Titanic Post

Last week the executive director of the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce, Ed Karr, was quoted in the Alamogordo Daily News saying that it was a good thing when part of the movie “Transformer” was filmed in the Alamogordo area and leaving behind a clean million dollars in the community. This is a great thing. The movie companies pay well and in Alamogordo’s dual economy this is a welcome relief to the usual minimum wage plus a dollar or two. They also clean up their mess before they leave. Mr. Karr also claimed that the very same million dollars is “still rotating in the economy” three months after the film crew left went back to Hollywood. I don’t think so. The bulk of that money would have been spent at the local Walmart and K-mart. Another large chunk would have been used in our many chain stores here. Most locally owned small businesses have been devoured by the big guys over the years.

According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, only 6 cents of every dollar spent in a big box retailer is retained or recirculated in a community. And 20 cents of every dollar spent with a chain store is retained or recirculated in a community. (Small Business Administration) Compare this with 60 cents of every dollar spent with a sole proprietorship that is retained or recirculated in a community. (SBA) My guess is that most of that million dollars is by now safely in an Arkansas bank.

The Otero County Council on Economic Development website proudly advertises generous incentives to business from out of town to locate here. They are also proud that New Mexico is a Right to Work (for less) state and they are especially proud of the fact that there is little union activity. “Growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell,” said Edward Abby. I believe he was right and that just might be the reason that only a small percentage of workers in this area can stay ahead of the game.

Following is an article in which the minimum wage is debated by brilliant economists such as Rush Limbaugh and experts from the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute on the one side and Greg Aung, a 20 year old college student, on the other side.

Living Wage Debate By Geoff Aung, Campus Progress Originally posted on June 20, 2005 on AlterNet.

You’ve probably heard some of the Right’s classic arguments against paying American workers a fair wage before - job loss this or free market that. Campus Progress is cutting through the Right’s reductionist sound bites and rebutting their arguments, punch for punch, by dissecting some of the most common living wage criticisms.

Here’s a fun fact to get you started: Since 1968, the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage has decreased nearly 40% from its $8.49 peak to its current, miserly $5.15. We think that’s a bad thing. So do plenty of other people, from campus activists to community organizers, to national campaigners like ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which is leading the charge to get living wage ordinances passed across the country.

This is a big, nationwide problem. Right now, almost 6% of the workforce earns the minimum wage (which amounts to around $10,000 a year for folks working full-time) while another 6.5% of the work force earn a dollar or less above minimum wage, for a grand total of 15 million Americans working for poverty wages. Living wage ordinances which raise wages to provide enough for full-time workers to support their families above the poverty line only cover the subset of workers who are employed by businesses receiving government contracts or economic development subsidies. Still, living wage ordinances create a bulwark against the ongoing corporate race to the bottom.

And, well, we need that. In the immortal words of comedian Chris Rock: “There are people who would like to get rid of minimum wage. But we have to have it, because if we didn’t some people would not get paid money. They would work all week for two loaves of bread and some Spam.”

So get involved. Join the fray and arm yourself: Here’s (nearly) everything you need to know to get smart on the living wage.

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The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers By Charlie Cray, AlterNet Posted on September 5, 2006, Printed on September 5, 2006

The history of American war profiteering is rife with egregious examples of incompetence, fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, bribery and misconduct. As war historian Stuart Brandes has suggested, each new war is infected with new forms of war profiteering. Iraq is no exception. From criminal mismanagement of Iraq’s oil revenues to armed private security contractors operating with virtual impunity, this war has created opportunities for an appalling amount of corruption. What follows is a list of some of the worst Iraq war profiteers who have bilked American taxpayers and undermined the military’s mission. (more…)

Lately, I’ve been working on my much neglected KLR650 and am now neglecting the V-Strom. Although having two motorcycles in the garage sounds enticing, polygamy is not as easy as you may think. The V-Strom, the newest addition to my family, has been the focus of most of my attention as far as material things go.

I have never thought much about polygamy, at least in the sense of how problematic it could be in practice. In theory, according to the scientific viewpoint, when you are with one, you are not with the other. Metaphysically, I suppose you could be with both at the same time. I do know that you can’t ride two motorcycles at once. Hmmm, I wonder where this metaphor is taking me? (more…)