#TruckerProtests #CanadianTruckers #coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve
The trucker protests in Canada amount to a few ruining the livelihoods of many.
The truckers seem to be protesting vaccine mandates. Yet, most of them – more than 80 percent – are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, protesters have been basically cleared from blocking the Ambassador Bridge, linking Windsor, Ont., to Detroit, Mich., the most widely used border crossing in North America. But reports say other protests, including those in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, are continuing.
So, the question becomes, why?
We’ve all experienced frustration, sadness, anger and, perhaps, every other volatile emotion during the last two years.
The virus has done a number not only on some of our bodies, but also many of our psyches.
That anguish, combined with divisive politics that has emboldened a few, perhaps is at the center of the trucker protests.
The good news is the border egresses are being unblocked, and, hopefully, the manufacturing supply chain disruptions can be eased.
A second manifestation of the virus-provoked frustration and anger is in U.S. schools. Parents, probably still frustrated over opening, closing and reopening of schools during the past two years, have taken to challenging the curriculum, reading materials etc., that probably have been used in their schools for years.
If the parents and schools don’t work out their disputes in a fashion that allows students to learn history, and other undisputed lessons, properly, schools will not only lose teachers and other educators in large numbers, but the ultimate penalty could be schools losing accreditation.
Loss of accreditation could mean that graduates of those schools may not be admitted to colleges, or other higher forms of education, regardless of how intelligent they may be.
The lesson here is that we all want freedom of speech. We all want our grievances heard. As parents, we all want to help make our schools the best they can be.
But, we all must remember that the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not permit us to yell “fire” in a crowded theater when there is no fire.
The right to free speech is not unlimited. Those who wrote the Constitution EXPECTED us to avail ourselves of our rights with some care and respect. They EXPECTED us to know not only our rights, but also right from wrong.
Therefore, leaning on the Constitution to justify wrongdoing is not what the founders intended.
In short, we have rights to be exercised. We, therefore, should exercise them. But we should do so responsibly.
How does one define responsible? If exercising your rights is causing harm to others who are not part of the dispute, one should think twice about how one exercises those rights.
Consider the person who calls out sick to work when he or she is not sick. That person may have a grievance with the employer. But his or her coworkers are most likely to suffer more punishment than the employer.
Speaking of illness, you may feel you have the right to conduct Activity X during a raging pandemic without taking available precautions. You may feel that if you contract the disease, so be it,. But you do not have the right to contract the disease and spread it to others. That’s why mitigation measures and vaccines may be necessary.
It seems as if the protesting Canadian truckers realize this, and have gotten their shots in large numbers. That makes the reason for protests all the more baffling.
Peter
Category Archives: Uncategorized
THE COSTS OF GOING TO WORK
#jobs #workforce #JobsNumbers #COVID19 #coronavirus #FlattenTheCurve
The 467,000 new jobs created in January 2022 were many times more than expected. Yet, “The Great Resignation” is leading people to quit jobs in large numbers. Perhaps, many are going to better jobs, or, at least, different ones.
Despite this good economic news, many have framed the current work/job environment as a case of generous benefits keeping people from looking – or taking – jobs. The January report should dispel that notion.
First, let’s dispense with the idea that people who are not in the job market are lazy.
For most, that’s hardly the case.
What people are doing now, that they may have not done before, is look at the costs, and the risks, against the rewards, of taking a particular job.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be waning – we could face a surprise new variant at any time, there are still risks to being up close and personal with others, especially where there are no rules or mitigations against viral transmission.
A sick worker is no good to either his or her employer or family. An unvaccinated worker is more likely to get sick and spread the virus. Not knowing whether the person next to you is vaccinated presents its own risk.
Secondly, presuming you have no ability to work from home – most in lower-paying jobs cannot work from home, you have to get to work.
You have to calculate how much of your paycheck is going to commuting. If it costs you a lot to get to work, and you don’t have enough left over after commuting costs to cover your other living expenses, that presents a disincentive to take a job.
Thirdly, if you have young children, and no means to care for them while you are at work, that presents yet another risk to taking a job.
Though most schools are staying open, some have periodic closings prompted by the virus. Perhaps too many students, teachers and staff are ill, or have exposure issues, and cannot be in school.
When too many people are absent, schools close, or go to online options. Of course it’s temporary, but it’s still a problem for a working parent.
The smaller number, and higher cost, of day-care options enlarge the problem for parents.
In short, the labor “shortage” we see is more complicated than government benefits that are too generous.
For some workers, particularly those whose spouse may earn a relatively high income, a worker may also find that his or her lower-paying job is generating an income that primarily pays taxes, and little else. There may be other reasons to hang in a job, i.e. benefits, pension credits etc. But, in some scenarios, one can easily put an entire paycheck into taxes alone.
Just as it may be hard for some employers to get enough people to keep his or her operation going, it may be just as hard for a worker to decide whether it is worth his or her effort to take a job.
In the long term, as birth rates decline and people make life choices that give them more flexibility, there will actually be a labor shortage. In that case, the only solution could be to allow more immigrants, refugees and others to come into the country. In fact, a recent U.S. Census report says the largest segment of population increase is coming from immigrants.
It’s no easy fix, but it is one that we all may have to fix together as a society. Jobs have to be more attractive. Services and solutions need to be available so workers can go to work without fear or worry.
Both employers and employees need to be part of any solution.
Peter
IS YOUR LIFE BETTER WHEN YOU ARE BUSY?
#busyness #activity #happiness #ActiveLife #work #jobs
We have a love/hate relationship with busyness.
In his article, “Is Life Better When You Are Busy,” Scott H. Young says he’s happiest when he’s “ever –so-slightly too busy.”
Young talks about the scale from boredom to burned out. He says some seem happier when closer to “relaxed,” while others require more activity for happiness. “Different people seem to have dials set differently for the optimal level of stimulation,” the article says.
Busyness can be a convenient excuse for saying no to something or someone. Don’t want to visit your mother-in-law? Say you are too busy. Don’t want to volunteer for a worthy cause? Say you are too busy.
Busyness, in other words, gives your “no” a cover.
If you are indeed busy, are you busy doing the right things? Leadership expert Darren Hardy asked preacher Joel Osteen what the most important part of his service/TV show was. Osteen replied that it was the 20 minutes he took to give his sermon or homily.
Hardy advised him to spend most of his time preparing for those 20 minutes, and delegate other tasks to other people.
Other companies/employers want their workers to concentrate on the most productive – read, money-making for the company – activities.
But, you may know some employees who find other activities to stay busy, so they can avoid the most productive tasks.
So, all this begs the questions: How busy are you? Are you happiest when you are the busiest? Are you so overwhelmed with tasks that you fear a meltdown coming? Are the things that keep you busy worth the effort in the scheme of your life?
Young’s essay offers three ways to make the busyness of your life more fulfilling. First, adjust your expectations. “Expecting too much from yourself (or too little) is a stress,” he writes.
Second, find more satisfying work, friends and hobbies. “If you spend a lot of time doing things that don’t satisfy you … it can feel like you have too little time,” he writes.
Third, create more filters and constraints. “When the flow of upcoming opportunities is a trickle, we feel restless and bored,” he writes. Conversely, when the flow is a waterfall, one can feel overwhelmed, he says.
In short, we are happiest when we do things. Even on vacation, we feel better with more recreation than rest. We love activities that make us happy.
Make your busyness count. Concentrate on activities that produce the life you want. Do things that, even if they seem tedious now, will pay off later. That’s goal-setting.
There are tasks we can’t really avoid, short of paying someone else to do them. Housecleaning may be one of those for you. But try to make a conscious effort to spend the bulk of your time on rewarding tasks, and you are certain to stay happy.
Active might be a better word than busy here. Stay active. Stay happy.
Peter
TODAY’S ADS: DO THEY MAKE YOU WANT TO BUY?
#ads #advertising #marketing #BuyingDecisions #AdsAndTheEconomy
There are some TV ads of the past that were so good, you remember them to this day, but don’t remember what they were advertising.
If you look at today’s insurance ads on TV, for example, you can remember the company name, but do they make you want to buy the insurance?
Insurance is something most people buy based on the best deal, and/or the appropriate coverage. Sometimes, over time, as insurance companies raise premiums, one shops around. If one doesn’t want to bother shopping around, he or she stays with the same company – higher premiums and all.
It’s hard to conceive one choosing an insurance company based on a TV ad. One can pass judgment on the entertainment value of the ads, but they are hardly persuasive in terms of you buying what they are selling.
Cigarette companies, when they were allowed to advertise on TV, also had entertaining ads. So did automakers. But it would be hard to believe that either of those entities could correlate purchases with ads.
Marketing is a tough business. Marketers first aim for name recognition for the client, and cute ads can achieve that.
But just because one knows a company’s name doesn’t mean he or she buys the product(s) they are selling.
Most of us buy based on price and result, which, together, equal value. We learn that one company’s products may not fit everyone.
Most of us do our own research when looking for a car, or insurance policy etc. Sometimes, one goes to a specific agent, or dealer, who help him or her decide which product would best suit him or her. Do the TV ads get people through those agents’ doors? Perhaps some. But most of us, if we go through an agent or dealer, choose that person based on local knowledge, or a friend’s recommendation.
However, advertising is large part of the overall economy. So many businesses depend on companies wanting to advertise.
Yet, in the case of many ads we all see, it’s tough to envision them translating into sales for the company that bought the ad.
Many of us love to buy things. Most of us hate to be sold things.
Some products are bought because people are shown the value, and they see it.
No fancy ad. No big-time pitch. No convincing. No coercion.
Person X has a product, shows it to Person Y. Person X would love Person Y to see the value in the product, then buy. But, Person X doesn’t care if Person Y doesn’t see the value, or doesn’t believe it’s for him or her. Person X knows that if he or she keeps looking, they will find the right people.
So, the next time you watch, or read, an ad, ask yourself: is it making me want to buy what they are selling? Chances are, if you NEED or WANT what they are selling, you’ll not buy based on the ad alone. But if it gets you to do research whether that product or service is right for you, then the ad was a success.
Know, too, that the show or publication that featured that ad is benefiting from that ad being there. If you enjoy the show, or publication, be thankful for those ads.
Peter
SOME THINGS AGE WELL; OTHERS, NOT SO MUCH
#age #GettingBetterWithAge #HumanBody #athletes #singers
Some things get better with age.
Wine and whiskey immediately come to mind.
The human body usually does not.
If you do physical work, generally, there will come a time when you will no longer be able to.
More often, though, if you do something physical, your body will tell you when it’s time to stop. But the question becomes, will you listen to your body?
Or, will you keep going, thinking that you can still do it, even when you can’t?
Let’s use the examples of athletes and singers. If you are a good athlete, you figure on a career that will last, hopefully, 20 years or so, barring injury.
As an athlete, it’s up to you to notice when your skills are fading. By the way, kudos to the athletes who can still play competitively well beyond their prime. Advances in training, treatments etc., along with some good luck, have kept some athletes hanging in, even doing well, after a couple of decades of competition.
Generally, though, an athlete knows, or should know, when it’s time to retire. Sometimes, those decisions are made for them. But, usually, athletes have enough pride in their games that they do not want to embarrass themselves by playing on too late in life.
Many singers, however, do not know when to stop. Even when it’s clear to the average observer that a singer, who may have been really good decades ago, can no longer sing, as he or she did, they keep singing.
Fans, perhaps those who don’t want these singers out of the picture yet, continue to pay large sums to see these old singers perform, even if the songs don’t sound quite the same as they remember.
As long as people pay, they’ll keep singing. Some of that might be pressure from their advisers and handlers, who still want to keep making money off these singers. But, here’s the question: if you were once a great singer, and you no longer sound the same after 30, 40 or even 50 years, do you have enough pride – certainly you should have enough money, if you’ve had many hits – to stop performing?
Perhaps you should find a tribute performer(s) to carry on your legacy. Sure, the fans won’t pay the same money for tribute performers, but they will sound more like you than you do now.
It must be difficult to have achieved fame and a following, and have to give it up. Both athletes and singers face the same decision at some point.
But, at least for some fans, it can be torture to listen to someone you’ve admired for years not being able to hit the notes he or she once hit easily. It’s also difficult to watch a singer, whose songs you know note for note, cheat his or her way through a concert by substituting lower notes.
If your God-given talent and endless work has made you good at something physical, remember that your body will tell you when it can no longer do what you want. Listen to your body. Avoid embarrassment. Let the younger talent in your trade carry on.
Peter
SUCCESS NOT A MATTER OF LUCK
#success #luck #BadLuck #opportunity #effort
Have you ever met someone who is envious of a successful person?
They are so lucky, that person thinks.
Then, they wish they had the same luck.
Not knowing anything about what the person had to do to become successful, they just presume the person was just lucky.
And they, of course, are unlucky for not achieving the same success.
Success, no matter how one defines it, is available to anyone.
The difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is a combination of opportunity – not luck – and effort.
Opportunity is not something that comes by accident. Opportunity is sought. In other words, the luck comes to those who prepare for it by taking an opportunity that is presented to him or her.
Certainly, one has to know an opportunity when he or she sees it. The successful person will always look for an opportunity. The unsuccessful person will usually pass on an opportunity for various reasons including: too much work, too much to invest, they would never do such a thing, they would never consider such a thing etc.
These are excuses, for lack of a better term. If an opportunity is good enough, the successful person will overcome all of those hurdles mentioned above and find a way to get in.
Certainly, not every opportunity is for everyone. But if the desire for success is inside you, you will look at all opportunities until you find the right one for you.
In fact, someone you know, or perhaps someone you don’t know, may present something to you that you may have never considered before. If your desire for success is strong enough, you will check it out anyway.
Those who don’t look for opportunities have reached a stage of contentment with their lives. Whether they are indeed content may be debatable, but they don’t want to do what they would need to do to advance their lives further.
Still others are not content with their lives, but blame circumstances for their hardship. These folks “know their place” in life, and are envious of others who’ve achieved more. They blame others, or things, for their lack of achievement.
In short, everyone has the ability to be successful. Your education, experience or background may not matter, unless your idea of success involves a bunch of education and experience.
If you have the ambition, and are not the type to blame someone or something for your lack of achievement, there are opportunities out there for the taking.
You just have to be open-minded enough to look for them
Peter
UNFULFILLED AMBITIONS
#ambition #UnfulfilledAmbition #goals #achievement #HardWork
Harry Chapin’s song “Taxi,” talks about unfulfilled ambition.
Or, it talks about fulfilling ambition in a different, less desirable way.
The Chapin character in the song wanted to be a pilot. Instead, he’s driving a cab.
His passenger, an old friend from childhood he hadn’t seen in years, wanted to be an actress. Instead, she married someone rich and is a homemaker.
The two ended up fulfilling their ambitions, sort of, the song says. She is “acting happy inside her handsome home. “ (If you don’t know the song, she did leave him a nice tip). He’s flying high, on drugs, presumably when he’s not driving a cab, the song says.
The song came out in 1972, but its lessons may apply today.
Do you have a worthy ambition? Are there things in the way of you fulfilling that ambition?
Ambitions come in all shapes and sizes. They also come with many pathways, some difficult or expensive, to get there.
In the Chapin song, the cab rider who wanted to be an actress might have found a difficult path to get there. She may have found stiff competition – how many folks want to act as a career? Given those pathways, one has to admire anyone who slogs through the pathway and becomes successful.
Perhaps the cab rider found true love, or just found a “sugar daddy,” and abandoned the path. Perhaps she tried acting and didn’t break through. The song never says.
The Chapin character would have had a rigorous path to becoming a pilot. Not everyone can do it. The song never says how far he’d gotten toward that goal.
The point is that ambition is all well and good. But if you are unwilling to do what it takes, or you don’t get the breaks you need to become successful, you may not achieve them.
So, what if there was a way to achieve your ambitions, just by your effort alone? What if your ambition involves an extensive and expensive education, that may or may not pay off for you, financially, in the end?
Some such ambitions are certainly noble, and would do the world some good. They just may not personally enrich you.
But there are programs out there that, by investing a few, part-time, off-work hours a week to start, can potentially help you over some financial hurdles.
These programs don’t require specific education, experience or background. They merely require an open mind to check them out (they may or may not be for you), and a willingness to be coached.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Meanwhile, having an ambition, or a goal, is better than having none at all. Be mindful of the pitfalls of pursuit, but don’t necessarily let those pitfalls deter you.
You shouldn’t have to settle for something less, if you don’t want to. Try not to rationalize settling as achievement.
Some ambitions take longer than others. You may have to redesign ambitions to suit circumstances, but if you really want something, go for it, no matter what it may take.
Peter
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
#HappyNewYear #NewYear #2022 #COVID19 #coronavirus #FlattenTheCurve
It’s been an interesting year, or two.
Will 2022 be any better?
That’s up to each of us.
COVID-19 may be around longer than we want it to be. In fact, it may never go away entirely.
As we have with seasonal flu and other diseases, we have to learn that precautions may forever be in order. If everyone eligible got vaccinated and boosted, it would go a long way toward mitigation.
If we begin the year with that premise, let’s move on to the promise.
Things are getting better, as unemployment is dropping, and wages, in many cases, are rising.
Here’s the rub: going to work isn’t what it used to be, in many cases.
More customers/clients have become, for lack of a better word, abusive.
If you are on the front lines, you get paid to resolve disputes. But you do not get paid to take abuse. You may have no control over the situation, though some would have you believe you have absolute control to resolve their grievances.
You have to remember that the situation is not your fault, in most cases. While the pandemic and accompanying restrictions have brought out the worst in some, they have brought out the best in others.
Yes, it’s easier to say that when one is not being abused.
Let’s resolve this year to be kinder. Let’s resolve to understand why we might be frustrated, even angry. Let’s resolve that what’s making us frustrated and angry may not be what, or who, is in front of us, and not take out our frustration and anger on that thing or person.
Again, it’s easier said than done, but if we can all give it thought, perhaps we can minimize disturbances.
Remember, too, that not only you, but everyone around you, can be affected by your behavior. The next time you may feel inclined to disrupt an airline flight over, say, a mask, remember it’s not just about you, and your “rights.” And remember that the flight crew is there to keep you, and those around you, safe. You have a part to play in that effort. Play it graciously and cooperatively.
That brings us to what you may want for yourself, and others, in the new year. Is your situation ideal for you?
Do you want to take a different route, or direction, in 2022? Now is a good time to think about that.
Know that there are many programs out there that can improve your situation, financial and otherwise, without having to change what you are doing now.
These programs require no specific education, experience or background. They only require an open mind to check them out, a desire to change your own circumstances and a willingness to help others.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Meanwhile, whatever you decide to do in 2022, do it with kindness, humility, integrity and generosity.
Remember that what you do will not just affect you. And remember that the person who you think is persecuting you may be there to save you.
Happy New Year!
Peter
INVESTORS — NOT THE ONES YOU MIGHT THINK — ARE BUYING HOUSES
#homes #investors #InstitutionalInvestors #landlords
Home is where the profit is.
Yes, institutional investors, i.e. pension funds, venture capitalists etc., are buying up individual, single-family homes.
So says an analysis by Zachary B. Wolf for CNN, published on cnn.com Aug. 2, 2021.
Here are the trends, as Wolf sees them: 1) Many people still can’t afford to buy homes, despite low interest rates. 2) The coronavirus pandemic has encouraged, even forced, people to work from home, so they may need more space. 3) Traditional landlords – people who own one or two properties, big property management operations, even Real Estate Investment Trusts are tired of people not paying rent because they lost their jobs in the pandemic.
In short, other people’s peril, and big potential for juicy rent checks, bring out big investors.
Perhaps the advantage here is that the new type of institutional investor doesn’t depend strictly on the income from one rental house to survive. Eventually, they figure, the juicy rent checks will reappear. Meanwhile, other real estate investors are looking for relief.
Perhaps also, since these investors don’t necessarily depend solely on the rent checks, they will eventually bail out of this space by allowing their tenants to purchase the homes they live in. Typical real estate investors generally shy away from those scenarios.
Here’s another thought: The equity building in the property – the housing market for purchase is on fire in most places – would be the new investors’ profit. That may put less pressure on tenants/rents, presuming the tenants eventually get out from under their pandemic hardships. If you are a tenant, it probably doesn’t matter to whom you write your rent check.
However, for tenants, it could matter if something goes wrong with your property. How will these investors handle property management? Might they hire back the property managers from whom they bought the property?
If you’ve ever taken a class, or read a book, on making money by investing in real estate, they tend to suck people in with leverage. In other words, you (the potential investor) can start by putting a small down payment on Property X, and taking a mortgage. The rent covers the mortgage payment and a little profit for you.
As you become more successful, you buy another property the same way. As that property becomes successful, you do it again etc.
All this depends on nothing going wrong. And, when properties need major repairs, does the aspiring rich landlord have the cash to cover them? Then, if you have a pandemic, suddenly, renters can’t pay. The government then stops you from evicting them. They will certainly owe back rent, but how long might it take for you (the landlord) to see that money?
The good news here is there are easier ways to make a good income from other than a W-2 job. You don’t need to buy property, and the headaches that come with it. You don’t need to hope for tenants who will pay faithfully every month, no matter what happens. You don’t need to worry about big repairs etc.
The bonus: you don’t need any specific education, background or experience to take advantage of these many programs. And, you can help your friends do the same in the process.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Meanwhile, even professional investors see an opportunity in single-family real estate – one house at a time. It’s probably a temporary strategy for them, since they likely don’t need the headaches of property management for the long term.
But, perhaps, they could provide the relief tenants – and many landlords – need in this extraordinary time.
One can only hope for a win-win for all concerned.
Peter
CLIMATE CHANGING THE WAY WE LIVE
#ClimateChange #weather #floods #heat
There are fires in places that almost never burn.
There is extremely hot weather setting records in places that don’t usually get hot.
There are floods in places that don’t usually flood.
There’s even cold weather in places that never get cold.
No matter how you cut it, our climate is changing. We have to figure out exactly why, and what we can do to fix it. Science points to fossil fuels and industrialization as a cause. We want to keep being industrious, but we need to find different ways to do it.
If we don’t, peril will persist. Life as we knew it will be gone.
Weather, once unpredictable, is now pretty predictable. Still, no one could see the unexpected weather in many parts of the world. It’s not just the unexpected. Expected, predictable events are becoming worse than predicted.
For example, one can predict wildfires in California. But recent fires have been far more frequent and devastating, and less seasonal, than in the past. (If only we could move water from places that have too much of it, to places that don’t have enough.)
Also, one can predict triple-digit heat in Texas in the summer. But one never expects triple digit heat in Canada, forcing a British Columbia town to burn up.
Think of what triple-digit heat would do if it reached as far north as the Arctic. Even the final round of the Open golf championship in England saw record warmth for that locale (though it was actually a pleasant 80 degrees).
These changes may force people to rethink careers, where they live and how they should prepare for the unknown.
There are some disasters for which there is no possible preparation. But, for many, doing the right thing beforehand can mitigate damage, injury or loss of life.
Most important of all, we must act soon to determine the long-term global actions that will need to occur. As individuals, we can prepare as best we can to save our own lives and possessions. But, as a world, we have to take large-scale measures to mitigate these changes.
Some will sit back and let nature take its course. One does that at his or her peril.
If our actions as humans contributed to these events, our actions as humans can mitigate them.
Just as we can prepare as individuals to protect ourselves and our things, we can also prepare to change things that either aren’t going well in our lives, or are not sustainable in our lives for the long term.
Is what you are doing the thing you want to be doing? Have you thought about what might be if you did something else? Are you looking for something that would change your circumstances potentially exponentially for the better?
There are many programs that can help you do that, even without having to give up – at least for now — what you are already doing. No specific education, background or experience is required. As a bonus, they can be done regardless of the climate you live in.
To check out one of the best such programs, message me.
In summary, prepare for what you can predict. Presume what you predict will be worse than you believe. Throw in some preparedness for things you don’t expect to happen. Engage with the world to mitigate nature’s changes.
Don’t sit back and wait for things to get better. They probably won’t, unless you (and we) act.
Peter