California, the biggest state, has a 12.3 percent unemployment rate, but it probably is more than that. The system in use for counting the unemployed counts only those actively looking for work. Some believe the real unemployment rate could be as much as 20 percent.
Yet, the international companies of California, such as Apple and HP, are prospering. That is because all or most of their products are not being made by Californians.
They are being made overseas because overseas workers are willing to do those jobs for somewhat less — in some cases much less — than American workers. Sending jobs abroad is called outsourcing.
Outsourcing is being used more and more. If you wear Nike running shoes, for example, you are wearing a product that was never made in America, except during its development years. Nike has made billions on two simple concepts — that Americans are dumb enough to buy high-priced running shoes and that Americans are too dumb to care where those shoes are made.
If you dial the so-called service number for that computer you just bought, someone half a world away answers your call. We all know that, but I remain amazed that even telephone answering is outsourced.
That is because Americans make too much money, in comparison to people in other countries who are willing to answer phones for less. For example, in 2005, according to The Boston Globe, the average wage worldwide was about $7,000 a year. That’s about $3.50 an hour, less than one-half the American minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. That $3.50 an hour is about the average wage in Mexico, for example, or in Latvia. Of course, many earn far less. The median wage worldwide is about $1,700 a year.
We may finally have priced ourselves out of the world labor market.
I want to state my support for the Ellis Street overpass.
The traffic situation at Cleveland, Country Club, Gateway and the train tracks has become a big-city type of nightmare. I own an in-home child care business that provides transport to and from schools, and I use the intersection often each day. I fear for the safety of the children in my care, and myself, each time I drive through the area. Thoughtless and impatient drivers put our lives at risk.
I applaud the city for coming up with the overpass idea. I believe it to be the most cost effective, and least intrusive way to ease the problems at the intersection. Can’t wait until it’s completed.
A lot of counseling was under way over the weekend in Arizona. Illegal immigrants were being counseled on how to react if they are questioned under Arizona’s new immigration law. Police officers, meanwhile were being counseled on how to enforce it.
In a nutshell, the law gives permission to state and local police to enforce U.S. immigration laws, which are federal. Under present law, when illegals are discovered as a result of arrests on suspicion of breaking other laws, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) is notified. The new law will make being an illegal immigrant a state crime as well. The state can then detain the suspects on suspicion of being in the country illegally until the matter is cleared up. Eventually, they would be turned over to I.C.E.
The Wall Street Journal, in a report on the counseling session, writes that the police are being cautioned not to pull people over or detain them just because they appear to be Hispanic. That would be profiling, which the law prohibits.
The law might result in a safer Arizona. Illegals were being advised that the best way to avoid being arrested for being in the United States was not to break any laws.
About 20 percent of all prisoners in the Maricopa County Jail now are illegals, the Journal reports, but quotes the president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association as saying, “They are there because of conduct, not because of skin color.”
The big question about the Arizona law will not be what the state does, but what the federal government does in response.
Arizona is mad because its residents perceive the country’s borders aren’t being defended, and Arizonans are paying the price. Will the feds respond by better defending U.S. borders? If not, you’ll probably see more states follow Arizona’s path.
During his roast of Johnny Deniz Thursday night at the annual Senior Farmer dinner, Bob Stanfield mentioned Deniz’s habit of making sure certain people always got a gift of fruit when it was at its best.
Deniz, who was honored as Senior Farmer, is a fruit grower and former fruit packer who spent many years on the board of the Madera Irrigation District. The MID was constantly lobbying Congress and the Legislature. Deniz’s gifts, while individually small, were always appreciated and always helped increase his standing — and MID’s standing — among the power brokers. Stanfield, former MID general manager and currently a member of the Madera County Water Advisory Commission, knows well of what he spoke.
While listening to this, I wrote a note to myself: “Nectarine diplomacy. The kindness of a small but special gift is always appreciated, and it usually is remembered.”
When I was just out of college, I worked for a magazine publisher in Seattle, and part of my job was to buy the company’s printed envelopes. We used a lot of them, because we had subscribers all over the world with whom we had to communicate. That was well before e-mail.
Several envelope salesmen called on me, but just one of them got most of the orders. The fellow who represented Mail-Well Envelope Co. would always bring a little gift when he made a call. It was a roll of Life Savers with his name on it and the name of the Mail-Well Envelope Co.
Mail-Well was a good envelope supplier, but so were the others. However, if I needed envelopes, particularly a special order, I would call the Mail-Well guy.
These days, a lot of people tend to try to get attention by complaining and whining. And complaining and whining does work sometimes. But a good deed, a little gift, goes a long way, too, and leaves a positive feeling. Johnny Deniz has shown us a better way.
All comments are edited for length and content. Because of content or space limitations, some comments may not be published. More than one comment from the same person during the same week will normally not be published. Please limit calls to two minutes or less.
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A man said he “enjoyed the feature article on B1 of Saturday’s Tribune. The writer recalls her high school days standing on smoker’s corner at west Seventh and North K Streets. After living in that area for 40 years I still can’t find that intersection.” (Note: West Seventh and South, not North, K streets do intersect one block east of Madera High School.)
A man saw an article about housing “for four Hispanic families. I doubt seriously if Smith, Jones, Johnson or Williams families would have had that type of front page coverage. I also noticed in the paper there is more and more Spanish advertising. I guess if I am going to continue subscribing I’m going to have to learn Spanish. Fat chance of that.”
A woman “wondered what was going on with the people in control of our city. They are going to increase the speed limit all around the city. I cannot believe it. Isn’t there enough traffic accidents with people getting hurt and killed already? Don’t they know speed kills?”
But another woman said, “I was delighted to see the list of streets that are going to have their speed limits raised. But one was sadly lacking. Sunset (Avenue) up to Schnoor (Avenue), that is still 25 miles per hour. With all the stop signs on that street you could never go very fast, but 25 is ridiculous.
A man “had an idea. Instead of the city blowing our money putting in these (state-mandated) water meters, which they probably won’t work right and have to hire somebody, why don’t we hire more police officers and get rid of these gangs like Fresno is doing.”
A man referenced the “July 12 paper. Page A2 shows about two men crashing over the weekend that resulted in a DUI. I don’t care what anybody says, I would bet a thousand dollars they are all illegal aliens and should be deported. Why don’t we wake up and follow the lead of Arizona?”
A man replied to “the Red Line of July 13. The illegals do not cost the state or federal government as much as people think. Documentation says they pay millions in IRS taxes (and) Social Security, which they cannot collect. I’m not sure they can connect any of this.”
He had another comment about “the lady who said the Ellis overstreet crossing was a waste of money. Have you ever been at the Cleveland-Gateway intersection at a busy time?”
A man wanted “to know what happened to Rambling Rec on Monday. I always read it to keep up on the sports and upcoming events.” (Editor’s note: No column was submitted for July 12, but one was in this Monday’s issue.)
A woman had a similar comment. “Did I miss the Ramblin’ Rec on Monday? I like to read about the good things that are happening in Madera. I hope it comes back. I don’t care for the jumbled city Web site. Why didn’t the city have a professional Web page designer do it? It’s awful.”
“There’s a job opening for Family First 5,” said a man. “I was wondering why they have to be bilingual. We need to speak English. You can’t get a job because you have to be bilingual.”
A woman explained the road repair on Howard Road that Red Line callers complained about. “They should understand that the ground has to settle (where the water line broke) and once it settles they can go back in and fix it where it is a lot smoother.”
A male caller commended sports editor Paul Stanford. “I know you’ve been catching a lot of heat in the Red Line, but I think you’re doing a great job with the limited resources at your disposal. Your coverage of the Little League Championships and playoffs were top notch.”
A lady called with two short messages. “First of all, I love the Tribune and I love Leon. He’s such a positive person. Second,” she said, “I am just appalled with all the abuse to the animals. First, a Dalmatian, then we find animal control found a dog near the golf course that was almost dead. I gave my donation for the care of both animals. But this has got to stop. Animal abuse can lead to other abuses. I hope you print this, and thank you very much.”
A man gave his name and said he wanted to speak about the high-speed rail. “We don’t need it. Not at all. They have to have a little common sense. This is madness.” Despite his comment, he gave several ideas on what should be done when planning and constructing. He then advised, “Remember the San Andreas Fault.”
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Thank you for your calls. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24 hours a day by calling 674-4478 or by visiting maderatribuneredline.com on the Internet.
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Satirical Music: “Old Time Recession” by Merle Hazzard
Walmart will soon put electronic tags on some of the merchandise it sells in order to keep track of inventory. If you buy a pair of jeans there, you may find it has a tag on it which will allow the store to read and record what you have bought.
Mrs. Doud thinks they should put those tags in food. That way, she could call the grocery store and ask them whether I had been buying things like cream pies to take to the office and eat.
She does not think cream pies, candy bars or chocolate milk are good for me, and she is probably right. I am getting older, and as that happens, my little pot belly is not so little any more. In fact, it looks like I may be smuggling watermelons underneath my shirt — small watermelons, but watermelons to be sure.
Actually, I like those small watermelons about as much as I like cream pies. They are sweet and juicy, and you don’t have to spit the seeds. They do cause you to use up more than one paper napkin as you eat them, though. And I have gotten a lot of red juice spots on my shirts because of them.
If I decide to buy jeans and cream pies at Walmart, the people there who read those little labels will soon see a pattern. If the cream pie count goes up, my present jean sizes will expand. I have been trying to prevent that by starving myself. Sometimes I don’t eat anything all day except a cream pie.
In the interests of nutrition, though, I try to vary the types of cream pies I eat. There’s banana cream, chocolate cream, even lemon cream. Sometimes I’ll eat health pies — pumpkin and sweet potato. I try to hit all the food groups. But that doesn’t satisfy Mrs. Doud. She wants me to stay healthy. To that end, she’ll spy on my purchases if she can.
If I’m going to keep my eating habits to myself, I’ll have to buy my pies from pushers at church socials.
While we do not yet know what the long-term impacts will be, we can certainly see what is happening each day. There is catastrophic damage being done to the health of marine wildlife and humans.
The press continues to refer to the Deepwater Horizon as an oil spill.
It is more than that. It is a severed artery that continues to gush from deep in our ocean. We need to urge our senators to support a complete stop to any drilling in the ocean. If our senators don’t support the will of the people, then let’s vote these bums out.
Sen. Gloria Romero, the Los Angeles Democrat who wants to strip serpentine’s status as our state rock, no doubt means well. But she probably doesn’t know how foolish the bill makes her look.
Her reasoning is that serpentine in some cases contains asbestos. When that type of serpentine is crushed, she asserts, it can cause health problems.
But let’s examine this. Will removing serpentine as the state rock remove its asbestos? Uh … probably not.
In fact, did you know the state had a state rock? I didn’t. Does that designation somehow confer value on the rock?
It may have been chosen state rock because of its beauty. According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, serpentine is often used in jewelry because it has a sparkle to it.
It is said to be made up largely of magnesium iron phyllosilicate minerals, and may contain small amounts of chromium, manganese, cobalt and nickel. It also is distinguished by three important mineral polymorphs: antigorite, chrysotile and lizardite. It has low levels of phosphorus, potassium and magnesium.
Soils made of serpentine are toxic to many plants, Wikipedia says, because of high levels of nickel, chromium and cobalt. When it is polished, it tends to resemble jade, and is often mistaken for it.
Serpentine also is often used as railroad ballast and building material — even polished and used in serpentine marble. And when it contains traces of asbestos, it can be used as thermal and electrical insulation.
It also absorbs carbon dioxide and re-releases oxygen into the atmosphere. Hooray!
Well, there you are: The state rock isn’t a rock so much as it is a collection of minerals having many uses. Should it have been called a rock at all, especially a state rock?
But that is beside the point. Defrocking it won’t change the fact it has been in use for thousands of years, and probably will continue to be so. Rock on, serpentine.
I am writing because the Madera Tribune has always kept us readers informed about how the budget talks were going. I was going to say that I have not read anything and was wondering if the paper was still covering the issue. But I did get today’s paper (Sat., July 17) and read the California Focus (column), and the article on the minimum-wage issue. Thank you and your staff for your work, and please keep us all informed on what’s happening.
