#officeholders #RunForOffice #RunForSomething #voters #ElectedOfficials Many people run for public office because they want to serve the people who elect them. They have many ideas how to improve their communities, cities, towns, states, school systems etc. Sometimes, when they actually get into office, other influences come to the fore. A leader who expects loyalty may emerge. As an officeholder, you may find that not working with this leader, and his or her priorities, can create a miserable life for you. Secondly, you may not get all the funding, personnel and other assets you may need to fulfill your goals. You have no control over how much you get, and how many people you can have. You begin to feel that everything you want to do is in jeopardy, and your good ideas are nothing more than that – good ideas. You become discouraged. But, you may also be motivated because a certain number of people voted for you, over others. You can’t make excuses to them as to why you are not doing as you say. You have to try to accomplish some of what you can, with what you are given. You should report only to voters, not to anyone else. If the leader asks you, or forces you, to do things your voters do not want, you should not fear him or her. You should remember that if voters can see that you are working only for them, you should get re-elected if you choose to run again. If the voters can’t see that you are working only for them, and the leader doesn’t like what you are doing, he or she may put up someone to run against you. That’s when you have to realize that public office is a temporary job. You can keep it. Or, you can lose it through no fault of your own. If you expect the job to be permanent, and leave only on your terms, you are in the wrong line of work. You have to learn that losing an election is NOT the end of the world. Voters are fickle. The same voters who voted to elect you may decide not to vote at all. Or, they may be so influenced by the show your opponent puts on that they are persuaded to vote for that person. As long as you believe you did everything you could, with what you had, for those who voted for you, you will sleep at night. As a public official, you have to listen to your voters. Their opinions and stories should be instructions to you on actions you should take. (Attention voters: Your public officials need to hear from you at all times.) Public office is no walk in the park. It’s hard work. It requires integrity, honesty, humility and selflessness. Those who serve in office without those attributes should not be there. You have to listen to your voters, because you are working on THEIR behalf. So, run for office if it suits you. Don’t run if it does not. If you serve your voters well, you are most likely to be rewarded. Peter
#Xfinity #WiFi #booming #InternetService #ReliableInternetService The Xfinity ad says, “The WiFi is booming!” One might get the impression that it is so fast, and so reliable, that you actually notice that it is “booming!” In fact, the ad makes you think that people are moving to Xfinity territories because the wifi is booming. Actually, depending on where you live, there can be relatively frequent spotty outages. Though the Xfinity app lets you know they are aware of the outage(s), they can vary by length and frequency. When the wifi goes out for whatever reason, one cannot think of it as “booming!” The economy can be booming. Business, if you own one, can be booming. It’s really a stretch to think of wifi as booming. These days, it’s tough to live without wifi. Certainly, one can buy data plans that don’t require Internet connections, but most of us use the internet for just about everything – phone, TV, computers and other devices. Some older folks use it sparingly. Most younger folks use it constantly. In fact, for younger folks, they are on it all the time, or close to. Even if you are on the internet frequently, it’s tough to think of it booming. In fact, you probably don’t think about it at all, unless it goes out. In fact, a good utilitarian service should not be noticed if it is working. When was the last time you received a handwritten letter in the mail? Or, when was the last time you received a holiday card in the mail? Most such communications are done by text or e-mail, or through social media. It’s certainly less time-consuming to send a text or e-mail, vs. a letter or card. It’s even getting so commonplace, we no longer see such communication as impersonal. Not only is it less time-consuming to send electronic messages, you can send the same messages to an unlimited number of people with one click. Not only is it no longer impersonal, it’s extremely convenient. So much so that it’s getting tough to live without it. That’s what makes lengthy outages so frustrating. So, the next time you use the internet for whatever purpose, remember that Xfinity wants you to think of it as “booming!” Most of us would rather think of it as fast and reliable, which is not always the case. Communication, business and entertainment have been revolutionized by the internet. Some of us have to constantly watch our screen time, because we can get too much of a good thing. As long as the internet works, life is normal. When it doesn’t, it could be a real pain. So, ask yourself: Does my internet provider make my life “booming?” Maybe. But, just as likely, maybe not. Peter
#parents #parenting #children #ChildRearing #independence #CommonSense A mother complained to behavioral consultant Scott Ervin that her academically talented teen daughter seems to have no common sense. She couldn’t understand how a kid couldn’t apply her book smarts to real-world activities. Ervin basically told the mother that the teen needed to experience the real world without her parents. Ervin discussed the interaction in a column published May 24, 2025, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. What Ervin is saying is that common sense is not learned in a book. It is learned by trial and error. He’s also saying that common sense cannot be taught by parents, teachers or anyone else. The student has to acquire it independently. This interaction calls to mind the concept of “helicopter” parents, who hover over their children’s lives well into adulthood. In the guise of being “helpful,” these parents end up taking an outsized role in all of their child’s decisions. Also, the interaction brings to the fore the idea that parents have to let go of their children by a certain age. Many children grow up in overly restrictive households, with way too many rules imposed upon them. They have no way to get out to learn common sense. Their “sense” is dictated to them. Children need space to make mistakes. Mistakes are the learning tools for common sense. No parent wants a child to make a fatal mistake, or a mistake they will pay for the rest of their lives. Still, they need some freedom to learn on their own. Parents may not want their children interacting with certain other children, or certain other adults. But, those interactions often turn into positive learning experiences. They could broaden the child’s mind, perhaps beyond the point mom and dad want it broadened. Parents want children to be obedient, not defiant. However, some defiance can be healthy for a child. It can teach them that some of what they are being taught may not be in their own best interest, even if it is in mom and dad’s best interest. As author and leadership expert Andy Andrews has said, good parenting is not raising good kids. It is developing good adults. Being a good adult may mean, in some cases, not being like your parents, as the Dr. Rick commercials muse. The process of growing and maturing must be a healthy combination of good parenting, a healthy bit of independence and exposure to good and bad experiences. Some things that parents view as mistakes can benefit the child over time. Some of what parents view as “accomplishments” can be meaningless, or even detrimental, to the child over time. As Ervin advises, give the child his or her own space and time to learn common sense on their own. They will become better adults for it. Peter
#NoKings #protests #PeacefulProtests #MinnesotaShootings Millions of people stood on the streets and public plazas this weekend with a simple message: “No Kings.” They say the numbers signify a movement, but they also showed that we all still have agency, and our opinions mean something. That same Saturday, two state legislators and their spouses were shot in Minnesota. One legislator and her husband died, the other couple survived. The “No Kings” protests are an example of how Americans SHOULD behave. The shootings show the opposite. The country was founded on the principles of democracy, separation of powers and rule of law. Standing up for that is what citizens should do. Taking lethal revenge on those who don’t think as you do is un-American. There is much work we must do as citizens to reclaim our country. We must elect representatives who stand for democracy, separation of powers and rule of law. That means everyone who is eligible must vote when elections roll around. When no election is imminent, we must let those in power know how we, as citizens, feel, whether those in power want to hear it or not. That may mean, in some places, standing in protest as an eligible voter if someone says you are not. It also means the return of respected institutions to their full and upright capacities. That means bringing back facts and knowledge when some would discard them. That means bringing back bona fide research that some wish to replace with conspiracy theories. It means not letting a would-be king overwhelm our power as citizens. Democracy, separation of powers and rule of law may not be for every nation. But this nation was built on them, and we shouldn’t let anyone take them away from us. Democracy, separation of powers and rule of law were given to us by our forebears. It’s our job now to protect them. As we protect these virtues of our self-governance, we do so peacefully, unlike the Minnesota shooter. Guns may show hard power, but peaceful protests show soft power. We must leave the areas at which protests are staged just as we found them. We must ensure that no one gets hurt by our message delivery. Even if those who resist us may try to hurt us, we must not hurt them. We must only deliver our message loudly and clearly. So, if you don’t like what is happening in our country, you can work to change it. You can do so peacefully. You can do so in many ways that make clear how you stand. It took much work and time to build this country as we want to see it. It can take remarkably little time to tear it down. We, as citizens, must stand in the way of that. Peter
#retirement #RetirementAge #pensions #PensionPlans #WorkToAge70 Denmark is raising its retirement age to 70, to help shore up its version of Social Security. Such a move is fraught with peril. First, many occupations are physically demanding. At age 70, workers may not have all the physical characteristics to perform their jobs adequately. Second, employers don’t want to keep people around until age 70 in any capacity. Once you get up in age, you are making a lot of money (in the employer’s eyes). They will want you to go, so they can hire someone younger and cheaper. Remember, too, that older people generally use the health insurance a lot more than younger people do, if the employer happens to provide such benefits. In general, older workers are reliable, follow company protocol and are dedicated. That doesn’t mean they want to keep working until age 70. Most of those who work until that age, or beyond, are high-level people – executives, celebrities etc. Some who are still working at that age should not be: think singers. Still, boosting pension plans is a real issue. With people having children, there are fewer younger workers contributing to most pension plans than there are retirees collecting. With these pension plans, it doesn’t matter whether people are working at age 70 AND collecting, because they are still paying in at the same time. But, not collecting until age 70 can be a problem for a lot of workers. Further, if Worker X is laid off by Employer Y before his or her retirement age, who will hire that person after that? U.S. labor laws of the past were written to protect those older than 50 from undue discrimination. Of course, employers found ways around those laws if they really wanted someone gone. If a person has a good job and loses it before his or her retirement, will he or she be forced to take a much lesser job at, say, age 60? Will an accountant have to go work in a grocery store until he or she retires? Even though that happens sometimes, usually the ex-accountant is collecting an income from somewhere other than the store. He or she is just using the store job for pin money, social interaction etc. But, if he or she is unable to collect an income and is forced to live off the store salary, how much of his or her life will have to go so he or she can survive? Sell the house? Liquidate savings? None of these is a good option for the worker. The best way to shore up retirement plans, like the U.S. Social Security system, is to tax every earned dollar during the working years. Currently, the earnings cap is $176,000, which rises every year as average earnings increase. The system would shore up pretty quickly if you put no cap on earnings to be taxed for Social Security. That way, executives, athletes, celebrities etc. who earn millions annually can pay their fair share and boost the system. Perhaps there could be room for refunds if the system suddenly is flush with cash, but that is unlikely. Forcing people to work into their elder years is not only cruel to the worker, but also impractical in the current job market. The real problem for workers is finding ways to survive when they are forced to retire before they want to. Peter
#GraduationSpeeches #graduates #graduation #GraduationCeremonies #speeches Graduation ceremonies always have speeches. Some speakers make pretty good coin speaking at graduations. Some even make news with them. Some, if not most, graduates couldn’t care less about hearing a speech from someone well-known or famous. Many just want to get the ceremonies over with, so they can get to the fun celebrations sooner. Also, graduates mostly hear speeches talking about motivation, following one’s dreams, working hard etc. Most graduates know what they are going to do next, so the emotional speeches can ring hollow. Some graduation speakers have taken to straying from conventional topics and talking about themselves, their grievances and what THEY – not the graduates – can do for the world. That not only can ring hollow for graduates, but can be downright annoying for them, and potentially embarrassing for the speaker. Still, the graduation speeches must be given, and endured, because it’s how we do things. The truly outstanding graduation speech – one that has graduates soaking up every word – is rare, but not unheard of. What if schools and colleges dispensed with the speeches and just handed out diplomas or degrees and sent everyone home? That would put a real dent in what has become more than a cottage industry. Not only do a lot of these speakers get paid well for a speech, they also often collect honorary degrees from the institution. Politicians, authors, athletes, celebrities and academics often thrive on giving these speeches. To be fair, some good ideas and quotes arise from the speeches. As a graduate, wouldn’t you love to have a few quotes from the speech in the folder with your degree or diploma, rather than sit through a whole long speech? Graduation ceremonies can be uncomfortable. It can be 100 degrees in a big venue with no air-conditioning, or outside in the heat or the rain. To sit through a long speech in either of those conditions likely would mean you won’t get much from the speech, no matter how good it is. And, regardless of conditions, it’s unlikely a graduate will remember much from any speech a few weeks later. If schools removed the speeches and cut to the chase of handing out degrees or diplomas, there would be more time for families to take pictures and enjoy a good celebration afterward. Though speeches can be inspirational, educational and motivating, most graduates likely would rather do without them. More comfortable clothes and more fun with family and friends are on most graduates’ wish list. Some graduates opt to skip the whole ceremony and have their degree or diploma sent to them sometime later. If one must sit through a graduation ceremony, those who plan them should think more about what the graduates want, and less about what the institution or the speakers want. Peter
#manufacturing #USmanufacturing #iPhones #Apple #tariffs More domestic manufacturing may be a desired goal, but it’s not as easy to pull off as it sounds. Tariffs are designed to bring more manufacturing to the U.S., but it can’t happen overnight. Take the idea of putting a tariff on an iPhone, which is now made in China. To make an iPhone here, Apple would have to create enough capacity to fulfill the demand . As iPhones change and are upgraded, the manufacturing will have to change with it. It probably means Apple would have to build all new factories. That alone would take years. It would have to build them so they can be easily retooled as the iPhone evolves. Then, there is the job of finding enough workers, which has not been easy for any employer recently. What would Apple have to pay these workers to entice them to work in an iPhone factory? If the tariffs go away BEFORE Apple can finish building the factory, would the whole idea be moot? Certainly, the Chinese-made iPhones would always be cheaper to make than the ones made here. Now, let’s talk about how often iPhone users trade in their phones. Are you the type of user that trades his or her phone every time a new iPhone comes out? Or, do you hold on to your iPhone for as long as it works for you, or until Apple decides it no longer will support your old phone? (Such forced obsolescence is a debate for another day). How will those decision-making patterns affect factory construction? What about all the accessories – cases, holsters etc. – that go with iPhones. Do the companies that make those make them in the U.S.? If not, and they are tariffed, will a case cost more than a phone, or will those companies also have to create factories here? The tariffs are being assessed without regard for any of this. It’s nice to wish for more domestic manufacturing, but it’s hard to achieve, considering the facts on the ground. Most companies would gladly make more things here, if they could do it for the same price as they pay to make them elsewhere. But labor, materials and everything else used to make things are usually more expensive here. Those who wish to create more manufacturing jobs here learn quickly that Americans will not work long hours in a factory for minimum wage. Americans are having enough trouble affording to live here, never mind having to be forced into an income that will not cover their bills. In short, domestic manufacturing may be a great goal. But, not everything can be made here for the price that can make what we need affordable. International trade should be as free of tariffs as possible to allow the markets to be stable, affordable and make products of the best quality and price. Peter
#uncertainty #unpredictability #investing #tariffs #InvestmentClimate How does one invest in a time of uncertainty, as we are in now? Betsey Stevenson, economics and public policy professor at the University of Michigan, and former chief economist at the U.S. Labor Department, discussed this on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes on May 15, 2025. She basically said it was difficult for investors and businesses to plan when things change so frequently. She and other economists consider this time “uncertain,” as tariffs are implemented, adjusted and/or paused almost daily. In fact, most investment climates, save for mattress money or insured bank accounts, are “uncertain.” Investors do not know for sure whether the risk(s) they are taking will pan out. They can judge, based on fundamentals and research, the likelihood of an investment panning out. They also can judge the economic climate to see whether their decisions are more or less likely to pay off. But, as with all risks, there is always a chance of an investment not proving worthy. A pandemic, a natural disaster or other unanticipated circumstances could suddenly affect the investment performance. Or, the company or venture in which one is investing could fail because of human error or mismanagement that one may not foresee. So, all investments, no matter the climate, are uncertain. What is happening today makes investing more unpredictable. Investors are unable to forecast, even if the entity is a good risk on its face, whether the investment pays off. The purpose of tariffs, essentially, is to urge companies to import less, and make more things in the U.S. There are myriad problems with that. First, it takes many years for a company, if it were to decide to make more things here, to set up the capacity to do it – build or convert a factory, hire the right people, buy the needed equipment (perhaps from a foreign maker) etc. Who knows what would happen to the tariffs during that conversion period. Secondly, there are things that we just can’t grow in the U.S. Bananas are tariffed, yet we do not have the climate to grow them. Coffee is tariffed, but Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee, and it doesn’t grow enough to satisfy nationwide demand. Thirdly, other countries can make many things better and cheaper than we can here, no matter what we do. We do things well, they do things well, and that’s why we trade. So, the next time an economist calls these times “uncertain,” they’d be more precise to call these times “unpredictable,” because the “uncertainty” is deliberately created by one person – who is unpredictable. Peter
#natalists #babies #children #MothersDay #HavingMoreChildren We just celebrated Mother’s Day. Certain people want more mothers. Or, more accurately, more children. Nedra Rhone, the “Real Life” columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, cites a lot of reasons women don’t have children, or as many children, as some would like. She discussed the issue in her May 8, 2025, column. As Rhone, who happens to be a mother, points out, there are many reasons women don’t have children. She also says that some women may want children, but circumstances haven’t allowed them to have them. In fact, the U.S. population, as is the case with most developed countries, is aging. People are not “replacing themselves” at a rate that keeps the population growing. We want the population to grow for many reasons, including having enough workers to replace those who retire. But this natalist movement appears aimed at creating children that only fit a certain demographic. Immigrants can bolster the work force, and have lots of children, but most don’t match the desired demographic. The elephant in the room, of course, is the cost of children. Rhone points out that it costs about $200,000 to raise a child from birth to age 18. Not everyone has that kind of money, or the ability and opportunity to earn that much. Women are a significant boost to the work force, but the natalists prefer women to stay home and raise children. Again, not every woman has the luxury, opportunity or desire to do that. Then, as Rhone points out, some women don’t really want to bring children into the world as it currently is. What she doesn’t talk about in her column is what happens to children when they become adults. With the cost of living, housing etc. as it is, many young adults cannot afford to live on their own, never mind starting a family. They often live with mom and dad long after age 18. Some are burdened with student debt. Some just can’t find work that pays enough to live independently. The natalist and pro-life movements want children to be born at any cost – even if the mother dies doing so. But, they offer no means to ensure these children are properly fed, clothed, housed, educated and otherwise taken care of. Many other countries do take care of their children. The citizens may pay dearly in taxes for it, but, to them, it’s well worth it. These natalists say they love individual freedom. That is, unless you are a woman of child-bearing age. Would you want to have more children if you live in a place in which your medical providers are severely restricted in how they can care for you during and around your pregnancy? This should not be a matter of debate. People should have the freedom to start and grow families as they see fit – or not. The natalists can do much more to encourage more births by giving women – and men – the resources to be able to work AND tend to families, without unwanted sacrifices. Being pro-life means not only encouraging life’s creation, but also making it easier for both parents and children to sustain a quality of life. Peter
#government #GovernmentCuts #GovernmentEfficiency #GoodGovernment “They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.” That Joni Mitchell lyric rings true as certain government programs that many cherish get chopped. We all think of government as too big, spending too much and we, as citizens, don’t really know what all those people do. But, we learn all too well when we go to a government office for, say, Social Security information, a driver’s license or to mail a package. When staff at those places get cut, the wait is much longer. In some places, you can wait hours to see a Social Security counselor, or to renew a driver’s license. When government affects us, we feel the cuts. MSNBC news anchor Ali Velshi pointed out that some of the government agencies we don’t know much about, or don’t hear about regularly, are working well BECAUSE we don’t hear much about them. In other words, if they were full of fraud and waste, we would know it because a journalist, inspector general or other watchdog would find out and point it out. By the way, oversight personnel are among the priority cuts in this milieu, BECAUSE those doing the cutting do not want people to know what they are doing, or how they are doing it, until it’s too late. The cutting of government agencies and personnel that’s being done today seems haphazard, at best. The chainsaw approach will lead to some mistakes, Elon Musk says, and his Department of Government Efficiency will fix those mistakes as they occur, he said. Everyone wants government to be as efficient as it can be. No one wants government, or those in it, to commit fraud. But, throwing the baby out with the bathwater will lead to a dead, or badly hurt, baby. We may not know that until we actually have to wait hours for badly needed service, or, when benefits we are entitled to suddenly stop coming. Government has a function in all of our lives. We don’t often hear about, or realize, those functions until they stop. As another Joni Mitchell lyric in the same song says: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” The best way to make government more efficient is to first look for the good that government does, and either let it be or enhance it. If services are duplicated between or among agencies, consolidate those tasks in one place. If tasks can be accomplished with fewer people, or if machines can replace people more efficiently, by all means make those changes. People have said that government should be run like a business. But, government is different from business, in that the process of how things get done can be as important, or even more so, than the result. Not all government work can be easily quantified. The service one might get from a good government employee who meets an individual’s need can be as important as the number of needs that person may meet in a given day, week, month or year. And, if that person meets YOUR need properly, you won’t really care how much that person costs. We all need government. We all need good government. We all should be willing to pay for good government that is as efficient and corruption-free as possible. Peter
