Showing posts with label New Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Economy. Show all posts
4/11/12
6/22/11
What Are You Afraid Of?
Fear and denial is an opportunity for reinvention...
It seems to me that two psychological modes have escalated recently which I attribute to the dawning of recognition among more people that our economy is at best stagnant and our political system is not acting in our interests. Too many people are responding by operating either out of fear or retreating into denial. Neither of these conditions work for long and eventually will breakdown into something else. How you deal with them determines the direction your life will take once you move beyond them. The first step is to cognitively recognize you are in one of those modes and then take steps to move beyond them. Avoidance of the basis for fear or denial is not resolution. The point is to avoid falling into negativity, despair, depression or turn to drugs or alcohol.
There are steps to follow that will get you moving in the right direction.
Assess where you are and dig deep and unravel why you feel the way you do and what is the worst that could possibly happen. This is an exercise in fear in itself but having the strength of character to do it will develop your character even further. You are likely to discover that your biggest fears are either groundless or can be overcome by figuring out a plan to overcome them.
Decide what actions you can take right now by prioritizing and dealing with any immediate problems you have in a semblance of order of resolution. An old fashioned piece of paper and pencil goes a long way in writing down specific things you can do to take care of that bank account, loan, unemployment, bad relationship, anything that is bothering you no matter how large or small. The act of writing it down and organizing it on paper works remarkably well at turning abstract worries into concrete potential solutions.
Do not get overwhelmed at what you have discovered. Step back for a moment, breathe and break complications into pieces and start on those that can be dealt with easily and straight off. Getting what you can off the list promptly whittles it down and helps you realize that there is a beginning to solving problems and conversely eventually there will be an end. Start small to boost confidence and keep on moving through the complications that are causing you fear or you are denying. One step at a time eventually gets you somewhere while standing still does not.
Sometimes declaring insolvency is the answer and it isn't always financial. It can be relationships, style of living, your location or place of living. If you have to declare bankruptcy then do it legally instead of walking away. End bad relationships and avoid people who are negative and dragging you down. It may seem heartless but it's your sanity and peace of mind that is important and someone else's shouldn't take priority. If your lifestyle is not what you want it to be change or modify what is under your control. If you live in a dead end city or small town, decide where you want to go and determine a way to get there. Think innovatively how you can earn an income in unconventional ways, some of them may seem off the wall but they spark a process in your mind.
Ultimately it is up to you to shake off the fear that ails you or what you are avoiding and denying. We are living in a historical cycle of disruptive change and to live atypically and individualistic is no longer irregular and soon to be the norm. Get a head start and arrive earlier at building a new mode of living. Fear and denial are signals that your current internal life no longer matches your external one and not working in your favor. Heed the beacon, delve into the cause and view it as an opportunity for a breakthrough to reinvention of self.
It seems to me that two psychological modes have escalated recently which I attribute to the dawning of recognition among more people that our economy is at best stagnant and our political system is not acting in our interests. Too many people are responding by operating either out of fear or retreating into denial. Neither of these conditions work for long and eventually will breakdown into something else. How you deal with them determines the direction your life will take once you move beyond them. The first step is to cognitively recognize you are in one of those modes and then take steps to move beyond them. Avoidance of the basis for fear or denial is not resolution. The point is to avoid falling into negativity, despair, depression or turn to drugs or alcohol.
There are steps to follow that will get you moving in the right direction.
Decide what actions you can take right now by prioritizing and dealing with any immediate problems you have in a semblance of order of resolution. An old fashioned piece of paper and pencil goes a long way in writing down specific things you can do to take care of that bank account, loan, unemployment, bad relationship, anything that is bothering you no matter how large or small. The act of writing it down and organizing it on paper works remarkably well at turning abstract worries into concrete potential solutions.
Do not get overwhelmed at what you have discovered. Step back for a moment, breathe and break complications into pieces and start on those that can be dealt with easily and straight off. Getting what you can off the list promptly whittles it down and helps you realize that there is a beginning to solving problems and conversely eventually there will be an end. Start small to boost confidence and keep on moving through the complications that are causing you fear or you are denying. One step at a time eventually gets you somewhere while standing still does not.Sometimes declaring insolvency is the answer and it isn't always financial. It can be relationships, style of living, your location or place of living. If you have to declare bankruptcy then do it legally instead of walking away. End bad relationships and avoid people who are negative and dragging you down. It may seem heartless but it's your sanity and peace of mind that is important and someone else's shouldn't take priority. If your lifestyle is not what you want it to be change or modify what is under your control. If you live in a dead end city or small town, decide where you want to go and determine a way to get there. Think innovatively how you can earn an income in unconventional ways, some of them may seem off the wall but they spark a process in your mind.
5/27/11
We Have Lost Nothing
We are gaining something new...
Our society has lost something that is making many people feel displaced. It is causing a lot of individuals to go through the stages of grief, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and for the healthiest of us...Acceptance. Everyone at different times and each in his or her own way. Those who have arrived at acceptance understand that we haven't lost anything of value at all. What we recognize is that we have been forever dispossessed of social norms that no longer have validity and outlived their purpose. There is no turning back to return to the old ways no matter how many attempts are made to resuscitate what once was.
What seems to appear to underlie this divestment is the economic crisis and the awareness of the ineffectiveness of the political class. It is the trigger but not the bullet. The cartridge that was fired held shotgun ammo that blasted into little pieces disrupting the entire order of life as we knew it. The economics and politics of our social disorder are the symptoms of the wound and not origination of it. Technology and science are. The paradox is these two fields of endeavor that have advanced so far in recent history are also agents of change bringing us back to a more natural way of living. The most notable of this is the internet allowing people to be freed from cubicle land and constraints of traditional employment to create a new way of living.
Not everyone has arrived at this point of thinking yet, just as the Age of Enlightenment occurred over a number of years, so will this magnificent cultural shift. Some people may languish in the old sphere and possibly never arrive in the new one. This is the source of the impression of no longer being in the corral but instead on the wide open range, the polar opposite of the way we have been trained to become one of the posse. The drift of being untethered is bewildering in a world when the exact opposite has been highly valued and what was stressed we should strive for. This is the seemingly odd juxtaposition of technology and science versus natural thinking and living. A Global Positioning System device cannot guide us to a mental state of mind, only human intelligence and intuition can do that. Hence the sense of dislocation.
What will separate us in society is how we grasp this concept, brave the barely marked trail and forge ahead in contemporary covered wagons. Those that cling to the old will find their grip slipping, making themselves frustrated and angry. Each person has to arrive at their destination in their own caravan. We can help others that instinctively seek it but there is little to do for those that don't.
Our society has lost something that is making many people feel displaced. It is causing a lot of individuals to go through the stages of grief, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and for the healthiest of us...Acceptance. Everyone at different times and each in his or her own way. Those who have arrived at acceptance understand that we haven't lost anything of value at all. What we recognize is that we have been forever dispossessed of social norms that no longer have validity and outlived their purpose. There is no turning back to return to the old ways no matter how many attempts are made to resuscitate what once was.
Not everyone has arrived at this point of thinking yet, just as the Age of Enlightenment occurred over a number of years, so will this magnificent cultural shift. Some people may languish in the old sphere and possibly never arrive in the new one. This is the source of the impression of no longer being in the corral but instead on the wide open range, the polar opposite of the way we have been trained to become one of the posse. The drift of being untethered is bewildering in a world when the exact opposite has been highly valued and what was stressed we should strive for. This is the seemingly odd juxtaposition of technology and science versus natural thinking and living. A Global Positioning System device cannot guide us to a mental state of mind, only human intelligence and intuition can do that. Hence the sense of dislocation.What will separate us in society is how we grasp this concept, brave the barely marked trail and forge ahead in contemporary covered wagons. Those that cling to the old will find their grip slipping, making themselves frustrated and angry. Each person has to arrive at their destination in their own caravan. We can help others that instinctively seek it but there is little to do for those that don't.
4/26/11
If You're Looking for a Road Map
In the New Economy you won't find one...
Use your inner compass; be your cartographer.
There has never been a better period in my lifetime for an individual to be able to have a chance to cut a swath for their own path. There was a moment in time in my young life, the late sixties and early seventies, when opportunity to become my own person, create my own road, direct my life in any direction any way I wanted to. Most of that had to do with my youth and part of it was the times. Fortunately I was free to make decisions that were appropriate for me but some previous options available to me vaporized a decade later due to the juncture of history we were in. The eighties were a period that recalled an earlier era, since the turbulence of the two previous decades had unsettled so much without satisfactory resolution, that most people wanted a return to "stability." Stability meant going back to values that were not bad and were likely necessary at that interval. Technology had not reached a point where it could change or improve our lives or the world.
The nineties became a transitional era when technology, especially communications, the internet, medical and other sciences became highly developed and rapidly advanced as well as methods of doing business began to change. It was a time of duality of good and bad to be followed by a decade when much of what had occurred was assimilated, digested and culminated in an economic disruption that was inevitable. We were moving unaware from the Old Economy to a New Economy which inescapably impacted the social and geopolitical elements of daily living. Consumerism and the accompanying debt load that came with it, the old conservative structure cracked and the hankering for a new form of politics that we have discovered does not lie in the opposing progressive liberalism. In the US we voted for a President who had the image of change but not the substance of it. Far from it, what looked like what we were hoping for did not actually hold the values we desired. It was a valuable lesson for not only the United States but for the world.
For those of us forced out of our former careers and way of life, we need to go beyond what we used to be and get on with what we are becoming and going to be.
Now, more than ever is the time to have that second chance, another shot at a "do over" at life. Where there is adversity, difficult times and a seeming downfall from former success there is opportunity. We are never likely to see such a significant change in the economy, political world and society as there is now as long as we are not blind to it. Especially for those of us in our mid-forties and fifties, we are old enough to know a lot more than we did and not too old to recover and recoup what we may have lost. More importantly we have the chance to recreate our lives more like the image we envisioned when we were younger, before life took us in directions that we didn't think about and opportunities we didn't have. The former trails are still there, well worn and found just as easily as a long driven US Highway long ago replaced by an Interstate, themselves showing the wear and tear of age and also not travelling at the high speed of broadband internet. The time is now for us to rethink what we want to be for the remainder of our lives, choosing wisely and creatively the New Economy road we want to build to reinvent ourselves and lead us in new and more satisfying directions, since the existing highways and byways belong to Old Economy of yesteryear.
Use your inner compass; be your cartographer.
There has never been a better period in my lifetime for an individual to be able to have a chance to cut a swath for their own path. There was a moment in time in my young life, the late sixties and early seventies, when opportunity to become my own person, create my own road, direct my life in any direction any way I wanted to. Most of that had to do with my youth and part of it was the times. Fortunately I was free to make decisions that were appropriate for me but some previous options available to me vaporized a decade later due to the juncture of history we were in. The eighties were a period that recalled an earlier era, since the turbulence of the two previous decades had unsettled so much without satisfactory resolution, that most people wanted a return to "stability." Stability meant going back to values that were not bad and were likely necessary at that interval. Technology had not reached a point where it could change or improve our lives or the world.
The nineties became a transitional era when technology, especially communications, the internet, medical and other sciences became highly developed and rapidly advanced as well as methods of doing business began to change. It was a time of duality of good and bad to be followed by a decade when much of what had occurred was assimilated, digested and culminated in an economic disruption that was inevitable. We were moving unaware from the Old Economy to a New Economy which inescapably impacted the social and geopolitical elements of daily living. Consumerism and the accompanying debt load that came with it, the old conservative structure cracked and the hankering for a new form of politics that we have discovered does not lie in the opposing progressive liberalism. In the US we voted for a President who had the image of change but not the substance of it. Far from it, what looked like what we were hoping for did not actually hold the values we desired. It was a valuable lesson for not only the United States but for the world.
For those of us forced out of our former careers and way of life, we need to go beyond what we used to be and get on with what we are becoming and going to be.
Now, more than ever is the time to have that second chance, another shot at a "do over" at life. Where there is adversity, difficult times and a seeming downfall from former success there is opportunity. We are never likely to see such a significant change in the economy, political world and society as there is now as long as we are not blind to it. Especially for those of us in our mid-forties and fifties, we are old enough to know a lot more than we did and not too old to recover and recoup what we may have lost. More importantly we have the chance to recreate our lives more like the image we envisioned when we were younger, before life took us in directions that we didn't think about and opportunities we didn't have. The former trails are still there, well worn and found just as easily as a long driven US Highway long ago replaced by an Interstate, themselves showing the wear and tear of age and also not travelling at the high speed of broadband internet. The time is now for us to rethink what we want to be for the remainder of our lives, choosing wisely and creatively the New Economy road we want to build to reinvent ourselves and lead us in new and more satisfying directions, since the existing highways and byways belong to Old Economy of yesteryear.
3/17/11
You Can Quote Me On That
Misplaced loyalty...
If you work for any company, no matter the size, don't love the company because it won't love you back, if you do your loyalty is displaced. Your ultimate responsibility is yourself, family and friends. Work is a source of income and even though it can be rewarding it is not a support network. There are few exclusions to this, perhaps a small family owned business is an exception to this rule.
Always keep in mind you work for a business where the main intent is to make a profit. This doesn't mean that there aren't some companies who do really attempt to keep their employees satisfied, pay a decent wage, try to do the right thing by those that produce for them. It's a fact of free enterprise though that when times are tough, difficult choices sometimes have to be made. The owners, operators, stakeholders have to make decisions based on their fiduciary duty to the company and not to the people who work there.
To preserve your integrity and work ethic you should always do a good job but thinking of yourself as a free-agent, allows you to also maintain your dignity and independence as a person. You can respect the company you work for but that doesn't mean they have an obligation to not make a change in your employment.
If you work for any company, no matter the size, don't love the company because it won't love you back, if you do your loyalty is displaced. Your ultimate responsibility is yourself, family and friends. Work is a source of income and even though it can be rewarding it is not a support network. There are few exclusions to this, perhaps a small family owned business is an exception to this rule.
Always keep in mind you work for a business where the main intent is to make a profit. This doesn't mean that there aren't some companies who do really attempt to keep their employees satisfied, pay a decent wage, try to do the right thing by those that produce for them. It's a fact of free enterprise though that when times are tough, difficult choices sometimes have to be made. The owners, operators, stakeholders have to make decisions based on their fiduciary duty to the company and not to the people who work there.
To preserve your integrity and work ethic you should always do a good job but thinking of yourself as a free-agent, allows you to also maintain your dignity and independence as a person. You can respect the company you work for but that doesn't mean they have an obligation to not make a change in your employment.
3/7/11
2/16/11
Thinking Out Loud
Switching the channel...
On turning the "news" off.
Once I was like a newshound hot on the blood trail of every economic, political, entertainment and social news that I could sniff out. After the events of 9-11-01 I backed off watching TV pretty much completely but still followed news on the internet and by reading. At one time the news was also a common source of conversation in work break rooms, waiting rooms and other public gathering places. As we became homogenized by becoming educated, mainly in the workplace, about what was acceptable to say and not to say in case we should offend someone, public discussion became bland. It was too difficult to deal with the niceties of political correctness we were trained to submit to in order to avoid confrontation, especially at work where there were consequences. News was a minefield for making an error in this new environment and by the nineties most people limited public conversation to the superficial.
Although I still followed news, it was only discussed among trusted people. I started recognizing that not only following news was exhausting, it had become an addiction to always being current. In 2007 when the economic crisis broke out, I decided to see if I could uncover the source of lack of veracity of news media that we absorb in the United States. My suspicion for the previous 15 years was that it was a product, prepared and sold in the mold of the MBA Marketing mindset that permeated our consumer economy was confirmed. It seemed obvious, due to the advent of cable television becoming widespread in urban markets, with multiple channels and cable news. Call me naive for not recognizing this earlier but actually I wasn't that simple-minded, my assumption was that it was marketed to us (Y2K was a perfect example) but there was a kernel of truth in much of it we could discern for ourselves.
The beauty of the internet is that much of the real truth can be ferreted out and the beast of it is that it's not that easy. There are as many charlatans proclaiming all kinds of junk economics, science, political analysis as there always has been in the world. It's just more available. On the other hand there is much truth and factual information to make lie of what is sold in newspapers, television and old mainstream media but it requires a lot of discernment and time to discover it. My conclusion is there is collusion between the power players in traditional mainstream media, government and the financial world. This is a revelation that I recognize is no surprise to any thinking person. It was once easier to distinguish the "MSM" since it was primarily in newsprint and on radio and television but now it has also crossed over and permeates the internet also. The real question is how does the average person stay abreast of current news without having to filter out so much?
Early in 2009 I had enough of following current events and backed off considerably. I still waffle between willful ignorance, a preference a lot of the population seems to opt for, or keeping one eye open for headlines. Realistically I can't turn it all off, primarily because of the intellects I'm around most of the time. It's difficult to not be engaged by intelligent people who have something realistic to say about factual events occurring. Especially since it's a much better kernel truth than what the media would have us believe.
My conclusion is that if I pay close attention to the so-called news media, in all the forms it takes shape, it frustrates me for no useful purpose. It's full of contradictory information about the state of our world, country, economy, politics and social attitudes. My determination is the actuality of where we are as a country fundamentally is we're in a period of change, with severe underlying economic problems being propped up, there is little I can do about it and paying any attention to what the media says is vexing. My answer is to be aware we are in for stormy weather, many people and institutions are unprepared for it and that I cannot afford to let it affect my day to day life.
I base this on one piece of logic. I've weathered enough international, national, local and personal storms and in hindsight, my positive thinking and attitude have in the long term kept me safe and sound through them all.
On turning the "news" off.
Once I was like a newshound hot on the blood trail of every economic, political, entertainment and social news that I could sniff out. After the events of 9-11-01 I backed off watching TV pretty much completely but still followed news on the internet and by reading. At one time the news was also a common source of conversation in work break rooms, waiting rooms and other public gathering places. As we became homogenized by becoming educated, mainly in the workplace, about what was acceptable to say and not to say in case we should offend someone, public discussion became bland. It was too difficult to deal with the niceties of political correctness we were trained to submit to in order to avoid confrontation, especially at work where there were consequences. News was a minefield for making an error in this new environment and by the nineties most people limited public conversation to the superficial.
Although I still followed news, it was only discussed among trusted people. I started recognizing that not only following news was exhausting, it had become an addiction to always being current. In 2007 when the economic crisis broke out, I decided to see if I could uncover the source of lack of veracity of news media that we absorb in the United States. My suspicion for the previous 15 years was that it was a product, prepared and sold in the mold of the MBA Marketing mindset that permeated our consumer economy was confirmed. It seemed obvious, due to the advent of cable television becoming widespread in urban markets, with multiple channels and cable news. Call me naive for not recognizing this earlier but actually I wasn't that simple-minded, my assumption was that it was marketed to us (Y2K was a perfect example) but there was a kernel of truth in much of it we could discern for ourselves.
The beauty of the internet is that much of the real truth can be ferreted out and the beast of it is that it's not that easy. There are as many charlatans proclaiming all kinds of junk economics, science, political analysis as there always has been in the world. It's just more available. On the other hand there is much truth and factual information to make lie of what is sold in newspapers, television and old mainstream media but it requires a lot of discernment and time to discover it. My conclusion is there is collusion between the power players in traditional mainstream media, government and the financial world. This is a revelation that I recognize is no surprise to any thinking person. It was once easier to distinguish the "MSM" since it was primarily in newsprint and on radio and television but now it has also crossed over and permeates the internet also. The real question is how does the average person stay abreast of current news without having to filter out so much?
Early in 2009 I had enough of following current events and backed off considerably. I still waffle between willful ignorance, a preference a lot of the population seems to opt for, or keeping one eye open for headlines. Realistically I can't turn it all off, primarily because of the intellects I'm around most of the time. It's difficult to not be engaged by intelligent people who have something realistic to say about factual events occurring. Especially since it's a much better kernel truth than what the media would have us believe.
My conclusion is that if I pay close attention to the so-called news media, in all the forms it takes shape, it frustrates me for no useful purpose. It's full of contradictory information about the state of our world, country, economy, politics and social attitudes. My determination is the actuality of where we are as a country fundamentally is we're in a period of change, with severe underlying economic problems being propped up, there is little I can do about it and paying any attention to what the media says is vexing. My answer is to be aware we are in for stormy weather, many people and institutions are unprepared for it and that I cannot afford to let it affect my day to day life.
I base this on one piece of logic. I've weathered enough international, national, local and personal storms and in hindsight, my positive thinking and attitude have in the long term kept me safe and sound through them all.
1/24/11
You Can Quote Me On That
In an economic downturn...
Part Two
Follow up to blog on 01/22/11
During the seventies and most of the eighties I held a job that I often found mindless, stifling and sometimes hated but I needed it and there were no jobs in the area that were worth taking that paid any better. More than anyone I understand the struggle of holding an underpaid and not-very-challenging job with managers that didn't qualify for the word "leader," since they were barely able to supervise, much less manage and lead. Their best and only weapon was negative reinforcement and as a low level night supervisor I had to put up with a lot and constantly figure out how to appeal to their best interests to get them to do the right thing for the evening and night shift workers and customers. It was a constant struggle battling old mindsets of "we've always done it this way" from a previous era when things had changed. They were from a pick-up-the-handset-phone clerical environment loaded with paper records and we were in one of the first computerized, centralized technical support centers that required a different set of rules. Most of which had to be made up as we went along because everything was new and piloting without instrumentation.
It was another period of disruptive change that I welcomed but most of the people that were directing me did not. Since my alternatives weren't great I stuck with it and the key to more than surviving it, thriving in it, was viewing it as a chance to learn how to change others perceptions and behaviors. I reinvented myself as change agent before it became a recognized term, keeping my individuality intact, taking a chance at being a pioneer. There were other opportunities I saw in it also. It was an irregular income due to hours being varied and often cut back but had very good benefits, including full tuition to any school of my choice, which allowed me time to do other things a regular eight to five, 40 hour a week job wouldn't have permitted. I used the time outside of work to further my education, do a lot of creative things I was interested in and learn innovative financing of my life.
There also was always the threat of layoffs. When I wrote in my previous blog entry that it perplexed me why people who have jobs now complain so much and expect a pay raise, I knew exactly what I was saying. I get what having a job in an economic downturn that isn't exactly desirable is like. My perspective now comes from staring at statistics of millions of Americans being unemployed for up to three years, eating their life savings away, uncertain of the future and really not prepared for the New Economy. Therefore when I hear former co-workers complain about having to do more work, with higher health premiums and no raises but unlikely to be laid off, I understand their frustration but their anger is misplaced and somewhat disingenuous, riddled with "they owe me" entitlement.
I learned a very long time ago "don't love the company because it won't love you back." However, being angry about the situation only turns on you though, since the company doesn't care, they only want you to produce. What the individual does have is the power to figure out how to personally deal and cope with the conundrum in a way that doesn't eat them up inside, since that always ends up displaying itself on negative presentation of themselves to the outside world, making matters worse. It is the law of bad returns.
Fortunately I have a job now that I like, although it's real economic benefit is relatively inexpensive, good health care benefits, since the pay is low and the hours vary from 20 hours a week up to 40-60, depending on the time of year and the schedule of non-traditional hours changes weekly. It's a juggling act of money but I use the time off to my best advantage. I learned from my lessons of decades ago to save money when I work a lot of hours, since I have little free time to spend it anyway, saving it for the lean months when I do have more spare time. Everyone I work with now took this job for the same reasons, they had lost their previous job and we're all glad to have some income and benefits.
It's also far better than the job I had right before the crash, that I disliked almost every minute of, at a renown company that now has the distinction of being disreputable and is laying off again by the thousands. I took my current job because it was the best possible solution to the dilemma of few employment opportunities. Count me as underemployed and making the best of it. I recognize I'm fortunate to have two other small incomes, not enough to live on, this is a supplement but provides for me, besides benefits, other intangible things. It gives me the opportunity to learn something new, get back into a field I once was in, further my education some more and time to figure out where to go next. That might be my own business, some other method to get additional income on the side and most importantly, allowing me to continue stretching my creative side and expressing myself.
In many ways I recognize that I am fortunate but I also believe you create your own destiny and luck by taking what you've learned in the past and keeping your eyes wide open for new probabilities. Good fortune very often isn't mere luck but in the outlook you take on life and how you proceed with each challenge as they arise.
1/22/11
You Can Quote Me On That
In an economic downturn...
My working life started in the late sixties and employment in my younger life spanned the seventies all the way through to the economic recession of 1982-83. By that time I was almost thirty and had gotten used to the idea that I couldn't control the macro economy and long prior made the decision that I could control my own micro economic destiny. It wasn't always easy or uplifting, since my working world wasn't what I envisioned, somehow I managed though and learned from it.
Ringing in my ears from the beginning was my father and my aunt's refrain "In an economic downturn, get a job, any job and keep that job, until the economy clearly gets better." It was a result of their coming of age during the 1930s Depression. It was reinforced by mother's chorus "Don't complain and be thankful you have a job when so many people are out of work." It was complemented by the common saying of the time "This is a recession if you have a job, a depression if you don't."
I'm mystified in this current economic era why so many people who do have a job, complain about every little thing and especially about not getting a pay raise. I am bewildered that someone who has maintained a job, didn't get laid off or a salary reduction, has missed that there are a lot of people who would take their job in minute at a lower wage. It is also enigmatic to me why so many people feel they are entitled to a job or pay better than they are skilled for and won't take a job that is available. No one is overqualified in this economy, we all live in post-Katrina New Orleans now. Are they so clueless about the difficulty of millions of unemployed and underemployed people, that would like a job, any job and keep it, at any pay?
If you're employed and dissatisfied, please quit and discover what so many unemployed and underemployed people have. It will change your outlook on life, I guarantee it.
My working life started in the late sixties and employment in my younger life spanned the seventies all the way through to the economic recession of 1982-83. By that time I was almost thirty and had gotten used to the idea that I couldn't control the macro economy and long prior made the decision that I could control my own micro economic destiny. It wasn't always easy or uplifting, since my working world wasn't what I envisioned, somehow I managed though and learned from it.
Ringing in my ears from the beginning was my father and my aunt's refrain "In an economic downturn, get a job, any job and keep that job, until the economy clearly gets better." It was a result of their coming of age during the 1930s Depression. It was reinforced by mother's chorus "Don't complain and be thankful you have a job when so many people are out of work." It was complemented by the common saying of the time "This is a recession if you have a job, a depression if you don't."
I'm mystified in this current economic era why so many people who do have a job, complain about every little thing and especially about not getting a pay raise. I am bewildered that someone who has maintained a job, didn't get laid off or a salary reduction, has missed that there are a lot of people who would take their job in minute at a lower wage. It is also enigmatic to me why so many people feel they are entitled to a job or pay better than they are skilled for and won't take a job that is available. No one is overqualified in this economy, we all live in post-Katrina New Orleans now. Are they so clueless about the difficulty of millions of unemployed and underemployed people, that would like a job, any job and keep it, at any pay?
If you're employed and dissatisfied, please quit and discover what so many unemployed and underemployed people have. It will change your outlook on life, I guarantee it.
12/20/10
Thinking Out Loud
Always Learning...
There are a lot of things you can do to be always learning and challenged that don't require too much effort or even equipment. There are various ways you can figure out how to get what you need to do them for relatively no or low cost if you need to. Sometimes it's as inexpensive as simply thinking, for instance questioning why certain things are the way they are. Some call this pondering.
Anyhow, here are some other ideas:
Read good books, fiction, non-fiction, educational, classics, history, so-called "light-reading" and "How To" books.
Learning how to use or improve your use of a computer, netbook, tablet computer or smart phone.
Making or creating something...the possibilities here are great but the end product doesn't have to be great. This is one time the very effort often is the worthwhile part, not the end product.
Mind Builders: Puzzles, Crosswords, Scrabble, Brain Teasers.
Learn to sew. An entire outfit if you want but my suggestion is a sewing on a button, fixing a hole, darning a sock, stitching up a tear or split seam.
Learn to use tools. There is nothing wrong with not knowing how to hammer a nail, saw a piece of wood, use a screwdriver, pliers or a car tire jack. There is everything right about learning how to use them.
Learn to cook. It doesn't have to be fancy. A burger, rice, pasta and even stir fry vegetables is not so hard.
Repotting a houseplant or planting a garden, no matter how small, figure out how to keep it growing.
Learn another language.
There are a lot of things you can do to be always learning and challenged that don't require too much effort or even equipment. There are various ways you can figure out how to get what you need to do them for relatively no or low cost if you need to. Sometimes it's as inexpensive as simply thinking, for instance questioning why certain things are the way they are. Some call this pondering.
Anyhow, here are some other ideas:
Read good books, fiction, non-fiction, educational, classics, history, so-called "light-reading" and "How To" books.
Learning how to use or improve your use of a computer, netbook, tablet computer or smart phone.
Making or creating something...the possibilities here are great but the end product doesn't have to be great. This is one time the very effort often is the worthwhile part, not the end product.
Mind Builders: Puzzles, Crosswords, Scrabble, Brain Teasers.
Learn to sew. An entire outfit if you want but my suggestion is a sewing on a button, fixing a hole, darning a sock, stitching up a tear or split seam.
Learn to use tools. There is nothing wrong with not knowing how to hammer a nail, saw a piece of wood, use a screwdriver, pliers or a car tire jack. There is everything right about learning how to use them.
Learn to cook. It doesn't have to be fancy. A burger, rice, pasta and even stir fry vegetables is not so hard.
Repotting a houseplant or planting a garden, no matter how small, figure out how to keep it growing.
Learn another language.
12/15/10
Only In America
The crisis of missed opportunity...
We live during an economic crisis that is as devastating as the Great Depression of the 1930s. The difference is we entered into this crisis with much better housing, clothing, food supplies and the cushioning blows of unemployment insurance, severance pay and other safety nets. This means the initial shock was distressing but not as dramatic as the Thirties and the residual hangover will not seem as severe and less uncomfortable. That is not to say all is well with everyone or that more is not on the way.
The long term effect of this great economic downturn is overcoming high unemployment, debt overhang and the length of time to fully recover, which has every potential to make this period collectively dreary. We must individually fight colorlessness of a flat time span to make it interesting to ourselves, making an effort to overcome potential personal lifelessness. Opportunities are fewer and farther in between now and will be in the upcoming era and every chance missed is a mini-crisis of itself. It is key to take every option to learn something new, make enriching friendships, accept a job that may not be permanent or ideal, travel or see something different, whatever presents itself and take advantage of the chance while you can. You never know when learning something, such as creating a website, fixing a bicycle, cooking an omelet, participating in a focus group, learning to use an e-reader, teaching a kid to tie his shoe, taking a community class or going back to school, you get the idea...may become a skill used in or to gain employment or create your own enterprise.
Over four years ago when I started getting interested in YouTube I didn't plan on learning to make, edit and upload videos, renew my photography interest and start a new blog. After I lost my main source of income in 2007, a full-time job I'd held a long time, I used the activities of all of them to occupy my time and gain some more skills in using the internet and get involved in the social web. I took the time to learn how to use a smartphone to its fullest, rather than just as a tool for work. I had no idea then that those skills would later impress an employer to hire me during a down employment market.
Opportunities usually don't present themselves as connections to something to advance yourself, your future and make your life better. Keep your eyes on the road and wide open.
We live during an economic crisis that is as devastating as the Great Depression of the 1930s. The difference is we entered into this crisis with much better housing, clothing, food supplies and the cushioning blows of unemployment insurance, severance pay and other safety nets. This means the initial shock was distressing but not as dramatic as the Thirties and the residual hangover will not seem as severe and less uncomfortable. That is not to say all is well with everyone or that more is not on the way.
The long term effect of this great economic downturn is overcoming high unemployment, debt overhang and the length of time to fully recover, which has every potential to make this period collectively dreary. We must individually fight colorlessness of a flat time span to make it interesting to ourselves, making an effort to overcome potential personal lifelessness. Opportunities are fewer and farther in between now and will be in the upcoming era and every chance missed is a mini-crisis of itself. It is key to take every option to learn something new, make enriching friendships, accept a job that may not be permanent or ideal, travel or see something different, whatever presents itself and take advantage of the chance while you can. You never know when learning something, such as creating a website, fixing a bicycle, cooking an omelet, participating in a focus group, learning to use an e-reader, teaching a kid to tie his shoe, taking a community class or going back to school, you get the idea...may become a skill used in or to gain employment or create your own enterprise.
Over four years ago when I started getting interested in YouTube I didn't plan on learning to make, edit and upload videos, renew my photography interest and start a new blog. After I lost my main source of income in 2007, a full-time job I'd held a long time, I used the activities of all of them to occupy my time and gain some more skills in using the internet and get involved in the social web. I took the time to learn how to use a smartphone to its fullest, rather than just as a tool for work. I had no idea then that those skills would later impress an employer to hire me during a down employment market.
Opportunities usually don't present themselves as connections to something to advance yourself, your future and make your life better. Keep your eyes on the road and wide open.
11/30/10
Thinking Out Loud
Shifting winds bring sea change...
At the turn of the last century, around this time, the powers of the world were pretty content with themselves and the balance of power they had set up. They were pleased with the old order of things, monarchy, aristocracy, merchant, peasant or translated into more modern terms of the day, dynasty, privileged class, merchant-industrialists, labor. This was particularly true in Europe, Great Britain, Russia and the Ottoman Empire which dominated the world for the most part, with the outstanding exception of the United States of America.
Great Britain, France and Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and the Turks had struck a balance of power that was tenuous based on an old order of the previous century that had been meant to preserve the past into the future. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had contributed to this by their nine children and 42 grandchildren married across Europe to bind the empires by family ties.
What no one counted on was the technological change brought on by the railroad, telegraph and telephone, electricity, automobiles and industry. These were the tools of disruption that changed everything and in a sense ultimately World War I.
In August of 1914, waiting for the Guns of August (apologies to Barbara Tuchman), knowledgeable people waited on the beach after the assassination of the Grand Duke Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, to see what would happen. Their world was not just at the brink of a calamitous war all over Europe and it's empires, but on the edge of the world as they knew it.
It occurs to me that we are the frontier of such a time one hundred years later. The old order is no longer effective although scrambling to still piece it all together while perceptive and discerning people are waiting for the bubbles to burst. This time the main technological event is the science, technology and the internet from which most of our innovation now emanates. That's not to suggest we are heading towards a traditional world war but that we are at a boundary of time when the world is changed forever due to a change in the balance of international powers. It is precipitated by technological change born out by history and the world in an ever-repeating cycle of necessary change.
Although no guns may be fired, although that is quite possible with recent militaristic rumblings across the sphere, we are at a minimum on the front of an economic world war. The economic ties of the European Union are collapsing, China and Asia are struggling with the balance of capitalism and socialism, Mexico is crumbling in a full-scale drug war and the economic tensions of the Middle East are legion. The entire world is mired in debt and insolvency and it would be wise to reflect on history and recognize what any upset in balance of power usually brings globally.
At the turn of the last century, around this time, the powers of the world were pretty content with themselves and the balance of power they had set up. They were pleased with the old order of things, monarchy, aristocracy, merchant, peasant or translated into more modern terms of the day, dynasty, privileged class, merchant-industrialists, labor. This was particularly true in Europe, Great Britain, Russia and the Ottoman Empire which dominated the world for the most part, with the outstanding exception of the United States of America.
Great Britain, France and Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and the Turks had struck a balance of power that was tenuous based on an old order of the previous century that had been meant to preserve the past into the future. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had contributed to this by their nine children and 42 grandchildren married across Europe to bind the empires by family ties.
What no one counted on was the technological change brought on by the railroad, telegraph and telephone, electricity, automobiles and industry. These were the tools of disruption that changed everything and in a sense ultimately World War I.
In August of 1914, waiting for the Guns of August (apologies to Barbara Tuchman), knowledgeable people waited on the beach after the assassination of the Grand Duke Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, to see what would happen. Their world was not just at the brink of a calamitous war all over Europe and it's empires, but on the edge of the world as they knew it.
It occurs to me that we are the frontier of such a time one hundred years later. The old order is no longer effective although scrambling to still piece it all together while perceptive and discerning people are waiting for the bubbles to burst. This time the main technological event is the science, technology and the internet from which most of our innovation now emanates. That's not to suggest we are heading towards a traditional world war but that we are at a boundary of time when the world is changed forever due to a change in the balance of international powers. It is precipitated by technological change born out by history and the world in an ever-repeating cycle of necessary change.
Although no guns may be fired, although that is quite possible with recent militaristic rumblings across the sphere, we are at a minimum on the front of an economic world war. The economic ties of the European Union are collapsing, China and Asia are struggling with the balance of capitalism and socialism, Mexico is crumbling in a full-scale drug war and the economic tensions of the Middle East are legion. The entire world is mired in debt and insolvency and it would be wise to reflect on history and recognize what any upset in balance of power usually brings globally.
9/10/10
Let It Crash
First we kill all the bureaucrats...
Stop with the government interference.
For all practical purposes our economy, as we once knew it, has stopped in its tracks. We're way past debating The Broken Window Fallacy economic theory of destruction, since the windows are smashed, the bricks have crumbled, the warehouse is bare, the merchant had a heart attack and customers are paralyzed. Jump starting an old carburetor car with a 20th century battery to resolve a 21st century automobile problem just won't do. Restarting requires imagination, innovation and forward 21st century thinking, when what exists has been destroyed at the clumsy hands of the so-called economic policy experts of the northeastern corridor. They live in an alternate universe of fantasy economic theory-land, far away from real America, where they've never experienced a real job or struggled to build a career or business. Vestiges of the old economy do remain and what is worth saving should be salvaged, the rest left for the junk heap of days gone by. Facing the reality of most people, this is where we are as a country.
Therefore, let it crash of it's own accord, instead of endlessly trying to prop up markets and employment in some morbid morality play. Tip toeing among the ruins with half baked plans to rebuild roads, airports, railroads and bridges, the infrastructure of an old economy, is whiffing at the vapor of leaded gasoline and like an old Plymouth, going nowhere and a real bad buzz. Far better to flint sparking the engines of a new economy. Fuel for high speed communications and information, water purification systems, energy efficient buildings and modes of transportation, health facilities and so on. Encourage scientific and technical innovations and medical research by returning to real education and academic endeavors. That will bring meaningful employment. Enough of this fluff and buff stuff.
We certainly have an infrastructure problem but public works projects of the old order won't fix it. The real infrastructure problem is the bureaucratic regulators of the economy and the infrastructure they've created around their fiefdoms of power. We must push aside anyone who is a stumbling block, hanging onto old facades and get on with it.
What infrastructure, economic and physical, that remains should be maintained in the most cost-effective, efficient and best possible way to function alongside as we rebuild our economy and build new systems. To waste money, time and energy restoring them to what they once were is sheer stupidity. They are now merely ropes and rails to hang onto, utilize and keep functioning until they fade into the background as new ones come into the foreground in the next 5-10-15 years.
This is going to be a long rebuilding process and it will be difficult. Nothing about it or life is fair, the challenge is great, but the other options are not acceptable, economies that are roads to nowhere. We won't burn, we won't die, we will suffer, we will have to work hard. We are after all, Americans, and enough of us have what it takes, even in spite of those who don't, to get to where we need to go. First, we need to own up that we've fallen in a deep hole and it will take gumption, not government programs and intervention, to get ourselves out of it.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Bob Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsHAW2fBHdQ
Stop with the government interference.
For all practical purposes our economy, as we once knew it, has stopped in its tracks. We're way past debating The Broken Window Fallacy economic theory of destruction, since the windows are smashed, the bricks have crumbled, the warehouse is bare, the merchant had a heart attack and customers are paralyzed. Jump starting an old carburetor car with a 20th century battery to resolve a 21st century automobile problem just won't do. Restarting requires imagination, innovation and forward 21st century thinking, when what exists has been destroyed at the clumsy hands of the so-called economic policy experts of the northeastern corridor. They live in an alternate universe of fantasy economic theory-land, far away from real America, where they've never experienced a real job or struggled to build a career or business. Vestiges of the old economy do remain and what is worth saving should be salvaged, the rest left for the junk heap of days gone by. Facing the reality of most people, this is where we are as a country.
Therefore, let it crash of it's own accord, instead of endlessly trying to prop up markets and employment in some morbid morality play. Tip toeing among the ruins with half baked plans to rebuild roads, airports, railroads and bridges, the infrastructure of an old economy, is whiffing at the vapor of leaded gasoline and like an old Plymouth, going nowhere and a real bad buzz. Far better to flint sparking the engines of a new economy. Fuel for high speed communications and information, water purification systems, energy efficient buildings and modes of transportation, health facilities and so on. Encourage scientific and technical innovations and medical research by returning to real education and academic endeavors. That will bring meaningful employment. Enough of this fluff and buff stuff.
We certainly have an infrastructure problem but public works projects of the old order won't fix it. The real infrastructure problem is the bureaucratic regulators of the economy and the infrastructure they've created around their fiefdoms of power. We must push aside anyone who is a stumbling block, hanging onto old facades and get on with it.
What infrastructure, economic and physical, that remains should be maintained in the most cost-effective, efficient and best possible way to function alongside as we rebuild our economy and build new systems. To waste money, time and energy restoring them to what they once were is sheer stupidity. They are now merely ropes and rails to hang onto, utilize and keep functioning until they fade into the background as new ones come into the foreground in the next 5-10-15 years.
This is going to be a long rebuilding process and it will be difficult. Nothing about it or life is fair, the challenge is great, but the other options are not acceptable, economies that are roads to nowhere. We won't burn, we won't die, we will suffer, we will have to work hard. We are after all, Americans, and enough of us have what it takes, even in spite of those who don't, to get to where we need to go. First, we need to own up that we've fallen in a deep hole and it will take gumption, not government programs and intervention, to get ourselves out of it.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Bob Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsHAW2fBHdQ
8/29/10
Quote of The Day: The Washington Post
Fed's capacity to stimulate economy limited...
The answers lie not in kick-starting old engines of growth such as housing and consumer spending. Instead the challenge is to identify and invest in new opportunities and equip the American people -- through education, tax reform and entitlement reform -- to take advantage of them. This is a much harder job, one that will require the concerted attention of public and private sector leaders, at federal and state levels, over many years. Mr. Bernanke can help by keeping the economy functioning in the meantime. But Fed policy is no substitute for a reshaping of the economy.
The Washington Post
"Fed's capacity to stimulate economy limited"
08/28/10
The answers lie not in kick-starting old engines of growth such as housing and consumer spending. Instead the challenge is to identify and invest in new opportunities and equip the American people -- through education, tax reform and entitlement reform -- to take advantage of them. This is a much harder job, one that will require the concerted attention of public and private sector leaders, at federal and state levels, over many years. Mr. Bernanke can help by keeping the economy functioning in the meantime. But Fed policy is no substitute for a reshaping of the economy.
The Washington Post
"Fed's capacity to stimulate economy limited"
08/28/10
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