Won't You Come Back, Blue Collar, Won't You Come Back?

Five years ago, entry-level candidates could expect to earn nine bucks an hour at a Haworth Inc. office-furniture factory. The economy was humming, but job growth was choppy, and wage gains anemic.

Things changed, though, as average unemployment in the counties where Haworth makes products like movable walls, desk chairs and storage cabinets tumbled from 6.3% in 2014 to 3.6% last year. Today’s newcomer makes $12.50 an hour.

Pay increases have become table stakes for those doing battle in this tight labor market. Consulting firm Mercer LLC found in a February study that the No. 1 human-resources risk executives face is excessive time required to fill open positions. The median cost to recruit an employee is $1,300, according to recent data.

If you’re a hiring manager and not prepared to pull out your pocketbook, prepare to suffer. And even if you are, prepare to suffer.

WSJ

Won't you come back, blue collar, won't you come back?

We moan the whole day long.

We'll do your cookin', fellah, we'll pay your rent --

your paycheck will be strong!

Remember that rainy evening

we turned you out with nothing but 2 weeks back pay?

We are to blame and we're full of shame --

blue collar please don't stay away!

We need your hands, blue collar, cuz ours are weak.

We do not like to sweat.

We'll give you health insurance and overtime --

without you we go deep in debt!

Trump Has a Strong Economy to Proclaim. In Wisconsin, That Just Might Work.

COLFAX, Wis. — President Trump came to Wisconsin late last month to boast about the state’s unemployment rate, which has been at or near 3 percent for more than a year.  

It’s a message that strikes a chord with Bubba Benson, who lives paycheck to paycheck but says that is still better than where he was a few years ago after getting laid off from a shoe warehouse “when all the jobs went to Mexico.” His new job at a plastics manufacturing plant covers the bills and pays good overtime. There are even a few extra bucks in his paycheck now, which he credits to Mr. Trump’s tax cut.

NYT

Bubba's Song/

when jobs go to Mexico

this country goes to blazes/

a man can't even afford a

can of Copenhagen anymore/

my wife she needed a

beautician's license/

but couldn't come up with 

fees for the course/

that sucked/

but Trump gets in

and we both got full time

jobs/

you think I won't vote for him

again/

my kids wear Pampers now

not Luvs/

American dream here we come

A Lucky Son of a Gun

A bill to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024, authored by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D., Va.), has been hovering just short of the votes needed to pass the Democratic-led House of Representatives, where it faces resistance from some lawmakers from regions where wages and the cost of living are generally lower.

WSJ

I worked one summer as a kid

knocking apart metal shelves

in a book store

that was closing

the white rubber mallet

made a dull chime on the 

silver rods

as my hands began to ache

for a dollar-fifty an hour

that was good money in those days

I lived at home

spent nothing

and put it all in

the Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank.

if I had fifteen dollars in my pocket

today

I'd blow it on a six pack

of root beer and

a gallon of vanilla 

ice cream

and live off of root beer floats

thinking myself a lucky 

son of a gun

Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord

Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord

2 Nephi. 4:16

May I take my sole delight

in what God suggests is right.

I, whose greedy eyes behold

worldly pleasures, vice, and gold --

save me, Lord, from tawdry things;

lend thy spirit to my wings --

that to heaven I may soar,

and the waste below abhor.

Courage and felicity

only come through loving Thee.

The words of the book

Wherefore, because of this covenant thou art blessed; for thy seed shall not be destroyed, for they shall hearken unto the words of the book.  2 Nephi. 3:23

The words of the book of the Lord are a charm

to keep me from falling into any harm.

The words are reminders of covenants made,

inspired by Heaven and carefully weighed.

I would not exchange those good words for mere gold,

not with their meaning so joyous and bold.

Father please grant that my seed may delight

in keeping thy covenants polished and bright!

R.I.P. Jim Fowler. Dead at the age of 89.

I always thought that Marlin Perkins was the smarter guy,

who stayed behind and let Jim Fowler with a panther tie.

But if you like the birds and beasts and do not mind a bite

I guess old Jim out in the swamp had lots more fun than fright.

My retro-sense is tingling as I recall those two

selling life insurance while surrounded by a zoo.

The likes of Fowler we'll not see again in TV Land;

he could make a garter snake seem integral and grand.

Do You Get Anxiety Attacks at Work?

As Generation Z enters the workforce, more young recruits are reporting anxiety than any other generation. Some 54% of workers under 23 said they felt anxious or nervous due to stress in the preceding month, according to a 2018 American Psychological Association survey of 3,458 adults 18 and over. Close behind are millennials, with 40% reporting anxiety—surpassing the national average of 34%.

WSJ

They haven't made the boss that scares me, not by a long shot.

Far as I'm concerned they all do suffer from dry rot.

I figure to outlast 'em, just by staying at my desk

to watch them eat each other up as management burlesque.

I put in my eight hours, not a minute more or less.

The bosses cannot find me once I reach that gold egress.

For I have found the secret to success in my career;

to all my work anxiety I give a big Bronx cheer.

Why compete with coworkers or worry what they do?

That's about as harmful as to take up sniffing glue.

Work provides the income to go fishing or dine out.

I'd rather lack promotion than come down with mental gout!

Economic Meltdown Imminent

The sudden deterioration of trade talks between the U.S. and China this week has raised the prospect of a once-unimaginable rupture between the world’s two largest economies.

Whether talks ultimately yield a deal, the decadeslong integration of the two economies appears bound to go into reverse as mutual suspicion and geostrategic rivalry permeate political and personal relationships.

WSJ

Imagine two economies, the strongest in the world,

going at each other with their snarling lips all curled.

Imagine that they just don't care about their polity,

as long as they can make the other face sure bankruptcy.

Could such two foolish giants find a way to modify

their attitude before their wherewithal falls down to die?

Methinks there's too much hubris and a deck that's bottom dealed;

common sense a-walkin in a ticking, armed minefield.

It's clear the money's leaving town, to find a better place

to set up import biznesses and find new export space.

While India and Mexico rub their brown hands in glee,

behemoths come a-tumblin down -- thanks to Trump and Xi.

The Trade War with China

WASHINGTON — A pivotal round of trade talks between the United States and China gets underway on Thursday but American businesses are bracing for higher tariffs on Chinese imports as a quick resolution to resolve a yearlong trade war becomes increasingly unlikely.

NYT

The trade war with China means no more good tea,

no firecrackers laced with MSG.

All of those knockoffs we guiltily buy

will go to the French and the Swiss and the Thai.

The stock market's feeble, the S&P's weak;

corp'rate Americans feel pretty bleak.

Proposing more tariffs is all the White House

can think of the Chinese ambition to douse.

Trump plays a lone hand when it comes to trade;

he listens to no one, adviser or maid.

America soon will be falling behind

as all of us suffer from his one track mind.

Postcard to the President