Born on the Fourth of July

 Happy birthday, America.

I've been sitting here this morning considering how you seem to have changed since I was a kid. I finally arrived at a startling conclusion: you have not changed one iota. You still stand for freedom; your high ideals and aspirations are intact. It is we who have changed—we, the people.

We took you for granted, assumed you'd always be strong enough to weather any storm. Even if we slacked a bit, we figured someone else would batten down the hatches while we sheltered 'neath your umbrella. Yeah, we could sit back and munch on chips and dip, maybe quaff down a few Buds while someone else did the hard work of keeping America strong.

Today we hear a lot of talk about "emerging nations." We chafe a bit when they're mentioned, harbor more than our share of resentment and tend to vent a lot of steam over the fact that they have been the beneficiaries of our outsourced economy. They're hungry, willing to work for less. We can't begin to compete.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Fact is, as an elder generation who survived the Great Depression fades from memory, we—"the people"—have forgotten what it means to be hungry. We grew up with plenty on the table and have always assumed the bounty was simply there for the taking with relatively little effort on our part. We have tried to ensure that our kids, too, want for nothing. We have handed them all the bits of fluff and fripperies they've demanded simply because the neighbors' kids were rollin' in fluff.

Like us, our little darlings have never been hungry. They have never had to really "want." They have never known a life where blessings were earned by working their butts off to make it happen. They have never really understood what a blessing it is to have a school to attend. They're too busy trying to cut class to care. As parents, maybe we've been too caught up in our own narcissistic agendas to really care much, either. Is it any wonder our kids are more concerned with really important stuff? You know...really important stuff, like what Snooki on Jersey Shore will be up to next.

Suddenly, America, our economy has taken a serious smack-down. We've been startled from our complacency. It's like we woke up and realized that most of us have forgotten what it means to sacrifice. And some of us have never grasped the concept at all. Not really. Now we fear there are simply too many of us crammed under the umbrella while too few are left out there weathering the storm, keeping America strong.

However, maybe—just maybe—it's not too late. Our first priority must be to make education a priority. We absolutely must instill a sense of appreciation in our children for the blessings they have taken for granted every day they're sent to a school and forced to open a book to study. Believe me, parents and their kids in "emerging nations" would never take the opportunity for an education for granted.

We need to have our kids turn off Jersey Shore and spend more time studying the impact global warming may have on the Jersey shore. Our kids need to know that they can't be rollin' in the fluff if they have done absolutely nothing to deserve it because there are plenty of people around the world who are more than happy to make the most of our apathy.

"Emerging nations" already understand what is at stake here. They appreciate where their priorities must lie. They're hungry, willing to work for less. They're willing to compete.

But are we—the people?

~ Robin

PS: Sorry I won't be able to celebrate your birthday today like I'd like. I have to work for a living. Thank God. :-)

Birth of Democracy: The Blood and the Beauty

As events in the Middle East have ignited, spread like a wildfire over the past two months—and with no end in sight—it has become practically impossible to not reflect on the region and what impetuses may have provided catalyst to such a sudden, stunning conflagration being felt in greater and lesser degrees of magnitude across an entire region.

That's a lot of words to simply say, "What in the heck is going on over there?"

I'm not a politician. I'm not a historian. I'm not a sociologist... and I'm probably not qualified to even form an opinion. However, when each and every day brings headlines of yet another country confronted with protesters (today it's Oman), one can't help but try to connect the dots between seemingly random city squares across the map in an effort to form some semblance of order from the chaos, to see the bigger picture.

Perhaps guilty of a typical, USA-centric mindset, my first reaction was to wonder, "Okay, what did we do now?" I mean, somehow this must be all our fault, right? We Americans can't seem to resist meddling in foreign affairs—particularly when there may be some fiscal advantage. I think we can all agree that in a region sitting atop such vast oil reserves, that particular eight hundred pound gorilla is a likely suspect.

For decades the U.S.A. has poured billions and billions of dollars into North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula in an effort to "maintain stability in the region." We like stability. It's kinda like strapping the victim to the gurney so he can't thrash around too much while we stick the needle in and drain his life blood—oil—away. I suspect we have quietly condoned and even promoted an assortment of autocratic, dictatorial leaders who are willing to subjugate and impoverish their people in exchange for long term power and untold personal wealth.

In fact, that measure of stability has been so effective that entire populations of people have not been permitted to evolve, to grow and prosper along with more progressive, industrialized communities of mankind.

Then along came the information age. I suppose if we have been, even in part, guilty for enabling the stagnation, for the suppression of volatility in the Middle East which may have prevented their people from divesting themselves of tyrannical regimes decades ago, then perhaps we can be forgiven if we also take a measure of the credit for advancing the demise of those same regimes through innovations that provide greater accessibility to information and ideas. The digital communication technologies we enjoy today actually have their origins in the nineteenth century with the American invention of the electromechanical telegraph and its ability to connect people across great distances.

I wonder if today’s Internet may ultimately be recognized by history as democracy's greatest tool in the twenty-first century. Unrestricted access to the World Wide Web has empowered people around the globe without consideration or bias to gender, age, ethnicity, religion or politics. We all have been given a voice, a platform, equal opportunity for self expression—the means to connect. Once experienced in the virtual world, that access to equality is bound to be reflected in people's desire for democratic reforms that can be measured and treasured in their day-to-day lives.

So, what in the heck is going on over there?

We are witnesses to the laborious, painful, bloody, beautiful birth of democracies. And if I can beg your pardon for feeling just USA-centric enough to accept a twinge of guilt and a share of the responsibility, at least I can hope they have our eyes... eyes with which to see their potential and their purpose, eyes to seek their own unique vision for their future.

~ Robin

Wisconsin: The Little Ripple in a Big Pond

Since I posted my last entry, I've done a bit of soul-searching. I've wondered what it is about the Wisconsin governor's battle with his state's teachers' union that has pushed me—a card-caring, bleeding-heart liberal—over to the dark side. I've received some feedback from a fellow liberal entreating me to try and see the "big picture," the ripple effect that could impact labor unions around the country if the Wisconsin legislature is able to strip away its public sector unions' bargaining rights.

I replied that sometimes the big picture needs closer inspection.

Last August, the headlines out of Wisconsin read a bit differently: "Teacher's union fights for Viagra".

To put this in its historic perspective, last August our country was still reeling from one of the worst recessions in its history. The national unemployment rate was at 9.6%. Thousands upon thousands of private sector jobs—union and non-union jobs alike—had disappeared. From auto workers to iron workers, concessions had been made, yet private industry had been forced to slash their cost to the bone in an effort to simply survive in the bleak economic landscape.

For several years, families around the country had been forced to bear substantially more of the burden in the cost of their health insurance. They had cut their coverage or had been forced to give up their insurance entirely as the cost continued to spiral higher and higher and....

And here comes the Wisconsin teachers' union suing for their Viagra coverage. Really? This is how they chose to use their collective bargaining power? Really? Three months before the elections when taxpayers around the country would vote in a landslide for fiscal conservatives to manage their state budgets, the public sector unions couldn't read the writing on the wall—had absolutely no empathy for the financial hardships taxpayers had been suffering for several years? All this arrogance piled on top of the fact that the unions continue to shelter weak, ineffective teachers is the proverbial straw and a camel's back for many.

I hope—believe—this ongoing crisis in Wisconsin has served as a wake-up call to public sector unions around the country. Unfortunately, I fear it may be too late for some.

 

Now, about that "big picture": this isn't just about the ripple effect that could be felt in labor unions around our country. This isn't even just about us...the U.S. I've written about the impact our global connectedness has had on the economies around the world. Ever since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the western world has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. Today, however, as products are increasingly manufactured and traded around the globe with scant regard for borders, competition is keen. In the "big picture" we're going to feel some pain in the pocketbook until our economies and our populations begin to achieve equilibrium.

Take a look at today's headlines—from Wisconsin, to Tunisia, to Egypt, to China, to Libya, to Bahrain—on and on, people around the globe are impacted as they either struggle to escape abject poverty or keep the wages and benefits they've enjoyed for so long. Ultimately, the little ripple in Wisconsin is just part of a larger wave sweeping the globe. 

~ Robin

The Key to Golden Handuffs

I don't belong to a union, never have. I'd like to. Who wouldn't? In particular, they call union, public sector jobs "golden handcuffs" for a reason. In addition to the impressive wages, pension and insurance, I'd like to have that kind of security. I'd like to know that it's practically impossible to fire me... even when my work, over time, has become apathetic at best.

I have a very close friend who was, until recently, the president of our public school board for nearly a decade. He and I have spent a great deal of time discussing the issue of teachers' benefit and wage packages, their union and how it impacts our schools' budgets. I live in Michigan, the home of the UAW—a force to be reckoned with in a state where the car is king. But according to my friend, even the auto workers' union is a pushover compared to the power behind the teachers' union.

I believe there's a reason for that: we love our children.

We love our children so much, we've been willing to concede whatever it takes to ensure they have the best education our tax dollars can buy. Even when our nation's economy teetered on the verge of another great depression, even when Michigan's auto industry suffered a near-catastrophic collapse, even when our small manufacturing jobs were outsourced and the cost of our health insurance coverage would leap by twenty percent per year...even then, we loved our children enough to fight to fund our public school systems.

A recent Chrysler commercial had it right; Detroit has been to hell and back. In fact, I would argue that Michigan has been to hell and back. And through it all, we have done our damnedest to ensure our children's educations weren't compromised.

But have you seen their spelling, lately?

I have no problem continuing to meet the teachers' union demands, IF they would agree that we have the right to hold each and every one of their members to a certain standard, to a higher standard. If it takes busting their unions in order to accomplish that, then we should all grab the closest sledge hammer and start chipping away.

We love our children enough to finally, finally, insist that teachers' unions stop holding our kids' educations hostage to their wage and benefit demands while collective and individual accountability is so utterly lacking.

Call it "tough love" if you will, but I, for one, love our children enough to take those golden handcuffs, and set our teachers free.  

~ Robin

The Internet and a New World Order: Part II

On September 28, 2009, I wrote "The Internet and a New World Order." In that entry, I talked about the global economy. I described the Pandora's Box we had opened and how isolationism and protectionism were no longer viable, sustainable options. I saw people around the world in a state of flux as we collectively jostle and shift to find a more comfortable position while on our path to achieving equilibrium. The global economic landscape is no longer a scene of soaring peaks and gaping chasms.

The line graph which illustrated the sharp divides where one or two countries held all the advantages while other nations seemed destined scuffle and struggle, to snatch at what scraps fell from the bounty that remained just out their reach, is quickly becoming obsolete. Instead, we're much more fluid. The landscape undulates, rolls, is no longer static, the status quo—constantly shifting. Innovation, invention, competition and adaptability increasingly determines who can ride the wave with some measure of success.

In that article, I also wrote about the Internet and its impact, influence being felt around the world. Societies which allow their people free and unbiased access to the Internet have given them the ability to perceive the global standard of living. In doing so they, perhaps unwittingly, challenge their citizens to  recognize their own potential.  Ironically, they have also helped their populations to define their—often government controlled—limitations.

In a democracy there is an established framework which allows its people a means to adapt to eccentricities and opportunities in the marketplace. In an autocracy, such as we have just witnessed in Egypt, the populace will begin to chafe against a regime which stifles and constrains their options.

It's certain that governments around the world are taking note of the role the Internet and social networking played in the recent uprisings in Iran, Tunisia and Egypt. Unfortunately, some administrations will recognize the potential danger this could mean to their own authority and act decisively to increase their control over unrestricted access to the world wide web by their people. North Korea has already taken this tactic to the extreme, and as a result their citizens live in very grim conditions, virtually cut off from the outside world.

In some countries, I suspect we are about to witness a radical shift in policies regarding Internet access. They may try to slam shut the lid, but—too late—the pitfalls and the possibilities found in the Pandora's Box of our global connectedness are already loose upon the world.  

~ Robin

Al Jazeera News IS the News

In the wake of recent events, first in Iran and Tunisia and now in Egypt, we have all witnessed how access to social media has had the ability to inspire and organize large populations of people. Once the movement has achieved a certain momentum, as it had in Egypt, removing easy access to the Internet and mobile phone service has had little or no impact on reversing the passionate uprising.

Despite the Egyptian government's attempt to staunch the flow of information and communication in and out of the country, news via satellite feeds has been disseminated relatively unhampered, and news bureaus on the ground in that country have been able to bring events to the world's attention. Like many Americans, I've watched coverage on our indigenous, traditional networks such as CNN and NBC. I've also been following Twitter closely.

Many of my friends don't *get* Twitter, don't understand its potential or utilize its unique abilities to interface with the world. Although I rarely "tweet," I do follow many news agencies—local, national and international forums which are able to report on current events via their tweets almost instantaneously. Twitter is an amazing tool and a huge time-saving platform for sifting through information gathered from around the world on any topic you care to pursue.

While following the various hashtags relaying updates from Egypt—#Egypt, #Jan25, #Cairo, etc.—I repeatedly saw links to Al Jazeera English TV Network which was providing live, streaming webcasts from Egypt.

I'll confess, I was hesitant to watch the Al Jazeera broadcast because I expected to hear...oh, I don't know, a very conservative Arab-world view of events. I was a bigot, and in hindsight, I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed because when curiosity did finally overcome my fear of the unknown and I clicked on a link to the AJ English webcast, I discovered that their WORLD CLASS coverage of events in Cairo, Alexandria and throughout Egypt was not what I'd imagined it would be, at all.

The around-the-clock news Al Jazeera provides has been absolutely phenomenal—so far beyond the efforts of CNN to be a bit humiliating to my sense of nationalism. All of my preconceived notions about the Arab news bureau (based in Qatar) have been thoroughly trashed. And good riddance, I say!

When I woke on Sunday morning to hear that the Egyptian government had ordered Al Jazeera to stop broadcasting, I was absolutely sick at heart. By that time, AJ English had earned a prominent location on my bookmark's toolbar, and I'd been watching most news out of Egypt from my computer, almost to the complete exclusion of the TV coverage. However, a quick click on their link reassured me that, no, they had NOT stopped broadcasting. They rerouted their satellite signal and are currently defying the order. At this time they continue bring news from inside Egypt to the world.

Twitter has done something absolutely amazing. Twitter has brought Al Jazeera to the attention of a world-wide audience—even to the attention of viewers in the United States! Ordinary Americans, people who, like me, had never expected to appreciate an Arab news agency have discovered an absolute gem.

Suddenly, Al Jazeera isn't simply reporting the news, they are the news! In the past twenty-four hours I have read several articles and innumerable "tweets," about people wanting—demanding—their cable or satellite providers begin to carry Al Jazeera. Here's just one example.

I have saved a link to Al Jazeera's steaming webcast—the best—for last. Don't be the last to discover their professional, world-class journalism.

~ Robin

UPDATE: Al Jazeera reports today that even though many of their cameras and other equipment have been confiscated by the Egyptian government and six of their journalists have been arrested (they've since been released), they will continue to provide their special coverage from Egypt as long as possible.

R.

After the Long Drought... Jobs?

The impact of the Great Recession is still being felt around the globe as volatility in the marketplace and high unemployment continues to drag at our morale and the economy. In the United States, the American worker has seen many jobs outsourced and wages and benefits for the jobs that do remain, slashed.

Part of this has been a long time coming. As we boldly moved into a global economy where goods and materials are traded back and forth across the world's oceans with scant regard for borders, there was bound to be a great disparity between what workers were willing to tolerate in compensation for a day's labor—at least initially. However, as employees in countries like China begin to demand a better quality of life and workers in the United States are forced to downgrade their own expectations, we have begun to achieve equilibrium. Eventually, trade will be more competitively priced and quality will become the selling point. Even now, China finds its factories vying to obtain the most competent work force.

During the recent recession, very few people felt entirely secure in their jobs. Like a surgeon ruthlessly cutting away diseased tissue in order to preserve the vital organs, employers saw to it that all non-essential jobs were eliminated. Grateful to still have a job, the remaining work force was willing to have their wages and benefits chiseled to the bone, forgo a regular pay raise, and groan under the strain as the work load spread across fewer and fewer backs.

Apparently, these cost-cutting measures have reaped huge dividends. Today, economists say private industry in the U.S. is sitting on some $1.8 TRILLION in cash assets. Last week on CNBC, I listened to the CEO of shipping giant, UPS, discuss how, although business is booming, they aren't hiring to any extent because of their "increased productivity."

Many employers are milking the Great Recession for all it's worth, knowing their workers will keep their nose to the grind stone just as long as there is fear and uncertainty in the marketplace. Meanwhile, they are pocketing the proceeds.

"There's a hole in my bucket!"

Word is beginning to leak out that business is good. This may be easier to conceal in small mom-and-pop enterprises but harder to hide in large companies whose quarterly earnings are broadcast with relish in after-hours trading on Wall Street. Monday, hard on the heels of reports of its record earnings, FedEx announced it will reinstate 401k matching. So while they're not exactly hiring new employees, they are finding it more difficult to keep deep cost-cutting austerity measures intact when their employees see the evening news. "Better throw the dogs a bone...."

It's only a matter of time before, one by one, the leaks keep coming and the increasing number of holes in the bucket lead to a deluge.

In a harsh economic landscape, parched and withered after a long drought, evidence of our country's recovery is leaking out, and it's only a matter of time before jobs will begin to blossom from sea to shining sea.

~ Robin