Pre-Boomer Musings

Whatever happens with the climate debate should not detract from the opportunity low-cost, renewable energy brings to those who are willing to invest in its development.  In fact this could be the next big worldwide boom, not unlike the tech explosion at the end of the last century.  The question is who will commit the necessary funds and resources needed to jump-start R&D efforts without burdening American citizens with more government debt and potential tax increases?

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

First, we must consider the needs of the US.  We consume a disproportionate amount of the world’s oil production.  And, the countries with the greatest supply of this commodity are not particularly friendly toward America.  Withdrawal from oil dependency cannot and will not occur overnight, no matter how much we or the government wish for it.  We must find alternative fuels, but we must not put American industries behind the eight ball,  dramatically change the lives of our citizens or pile on more taxes for anyone. 

It is time to start drilling for oil wherever it can possibly be obtained – in the continental US, Alaska, off-shore and where our neighboring countries will make favorable deals.  This is only a stop-gap measure, but it gives us some breathing room while scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs and large or small corporations are free to come up with viable alternatives. 

The government’s role?  Stay out of the way!  Incentive can be tax credits and the offer of bonuses, sales rights and other rewards that pay for results not for simply “working” on the project.  The stakes are high, and the payoffs can be terrific, so why dole out money and have the government telling the creators what to do.  Give creative minds the opportunity to think outside the box, be bold and tap into that good old Yankee ingenuity.

Talk about funding Green jobs with stimulus monies makes little sense, because there is nothing to produce until we discover the alternate to fossil fuels.  Yes, build nuclear power plants, but don’t let the builders accrue uncontrolled cost overruns.  And before finalizing any contracts, bring in the unions and get some concessions for the good of all. 

Let the wind farms be built and grids established by bringing in the banks to partner with the municipalities who will benefit from the cost savings this form of energy offers.  Natural gas, clean coal, solar panels and yet to be determined energy sources all have a place in America, today.  Some of these may be short-term others provide long-range potential, but we need it all, right now.  The marketplace will decide which will succeed.

This opportunity is too important to restrict with a lot of government red tape.  The cream will rise to the top if we just allow Americans to do what we do best.  Create.  Once we have something that meets the energy needs of this country and it is renewable and affordable, our companies will be able to transport this technology to other countries.  The result will be a better energy sources, cost savings, more jobs for US workers and a cleaner planet.       

Tags: Government // Add Comment »

Histrionics outshined the topic of reform at the health care summit.  During the more than seven hours of this made-for-television event participants tried to strut their stuff.  Yet these efforts seemed to be directed toward fellow politicians rather than to those Americans who took the time and had the inclination to watch the proceedings at home. 

Image by mkrigsman via Flickr

Overall the “show” was a plodding presentation of selected facts mixed with a generous sprinkling of anecdotal stories designed to support opposing political agendas.  Seeing the actors play their assigned roles was grueling at best.  And, with few exceptions, the tableau was about as exciting as watching paint dry.  The summit resulted in a stalemate on substance because the discussion was straight down party lines.  The question that begs to be answered is did either side move the needle in their direction?  And if it did, will this change the way Congress ultimately acts?

The Democrats wanted to demonstrate that their plan provides both coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and saves money in the long-run – a tough combination to beat and even tougher to deliver.  On the other hand, Republicans needed to show they were not the party of “no” and had feasible and fiscally responsible ideas to bring to the table.  While the party in power had about twice the air time, it appears they did not have anything new to say while the opposition was able to make the point that health care reform needed to have bi-partisan input, which appears unlikely to occur. 

Many pre-boomers believe the health care we expected and relied on is slowly and sadly slipping away.  The generation born between 1930 and 1945 certainly would like those without health care to have access to affordable coverage.  However, pre-boomers are naturally reluctant to have this happen if their coverage is going to be diminished by cutting $500 billion from Medicare in order to insure others.  This issue must be addressed and satisfactory answers provided.  Unacceptable is the notion that the shortfall will be taken care of by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse from the Medicare program.  Really?  If this is the case, then why isn’t something being done now about these kinds of systemic problems instead of waiting for the bill to pass before fixing them? 

The Medicare budget cut is huge, but it is not the only area of the proposed bill that should be questioned.  There are enough potential problems hidden in the details of the health care bill that the best action may be to regroup, get both sides of the aisle involved and build a sensible plan that phases in over time.  This is wise because there are other, even more pressing, issues facing the country that require immediate attention, like out-of-control spending and the depressed job market to name just two. 

This is the time for pre-boomers to make our collective voices heard.  Contact your elected representatives; tell them how you feel about health care and how you expect them to vote on the bill if they want your vote in November.  This should get their attention, because savvy politicians know those 65+ account for nearly 30% of the votes cast in primaries and off-year elections.  And 2010 is one of those years.         

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What pre-boomer can forget being given the distinction of licking and pasting a kitchen drawer full of S&H Green Stamps into the collection books so Mom could go to the redemption center and turn them in for merchandise rewards?  It could have been Top Value, Triple S, Plaid or Blue Chip stamps.  For many years, these bonus stamp programs played a big part in determining where American families shopped.

Image by jenniferrt66 via Flickr

The whole thing stated back in 1896 with two men named Sperry and Hutchinson (S&H).  They began offering stamps to merchants as a way of rewarding current customers for their loyalty and attracting new ones.  The concept caught on in many parts of the country, although some states had restrictions such as requiring the stamps be redeemed for cash rather than merchandise.  Where this was the case, such as Wisconsin, people would actually drive to another state to find a redemption store.

Most folks viewed the stamps as a way to get “free” merchandise just by patronizing their favorite supermarkets, drug store and gas stations.  This belief carried through the mid-1960s.  After a series of recessions, retailers lost interest in trading stamps and began offering price discounts to attract customers who now took the stamps more or less for granted.  Aggressive retailer promotion got the consumers to consider price as an immediate reward rather wait to redeem stamps for some yet-to-be-determined merchandise in the future.

It did not take long before the stamps started to disappear from the retail checkout counters.  Then redemption centers closed.  The stamp companies tried other ways of promoting their reward programs, but nothing really took hold.  Years later the Internet came on the scene, and marketers looked for ways to sell products and services through this new medium.  It was the need to differentiate, reward customers and garner new ones that brought the century old S&H rewards program to Internet retailers. 

The name of the program has changed, as did S&H’s ownership (the company was bought and sold several times in recent years), but its core concept remained the same.  “Greenpoints” are offered by many online retailers: Target, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Drugstore.com, Dell, Old Navy, Kmart, Flowers.com, Office Depot, Sears, Shoes.com, iTunes and others.

This phenomenon is not surprising since most marketing concepts are cyclical in nature.  Aren’t the airline mileage programs a variation of this?  American Express offers hotels and other vacation amenities for using the travel points.  The company also has an online program to redeem the points for merchandise.  Does this seem like a repackaged version of the S&H program? 

Of course, the nice part of the modern stamp programs is there’s no need to have a special drawer devoted to stamp storage.  And, nobody has the job of licking stamps and placing them in a book.  Isn’t progress wonderful?  

Tags: America // Add Comment »

Imagine studying history starting with Rutherford B. Hayes.  In case you don’t remember, his presidency started in 1877.  Well, if you were an 11th grader in North Carolina that may be the extent of your education about this country.  No founding fathers, no Declaration of Independence, no Constitution, no Revolutionary War, no Civil War and nothing in between.  This is not a joke.  It seems to be what the state’s top school officials are proposing.

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“We are certainly not trying to go away from American history,” Rebecca Garland, the chief academic officer for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, told Fox News.  “What we are trying to do is figure out a way to teach it where students are connected to it, where they see the big idea, where they are able to make connections and draw relationships between parts of our history and the present day.”  She concluded. “The students are in school for 13 years.  They certainly are taught U.S. and North Carolina history in middle school.”

While students may learn something about the nation’s history in the lower grades.  The concepts being taught in the later grades are the ones students will carry forward.  Not being able to understand the philosophy of our country in its infancy and comparing this to the years that followed and the thinking and economics leading up to the Civil War provides no basis for studying about what happened after this conflict.

A review of the department’s draft of Essential Standards for the course, which is available online, indicates that United States History studies skew to the cultural rather than historic aspect of the subject.  There is little time devoted to the two World Wars we fought.  Study of the Great Depression focuses on expanding the size and power of (and, therefore, dependence upon) the federal government.  The Korean Conflict seems to have been overlooked.  The objective of the Vietnam discussion is to analyze the war’s effect at home.  The Gulf War and the current conflicts were not included in the syllabus.

However, there is much devoted to the women’s movement (dating back to Susan B. Anthony and on through Gloria Steinem), civil rights, immigration and the rise of labor unions.  Also covered is technology and government regulation, economic crises and the need for government regulation as well as the impact non-renewable resources will have in regards to government, business and consumers.  Perusing the course standards suggests the emphasis is more about social attitudes and less about civic realities.  The subject matter appears to move away from history and some might interpret it to be a subtle means of rewriting it by eliminating those topics the school administrators find objectionable or not conducive to advancing their points of view.

Are similar changes taking place in your local school district?  Are your grand children in danger of being taught revisionist and/or incomplete American history?  Are pre-boomers going to let agenda-driven educators deprive the next generation of Americans from the full story of this great experiment in freedom known as democracy?  No way.

Tags: General // Add Comment »

The Government, our schools and many cause-oriented organizations spend a great deal of time warning Americans of the danger of greenhouse warming and the affect our pollutants have on the planet as well as humans.  Finding clean and renewable sources of energy is a philosophical priority if not a financial one.  Additionally, safe foods and quality products are vital to maintaining a good quality of individual life.  Yet we turn a blind eye when it comes to China. 

Image via Wikipedia

Of course, there are the usual letters and some sound-bite statements directed to China regarding the need for them to be a responsible partner for a better, cleaner world.  Yet the country continues to be one of if not the worst abusers of the environment.  They ship tainted and dangerous products to the United States and receive little more than a slap on the wrist for not meeting our quality and safety standards.  These products are often made in unsanitary, carbon producing plants using questionable ingredients with less than satisfactory quality control.

While China has actively decided to pursue development of “green” technology, it continues to build new coal-fired power plants.  While these plants produce fewer emissions than in the past, China still uses more coal than the US, Europe and Japan combined. True, they are building nuclear plants near big cities, not so much out of concern for the environment but for cost saving purposes, since the coal mines are a long distance from these population centers. So, if we buy cheap Chinese products, aren’t we contributing to further pollution? 

In addition to environmental concerns, Americans are faced with the fact that they cannot be trusted to produce safe products.  Remember the  infant formula, which was watered down and then melamine was added to increase the protein level in order save money.  This particular episode sent thousand of  Chinese babies to hospitals.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly investigated the matter while assuring Americans there was no threat of a problem in this country.

“Sadly,” Consumer Reports stated, “This is just the most recent egregious example of the unscrupulous business practices that are pervasive in many Chinese factories.  In case after case, adulteration of ingredients, components, or other materials has been done secretly at factories as a way of cutting costs.  The result has been products delivered to the marketplace – here and abroad – that have sickened or injured consumers.”

The list continues to grow.  Pet food that sickened or killed our domestic animals.  Poison ingredients in toothpaste.  Cosmetics that cause allergies.  Contaminated seafood products.  Toys and games containing lead and dangerous chemicals.

Read the label before buying topical or ingestible products as well anything little children might put in their mouths.  If there’s a choice, pick the one made in the USA.  Besides the safety factor, you might be putting a fellow American to work.    

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