In Search of an Icon

As I watched Tim Tebow respond to reporters questions with ultimate class and sincerity after losing the SEC Championship to Alabama...I'm reminded of the deep human need to have a hero. I'm not a Florida fan, in any manner, Tebow is a good player and I appreciate his morals, however I have never understood the Tebow love shown by both fans and commentators. Tonight...for the first time I did.

It is human nature to always look for a hero. Sort of like how as children we would play with action figures, or dress up like super heros for halloween. We crave an idol, perhaps it gives us a sense of security, perhaps it gives us hope, perhaps it simply helps us believe that anything is possible. In this often dark world we live in, we need a Hercules to lift us up.

Unfortunately it seems the human idols of our world are slowly disappearing. Some may think this is a positive, since in this world of the 24 hour news cycle, everyone and everything is exposed. Perhaps. Perhaps it is a plus that people can't hide behind facades anymore and are eventually shown to be what they are, imperfect, flawed, human. But in reality what do we, as a struggling civilization, need the most...to know that Tiger Woods had affairs with numerous woman, or to be able to see him as a sort of super hero of our time. What helps us more? The truth or the hope? It is a hard line to draw.

Tebow is as loved as he is because he still maintains an aura of goodness around him. He is skilled, gracious and morally grounded....or at least that is what it seems for now. I hope he is able to maintain his stellar reputation, I hope more like him are able to rise up.

Humans need a hero. Each time one falls, so does our own sense of possibility and value.

“We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look. ”

- Ronald Reagan

Military vs. Civilian Trails Revisited

Very interesting document put together by Congressional Research Service. Very much clears up the distinctions and rights afforded to defendants in each one.

PDF document found HERE

(Courtesy of Secrecy News, a publication of the Federation of American Scientists, a great resource for intelligence and security news)

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Trash Day

WARNING: This post is unpolitical in nature, but heck, it is my blog and I can post whatever I want :o)

There is something very meditative about trash day. Call me crazy; but, for me trash day is Monday and it feels good. The trash men here come very early in the morning, right after I have returned home from my run. If I’m not too busy I like to watch as the different trucks drive by, the disgruntle men jumping off the back and throwing your waste, your burdens over their shoulders to take off somewhere else. It must be stressful being a trash man, dealing with everyone else’s junk.

Sunday night is sort of like a ceremony, a ritual. Separating the recycling, flatting out the boxes, gathering up everything in the house that could even be considered as trash, just to get it out, to start new. Sometimes, if it has been a particularly hard or stressful week, I will put the trash out first thing on Sunday morning, (I’m sure this doesn’t make the neighbors happy) it is just too much to deal with for one more day.

Once it is all out on the curb, out of my house, almost out of my life, I feel at peace. I know that it will be gone it the morning and I can start out the week anew.

Of course I’ll build up more trash as soon as that is picked up. Little slips of paper here and there or even bigger items that just have to go, but at least I know if I can make it through the week…………………

Last night I was thinking about it and I realized that in some of the most difficult times in my life I developed this almost obsessive habit of taking the trash out to the can every night, no matter how empty or full the bag was. It was like I was trying to get rid of something, but at the time I just didn’t know what.

I still do this now. When I am stressed I go through and toss and toss and toss, clean out my closet, throw out files, kick people out of my roladex. It is as if I'm on a frantic search to find what stinks in my life. Something rotten that was brought in and hidden by the dog or fell behind the stove.

I seem to become better at handling trash day as each year passes. Knowing what to throw out and what to keep is the hardest part of the chore. I know I have lost a lot that I now regret and kept a lot that I soon realized was trash.

I guess that is life. Sometimes a weed looks like a flower, sometimes lead looks like gold and sometimes trash looks like treasure.

There is something very meditative about trash day.

The Fallacy of a Higher Minimum Wage

Once when I was young I asked my father why we couldn't just print more money in order to help the poor people. He, being a brave man, attempted to proceed through an explanation of inflation that might be understandable to an eight year old. At that age I could not understand all the in's and out's of the process, but I still understood the basic concept. It is impossible to add something to one part of the economy without seeing effects elsewhere; any economic policy needs to be look at from a 'total picture' viewpoint instead of just as a stand alone subject.

Unfortunately, this quick fix idea is often touted by two types of policy makers:

a) Those who have no concept of consequences of actions (Obama Administration)

b) Those who advocate any policy which leads citizens to greater dependency on government and government programs (Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats).

Just as printing more money seems like a good idea, but doesn't work in real life, raising the minimum wage, as good as it sounds, just doesn’t measure up.

There are a couple of things that occur in the economy when the minimum wage goes up. The first one is the loss of jobs (using history as an example, this is not the way to raise up the working class). Ever Since the Congress mandated the Minimum Wage Commission of the 1980's the consensus average estimate has been that raising the minimum wage by 10% increases unemployment by 2%. This creates a raise to loss ratio of 5 to 1, not too bad until we look a little closer.

Not every worker makes the minimum wage, in fact recent studies have shown that only around 1/5 of the workforce are minimum wage earners. The unemployment effect will, therefore, be concentrated in this group of workers (one fifth of the total workforce), further increasing the loss of jobs in this group.

The truly devastating effect of a minimum wage increase occurs when you consider the ripple effect that it creates. It is not just the loss of a job, it is the loss of opportunity for these newly unemployed individuals that will continue to affect our economy long after the initial effects of the wage increase have subsided.

Minimum wage jobs are often thought of as learning jobs. They allow employers to feel more comfortable giving someone a chance that they might not have otherwise. The loss of total jobs might only be 2% for every 10% increase, but the loss of opportunity for those newly unemployed people is 100%. How will these people gain the skills necessary to make them more valuable employees? Case in point, before the minimum wage was applied to teenagers in 1956 the unemployment rate for black teenagers was the same or lower then that for white teens. After it was put into effect the black teenage unemployment rate skyrocketed. We can only imagine what the future became for those newly unemployed black teens. The same could be assumed to have occurred in the adult population as well.

Those workers that are able to stay employed do not face as bright a future either. They will either have their hours cut (therefore stopping them from earning a greater income), or non-wage benefits slashed. The higher skilled workers who were making close to what the new minimum wage is previously will not be happy either (with good reason since their skills have now been devalued). The whole domino effect falls on top of the employer.

Employers will face a few choices; raise prices, cut employees (thus cutting quality and service) or go out of business. How many small to medium business owners who already run their operations on a shoe string will be forced to close?

In the long run the only people who will truly benefit from this increase are the shameless politicians trying to show the poor voters that they care. If these poor people lose their jobs because of it, they will most likely blame their employer, not their policymaker.

A politicians dream: Appear as if you are helping out the ‘little people’ and then when they lose their job, promise them that if you stay in office you will do something about those greedy politicians and business owners who have ruined their lives.