Happy New (Blog) Year
Today is the first day of the tenth year of this web log. You are reading the words of a proud papa. This blog began in the relatively early days of web logs, has passed through rumors of the demise of blogs as a major force, and come into the days when web logs have had surprising resiliency. Whether blogs will continue to be important in the days of "smart" phones and Internet wrist watches or whatever else comes down the pike from Silicon Valley, remains to be seen.
For now, it is an honor and a privilege to have a world-wide audience in such exciting, albeit often perilous, times. It is clear the world is yearning, even groaning for change. People want the deeper kind of change. This is what they wanted from the current U.S. President as he ran for office in 2008. They did not want a Pacific trade bill, fast-tracking jobs to other countries. Of course, I'm all for jobs for people everywhere! But not at the expense of a living wage. Needless to say, if good-paying jobs in one country are destroyed, there is no justice in that. That is the pain and agony in America now.
For, once there were fairly plentiful good jobs for those willing to work, especially in industries with unions. Today, union membership is said to be at 11.1%, down .02% from 2013. Clearly union membership is very low, and weakening, as of the recent statistics.*
The United States will not fare well in any way with such low union membership. Barring some sort of major revolution, unions must be strengthened if the economy is to be strengthened. For, a workforce without money to spend only depresses the economy.
Today is the first day of the tenth year of this web log. You are reading the words of a proud papa. This blog began in the relatively early days of web logs, has passed through rumors of the demise of blogs as a major force, and come into the days when web logs have had surprising resiliency. Whether blogs will continue to be important in the days of "smart" phones and Internet wrist watches or whatever else comes down the pike from Silicon Valley, remains to be seen.
For now, it is an honor and a privilege to have a world-wide audience in such exciting, albeit often perilous, times. It is clear the world is yearning, even groaning for change. People want the deeper kind of change. This is what they wanted from the current U.S. President as he ran for office in 2008. They did not want a Pacific trade bill, fast-tracking jobs to other countries. Of course, I'm all for jobs for people everywhere! But not at the expense of a living wage. Needless to say, if good-paying jobs in one country are destroyed, there is no justice in that. That is the pain and agony in America now.
For, once there were fairly plentiful good jobs for those willing to work, especially in industries with unions. Today, union membership is said to be at 11.1%, down .02% from 2013. Clearly union membership is very low, and weakening, as of the recent statistics.*
The United States will not fare well in any way with such low union membership. Barring some sort of major revolution, unions must be strengthened if the economy is to be strengthened. For, a workforce without money to spend only depresses the economy.
*************
The coming year promises to be filled with surprises. One hopes for greater clarity of thought and action than what we have seen recently. As the writer of this blog, I hope for greater clarity of thought as I think and write from this happy vantage point.
So, Happy New Blog Year to you and yours.
*Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web headline, Google, accessed May 29, 2015.
The most important public event of our times, the destruction of September 11, 2001, occurred less than five years before the start of this web log. Please see a new link I have posted to a film called "Loose Change. Second Edition." It is of utmost importance we understand what actually happened on that fateful day, not what we were told by Administration sources and the media. (Remember, George W. Bush was not elected by the people, but put in office by Supreme Court fiat.)
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