Firefighters Battle Two Blazes in Florida: Places to Help!

2020 fires in the $billions
NFPA

Two fire blaze in Florida with 10K of acres destroyed and over a thousand homes evacuated. People have sort of sidelined firefighters over the years as non-essential but we have experienced increased fires that constitute national disasters and that makes them our new nature warriors (In many places firefighters are also first responders to accidents and other incidents.). There is so much damage that happens because of fires and they are becoming increasingly common (Global warming or not....its getting more common and often more destructive.). 

Its hard to watch on the sidelines as such fires rage and destroy people's lives. I wonder if they need volunteer firefighters to come to the area? (Sometimes I think it would be great to be independently wealthy and do such things. Life isn't like that unfortunately and most of the time we waste our money on frivolous interests.) I think that as weather patterns change such fires are likely to become more common. I looked around to see if they need additional help. If your not a firefighter you can still do something and donate.....

1. SUPPORT YOUR FLORIDA FIRE FIGHTER CHARITIES

2. FIREFIGHER CHARITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

2. FLORIDA FIREFIGHTERS SAFETY AND HELATH COLLABORATIVE

3. RED CROSS

4. BAY COUNTY VOL FIREFIGHTERS NEEDED

5. REBUILD BAY COUNTY

World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2022: International Labor Organization Report

If you like the picture
Donate to Orphans 
Its a quick sketch so don't beat it up
too bad. 😕

Labor is essential to our economies and without considering people in our equations we have lost touch with the root of economic equilibrium. While technology helps augment labor we will still need the human capacity and abilities to meet challenges. The Pandemic has taught us that those who do not have education and are not at least partly tech savvy will suffer more than those who have learned those skills. Poorer countries suffered more than rich countries, laborers suffer more than online workers, and minorities suffer the most! 

It doesn't have to be that way......

The U.S. did pretty well once the pandemic ended and that was based in part on its state of technological development at that time and the capacity of a prior generation's infrastructure. Not all countries and people can say the same and it was apparent the differences from performers and non-performers. Those difference can grow or shrink depending on how we decide many smaller challenges on a day-to-day basis.

Such disparity also helps us better understand the direction that the U.S. should head if it wants to master upcoming challenges that are likely to be realized over the next 10-20 years. Inequalities, poor educational systems, unequal justice systems, declining trust in societal institutions, politics/governance, increase capitalistic opportunities and many more will need to change to an emerging youth that no longer lives by the beliefs of prior generations and refuse to be locked out of opportunities.

Human capital and the ability to develop people's abilities across a wide spectrum and stratus of society leads to continued future growth. To many who have been advantaged by established interest these are abstract and easily discarded concepts of philosophers and dreamers; and yet we sort of intuitively know them to be true. Cracks have formed and those cracks can lead to national rebuilding efforts or faster crumbling of foundations. Its a choice!

Within the report you will find how different regions of the world were impacted and some of the reasons as to why that may have happened. To understand the labor market and future labor trends we can read how different countries succeeded and failed. (While not in the report new advanced wearable tech for manufacturing and other purposes is likely to change some of those equations for advanced manufacturing nations with higher levels of education, skill, human capital.)

A couple of key points from the report 'World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2022':

-Pandemic recovery is uneven and tilted toward wealthier countries. (Starting early and being central to the supply chain helps.)

-Economies with labor intensive exports didn't do as well (One reason US should innovate to hedge human skill and technology.)

-Developed nations saw increases in business. (We may find in 5-10 years after the pandemic that some of those businesses will bump the economy. I suspect that in 2023-2024 we will also see a bump as new strategic patterns learned from the Pandemic are more fully implemented.)

-Inflation seems to be a result of demand, supply chain, and patterns of opening.

-Those who work from home and have access to technology do better (One reason why the U.S. should move into an advanced digital age.)

-Annual growth of wages in the U.S. but a lower real minimum wage (Likely meaning that lower skilled labor is losing financial ground.).

International Labor Organization (2022). The World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2022. Retrieved Web Location.

Secretary Antony Blinken Suggests U.S. Won’t Ban Russian Oil & Gas Without Europe’s Permission

I'm watching this video and like many Americans watching how there have been changes and adjustments within the U.S.-Ukrainian War. As the war gets more violent there is an increasing call to do more to create pressure. Increased discussion by U.S. and Euro allies on banning Russian oil. Not 100% sure of how we would meet the world's needs quickly but I suspect we could (One must take a good look and run some projections.)

 I'm not a fan of fossil fuels and yet I still recognize the U.S. has some of the world's highest deposits of oil (See American Oil & Gas Reporter). That puts a lot of power in the U.S. if they can ramp up production and get it shipped to fill the supply/demand issues. It could prompt nations to start thinking about their oil dependence and the need for change.

Personally, I would like us to develop our green technology and reduce this dependency. Perhaps its possible to product the oil and then use funds from that oil to push the R&D development of green technology. Kind of like taking a lesser evil and using it to solve a problem and finance green development (Its not a vetted idea and certainly isn't even thought out well. It might ease opposition if we know it can be used to build something more sustainable. We solve some battery and solar problems with that money and we might be happy in the long run.)

The Value of Social Media Marketing: Different Ways to Measure Effectiveness

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is here to stay and is increasingly central to marketing activities. 86% of marketers want to know the ROI value of marketing channels and they don't often have great measurements.  Furthermore, they may also be missing other important markers if they focus exclusively on ROI alone. What we find from a study entitled How companies evaluate the ROI of social media marketing programs: insights from B2B and B2C that social media expenditures are increasing and there are different methods companies use to determine online behaviors (Silva, Duarte, & Almeida, 2020). 

Those other methods include:

1. Comments

2. Number of Leads

3. Number of Followers

4. Views

5. Shares

6. Sales

7. Access to other sites

8. Clicks on posts

What the study does help us think about is that SMM marketing isn't just about ROI in a financial sense but takes into consideration other metrics that give a rounder view of how brands are created and how they interact with their environment. If you don't want to read the whole study don't worry but at least browse the introduction and conclusions. 

Silva, Susana & Duarte, Paulo & Almeida, Sara. (2020). How companies evaluate the ROI of social media marketing programs: insights from B2B and B2C. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. ahead-of-print. 10.1108/JBIM-06-2019-0291.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341410017_How_companies_evaluate_the_ROI_of_social_media_marketing_programmes_insights_from_B2B_and_B2C

Why Societies Sometimes Fail to Do the Right Thing.....Where Values and "Business as Usual" Collide!

 I've thought a lot about people and how and why they can do certain things without remorse and how society makes lots of wiggle room for such people. I begin to wonder whether our laws are capable of reflecting what is happening in the world and whether or not they are designed to search out truths or just manage people (Maybe more the later but perhaps some of the former.). Throughout the years I have seen people do wonderful things (The best human nature has to offer.) and I have seen people act worse than savage animals (Animals are not cruel because they are either hungry or protective. It is us humans that can move beyond natural constraints of need and into sadistic pleasures.). What we find is that there is an indifference in the world to certain behaviors and it shields us from a higher planes of personal and societal existence.

While I cannot explain how or why the values we have learned in childhood are so easy to discarded, I can say that its dangerous to think about how quickly and easily we are fooled into believing things that in hindsight were obviously inappropriate. We get jealous spread a lie, want some money steal it, have a mental health issue attack others, feeling bad about yourself put someone down, someone overshadows you make a false police report (I couldn't find much on biology and lying but I suspect their is a connection. You can read something about liars.) Its seems so easy!

(By the way I'm not talking about those white lies that are meant not to hurt others feelings or to maintain privacy to an inappropriate question. We are talking intentional lies of self gain.)

I'm surprised we made it this far as a civilization. If we were all of the mindset "anything goes" we couldn't possibly have long-term peace and stability. There would be no universally accepted rules and that would reduce truth, law, and order. Imagine a world where anything and everything is acceptable and the systems in place decides things on power, race/religion, financial interest, social/political connections and convenience. Such a people would be doomed to failure because few societies could survive when rules don't reflect truth and are not universal by nature (Why I advocate for universal truths that apply to all people. Think about it, if the rules aren't reflective of truth then they have no real value to the masses. Crime will rise and institutional trust will decline). 

If I ever go into politics, which I'm thinking at the moment its not the place for me (I'm a little sensitive to injustice and intentionally cruel falsehood.  Truth may be somewhat subjective but it should be genuinely believed. I can't just say blah blah blah to get people to vote for me without feeling bad about myself for providing intentionally false information. I debate it over and over and how I feel about politics is depending on the day. Likewise parties often support people who are willing to say only specific things even when those things don't accurately reflect "truth". i.e. like politicians from either attacking each other without any sense of civility. Conscience is curse sometimes! 🤷), I wouldn't care what the political interests think (I say that but maybe I would. I don't know...I haven't been in exactly that type of situation. Similar but not exact. ). Established interests often donate and support anyone as long as its faction based and gets them the things they want. Its not how systems should run and its inherently dangerous and leads to societal-governmental decline (In fantasy land we might find supporting people for their values and characteristics might lead to better end results and lots of positive social prompting/learning.). I think I would just say what I believe to be true and if that ends in a guillotine of some metaphorical end...it would be better than bending a knee to falsehood (Maybe? Lots of different ways to look at it. Put me in a guillotine and I will probably change my mind. Its kind of what history does to its thinkers anyway. 😬). 

The good news is that even when things seem sort of distorted, over the long run we begin to realize our falsehoods and make unconscious (sometimes conscious) corrections. Maybe we can't admit it to ourselves, or within our history books, but we start to slowly do the right things because deep down we know its better for everyone. I think we know intuitively there are certain time honored values that must be passed from generation to generation despite institutional weakness at any particular time and space in history. At least we can hope this to be true....I suspect it is.....but slow and clunky change by wading through self interest and lack of insight. People have so many day-to-day things to worry about and yet...these are the things I ponder (Kind of sad I know.😢)

February 2022 Job Postings Positive: Time to Innovate Our Economy?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released their Feb 2022 job report numbers and they are very positive at 678K. With the unemployment rate at 3.8% we might want to consider innovating our economy into more advance manufacturing (I'm also keeping my eye on the trends of the year to see if my economic projects are still on track.). You can read the Feb. 2022 Job Numbers and perhaps gain some insight into changes.

When there begins to be shortages companies start to innovate and that will be important for the U.S. While I often don't like some things like self-check out lanes I think they may become a necessity. In high demand industries we may want to rethink our educational approaches to align skills to industry, innovate manufacturing, and develop human capital as much as we can to improve our total values. If we want to be the center of the world supply chain we will have to generate productive power. See Global Talent Shortage

"Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 678,000 in February, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, health care, and construction."

You will also want to pay attention to where these increased are occurring to see what industries might be forming a trend. These are some of the one's I'm most interested in at the moment....

"Professional and business services added 95,000 jobs in February. Job gains occurred in temporary help services (+36,000), management of companies and enterprises (+12,000), management and technical consulting services (+10,000), and scientific research and development services (+8,000). Employment in professional and business services is 596,000 higher than in February 2020, largely in temporary help services (+240,000), computer systems design and related services (+154,000), and management and technical consulting services (+152,000)."

Employment in transportation and warehousing increased by 48,000 in February and is 584,000 higher than in February 2020. Over the month, job gains continued in warehousing and storage (+11,000), couriers and messengers (+9,000), support activities for transportation (+9,000), and air transportation (+7,000). All four of these component industries have surpassed their February 2020 employment levels, with particularly strong job growth in warehousing and storage (+420,000) and couriers and messengers (+240,000).

Manufacturing added 36,000 jobs in February. Employment in durable goods industries rose by 20,000, with job gains in fabricated metal products (+11,000), machinery (+8,000), electrical equipment and appliances (+4,000), nonmetallic mineral products (+3,000), furniture and related products (+3,000), and primary metals (+3,000). These gains were partially offset by a job loss in motor vehicles and parts (-18,000). Nondurable goods manufacturing also added jobs over the month (+16,000). Since February 2020, manufacturing employment is down by 178,000, or 1.4 percent.

Mining employment rose by 9,000 in February, with gains in support activities for mining (+6,000) and in oil and gas extraction (+2,000). Mining employment has grown by 62,000 since a recent low in February 2021

Pence Starts to Mount The Elephant: One boot in the stirrups and one hand on the saddle

Diego Velázquez

The Surrender of Breda, 1634-35

The GOP is in the process transformation and you can see the dial moving back toward the middle. Pence made an important comment and I think it stands for his integrity and is a hint at GOP direction. With the comments, "“there is no room in this party for apologists for Putin” he puts one foot on the stirrup and one on the saddle in order to mount the great GOP Elephant. Whether he can hold a lance, run barrels and jump the powerful boar is a whole other issue.

What I'm saying is that based on what happened during the Capital Riots (i.e. crowds changing "Kill Pence") and this recent comment I can say that he shows signs of integrity. That isn't against any other candidate (or those that that are still are not running) but it is a positive statement on his deep commitment to democracy and his ideals.

There should also be a clear distinction between not liking the actions of Putin and the general nature of the Russian people. I have met a few Russians in my life and I can say I like some people and I don't like others but it has very little to do with where they come from. Its a quality of character thing. When we have conflict we often overgeneralize (You may want to read a little something on overgeneralization) 

Republican Party has no room for ‘apologists for Putin’

(Side Note: Before you get upset I can say I also like President Biden and believe him to be a genuine soul. That doesn't mean I agree with everything Pence or Biden say or all of their policies but that I can recognize the good in people. That may be too much to handle for those who's complexity is still stuck in simple categorization. I am an "old guard" light right Republican that can recognize displays of good character and the benefits of different parties working together to solve national problems. If I change my opinion I will let it be known, but I think we all owe it to each other and our country to be honest about people and life....even if its somewhat subjective.)

A Few Pictures of Jeffersontown Veterans Memorial Park in Pictures

I had the pleasure of walking through Jeffersontown Veterans Memorial Park a few days and thought you might enjoy some of the pictures. Our freedoms today were built on the sacrifices of the past. This is why we should respect the past and put ourselves in the best place for the future.  Walking path, kids play yard, jungle gym, clean facilities, baseball diamond, basketball court and generally well managed.

Business Leaders for Michigan Release Survey with Good News for Michigan Prospects

We hear some bad news about inflation, social strife, international conflict and much more (Yikes...its all depressing! 😟) Sometimes good news makes it into the headlines. Some of us might skip right over it but before we do let me say....there are some positive things happening in Michigan (Yes our R and D politicians have shown that working together can pay dividends. I know! I know! Its impossible! Yet, when state decisions are made through collaborative problem solving the state/nation can find fertile investment ground. ) The good news is that based on a recent survey the vast majority of executives believe business employment and capital investment will improve even if we are reaching high levels of employment (i.e. difficulty finding employees is a chance to innovate. Perhaps lemons to lemonade. 🍋)

The survey was conducted by Business Leaders for Michigan, an organization that wants to make Michigan a Top Ten state for jobs, education, and economy

Highlights:

-85% of survey respondents expecting to have trouble filling positions over the next 6-to-12 months.
-49% of survey respondents expect inflation to continue, 34% expect it to increase and 16% down over the next 6-to-12 months.
- 70% of executives say their business is doing better than before the pandemic.
-55% of executives say the Michigan economy will stay the same, 22% say it will improve, and 24% say it will get worse over the next 6-to-12 months.
- 94% of executives expect their company’s employment and capital investment to stay same or grow 6-12 months.
-75% expect their company’s real estate footprint to remain the same, while 4% expect it to increase and 21% expect it to decline over the next 6-to-12 months

You can read more in, March 3rd, 2022 press release' MICHIGAN BUSINESS LEADERS CONFIDENT ON MICHIGAN ECONOMY, BUT FEEL THE IMPACTS OF LABOR SHORTAGES AND INFLATION'

The Future of America is Finding Unity: Why Leaders Should Stop Exploiting Racial, Religious and Political Differences

National unity rests on our ability to find similarities that tie all of the American people's together into a single national identity. However, we are often bombarded with short-sightedness across the many institutions based on racial, religious and political differences. While many of these people are good natured they don't always understand that something which is in their benefit isn't in the benefit of the vast majority of people. Building a great nation requires building shared sense of purpose and unity and destroying one rests on exploitation of racial, religious and political differences.

Racial Divisions: This occurs when leaders both within particular races and outside of those races use racial division as a means to power. For the vast majority of people it sets up invented barriers where people act and react to each other in harmful ways (i.e. police and protests). Some leaders have a difficult time thinking about long term outcomes that serve none of the races or their causes well.

(I have two mixed race children with friends from just about every background. The young generations don't seem care much about racial/ethnic differences unless someone that has something to gain comes in and tries to hype up differences. I'm also concerned about the mixed race children, the fastest growing demographic, the ones that represent equality, are pressured to choose sides based on the ignorance of some of our "leaders". If that upsets you...then you have some soul searching to do! )

Religious Divisions: Religious divisions occur when "holier than thou" personalities try to feel better by deeming themselves "saved" and everyone else as "damned" (Their own behavior and beliefs don't seem to factor into their heavenly equation.). Its not about any specific religion but about the personalities that seem to enjoy exploiting good people for financial and personal gain (Yes, not 100% of religious leaders care about doing good. For some its an avenue of power.). I have met very good, genuine, faith leaders from many different religious backgrounds that truly desire to help people live a meaningful-genuine God centric life. They share a characteristic of focusing on the prosocial aspects of their faith (i.e. helping others without strings) while others focus on proving someone else (and their religion) wrong and condemnable (One pulls together through understanding and the other pulls apart through religiously justified hate.).

Political Divisions: There are few issues in my mind of people believing in the general philosophies of Republican and/or Democrat. Both are a means to an end and we can debate which is best all day long. They both carry philosophical validity. There is nothing wrong with discussing particular topics (i.e. in Michigan they are debating budgeting issues. That's ok!). Where it breaks down is when it gets personal and instead of debating the issue we are attacking each other. We would generally consider people who intentionally inflame passions. dishonest, uncompromising, and flip flop on values not qualified for leadership. However, in our current political environment, we seem to praise and raise up as high as we can those that do not have the qualities, intelligence, or foresight to lead us to a better place. Ignorance seems to be an encouraged asset in some of our political circles. I support bi-partisanship on central national development issues and general open dialogue and discussion on those things we disagree on. Unfortunately, truth and wisdom are difficult to sell to political MMA style audience (and their self interested promoters).

Our future rests on good leaders that inspire people to be better, to do more, and to create a shared sense of purpose. Every great nation collapsed when political, racial, and religious differences are used as tools to divide and conquer. The problem is that our risks don't come as much from outside our borders as they do from our own leadership. Think about it before you judge what I'm saying. No seriously, take a minute and think about the different futures that lay before us and how our choices today "lead" to certain paths and outcomes. Our collection of choices will our future.

Now let us be very honest with ourselves. Do you feel that most of our leaders today care? My answer is I suspect most do but there are so many bad apples mixed with good apples they are increasingly pressured and confused about their responsibilities. They pressure each other to conform and fail to think about how deeper values should be central to their choices.