Kudos to Ford

Finally, jobs are coming back to the US by a major company!  Woo-hoo!  Just this morning, Ford announced it was bringing back manufacturing of many parts for its new electric vehicles to Michigan. For years, it has been getting these parts from suppliers in Japan and Mexico. This news made this Urban Nomad, who watched as 200 jobs from her previous company went to Mexico,  very happy. Over two hundred new jobs back to the heart of car-land USA. It's a start. Green, clean and lean.


Not so much the news that for every job opening, there are five unemployed workers, according to former Secretary and Professor Robert Reich.  Or his conclusion that the reason our GDP increased over the last quarter was due to the trend of families  spending their savings to live. (see www.robertreich.org)


My husband and I seem to now fit into what he calls the "anxious" class. We, along with many others,  are watching our dwindling "retirement" funds each time we need to purchase something new.  Drawing down savings to live is not what I would call an indication of a healthy economy. A society on an upswing. On the road to recovery. What's going to happen when all of our middle class savings are depleted?


Kudos goes to Ford for finding factories that are sitting in limbo and for bringing work back to this country. That's an indication of a plan well executed at a critical time. What will lesson the "anxiety" for all of us will not be when the government tells us that the economy is doing better, but when we find jobs for those seeking them, wage increases for those who have been working extra hours at the same compensation and factories once again opening doors. 


We should support companies like Ford and urge others to take similar steps to put Americans back to work and America back in business.

Cafe Espuelas Live!

Job Seekers: Kabul is a "Safe" Zone

I recently received a note from an executive recruiter seeking a CEO for a news organziation in Kabul. Yes, Afghanistan. He wanted to know if I was interested in or knew anyone who might be interested in his posting. For one second, it sparked my interest. There's that one part of me, that adrenaline junkie part, that wanted to hear more about the position.  Mostly as a joke, I wrote back, querying the "benefits." Standard things in a war zone like a bullet proof car? Security detail? Safe housing?  Medi-vac insurance?  His instant answer was a little shocking, even to an old nomad like me. 

"Rest assured the office is safe. Totally in a green Zone in Kabul. Your safe as a baby in the womb."

Why was this shocking to me?  Because he was serious!  First of all, I could understand if he were being ironic. The circumstance  of a baby in a womb being at all safe, near bombs, is a  bizarre and twisted thought.  I doubt that many of the mothers in Kabul,  would consider it so safe for their young ones. My hunch is they'd rather get their kids to safety than stay in a war-torn city, even if it was their home, if they could. So luckily, his quick answer shocked me back to reality.

In addition to this, I had just gotten off the phone with a dear friend who works for the UN. She was telling me about the bombing of their offices in Kabul and how devastating it was to the whole organization.

The day following the exchange with this particular recruiter, two bombs went off in what was considered the "Green Zone" there.

What kept coming back to me was a simple question:  just how far do we have to go to get a job? 

Whatever We're Doing, We're Doing Something WRONG!

Greece. Spain. Europe turned upside-down. Arizona. Immigration reform or  ethnic cleansing? Double digit unemployment in the US. Folks over 45 unable to find jobs. California- the land of prosperity and hope -- bankrupt. Snow in the sunshine state. No more PE, art, music in our schools. Kids who are weak, undereducated, uninspired and unmotivated are moving into the work force.

Whatever we are doing, it isn't working. It's time for a major course correction.

Europeans are blaming the Americans. Americans started out blaming the banks and are now shifting blame at the minorities. The Chinese are still sitting pretty, although even they are being affected, as factories are closing because the rest of the world can't consume at the same levels they were just a year ago.

I saw a sign one of the Greek protesters held last week. It read:  "Today ends Fascism."  Huh?
I don't even think they know why they are protesting. The Greeks recently elected a Socialist. I think they just have a "knee-jerk" default:  anyone doing anything they don't like is deemed a "fascist." Well, there are many problems, but "fascism" in Greece is really not one of them!

Clearly the world is full of anger. Well it's time to put that anger to good use. It's time for collective change. Non-violent, collective change.

Shout it from the rafters, from the windows, from the streets. Shout loud and clear:  "We're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it anymore." And then get out and vote. Make your voice heard. Elect people who care. Get involved in your schools. Get involved in your communities.

To make it RIGHT, we all need to be involved.

Lamenting a Lost Art

Helen Thomas, doyenne of the White House press corp since JFK days, is naturally skeptical of new media and all this Facebooking and tweeting. “I think we’re all suffering from the real lack of true communication,” she said. 


I read this this evening on "The Daily Beast" a top rated blog in blogosphere. What it made me realize is how far we've come from the days of honoring -- and honing -- the art of speech, for the purpose of actually communicating to each other. What has happened to one on one, in person, face to face dialogue? Aspiring to eloquently turn a phrase and elicit a reaction? A smile? A tear? A heartfelt moment? A connection?


The late WIlliam Safire, who, from 1979 until his death in 2009, wrote "On Language" for the NY TImes Magazine, a column I religiously followed and enjoyed. It explored trends, delved into the origins and meanings of words and phrases and kept smiles on his devoted Lexicographic followers every weekend. Boy do I miss him.


I think he would agree that it is the art of connection that is being lost. For all the hundreds of "followers" one amasses, how many true connections are being made? Through our new preponderance of tweeting, texting, messaging, blogging, we are losing the art of the spoken word. And it's a shame.