didn't seem to know what the coach was doing when summoned by "the Dan" a couple weeks ago. The coach, Sherman Lewis, was calling bingo games when the offer was made to act as a consultant for the Skins. Now, out of retirement, he's going to be calling plays for the Redskins. This was Cerrato's decision and a ploy, some allege, to humiliate Zorn into quitting. After all, Zorn was originally hired specifically to run the offense as a coordinator, not a head coach. Then when Cerrato and Snyder couldn't find anyone to coach their team, they offered the head position to Zorn.There are times when sports businesses practices mirror other industries. This is truly embarrassing because it's so public, but not that unusual if you consider what has gone on in corporate America recently with sketchy leadership. It's as dysfunctional in some ways as anything that has occurred at GM. But the results for the 'Skins are easier to judge. It's seen in the win-loss column, which currently stands at 2-4 against five of the worst teams in the NFL.
The majority of fans calling talk radio want an end to this nonsense and for Cerrato to be canned and for proven football people to run the front office, hire the coaches and pick the players. It's a mystery to many why Snyder retains Cerrato, but one theory is that Cerrato is weak and won't challenge "the Dan," who is the man really calling all of the shots, according to local commentators. Boy, talk about another typical trait of poorly run businesses. When ownership surrounds itself with yes men, nothing good can result in any business. Things will eventually deteriorate.Hall of Famer, John Riggins, blasted ownership this week in a YouTube video. The ex-Redskin echoed many of the same charges heard from fans about incompetency at the top. Riggins is never at a loss for fightin' words, so some took big John's remarks with a grain of salt. But when former Indianapolis Colts head coach, Tony Dungy, took issue with what is going on in Washington, specifically with the manipulation of Zorn, people took notice. Dungy, now a television broadcaster, is far from a controversial figure. He's one of the more mild-mannered people to have ever coached in the league. He was also a winner.The Redskins are part of the fabric of the D.C. area. I live a few miles from their headquarters and training facility in Ashburn, Va. While not a fan, I do root for them on occasion because Redskin wins do seem to lift the spirits of many people in these parts. But I also have been around the block a few times and realize no business can be successfully run by micromanaging bosses who play smoke and mirror games with personnel and the public.
Zorn is known to be an honest guy. He's not the most charismatic coach, but he won't spin things the way Cerrato does. And he won't hide in the shadows like Snyder, who essentially doesn't talk to the media during the season. Some say Zorn is too positive and should get angrier when things go south. But I get the sense his optimism is honest and real - not contrived. If he's a little naive, so be it. Better than being sneaky and insecure.
There have been a lot of not-so-great stories told about Snyder on the radio this week. Stories about him as a human being, not just an owner. Even a relative of the team's previous owner said some unflattering things about "the Dan." At least one story I know is true because it made the news a few years ago. Bucking area regulations, Snyder cut down trees on his property so he could have a better view of the Potomac River from his home. I guess, among other things, he's not a big environmentalist. That's not to say he doesn't do good work in other areas of his life. I just never hear about any potentially positive things from the media when it comes to the team's owner.
Where there is smoke there usually is fire. And the fire is burning bright at Redskins Park. Snyder has taken quite a publicity hit this week. Fans are literally screaming for him to sell the team. Even fans who aren't thrilled with Zorn are beginning to feel sorry for the guy. It seems people are not only thirsting for wins, but they also want some integrity restored to operations. They want a more fan-friendly owner who provides a better game-day experience and who rewards their longtime loyalty.
The worst fear is that Redskin fans will go from angry to apathetic. While the games are sold out years in advance, many fans aren't showing up on Sundays anymore, and some are selling their tickets, often to fans of opposing teams. Makes for an embarrassing home-game atmosphere when the opposition receives louder cheers than the Skins.
You can bet that next Monday night, when Washington hosts the Philadelphia Eagles on national TV, there will be even more talk about this latest fiasco. Philly fans will make the trek down I-95 to try to buy tickets from fed-up Washington fans. Plays will be called by a man who was calling out bingo numbers two weeks ago. And the Skins are finally playing a decent team that could destroy them. It could get very ugly. Many believe Zorn will be fired next week.
UPDATE. Team executive Vinny Cerrato announced on Oct. 23 that Jim Zorn would remain the head coach of the Washington Redskins for the remainder of the season. Stay tuned!
I like technology for the most part - particularly when it works. I know some folks my age or older stay clear of anything related to computers and can't even craft an e-mail. But I generally find technology to be just another creative tool at my disposal. Another way to communicate or receive information. As practical as a toaster in a sense.
Though I am far from the engineering type, I am fortunate to have always had an intuitive understanding of new software and various gadgets. While my budget doesn't allow me to buy every new thing that comes down the pike, my curiosity helps prevent me from feeling like I am ready for the glue factory and saves me some time when executing every-day tasks like job searching.If, however, your comfort level with gadgets is limited to old 45-adapters (pictured), you probably aren't in a field that requires you to paginate a page or convert documents to PDFs. Or at least you shouldn't be.There continues to be an ongoing struggle in many workplaces where older workers are resisting new technologies. That bothers me because folks over 50 are being painted with a broad brush as technical illiterates by young whipper-snappers who grew up with Nintendo controllers in their hands. In some cases, it's a deserving label. Everyone knows of someone who seemingly is always at war with their laptop or the printer. Usually, it's the old guy or gal in the corner cubicle, next to the coffee machine, with the foot-long calculator on their desk.While technology can raise frustrations, it is also a huge time saver when used properly. That is very important in an age where companies need greater efficiencies with fewer employees. Unfortunately, some people never learn to use the scanner or the web cam. These folks tend to bog down operations because they insist on using "Stickies" rather than Instant Messaging. They want to scribble something you can't read on a faded message pad rather than send you an e-mail. And it gives all of us "baby boomers" a bad rep when it seemingly is always the people over a certain age. It's even worse when it's your boss! They don't seem to understand that their reluctance to enter the 21st century is making your work life miserable.In an time when companies are looking for technical skills, it's good to know what an MP3 is or a JPEG. Having a skill like digital photo or video editing can open doors and it can also provide you with some pretty cool images of your grandchildren or your dream vacation. And all of this stuff is available to the "average Joe" on any home computer.
There really is no excuse not to be technically proficient. It doesn't mean you have to give up your vinyl records, but you should know what a Podcast is and how an iPod works if you want to stay relevant. These aren't cultural things like movies and clothing and other passing fads, which change with each generation. These are essentials of the workplace and items becoming as common as a 45-adapter was in 1965.Now, some may ask, "What is a 45-adapter?"
Some good news to take with a large grain of salt: The economy grew by 3.5 percent after four consecutive quarters of declines. The report was released today and exceeded expectations. However, how much of that growth was driven by the government's temporary "cash for clunkers" program that boosted the auto industry? As with improving real estate numbers mostly due to new government tax incentives, one has to question whether these improved statistics can be sustained without the stimulus money and government intervention.
