5 posts tagged “economy”
You came to us in May... that big bounty from our government. You were to find a home in the purchase of, say, video cameras and iPods, maybe Gameboys for the kids.
But we didn't find those things in our house. And we began to worry. Where was ol' economic stimulus check? Were you lost? You had come into our home with such high hopes and a promise to keep the good times rolling. Now we couldn't find you.
Imagine the relief when we finally figured out where you had gone. A note from the bank that told us that our escrow account didn't come close to paying off the local tax bill -- that's where you were you sneaky little eco-stimulus check.
The little trickster.
You were in there in the taxes that pays the city that has complained about being starved by the state's cutback in funds and the federal government's indifference. And those taxes that pay for the schools, which have been ordered by the feds to make sure the kids pass those tests (you know, No Child Left Behind and all).
This was the second time in the last six months that escrow had to be bumped up to cover such things. But eco-stimulus was now around, able to help.
Now you were found, or at least most of you. Pieces of you could also be spotted in the 40 percent increase in a pound of apples, the nearly $4-dollar-plus gallon of milk, not to mention the gas. Oh that's where a lot of your eco-stimulus brothers and sisters are tucked away, huh.
It's funny, the folks in Washington who gave birth to you and your buddy checks thought you'd be in shiny new toys and trinkets, maybe even part of new car down-payments... you know, boosting the economy.
But that's just like a kid... they have their own mind don't they.
Instead of big time purchases, little eco-stimulus check, is hiding in the places that are keeping us afloat.
We appreciate it.
I wonder if the Washington folks feel the same.
Man, has the phrase "there are no guarantees" ever been more true?
Each day comes a new story about jobs that are going away - and that our comfortable lives are in a bit more in peril. From airline workers to barristas to health insurers.
Does this feeling of economic quicksand under our feet make us want to call out for help, stretch out our hand for the sure grip of someone with the power to pull us free, brush us off and send us on our way.
Are we gravitating to some hero to save the day?
Look at our presidential race. Sen Barack Obama, some believe, is an orator who will inspire us all to join hands and provide comfort and a boost to lagging economic fortunes. His speaking skills will urge us to find solutions to these perilous times and drive us to pick up our faltering brothers and sisters when the axe falls.
Yeah, right say the anti-Barack-istas. This is just a glib, slick-talking politician with a sharp-looking mug who will dazzle us enough so he gains enough votes to get into the White House. And, they'll pose, hasn't Obama proved that with his campaign finance pledge change-up.
We need a seasoned steady hand who has endured before and will help us endure now, say the backers of Sen. John McCain. He's a war hero, a POW who held up under years of confinement at the hands of the enemy. And, by God, say the McCain-ites, he's bucked his own party from time-to-time.
Really, counters the un-McCainiacs. He's embraced his party's platform like a mama hugs her college boy at Christmas break. And, if McCain were really secure in his military credentials, would he get so steamed when asked if they qualify him for the presidency.
And yet, the times they are a straining... and someone out there has got to right the wrongs?
If not those guys, what do we do?
Maybe we put out an ad in the paper... seek someone who can fill the bill and be the savior.
Just watch out for the stampede of applicants, looking for some kind of job.
If you live in the Twin Cities
– and those harsh winters – you feel
some gratitude for the skyway system.
In St. Paul, they are vast and can get you around a fair chunk of the downtown area.
And there are plenty of places around these skyways to get a bite to eat, a haircut, a cup of coffee, a last-minute gift for a spouse (not that I’ve ever done that mind you… no).
But these skyways of St. Paul – as colleague Bob Collins of NewsCut put it a few months back – are not exactly screaming “vibrant.”
Not by a long shot in some sections.
Collins wondered then what the Republican convention-goers might think of the vast unused space. Apparently he’s not alone.
Another colleague, MPR reporter Laura Yuen reported last week, that city business leaders are coming up with a plan to give short-term leases (as little as a week) to house their business in an empty space. Matt Anfang, president of the Greater St. Paul Building Owners and Managers Association, told Yuen that the plan will help make downtown look more alive during the convention.
But another Chamber of Commerce official bristled at the notion that the effort is an attempt to make it look like downtown is more bustling that it really is. Some in the story said maybe this would be the entrée some business owners need to stick in the skyway space long after the convention has left town.
No one doubts that the idea to have these unused spaces
filled for the convention makes sense.
But do we really need to have any other justifications (it could get the skyways more business, for example)?
Should city business leaders really feel aghast that one
might suggest the effort is simply away to dress up the very dormant
skyways?
At least those spaces can be worked on.
Other spots in the skyway leave you wondering.
How, for instance, could city leaders possibly explain the atrophied escalators in the Town Square area of the skyway complex.
They once led to an indoor park, a great idea for those
winter months, but one that couldn’t be sustained by city.
How do you dress those up?
Maybe an answer is forthcoming.
But there should be no reason for anyone in St. Paul to runaway from the idea that we want to make the downtown look as presentable as possible for the Republican convention. And if five-day leases in the skyways helps, fine. No need to make them out to be anything more than a quick makeover.
Some of them carried a message. None were subtle.
Just in case the Obamacons or Obamites or Obam-bams (or whatever they're called) think they'll have a cakewalk this November, remember the red side
And now for the "avert-your-eyes-if-easily-offended" alert.
There was plenty of the who is more macho sentiment flowing at the car show. From the garb to the slogans on said garb. And there were plenty of devils or skeletons with middle fingers raised.
But the tail-end of this car below truly wanted to convey the spirit of,well, testosterone. If there were a doctor in the house, surely he would have made the vehicle cough, no
And just for kicks, one more shot of the kid in the gleam of the day. Honestly, for all the excess, the two of us did have a pretty good bonding moment.
I can't remember the last time I heard the kid gasp and exclaim like he did seeing the Thunderbirds and Caddies, the hot rods and rag tops on display.
I admit doing a few audible sighs too.
But once in a while the commercialism slammed hard enough in the chin that it overcame gushing. "I think that some of these people are here just so they can get money," said the little guy, allowing me to breath a little easier that he wouldn't be completely sucked in by the glitz.
It's not surprising that you'd find somethings on sale. Tumbling dice and shades... old automotive manuals and pamphlets and, of course, the usual edible crap that one must ingest if they are going to walk about the fairgrounds site.
I think it was only once or twice that the boy actually asked for something from the vendors. That allowed me to keep the wallet intact.
But here's the thing -- as you walk around looking at these hulking cars you get a sense of being in a museum.
And the commercialism itself smacks of some kind of American wake, marking a time of purchasing might that has passed us by.
It's a stubborn, defiant kind of display. Like all of us -- the visitors and the vendors, the gawkers and the hawkers -- we are going to keep at what made the good ol' U.S.of A. great. I'll look at the big, expensive cars and not give a moments thought to how impractical they might be. I will consume and not have a thought about an economy tottering about like a broken-down junker.
We look in a mirror these days and see an image that we might not like so much. So instead, we peer into the chrome and the glossy finishes of these roadsters and, like that gel they put on movie cameras for aging starlets, we look a little better. Right?
