Posts published in “Rainey”

Though statistics more often than not make dull reading, once-in-a-while some come along that need our attention.

The U.S. Census Bureau folk postulate about 390,200,00 of us are living border-to-border and coast-to-coast in our nation.  That's an increase of about 25,000,000 since the official census in 2010 and works out to be only about four-percent more for the period.

One of those "got-my-attention" numbers from the Bureau was this.  As a nation, we're experiencing a birth about every eight seconds and a death about every 12.  Net migration is adding one person to our population total every 33 seconds.  So the combination of births, deaths and migration adds a new face to feed and house every 16 seconds or about four a minute.

Another set of interesting numbers.  If asked to name the four most populous states in order, could you?  Well, there's a surprise there.  Of course, California is the largest at about 38.8 million souls.  And Texas is second at about 27 million.  But the attention-getter is Florida which passed New York as it grew to 19.9 million - adding about 803 residents a day.  Poor old New York slipped to fourth at 19.7 million.  Each of the ten fastest growing states are in the South or West.

Now that you know about how many of us there are and where most of us live, "How are we doing financially," you ask?  Well, those numbers are both a bit surprising and a bit grim.

Major credit card and credit rating companies did a new survey of 4,000 Americans and found more than 18 percent expect to be in debt the rest of their lives!  Those 65 and older totaled 31% of folk believing such.  Younger respondents were more positive.  But, also less experienced.

Another sampling of citizens nationwide, done by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, showed numbers that have become one of our national shames.  Student loan debt rose from an aggregate of $390 billion at the end of 2005 to $966 billion at the end of 2012.  Just seven years!  No surprise that student admissions applications are tapering off substantially.

Next, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says Americans are drowning in uncollected medical debt.  Some 43 million are carrying heavy medical red ink and - complicating their problem - a difficult maze of systems to collect that debt makes it almost impossible for consumers to come out with a clean credit report.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray said "Getting medical care should not make your credit report sick."

The Bureau's examination showed the process for medical care can be confusing and the system for reporting overdue medical bills is haphazard at best.  That could explain why half of all overdue debt shown on credit reports is for medical bills.  One-in-five reports now carries a black mark for overdue medical expenses.

The Federal Reserve has also been doing some field work and concludes the Great Recession has not ended for millions of us despite improvements in major portions of our economy.  Because of a sluggish labor market, stagnant wages and rising living costs, 25% of respondents said they were "just getting by financially" and 13% believed they were losing ground.  In fact, looking back five years, 34% said financial conditions were worse.

The University of Arizona has been polling students and graduates on financial matters each year since 2007.  One of the most disturbing current findings: only 49% of participants have full-time jobs two years after graduation!  Less than half!

There are more numbers out there.  Billions of 'em.  But you get the idea.  As I said, sometimes statistics need our attention.  These are some I've come across recently that do.

The sum of all these surveys seems to be: there are more of us - we're leaving the traditionally larger Eastern states for the West and South - previous and continuing medical costs are overburdening too many of us - we're paying too much for a college education that, too often, results in employment not justifying the expense - the middle and lower levels of income in our national economy are not sharing in any "recovery" while still counting their losses in home values and jobs over the last few years.

New news?  Probably not.  Will the folks in our Congress do anything to make the numbers - and conditions -  better?  Probably not.  Most assuredly not.  They could, you know.  But statistics are just not that interesting to most of 'em.  Except the ones tied to their own personal employment. Those numbers always get their attention.

If you can read that, you probably swear as much as I do and you know just what I meant instead of using the actual words.  Those are not good, respectable words, actually.

I find myself using more "foul" words lately - more than in previous times.  Our mass and social communications are full of the foul and getting - er, well, fouler.

As a journalist/broadcaster for several decades, I usually know the right words - the respectable words - to use.  I was raised in a home where "not a discouraging word" was used or heard.  In short, I know better.

But, as a casual Facebook user, I'm amazed - and often disgusted - by the continual use of such printed words in postings.  Both in memes and individually written texts.

Sometimes, the gutter words - F**k, S**t, pi***d and more - seem to be in nearly every post.  They're used - and reposted - by people I know don't use such words in their everyday activities.  For some, they're probably repulsed by others who use them.  But we all know what they are.

They've become verbal crutches for a lot of folks who think their use makes you sound more angry or more "adult" or authoritarian.  In the stands at sporting events, heard at an adjoining table in a restaurant or just used in otherwise normal, day-to-day talk or postings between acquaintances.

As a society, we've either become more accepting of their use or we've learned to ignore them.  They add nothing to any communication so if you block them out, you won't have missed anything.

For most of us, the shock value - if there ever was such thing - has worn off.  Maybe that's why they creep into our speech without a second thought.  I read more of them in a week online than I remember hearing in a year while living on a mountaintop above the Arctic Circle with 40 other guys 50 years ago.

It wasn't so long ago the American public was shocked - shocked, I tell you - when Clark Gable said to Vivian Leigh in Gone With The Wind, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!"  Now, you hear a lot worse than that on your TV any night of the week.  You can even watch "constipated" actors sitting on toilets or bears in the woods wiping their butts with the latest tissue.  The goal posts for shock value have been moved way, way down the field.

The overall courseness in our nation is an ever-present and growing societal reality.  You don't like it.  I don't like it.  But, it's hard to escape.   Politicians are using the "bad words" in speeches.  (See any Trump rally.)  Older folks, raised in more restrictive times, now post or re-post online words I would have gotten a soapy mouthwash for at home.  A lot of young people - who certainly know better - pepper conversations and texts with 'em.  They're everywhere.

We've gotten way past "damn" or hell" or other such old expletives.  And we're not going back.  The new, casual, more common use of profanity has worked its way into our usual, everyday language.  Most of us try to ignore it.  Most of us won't use it.  But it's ever-present.  And we're getting inured to it.

Damn!

Like many teens raised in small towns - in my case, Bend, Oregon, in the early '50's - I couldn't wait to kick off the dust of "Hickville" and get on to discovering the outside world.  The "real" world.  No small town hayseeds for me.  I wanted to "get on with life."

That from a guy who - four score years later - lived in an Oregon burg of less than 1,400.  Five bars, two gas stations, no drug store and the only grocery store is a mile out of town.  But, in the intervening 63 years, I've seen a lot of the world and had many life-changing experiences.  And I never moved back in with my folks.

These days, that's not the case for a lot of young people.  The U.S. Census Bureau has come up with numbers describing some interesting changes in what happens to the 20-somethings who grew up with the same anxious exodus feeling I did but who didn't get far from the nest.

We're talking comparisons over more than a 40 year stretch from the '70's to 2015.  And the big one is this: more young people live with their parents now than in any other living arrangement the Bureau tracks.  Which is all of them.  About one-in-three, or some 24-million 18-34-year-olds, either moved back in with parents or never left.

Marriage for the young folks isn't nearly as important as it used to be.  Most will still marry.  But in the '70's, eight in 10 got hitched by the age of 30.  Nearly 50 years later, that same ratio doesn't happen until age 45.

A dozen years ago, a majority of young adults lived independently.  That was the case in 35 states.  Now, it's just six states.  And all are in the Midwest or Plains.  Figure that one out.

Most young people today believe getting an education and being economically successful are the most important milestones of being an adult.  Used to be getting married and having kids.  Today, not so much.   Big switch there.

Young men seem more stuck at the bottom of the income ladder than before.  Forty years ago, 25-percent ages 25-34 had incomes of less than $30,000 a year.  In 2015, that percentage jumped to 41.  The comparison used 2015 dollars in both cases.  Imagine the loss in purchasing power.

And, finally, of those still living at home, one-in-four are unemployed.  Not going to school.  Not working.  So, figure about 2.2-million 25-34-year-olds not in the workforce.  They're also more likely to have a child and more than a quarter qualify as disabled.

Those are some pretty startling statistics.  Most of us just cruise along with our lives, thinking the young folks are doing about the same as we did.  Working.  Getting married.  Having kids.  Making payments on the pickup.  Just "going along" and paying the bills.

But, these findings tell us a very different story.  Like so much in our existence, change is occurring in every aspect of life.  And everywhere.  Whether you're still in Hickville or got out to those larger cities that seemed so alluring.

Or, even in a burg of 1,400.  With five bars - two gas stations - and a grocery store a mile out of town.

There seem to be some small changes wafting on the Republican breezes.  Small.  But, change nonetheless.

Take what happened in Ohio some months ago.  A proposal was floated.  A proposal to require a 60-40 approval threshold for changes to Ohio's state constitution.

Nearly everyone, with even a smattering of political upbringing, knew this was a precursor to anyone floating a future measure to enhance abortion rights.  Change the threshold for approval of any advisory proposals from 51-49 to 60-40 and you make it harder for any abortion-rights sponsored legislation to get on the ballot.

But, Ohioans weren't having it.  The pro-life forces were silenced by a sizeable margin.  Even some GOP voters joined the winning side.

And, that's the small change.  In state after state, local election after local election, there seems to be a growing moderate  - yes, Virginia - moderate Republican contingent.  Ohio was one example.  But, there are other GOP voices being heard.  Softly.  But, they're out there.

The breeze of change that wafted my way was talking with some Republican friends.  Yes, I do have some Republican friends.

In local conversations, more moderate folks have been lamenting far-right GOP'ers get all the media attention while more middle-of-the-road Republicans have been largely ignored.  Ignored by media and even other Republicans.  As if they didn't exist.

But, they do.  In a number of recent local and statewide votes, their presence has been felt.  Like Ohio.

I'd like to think these more middle-of-the road Republicans are starting to speak up.  Maybe the local conversations in other places are expressing similar displeasure with the antics of their edge-of-the-earth brethren.

Like "Enough is ENOUGH!"

The moderate portion of the GOP has not had much to say for the last 40-years or so.  Emboldened by right-wing radio, Fox, Newsmax and others, the far-right has gathered unto itself a loud, vocal constituency.  More moderate Republicans have not had such a media presence to rally around.  But, they're out there.  And, recent voting on referendums and other measuring platforms indicate that maybe - maybe - the middle-of-the-road crew is using the ballot box to show some strength.

Politics run from the far right side of the road - or left - are not in our nation's best interests.  Neither voice represents the much larger middle constituency.

In some of the larger media markets, there are new talk shows.  Not right.  Not left.  But, the middle.  With participation swinging both ways.  Lively?  Yes.  Good conversations?  Yes.  But, it takes a strong hand by the host wielding the microphone not to let things swing too far one way or the other.  It's a tough task.  I know.  I used to have a microphone on a 50-thousand watt station doing talk.  It ain't easy.

Wouldn't it be great to have two major political parties advancing their differing outlooks from the middle?  Rather than trying to talk over each other?  As they used to say in our first Constitutional Congress, "I vote yea!"

We need to be careful about reading too much into the perceived voices of some moderate Republicans.  Their presence - based on recent elections - is out there.  But, it's still too early to determine if they'll become stronger with other victories with voters.  Like Ohio.  Or, if the far-right talkers of the GOP eventually drown them out.

But, just knowing of their presence is refreshing.  May their tribe increase!

What are we to make of the demonstrations in Los Angeles and several other major cities?

For those of us not facing blocked freeways and tear gas canisters, what are we to think of their presence in our sister state of California?

We've not seen our federal military getting between protesters and the rest of us since Arkansas in 1965 when the mission then was to protect school children when we were trying to shed our national practice of segregation.

Watching the events in Los Angeles - the armed military positioned among the various scenes of dissent - you have to wonder just what it would take for one Marine - just one - to fire a shot.  Just one.

At the moment, that would be unimaginable.  But, then, so is what we're seeing on our TV screens.  Thousands in the streets in what started as a protest of a government agency trying to capture and deport people who've entered the country illegally.

How do you identify those folks from the rest of us?  How do you not round up some innocent people who don't speak English but who are in our country legally?

One of the inherent problems with social protesting is that - like a herd of stampeding cattle - a few folks at the front can turn it this way and that.  What started as meaningful dissent can run amok if those front folk aren't careful.  So far, the LA story seems to be staying on track.

For those of us here on the sidelines, our association with the story is like watching a movie.  We know the players - the protestors and legal authorities.  We know the story - immigration both lawful and not.

The tipping point here seems to be trying to keep the peace without stepping on someone's rights and dignity.  That's a tough assignment  for young uniformed folks carrying rifles and facing fellow Americans at the protest site for the first time.

I watched - and covered - similar protests in the late '60's in Washington D.C. as a young reporter for a major news organization.  There, we had a demonstration-a-day for several years.  Our equipment was a helmet, a gas mask, a tape recorder and an orange "press pass" hung around our neck.  That "orange press pass" became a tear gas target for cops who objected to our presence.  And, many did.

The LA protests will end.  So, too, those in the rest of the country.  But, however it ends, it won't really be over.  The size and scope are too large to disappear.  There will be a quiet time when all sides withdraw to their respective corners.  But, the basic causes of the street marches will still be with us.  Simmering just below the surface like some Yellowstone geyser.

There are many social problems in this country.  Many.  We're living with a political administration unable - or unwilling - to "take the gloves off" and do anything meaningful to take them on.  So, the problems will continue.  At least until the 2026 and 2028 national elections.

If we don't "clean house" - if we don't change the leadership in Washington - these problems will continue.  There's never been a time, since the Civil War, when we've so badly needed a change in direction - a change in national political and social directions.

What's happening on the streets in Los Angeles doesn't have to end badly - though our President is doing his damndest to make it so with the introduction of armed Marines while local leadership says they have things "in hand."

The protests will run their course.  Left alone, the steam will run out.  Traffic will again flow on those same streets as it did before.  The businesses - now closed because of the demonstrations - will reopen.  Life will get back to normal.  It always does.

That's one of the great things about our nation.  We get "hot-under-the-collar" about something, blow off the steam in various ways, then get back to the business of being one country "with liberty and justice for all."

Ain't that great?

What are we to make of the demonstrations currently underway in Los Angeles?

For those of us not facing blocked freeways and tear gas canisters, what are we to think of their presence in our sister state of California?

We've not seen our federal military getting between protesters and the rest of us since Arkansas in 1965 when the mission then was to protect school children when we were trying to shed our shameful national practice of segregation.

Watching the events in Los Angeles - the armed military positioned among the various scenes of dissent - you have to wonder just what it would take for one Marine - just one - to fire a shot.  Just one.

At the moment, that would be unimaginable.  But, then, so is what we're seeing on our TV screens.  Thousands in the streets in what started as a protest of a government agency trying to capture and deport people who've entered the country illegally.

How do you identify those folks from the rest of us?  How do you not round up some innocent people who don't speak English but who are in our country legally?

Now, were seeing more demonstrations - in other cities in other states.  What started in a few blocks of a Los Angeles neighborhood is now a seeming national "push back" against immigration authority elsewhere.

One of the inherent problems with social protesting is that - like a herd of stampeding cattle - a few folks at the front can turn it this way and that.  What started as meaningful dissent can run amok if those front folk aren't careful.  So far, the LA story seems to be staying on track.

For those of us here on the sidelines, our association with the story is like watching a movie.  We know the players - the protestors.  We know the story - immigration both lawful and not.

The tipping point here seems to be trying to keep the peace without stepping on someone's rights and dignity.  That's a tough assignment  for young military folks carrying rifles and facing fellow Americans at the protest site for the first time.

I watched - and covered - similar protests in the late '60's in Washington D.C. as a young reporter for a major news organization.  There, we had a "demonstration-a-day" for several years.  Our equipment was a helmet, a gas mask, a tape recorder and an orange "press pass" hung around our neck.  That "orange press pass" became a tear gas target for cops who objected to our presence.  And, many did.

The LA protests will end.  So, too, those in the rest of the country.  But, however it ends, it won't really be over.  The size and scope are too large to disappear.  There will be a quiet time when all sides withdraw to their respective corners.  But, the basic causes of the street marches will still be with us.  Simmering just below the surface like some Yellowstone geyser.

There are many social problems in this country.  Many.  We're living with a political administration unable - or unwilling - to "take the gloves off" and do anything meaningful to take them on.  So, the problems will continue.  At least until the 2026 and 2028 national elections.

If we don't "clean house" - if we don't change the leadership in Washington - these problems will continue.  There's never been a time, since the Civil War, when we've so badly needed a change in direction - a change in national political and social directions.

What's happening on the streets in Los Angeles doesn't have to end badly - though our President is doing his damndest to make it so with the introduction of armed Marines while local leadership says they have things "in hand."

The protests will run their course.  Left alone, the steam will run out.  Traffic will again flow on those same streets as it did before.  The businesses - now closed because of the demonstrations - will reopen.  Life will get back to normal.  It always does.

That's one of the great things about our nation.  We get "hot-under-the-collar" about something, blow off the steam in various ways, then get back to the business of being one country "with liberty and justice for all."

Ain't that great?

I'm a sucker for a good salesman.  Makes no difference what product or service.  I just like to watch a really good sales pro in action.  But, they're becoming a vanishing breed and harder to find.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with calling nearly any effective, professional seller of things a "salesman," though a lot of businesses go to great lengths to call them something else - advisor, personal assistant, product specialist, etc..

In my mind, "salesman" or "salespersons" are totally respectable monikers.  Lee Iacocca was one.  So was Billy May.  Rev. Billy Graham was another.  Ronald Reagan comes to mind.  Each with a message or "product," each with enthusiasm, each earnestly wanting you to take/buy what they offered because you'd be better for the experience.

Even in the more mundane world of daily commerce in our lives - cars, furniture, life insurance, real estate, consumer electronics - a good salesman stands out.  He or she is the person you look for at the store; the person you want to find because you know you'll get good information, experience professional service and walk away fulfilled with whatever you've been sold.  Salesmanship - real salesmanship - is both a talent and an art form.  It's a beautiful thing.

But, boy, is it hard to find these days!  Last time we were in the market for a new car, I cast about on the Internet and phone to see what we could do.  Five calls made.  Four calls not responded to.  Young fella called, said he was the dealer's I-net "customer service" representative.  Took my information and said he'd respond with an email quote within the hour.  That was three years ago.

Tried to buy a car recently.  Local "salesman" had been with the company more than 20 years, he said.  When it got to dollars, not only were they unacceptable, so was his stated attitude that he and the dealership have to make a profit, too, and we should consider that in pricing.  We bought out-of-town where there was some major market flexibility in choice and price.

When I went in for service a few months later, this guy loudly upbraided me on the sales lot with customers and sales people in earshot.  He wanted me to know selling cars was how he made his living, he'd invested his time with us and we "owed him" the sale.  "Owed him?"  What about price, terms, attitude, inventory and so forth?

An "investment advisor" in our area, assigned by the national company that holds my retirement annuity, said he couldn't  "advise us" because we wouldn't sign a contract for his other retirement planing services.  I'm retired.  I'm 88-years-old. It's too late to plan.  I just need updates on changes in my existing plan.  He can't - or wouldn't - do that without me buying something.  A company I've been with for more than 30 years.  Salesmanship?  Service?

A young local fella trying to sell us his services to do some plumbing work we needed made a good sales presentation.  We signed up.  But, before he finished the work, he criticized how we had positioned our home on the acreage, told us our landscaping was wrong, added materials not covered in his bid and presented us with a higher bill.

A good salesman - a really good salesman - instinctively knows, whatever the goods or services in question, what he/she is really selling is himself/herself.  Lots of people sell houses, insurance, cars, boats, carpet cleaning, furniture and swimming pools.  When we go to their place of business, we're buyers.  We know what we need or want.  So, all that's necessary to have a successful experience is someone who knows that, knows the merchandise or service, is both persuasive and enthusiastic, and who makes us feel we are the reason that person is in business.  It's really that simple.

Politics requires salesmanship, too.  Enthusiasm and product knowledge are key.  So is a personal appeal to the voter/buyer that our interests are his/her interests.  What we get, far too often, is a change of message after the deal is closed - after the election - that "If you knew what I know you'd agree with me."   Salesmanship?  Or B.S.?

A good salesman - regardless of product or service - gets us to do what we wanted to do all along but the reason we acted now is because of his/her knowledge, positive personality, enthusiasm and leadership.

Because we're a technology-driven society, becoming more and more linked to electronic tools rather than human interaction, really good salespeople are going to be harder to find.  We're being forced into a "check-the-box-on-the-screen" method of purchasing and away from the professional, one-on-one presentation with a handshake at the conclusion.

While that may be more efficient for the seller and maybe a better use of the marketing dollars, it makes for a colder and more impersonal marketplace for we consumers.  I don't want to just be happy with the new $1,500 HDTV.  I want the feeling - that good warm feeling - that a professional did the very best he/she could do and invested part of their own life in our satisfaction.

That's real salesmanship.  That's being really SOLD!