The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (HR1319) Passed by the Senate March 6th 2021

Remarks by President Biden as Senate passes the $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan by a 50-49 vote. You can read the bill HERE. You might have an easier time searching for things your interested. There is a lot of different kinds of things that include functional aspects like updating our data infrastructure to "good will" items such as helping people keep their apartments/homes. 

American Relief Plan Passes Senate 03-06-2021 

"The Meeting" Between the Pope and Shia Cleric-5 Letter Word Uttered!

We don't often think that religious leaders like Pope Francis and Shia Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani have much to do with business success. To the influence of religious leadership it important to understand that such figures are opinion makers that give direction to large swaths "of the faithful". What they say matters in terms of peace and commerce.

History is full of examples where religion was the chisel that created societies (and destroyed some). While religion is pure, people are not always; and some have distorted religious imagery for political gain. "The Meeting" Between the Pope and Shia Cleric sends a prime message of "Peace/Salam" to followers. 

Peace is essential for sustainable economies built off of trade and the free exchange of ideas. Commerce and trade rest on the ease of movement and collective learning that leads to long term innovation (actually peace and overcoming challenge). War not only destroys lives, but also completely disrupts business activity. Religious leaders should consistently pick the path of peace for the health and prosperity of their people.

When media displays images of different religious leaders working together to promote peace they help others grasp the possibility that peace on earth is possible. "The Meeting" acts as a primer for how people of different religions should act toward each other to bring about a world where needless pain and suffering are minimized.

Religion is such a touchy topic with zealots (in each religion) that fail to understand the greater purpose of having these belief systems in the first place. Radicalism (of any religious group) short circuits a greater awareness of the commonalities among peoples of seeming different backgrounds.

I have experience with Catholicism and Islam and find the commonality among different religions. Where we choose to place our emphasis is all up to our personal belief systems and the social environment in which we live. To think for yourself is a difficult thing to obtain; but is a prize worth pursuing. 

February 2021 Unemployment: Leisure and Hospitality Pick Up

What you want to see in any recovering economy is people returning back to work. It will help people keep food on the table and pay their bills. February 2021 Unemployment Rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics stands at 6.2% as the economy added 379K jobs. Because the leisure and hospitality industry has been hit hard it is a positive sign they are going back to work. 

Delta County Michigan also has a leisure & hospitality industry that rests in part on locals and on tourism. Bars and restaurants are now opening and that will make a big difference in the County. You can see some statistics on Delta County at Data USA. Somewhere around 40% (Very generic non-hard number) of the employment would be impacted by re-opening. 

Current Rates:

• adult men (6.0 percent),
• adult women (5.9 percent),
• teenagers (13.9 percent),
• Whites (5.6 percent),
• Blacks (9.9 percent),
• and Hispanics (8.5 percent)

You can still see some of the disparities between different members of society. Some of this is based on the nature of work and demographics. Some of this is based in discrimination and lack of inclusiveness. Separating the two is difficult but not impossible. 

Leisure and Hospitality Returning Workers:

• Leisure and hospitality increased by 355,000

January 21 Unemployment Rate Bureau of Labor Statistics by Dr. Murad Abel on Scribd

China Economy Poised to Grow Over 6% in 2021

China's economy is expected to grow over 6% this year. Some believe this number could even be much more such as 7 or 8%. 

While emerging nations can realize these gains, some of their growth will depend on the strategies the U.S. enacts. 

 For example, if less Chinese goods are making their way to American ports this won't bode well for Chinese manufacturers. 

Assuming no major challenges or disruptions those numbers are possible if market conditions swing in their direction. 

Walmart to Invest $350 Billion into American Manufacturing

Walmart craves to be part of the American manufacturing revolution. John Furner, President and CEO, Walmart plans to invest $350 billion in products made, grown and/or assembled in the United States. The initiative occurs over 10 year period, and projected to create approximately 750,000 jobs. That change might boast local manufacturing and in turn prompt other big box retailers to push their supply lines to manufacture nationally. If you are a U.S. based small manufacturer you will want to take note of emerging opportunities to create a stronger position.

What Will be Produced?

Investments hopes to encourage production for things like textiles, plastics, small electrical appliances, food processing, and pharmaceutical and medical supplies. Much of the effort will be focused on products that were traditionally produced in China but will now be pushed to produce in the United States. 

Environmental Advantages?

Fostering closer supply chains while keeping an an eye out for for reducing innovation and pollution. The company could save 100 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. The best time to to turn businesses green are either during a major transition and/or when they are first launched. 

What To Do If Your a Supplier?

They expect to encourage around 9,000 entrepreneurs to be part of the capacity building effort. If you have a "shelf ready" product then you can pitch for consideration to be included in Walmart's line up.  For many small manufacturers having a large big box retailer like Walmart pick up your product is a boon. You will have to read more about it HERE (I wonder if they would be interested Escanaba Polo Mallet Co mallets and/or brand? 🤔).

What is the American Lighthouse?

Without coordinating across local and regional manufacturing stakeholders it will be difficult to overcome capacity building challenges. "The Lighthouses will bring together participants from the supplier community, including manufacturers and NGOs, leaders from academia, government and local economic development groups.(Edelson, 2021, para. 9).

What is the Strategy?

The company expects major changes in the market as a result of increased competition with China. It also sees that investment in these supply chains would be helpful to managing them better. The focus of the investment money will be on market demand products that give Walmart more control over its suppliers. 

Earlier this year President Biden signed a Made in American Executive Order that seeks to preference American companies in the $600 billion Federal spending. $600 billion + $350 billion is a lot of money. Now with with luck 🙏 add in a few other "big box" retailers (i.e. Meijer's and Costco) as well as a few automotive suppliers (i.e. Ford and Chrysler) and a couple of other industries and you might just create a manufacturing stimulus never seen before! (I actually wonder if that would work?❓︖𞥟 A manufacturing push that large could reorient global supply chains as companies move headquarters, invest local, start new businesses and create innovative products that China might have difficulty copying for a long time. A $5trillion stimulus launched by industry? 👀😲🤔🤷). 

(I'm working on a transactional cluster theory that I think could be used as a foundational basis for local  and nation industry (and new unseen industry) development).

Edelson, S. (March 3rd, 2021, para. 9). Walmart Gets Behind U.S. Manufacturing With 10-Year, $350 Billion Investment. Forbes. Retrieved 03-05-21 https://www.forbes.com/sites/sharonedelson/2021/03/03/...

Watch Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell @ Wall Street Journal Jobs Summit

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell discussed the inching upwards of bond rates and how they impact borrowing costs for everyday business transactions. He hopes that inflation stays under 2% and indicates that the Fed has the ability to manage that rate properly. No one should expect that interest rates should stay the same forever (You might consider running out and pay off your credit cards!) so volatile markets should be short lived. Market nymphs dance as investors grip their coffee cups thinking about inflation and adjust their portfolios to prepare for the show. 

1. The 10-year US government bond yield was up 0.07% to 1.54%

2. The Dow (INDU) finished down 1.1% and the S&P 500 (SPX) closed 1.3% lower.

Unemployment should decline as the economy opens and recovers. While its not being said specifically in this video, we should consider how pro investment and manufacturing policies could have a big impact on labor hiring. Changes in manufacturing ripple the labor market as workers are retrained/tooled to compete in emerging digital economy jobs (While this might seem like a medium and long term strategy, planted seeds could bud quickly with the right manure⚘/clusters🙆.)

A lot is going on in the market right now so I scratch my head a little thinking about application. I have two questions as they would impact a theoretical concept called perpetual sustainable development:

1.) As nations seek to reopen and begin to loosen up restrictions on travel, trade, and government projects is it possible for the U.S. to be the main provider for a flux demand for supplies, equipment and digital expertise? 

2.) Could proactively sending governments /businesses a coordinated list (searchable web directory of U.S. manufacturers/suppliers) of American products/services make an impact on speeding up U.S. manufacturing recovery/development? (That assumes they are going to increase spending and B2B activities.)

These are just two unvetted ideas that don't take into account the ability, time, and desire to create an American/U.S. manufacturing/supplier list and/or have the mechanisms in place to coordinate massive marketing efforts (Working on a bigger theory on Transactional Clusters HERE). If government isn't interested in such concepts perhaps industry might want to consider their own. Switching international business consumers immediate word association from China-Manufacturing to American-Manufacturing is going to take a little more coordinated effort among stakeholders.

Restoring Trust in Police Through Removing "Bad Apples" and Adopting "Universal Justice" Principles

"Troubled" officers create difficult to overcome obstacles when developing a unified vision for the country. Accountability among bad actors isn't something we can take lightly as it is a primary trust issue that reverberates throughout our society. Whether we are talking about capital riots or anarchists taking to the streets, our very fabric of society requires maximum trust in our institutions and their ability to hold the Constitution and Universal Justice in high regard.

 Great officers are remembered for their helpfulness, politeness and their use of wisdom when enforcing the law or coaching others to act appropriately. They are honored members of our communities and are those that create bridges among people and enhance trust in the system. On the opposite end of the spectrum officers that violate basic norms of society and engage in criminal misconduct without accountability quickly erode that trust.

Law enforcement has been politicized by both sides of the political spectrum. Right and wrong are seen through a partisan lens that limits the ability of people to think about the bigger picture of how law enforcement should and could function within our state and our country. Simply stumbling along the same path with our eyes closed and our ears covered no long works for the vast majority of Americans🙈🙉🙊. 

Building trust rests on acting trustworthy and with integrity so as to encourage interaction.  If someone is trusted it is because they have exhibited consistent good judgment and sound morality (i.e. not abusing, lying, misleading, harassing, etc...). When trust is broke it doesn't just impact impact that specific interaction but also the perceptions of community (i.e. branding of the system as ineffective and unjust).

Sometimes an example might help formalize a "bad apple's" behavior.  An officer has been rumored to engaged in all types of dishonest and destructive behaviors. These include things like 1. targeting and intimidating minorities, 2. groping young ladies on arrest, 3. alleged raping of a drunk underage girl, 4. illegal investigations based on self-interest, 5. corruption and 6. false witnesses on the stand, 7. associated with hate group members, 8.) encouraging White radicalism, etc...

Remember: These are only accusations and rumors at the moment. They are not necessarily true!  

Anyone can throw an accusation but not everyone can support it; nor should victims be required to do the work that should be done by a trustworthy system. It is up to the internal mechanisms to take this information and investigate these claims to ensure there is no substantive nature to them (in an unbiased manner). The information provided by a fair and impartial review would determine what the next course of action should be (terminate employment, prosecute, etc...)

Important Point: An unbiased investigation is what makes it possible to determine truth from falsehood and know where the grey areas exist.

If these complaints are shared from multiple sources (i.e. raising validity) it is important to consider the possibility that such rumors may (and often do) have a kernel of truth to them. Rumors have power and investigating when issues arise helps to determine the risk factors involved. Not knowing these also means there is a high potential that that the problem could arise again, again, and again causing more damage (Who becomes liable for intentional ignoring "bad apple" behavior". 

Important Choice: Multiple sources could be an indication of widespread behavior or purposeful misinformation. It is important enough for entities with integrity to launch an investigation.

What you don't want is consistent inconsistency in the application of law (i.e. systematic injustice). This occurs when there are systemic problems that have been ignored because they are embedded into the culture of enforcement. Each problem is seen from the same cultural, religious, and/or racial vantage points (i.e. a biased perception of what an "American" looks like) which skews all decision making throughout the entire system (i.e. the need for diversity in law enforcement). 

Important Point: Consistent inconsistency in the application of law leads to systemic injustice.

If you spend some time in different groups of people and listen to their stories you can hear how many distrust the Justice System (Its only an observation). You will hear the same themes over and over throughout different people in different communities (i.e. why BLM appealed to multiple communities). They don't feel as though the justice system is concerned with their needs and applied fairly. They may respect law enforcement but don't believe at the end of the day their lives, concerns, and needs are respected (i.e. lowering the value of life).

Gallop Poll, 2020

Important Point: Lack of faith in the application of law/policing seems to be a common theme for a simple majority of 52% (Brenan, 2020). 

What you will also notice from this poll is that confidence of policing rose by Republicans to 82% while it dropped by Democrats to 28%. Of course that was prior to the capital riots so it is possible these percentages have changed. There is a risk that policing is increasingly being seen as helpful to a particular cause, race, or political need and that could be very dangerous for future institutional trust that could lead to more violence and protests (Notice from that Poll that the Military 72% and Small Business 75% are trusted by Americans 👀). 

Important Point: Politicizing policing as pro or anti certain groups could lead to more violent riots in the future. 

Failure of leadership means a failure on the ground. Poor policies on the leadership level often means poor results on the ground as values, beliefs, and methods are shared among connected entities. Enhancing trust in communities relies in part on the development of a national leadership structure that moves beyond partisan politics and into a more bi-partisan image of our future (i.e. same poll indicates people trust Congress 6% Great Deal and 7% Quite Along leaving 83% in the Some and Very Little categories.😱)

Important Point: As partisan and racial/ethnic/religious differences in justice occur (lack of Universal Justice) we will find increase in faction as the justice system becomes an extension of political distrust.  

What we often find is that there are two sets of laws at work. Those who engage coordinated ethnic/racial/religious based hate crimes are also often involved in other entitlement behaviors. While the law may be written the same it isn't applied the same. One might "turn a blind eye" to the law for some and maximize punishments for others thereby inadvertently tuning others into what will and what won't be enforced.

Important Point: As a nation, if we are going to get serious about our constitution, our national purpose, thwart extremism, and be an economic beacon of equality then we will need to think about "universal justice" where application is the same. 

Social Contracts: The US has the Bill of Rights and the UN has the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that stand as social contracts by which people willingly agree that as long as these are upheld they will work within the current geopolitical system. While these documents are well known among the international community and the political class, local law enforcement doesn't have sufficient training to understand how that functions in everyday life (Long term social stability requires us to hold these social contracts in high regard). 

Possible Solutions: Spreading the American brand of economic opportunity and universal rights starts right at our doorstep. Universalizing justice restores trust, reduces societal factions, and increases economic engagement. That may require new leadership in our communities and nation as what we know to be right is sidelined by political persuasion and past poor policy.  Our international influence rests on how we handle these issues here. 

Transparency and Public Review: Creating transparency in the Information Age will rest on reporting information to the public as a feedback loop and as an opportunity for outside review and analysis. As more data/information is available for public consumption, it ensures transparency to individuals/groups, researchers, government and international stakeholders. The ability to have confidence that current institutions are meeting the needs of people means providing the information that leads to effective metrics and feedback loops. 

Side note: This is being written as not for or against policing as the institution is necessary to protect life and liberty. I know great officers and I know people abused by poor officers. What I can say is that I hope we solve this problem so that our nation can fulfill its destiny and lead other countries into a new era of economic and social prosperity. Its time for the silent center and bi-partisanship to be our vanguard forward.

Brenan, M. (August 12, 2020). Amid Pandemic, Confidence in Key U.S. Institutions Surges. Gallop https://news.gallup.com/poll/317135/amid-pandemic-confidence-key-institutions-surges.aspx