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Income Gaps

7/28/2021

According to one study the typical CEO made 21 times as much money as the typical worker in 1965, 61 times in 1989, 293 times in 2018, and 320 times in 2019.

This has happened before according to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Hoard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. Back then people became angry at the income disparity. Some politicians like Roosevelt and Taft had the integrity and courage to fight their own party and take action to remedy the economic disparities. The resultant reforms broke the monopolistic control of the super-rich.

Could that happen now? While the situation today is similar, the circumstances are not. There still are politicians of integrity, but very few. And now we have something that has enabled a vocal few to tear the cloth of honor that has previously held our country together. Social media. These days there is instant retaliation against someone deviating from party doctrine, a doctrine with close ties to the wealthy few, primarily on the Republican side but not exclusively.

I also think, like most problems, this search for wealth has two sides, and I think we have to be very careful what we wish for.

Because I’m not at all opposed to someone accumulating wealth.

Because that leads to the creation of jobs. And that benefits people like me.

There was a time in my life when I thought I wanted to have my own business, and a college friend and I even discussed it. But I recognized almost immediately that it wasn’t for me. I needed the security of a steady job that allowed me to do work I loved and support a family I loved.

I was able to have what I wanted because there were others who thought big. Our history has been filled with ingenious and adventurous individuals willing to assume the risk of building the structure to succeed in all sorts of areas from manufacturing to higher education. And, as a result, jobs are created. I think such innovators should be rewarded handsomely.

I have great respect for these individuals. I’m in awe of what it takes to have an idea, do what is necessary to bring it to fruition, and then build and run a viable business.

But my respect has limits.

I do not respect those innovators who are successful, but then whose seemingly insatiable passion for more and more money drives them relentlessly to pursue ever-increasing wealth. Especially if they offer insufficient wages for the people actually carrying out the work on which their wealth depends. Or if profits soar because proper safety measures are absent and dangerous work environments follow.

Another executive I don’t respect is the professional CEO who hops from company to company demanding ever increasing compensation many hundreds of times larger than those working at the bottom levels.

I have a friend who did it right. He had the guts to form and lead a company whose output he developed and thoroughly understood. He did very well, sold his organization, and now lives a comfortable life. I don’t begrudge him a penny. And I admire what he now is doing, using his time and his talent and his circumstances to create a positive impact on the world.

In summary, I admire the innovators. They make the jobs for the rest of us. We could not exist or advance as a nation without them. They should be encouraged.

And I admire the workers at the bottom levels of organizations for toiling days and weeks and months and years to support their families.

Big compensation for the innovators is only fair. Unlimited compensation is not.

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How Important Is Winning?

7/21/2021

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To some people winning is everything. That’s essentially what a famous football coach, whose name I forget, said. I think many athletes feel this way. I believe there’s something about the competitive spirit that demands it. But others also have the attitude. To some it’s a matter of pride, it being a sign of weakness if one comes in second. I think such individuals may have an insecurity issue.

I started to consider this one evening when I was walking my dog. We came to a cross street that featured a four-way stop. I got to the corner and was ready to venture forth. Simultaneously a car approached going the same direction, and it was clear after it had stopped that it intended to turn left, passing over where I would walk. Which of us should take priority and which yield? Neither of us felt threatened about being outwitted so we each motioned the other to go ahead. Finally, he rode on with a wave of thanks.

In contrast, while driving I often have approached four-way stops, arriving slightly ahead of another car, but that car took off even as I was stopping and he was not. My reaction almost always is, so what, and I’m glad I didn’t assert my right which could have led to problems.

As another example, there was a guy in front of me in the grocery store checkout line who suddenly left, I suppose to retrieve a forgotten item. I moved up. Then he returned and demanded his place back. Completely inappropriate, but he was insistent. My mentioning his leaving allowed me to advance stirred him not a whit. He was a nasty guy, and I could see his wife was mortified by his behavior. I figured what the heck, and allowed him back in. Not being completely mature I asked him, “Do you feel better?” Slightly taken aback, he gave it one second of thought and declared, “Yes I do.” I said, “I’m glad.”

My point in all this, as I’m sure you realize, is that some things just aren’t worth fighting about.

And some things are.

Things, for example, that affect your family, your finances, your health, your safety.

The trick is to separate the two categories, and that is not always easy. Especially when there seems to be something inherent in humans that makes us want to retaliate when taken advantage of. In this age of such a large percentage of Americans carrying guns with little training and less emotional control, it’s a great time to not insist on winning in the traditional sense. Continuing to live is a huge win.

But even dealing with more sane antagonists, the decision must be made as to whether a win is really that important. I think, more often than one might have imagined, it is not.

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Please Let There Be More

7/14/2021

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“When Trump leaves office, he’s going to jail.”

Many of my Democratic friends adopted this mantra over the last couple of years. Recently it seemed their prayers might be answered as prosecutors prepared to announce an indictment.

While I would have nothing against rejoicing in such an outcome, I’ve never believed jail would ever come to pass, and I still don’t.

For one reason, our villain has enough money, ill-gotten or not, to hire high priced lawyers who will try an unending sequence of tricks to protect him. As well as highly placed immoral shakers and movers who will work toward the same goal. As well as possessing a sharply honed ability to lie and lie and lie.

It seemed that the indictment itself was a mockery of our hopes. The Trump Organization’s Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, was accused of avoiding taxes on $1,700,000. Trump wasn’t even mentioned!

Nevertheless, many were elated when the Manhattan District Attorney announced the indictment. Why? I think it was just the hope against hope that finally, after five years of Trump venom, this somehow or other will bring him to task for his vulgarity and threats to our country’s government, environment, and well-being.

I couldn’t understand how it could. Frankly, I was shocked when the indictment was released. No Trump. A measly 1.7 million dollars.

Now, don’t get me wrong. If someone wanted to give me 1.7 million dollars I would accept gladly and think that was quite a bit of money. But, where the Trump organization lives, that’s peanuts. And, like I said, it didn’t even involve Trump, just one of his lackies. An important one, I grant you, but still not the main man.

One of the Trump organization lawyers said that, if the organization had had a different name, the charges would never have been leveled. I don’t want that to be the thought that floats through the media, but I can’t help but recognize some validity in the statement.

I also realize I’m no lawyer, and do not fully understand what it all means.

My subsequent reading has both highlighted my lack of legal understanding and restored some hope.

They, the so-called expert talking heads, not the actual prosecutors, say this may be just the beginning. That these are typical prosecutorial approaches, first steps that start out small but lead ever closer to the real goal.

They say charging the Trump Organization’s CFO, and hence causing the threat of prison to loom for him, may inspire him to turn on Trump in order to reach a deal. I hope that’s true but I’m not at all sure. This man has been with Trump for decades. He has learned lying from the master. There will be huge amounts of money behind him. We know he has low moral character if the charges leveled against him are true.

Nevertheless, I’ll wait and hope.

But suppose Donald Trump actually winds up in jail. Will that change his followers any, or will they transfer their allegiance to one of the many who have learned at the feet of the Great Manipulator how to destroy the country for their own advancement?

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How We Measure

7/7/2021

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12 inches equal 1 foot.
3 feet equal 1 yard,
22 yards equal 1 chain
10 chains equal 1 furlong
8 furlongs or 5280 feet equal 1 mile
3 miles equal 1 league

Some of the above are old friends and others distant memories one was forced to learn early on in school.

10 millimeters equal 1 centimeter
10 centimeters equal 1 decimeter
10 decimeters equal 1 meter
10 meters equal 1 dekameter
10 dekameters equal 1 hectometer
10 hectometers equal 1 kilometer

This is the system of measurements, the metric system, learned in every country but three: Myanmar (the old Burma and the one currently suffering from a violent coup), Liberia, and—drum roll—the United States. Of the above two systems, which string of numbers seems easier to remember: 12, 3, 22, 10, 8, 3 or 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10? Which number is easier to multiply or divide by, 12 or 10?

There are other types of measurements. Consider volume for example: pints, quarts, and gallons in one system. Milliliters, centiliters, deciliters, liters, dekaliter, hectoliter, kiloliter in another. Notice the leads of this latter string of words are the same as the leads in the distance units. The latter list also resides in the metric system. The former list, along with the lengths discussed earlier and still more types of measurement, are a part of what is called the imperial system. That’s because it originated in the British Empire, but somehow the name seems proper because of our country’s typical superior feeling that whatever we do must be right.

The world of science employs the metric system almost exclusively. It has the advantage of both ease of use and making us compatible with the rest of the world.

I remember in an early required physics course the instructor forced us to become familiar with all aspects of the metric system. I found it difficult. Why? I’m supposed to have a scientific mind and the metric system is supposed to be easier. I attribute it to the fact that I grew up with the imperial system and by college time it was so imprinted in my mind that it was difficult to shake.

I also think that’s why our country is so reluctant to switch. The people who would make such a decision grew up imperial (no irony intended here) and therefore don’t see the need for change. Switching will take an act of courage, and the country won’t feel comfortable with the metric system until children grow up with it.

Some try to make a start. The Sunday comics in my local paper has a section called “Just for Kids,” so, of course, I read it. It gives all measurements in metric with a parenthesized imperial equivalent. Seems like a good way to learn.

So were highway signs that listed speed limits in both miles per hour and kilometers per hour. But they disappeared. I’m not sure why, but I can make a guess.

I think it’s becoming political. No one is going to change the way WE do things! After all, everything is a “constitutional” issue now. Not going to have those “kilometer” words polluting our highways.

So we still have not made the change years after other countries, including the United Kingdom which spawned the imperial system, have. Even after much of manufacturing and service jobs have switched. Even after President George H. W. Bush on July 25, 1991 issued an Executive Order mandating transition to the metric system for federal agencies. Even though U. S. law requires its use.

You can see how far we haven’t come along this road.

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Income Gaps

How Important Is Winning?

Please Let There Be More

How We Measure

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