A shaky foundation - Infrastructure built on the backs of the poor

For the past 20 years we've known there's a problem.  Bridges on the brink of toppling down, pothole infested roads and overcrowded freeways obsolete for the volume they handle from the day they open.

It's a problem of neglect.  One the pundits lay squarely on the backs of a gas tax that hasn't kept pace with inflation.  If only all those giant SUV's rumbling over the earth in the early part of the century had been paying another 5 cents a gallon there'd be no problem.

At least that's the argument.  One that proponents of raising the gas tax to fund public infrastructure find agreeable.  

On Sunday mornings I'm usually traveling over some of those very bridges and freeways that have benefited from public financing.  If I'm lucky I can catch the latest broadcast of the Intelligence squared debates.

This past week the topic was the gas tax with the advocates both for and against it. 

It's rare that I don't line up on one side or the other but this was one of those times.  
The arguments flew back and forth about the sorry state of the country's infrastructure.  That it's a sad state of affairs isn't in contention, the evidence isn't some abstraction it's physical.

What is in contention is how to pay for it.  Conservatives would rather see public funding go away entirely while liberal viewpoints contend that public infrastructure is one of the most basic of government functions.  

I didn't care the arguments of either side.  Not because I don't believe there isn't a problem, there is.  No it's another case of treating the symptom while ignoring the patient.

In this case the patient isn't roads and bridges it's the people being asked to pay to fix them.  

The problem with use taxes is that they weigh heaviest on those who can afford it least.  Sure a few extra bucks is nothing if fueling your ride has no more impact on your finances than your morning latte'.  Unfortunately we live in technologically advanced world dominated by backward thinking.

Dearly held beliefs like: no real work gets done unless it's in a cubicle or a fair wage should be dictated by business and not societal needs.  Even if the people you employ can't afford to buy any of your goods.

That's the disconnect.  The assumption that the answer to every problem involves heaping more suffering on those that can't afford it.  I've got a real problem with that even if the cause is just.  

It's just not realistic to accommodate every public project based on revenue streams that don't take into account the fortunes of those it would affect.   In discussions like these, however, it's always the same dire causation.  That being that funding hasn't kept up with inflation and the only fix is to make everybody pay more to fix the problem.

It drives me insane...

Public funding will NEVER keep up with inflation so long as the workaday Joe or Janet can't afford anything!  You know what else hasn't kept up with inflation?  Wages!  Back in 1988 I could afford a 1 bedroom apartment and keep 2 people safe and warm and dry on 15 grand a year with a car for each of them.  3 decades later you can still end up with that same wage with less than half the buying power.

It's an economic death spiral that far too many find themselves in when meager compensation forces them into the arms of a corrupt credit system just to make (inflationary adjusted) ends meet.  A system that by no accident enjoys a symbiotic relationship with financial interests whose fortunes are built on the hope of default and financial ruin of the powerless.

So when I hear the sad, sad tale of employers who claim they'd be put out of business if they had to pay a "living wage" I can hardly believe that anyone accepts their argument.  That being that paying the equivalent of a slave wage is not only necessary to the survival of their business but a core constituent of its success.

So long as that's the prevailing wisdom in this country there's no way that any discussion of the public good can't first address the inequity.  

Economic inequity is a root cause with many symptoms some of which show up in a crumbling infrastructure, high rates of credit default and sagging economies.  

Stop putting band aids on the economic equivalent of paper cuts and deal with the massive coronary that's going on.  

Taking the Human out of Human Resources

There's a lot of fear in the job market these days and most of it stems from a disturbing tendency of employers to treat candidates like some kind of trade-in at Honest Bob's car lot.  I'll give you some analogies (of course) to make my point a little more clear...

• I sell Trucks, they're trying to trade a motorcycle! - Does this person even fit the job?
• How many miles, Condition? - Are they too old or are they going to drive up my health insurance costs?
• What kind of options does it have? - Do they have all the skills and experience I need or do I have to train them?
• Show me the CarFax! - Anything in their past I can use to lowball the offer or exclude them entirely?
• Market value? - I want to get this guy/gal for as close to free as possible.

In the private sector it's no surprise.  In theory, removing intangibles and non-sequitur from the process should create a more level playing field.  It's also more efficient which plays well with the bean counters.

But it can go too far...

It's one thing to use objective criteria  to thin the herd but that's where its usefulness really ends.  We all understand that no employer wants to interview 100 burger flippers for a structural engineering job.  However, a potential candidate shouldn't be excluded by a process that's left to HR departments that have no idea of how to vet a potential hire.

We're coming back to the real point here. 

Today's work environment is frequently populated by underpaid and mostly disinterested workers.  There's no denying it in spite of the all the stock photos of happy faces populating the company HR page. 

We live in an age of stagnant wages, dwindling benefits and a slow erosion of worker rights.  Let's not forget the almost total lack of job security.  Even CEO's can't guarantee their tenure but then they've got a lot softer landing than the rest of us.

So don't expect a lot of that "personal touch."  You're just another resource to be evaluated, a commodity.

Which is a problem.

When you reduce talent to their lowest common denominator you end up missing a lot of important information to help you make a decision.

For example: A top notch engineer could be cut from consideration because of a bad credit record, a visible tattoo or if they happen to smoke.  HR pundits ( yes they exist) will offer up excuses like:

• A bad credit history reflects on a lack of responsibility. 
• Tattoo's cause issues with workplace culture
• Smokers drive up insurance costs and take too many breaks. 

None of them have anything to do with the quality of the candidate but more often than not they're used as screening factors.  The justifications are hollow but there's no point in challenging them.

It's the result of a process cut to the bone and borne out of a systematic devaluing of the Human in Human resources.  
The only advice given to the job seeker? 

Bend over...

Yeah, no big long flowery mental masturbation there.  That's the bottom line. 

Because you as the candidate have no value outside of the factors of a commodity you must focus on the irrelevant.

Look sharp, clean up your social profile, quit smoking, pay all your bills on time even if you're broke and without exception, never have been sick.

That's an awful lot of time spent on things that have nothing to do with your ability to actually DO the job.

Here's a posting for a VERY entry level job.  It's a good representation of what I've been talking about.

Flier Delivery (NOT door-to-door) Team Needed (East Valley, AZ)

FLIER DELIVERY TEAM NEEDED TO DELIVER TO EAST VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT SCHOOLS

What: Team (of 2) needed to drive to elementary & middle schools to deliver fliers for after school programs. (One driver & one delivery person per team)

What we are looking for in a delivery person: *GREAT personality a MUST! *Be able to effectively communicate with school secretaries *Must be able to present a clean cut look with business casual attire.

*No visible tattoos or body piercings
*Non-Smoker *Clean Background Check

What we are looking for in a driver: *RELIABLE transportation (with room for boxes) a MUST! *Proof of Insurance *Know the East Valley well! (especially school districts) *Clean Background Check *Clean Driving Record.

*Able to lift about 60 lbs.

Deliveries start right away! Hours will be Monday-Friday, approx 8am-4pm (when schools are open) We give preference to drivers with GPS or navigation systems.

This is NOT a sales position, but sales experience & driver). Driver & Delivery Person need to have a positive personality &
"personality" a ++. We offer $11/hour (per person) + mileage (for the professional attitude. 

Our Teams represent ***************of America to the schools, clubs, churches & districts that support our programs.

Some familiarity with *************** is WELCOMED

Ok , this is about as low on the totem pole as you can get but the takeaway is this: The same selection criteria is becoming commonplace regardless of industry or position.

Entry level jobs usually suck, that's a given but at some point along your career path you would expect to be given more consideration than some kid handing out colorful pieces of paper.

Sadly, you'd be wrong.

The reality of today's interview process is cold and impersonal.  You'll frequently hear catch phrases like, "Culture fit" and "Self Motivated" which translates to "anything we can legally discriminate against" and "doesn't ask a lot of questions."

It's only going to get worse before it gets better.  For now set the bar low and you might just survive it.

Just be sure that you can accept how employers see your value.  These days the demands of work will monopolize more of your time than family or friends and the higher up the food chain you go the worse it gets.

Remember, the price of potatoes is based on their current market value which can fluctuate with demand.

So, are you worth more than a potato?  You might be surprised.

The Pros and Cons of Phoenix... if you believe in stereotypes

I posted the following response to a YouTube video someone had put up about the "Pros and Cons of Phoenix."  I found it somewhat misleading and typical of the stereotypes you hear from people who really haven't spent much time here.  That the video was a glorified PowerPoint presentation with a voiceover didn't add to its credibility.

I'm the last person to defend the place and truth be told if finances allowed I'd rip up stakes in a heartbeat.  This state has been no friend to me but when I hear deliberate misinformation it annoys me to no end.  I've provided the video in question and my response to it.  If you really want to know what it's like to live in Phoenix, read the post that follows it.

My response:

"As someone who's lived in the Phoenix area since I was dragged here as a kid in 1971 I can say with authority that this video is somewhat lacking in content.

Let's start with all those great jobs she was talking about...I suppose if low wage jobs are your thing then jobs around Phoenix would seem plentiful.  I can tell you that for anything above flipping burgers the wages are absolute crap and so are the corporations that came here for just that reason.  Where do you think Michigan got it's ideas for union busting anyway?   

Cost of living may be lower than other places but so are the wages so it's not like everyone here can afford to just jump in the car and head to their luxurious cabin in Pinetop then take a jaunt over to the Canyon for some lunch.   The state's biggest employer is Wal-Mart so that should tell you something.  We used to have big companies here but most of them pulled out or scaled down in the 80's.  This state is only high tech if you think Best Buy is an indicator. 

 The majority of jobs are either retail or healthcare to take care of all those "snow birds."  Those wages are depressed compared to other places as well.  Want to be a teacher?  Try 35K a year to start and maybe you'll get to 45K if you stay for 10 years.   35K a year doesn't buy much of a house when median prices are 250K for anything but a shack in a bad neighborhood that's a bloody 2 hour commute with gas prices anywhere from $2.50 to $5.00 a gallon depending on who farted in Iraq today.  

Let's also not forget about our beloved Sheriff Joe whose corrupt administration has the feds and the ACLU setting up permanent offices just to keep an eye on him.  Socially and politically Arizona is the Mississippi of the Southwest.  We make Texas look progressive by comparison.  Nothing gets done around here unless there's a greased palm and plenty of photo ops for someone's coffee table book.  

But I digress...

The weather is what it is, it's a freaking desert you know.  You completely forgot to mention the monsoons which make it more humid but it does cool us off from July to September.  Late May through mid July are usually the hottest months.  What really irritates me though is that this city including all the other satellite cities that surround it has done absolutely nothing to combat sprawl.  The people with money here are the developers and they'll put up a 15 story office building just for the hell of it.  Then we got all of the refuges from California in the 90's and doubled the population.  

Now we have freeways that look like the 405 6 hours a day and even more competition for the few good paying jobs available. 

Traffic is bloody awful and the combination of Midwest and California drivers makes any trip an adventure.  Either they're going too fast, too slow or both while they babble on endlessly on their cellphones.  Traffic is bad everywhere but it's doubly so here because you never know what to expect depending on what part of the valley you're in.  It can take over an hour to get from Mesa to NW Phoenix on a Saturday evening.  

A trip of less than 50 miles on freeways with a 65MPH speed limit on a weekend day because of the equivalent of an early morning weekday rush hour at 5PM on a Saturday!  Let's not even talk about the elephant in the room.  The fact that 4 million people depend on a water source fought over by 4 states and the western half of the country is in a severe drought!  Are you people freaking nuts?  It's only a matter of time before the chamber of commerce has to admit that there's not enough water to sustain this many people. 

As for the people, yeah Scottsdale and the Biltmore area have their noses in the air like any wealthy zip code but there's far more zip codes that average less than 25K a year in wages meaning there's lots of places you don't walk to dog at night.  Most people are friendly enough on a superficial level but don't expect  much more than that.  People are usually very transient only sticking around a few years before bouncing off to the next new subdivision.  Everyone works very hard to keep up appearances even if they can't afford it.  That's what Phoenix is.  I don't know where this lady was living."

A new Year, an old injustice

Happy New Year!

At midnight the minimum wage went up a few cents in 20 or so states.  While the Federal minimum wage is still at $7.25 most states are within $1 of that figure.  In most cases, federal jobs excluded, the state wage supersedes the Federal. 

In Arizona, for example, the wage rose to $8.05 per hour on New Year's day 2015. 

It almost seems generous until you run the numbers....

The average minimum wage job will not offer full time hours (less than 35) to their workers due to employers unwilling to shoulder the additional burden of offering healthcare, overtime and other benefits afforded fulltime employment.

As such and assuming $7.25/hr Federal minimum wage the "technically" Part Time worker (which could be up to 34 hours) would be grossing $12,818 if they got 34 hours a week and worked 52 weeks of the year. 

After deductions that employee would be well under the current (for 2014) poverty line for a one person household of $11,670.  Even 40 hours would offer no reprieve after deductions for health care premiums and a higher tax rate would effectively lessen take home pay.

In 1985 I could live very well on just under 12 grand.  In 2014 I'm likely on public assistance, rely on emergency rooms for my healthcare and frequent the local food pantry to eat.  

Worse, I have a bevy of new regulations to sift through concerning mandated health insurance that I can't afford anyway.

So when I hear resistance from employers paying less than $9 an hour to their full time employees stating that an increased wage would force an increase in prices I'm literally gobsmacked.

The argument is basically this....

"We need to keep wages low and our workers in abject poverty in order to keep our prices down."

I've long been a proponent of a fair wage for a fair day's work and along with that paying what things really cost. 

But what I'm hearing is little more than institutionalized slavery rationalized by an economy based on consuming instead of value.  It's a society where WalMart is the standard and the advances of the last 100 years of labor law are looked on as an inconvenience perpetuated by evil unions.

We hear that minimum wage jobs are "entry level" and not meant to be permanent but gone are the days where they were the exclusive domain of teenagers looking for gas money.  Parents, senior citizens  and displaced professionals often find themselves competing for them simply because there isn't anything else.

What these employers don't realize is that paying a slave wage breeds slave economies that can no longer afford  their wares. 

The snake is eating itself...

These jobs are the last bastion of self-sufficiency for workers without any other opportunity.    

There's no further argument to be made when the opposition's rebuttal is grounded in inequity.  It's the same argument that led to the Southern states walking out of congress in 1861.  That being that the Southern economy could not survive without slave labor.

How is this argument any different other than its scope?  In this case an entire nation instead of a portion of it.

I can't accept the ridiculous or the unjust...enough said...

The real cost of living

I've been thinking about the price of things and the money it takes to buy them and I've made an obvious but as far as I can tell unrecognized connection.

It's said that the value of the U.S. dollar has been declining for years.  Go over to the Dollar Times inflation calculator (I have it bookmarked) and see for yourself.

As I've played around with it I've happened upon an interesting anomaly.  It appears that sometime around 1942 the value of the U.S. Dollar started declining steadily. This was almost a decade after FDR decided that gold was only useful for jewelry.  1942 was the first full year of the U.S. involvement in World War 2 so considering the economy was on a wartime footing it makes sense that the consumer economy was going to take a hit.  That's what happens when you actually try to pay for the wars you engage in.

What's strange is that it's a trend that's never stopped.  It leveled off for awhile during the "Great Recession of 2008" but continued its decline shortly after.  Most economists will tell you the only reason it didn't plunge further was due to government intervention and a lack of economic activity in general.

Look, economic babble aside, the  truth is that your buying power is continuously eroded over time and there's nothing you can do about it.

Regardless of your political affiliation or whether you care that the money in your pocket has been based on little more than good intentions (Fiat currency) for the past 4 decades the problem is self evident.   With apologies to Thomas Jefferson, the "rights " held self-evident have been little more than political marketing for the past century.

After all, even if it's worth less, it just feels good to have a million of something even if it only has the buying power of your kid's lunch money in a few years.

So if our money is worthless, why do we accept the excuse for higher prices being higher costs of production? 

Does that sound like a stupid question?  Then you're probably a stupid person. 

Sorry, but you were probably already chewing on the arm of your chair by now anyway...

What's really stupid is that we accept the fact that our money is worth less which naturally makes things cost more but don't give a second thought to how badly we're getting ripped off.

Let's go back to our Inflation calculator and stick in some numbers.  Say $40,000 which was a decent salary in 1985.  In fact it was a great salary and in 2013 dollars you could buy $87,217 worth of stuff. 

In little more than a generation our money has lost more than half its buying power.  Yet our wages are still based on those same 1985 numbers.  Somewhere, somebody in HR or accounting thinks that $40,000 will still let you buy a house, feed your family and save a few bucks for a rainy day.

It's perfectly acceptable to raise prices to compensate for a currency with declining value. It's only fair to charge more if it takes more money to produce the same item.

So how is it that demanding fair compensation for slowly killing your soul in some cloth covered cubicle suddenly makes you unreasonable? 

If everyone is getting what they need then everyone should be happy, right?

Thing is, very few of us are and the only relief we get are sound bites and token gestures from politicians crafted to quell the uproar till the next news cycle. 

It's the reason why politicians don't like to run on their records anymore and instead choose to act like bullies in a schoolyard.

It's not about rich versus poor or conservative versus liberal economics.  It's about expecting blood from a stone.  It's simple, if your money is worth less you have to have more of it just to maintain your standard of living.  A cost of living raise isn't a luxury it's a fact of life when you live in an unpredictable economy. 

I don't buy the big business wailing over minimum wage increases either.  If you can't afford to pay for the resources you need to conduct business then you don't know how to run your business.  It's exploitation, nothing less.

In fact, because business has gotten away with economic indentured servitude for half a century they've actually hurt themselves.  It's not the rich who keep the GM's, Chrysler's and Maytags in business.  It's the average Joe sitting in the morning commute 5 days a week.  If he can't buy your goods you're out of business. 

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. 

Why do we accept this? If the value of our money is based on good faith and that faith has been violated then why do we continue to accept the whole premise to start with?

I've often said that the oil companies can charge whatever they want for a gallon of gas just so long as everyone's wages are adjusted to compensate.  Charge $20 a gallon for all I care, just make sure the average income is in the six figure range. 

If it costs you that much to deliver the product then I should be able to meet that demand from the rewards of my labor.  Anything else is economic opportunism on the backs of labor.

In the end , most of us have ended up living one check away from financial ruin while the Suze Orman's of the world chide us for spending our meager resources too frivolously.  I know your heart's in the right place Suze but your understanding of economic theory borders on fantasy. 

Until the slow slide from employment to indentured servitude stops in the developed world we need to stop blaming ourselves for all the economic ills and personal financial woes. 

We need to demand that wages reflect the world we live in now, not the one our grandparents knew.  It's not unreasonable unless you sit in the executive suites counting the millions you steal from your employees every day you don't pay a wage based on what used to be called "the cost of living"

Friends it's simple.  the rich are getting richer not because they're smarter or luckier than us.  They're getting richer because they're benefitting from the fact that you're not getting paid what you're worth.

If you think I'm wrong, well, I can guarantee you're not worried about feeding your kids next month.

Think about it.

The Waiting

Have a good job?  Don't mind getting up early or going the extra mile now and then? Then I can understand why someone who  doesn't constantly search the want ads, hit up friends and relatives for leads and find more doors closed than open can regurgitate unkind words on a career forum.

There's a different mindset when things are going right compared to when they're not.  If everything's worked out for you it's hard to understand why all these people are whining about no jobs, ageism, abuse, and discrimination.

The times when things are going well can blind us to an uncertain future.  Most of us would rather not think about the possibility that things won't always be the same no matter how hard we try.  Perhaps the less fortunate have more insight than those who've never experienced real hardship in their lives. 

Never forget, there's always more people suffering in the world than not.  Remember that callous comment posters, we outnumber you.

To know how truly bad things can get allows you to appreciate how good things are. 

It also gives you compassion which is something sorely lacking in contemporary recruiting practices.  Resume scanning software, discrimination,  job boards full of spammed listings and recruiters more interested in punch lists than ability are just a few of the failings of the "new" way to find work.

Even if you're fortunate enough to navigate this minefield of uncertainty and land a job interview the contest doesn't end there.  Often you're left wondering and waiting for weeks, maybe months to hear something, anything about your starring performance.

We're told the wait isn't necessarily their fault.  Job interviews are a low priority in an otherwise busy day and depending on what's going on may postpone a decision for weeks.   It makes you wonder how much your contribution would really matter when you think of it.

Send a follow up email or letter, make a phone call, do anything to stay in the front of their mind you're told.  That's impossible and we know it.  Those who've sat on the other side of the interview table  more often than not ignore such overtures like spam in their junk email folder.

So we wait and as time passes become more dejected over our prospects.  We continue to apply and interview (if we're lucky) but in the end, we just wait.

The problem is real and the cause sits squarely in the lap of a corporate culture that treats the "Human Resource" as little more than cattle.  Selected, groomed and ultimately led to slaughter.

It's easy to advise we lost souls of the unemployed to seek alternatives like consulting or a home based business.  Hell, I got so tired of this sick game that I went out and actually took their advice and it worked for awhile.  Problem is, eventually most of your clients end up in the same boat you are.  A vicious circle is revealed.  If we help each other we can ultimately help ourselves but we, all of us, have lost our power.

We've lost it to the employer who hires illegal immigrants to avoid paying a fair wage or the corporation abusing H1B visas for the same reason.  We've lost it to offshore outsourcing and cheap products produced by laborers in faraway lands where worker's rights and safety are only of marginal concern.   

It's good for the bottom line but you, dear reader, are not part of it. 

Small businesses are usually made up of dedicated people offering a unique product or service found nowhere else.  In the past decade we've seen millions of them fail not because they did anything wrong but rather just the opposite. 

They did their jobs too well and found themselves driven out of business by a cheap pale imitation of their offerings.  Again, a vicious cycle.  If there are fewer small businesses there is less work spread among the now desperate independents that support them as they scrounge for every scrap.

So much for going into business for yourself.  Trust me, corporations don't hire anything but other corporations when they need something done.  I can guarantee "You.INC" isn't on their list unless you happen to be the only one in your field.

So what do we do? Revolt? How? we can't even afford the bullets. 

The only hope, try to be unique and offer something vital but impossible to replicate.  That's a tall order but unless you want to just accept the way things are, it's your only hope of rising above the morass of the job hunt. 

My final bit of advice, don't spend too much time commenting on the bad advice of headhunter columns.  Misery loves company and always travels in groups.  Offer something constructive, ignore the moronic comments of the uneducated and move on.