2/23/2020

Thoughts On A Sunday

The deep freeze temperatures we have experienced have receded, being replaced with temperatures in the 40’s yesterday and today, and temps in the 50’s tomorrow. I expect we’ll see a lot of melting of ice and snow accumulated over the past few weeks, just in time to make room for more snow and ice. (Statistically, March is the snowiest month of the year here in New England.)

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I have witnessed this first hand.

Much of American industry is looking to retain older workers because it is difficult to replace them, they have a deep understanding of their jobs, and most importantly, they show up. They don’t have issues with kids or heavy social lives like so many younger adults.

According to the US Department of Labor, since March 2018 US monthly job vacancies have outnumbered unemployed job seekers. As the baby boomers reach retirement, it seems there are not enough millennials in the jobs pipeline ready to step in.

"We have a labour shortage and it's going to be a problem for the next couple of decades as the boomers leave the workforce," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

So, one answer for companies struggling to find staff is to ask workers...to put off retirement.

I have seen that on more than one occasion in a number of companies in my neck of the woods. I expect it will become more common going forward.

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Another business related issue, that being problems with the supply chain disruptions caused by Covid-19 virus, is making the headlines.

I’ve been seeing that with my company, with some of our suppliers in China being unable to deliver parts ordered some time ago. Originally many of them were supposed to reopen on February 14th, but for those located in Wuhan that has been delayed for an indefinite period.

This does not bode well as the Chinese government sources have been saying one thing and our suppliers have been telling us something else. I have more reason to believe our suppliers rather than the official government line.

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You know it’s getting bad (and stupid) when students at a Catholic school (Kennedy Catholic High School in Seattle, Washington) protest that their religious high school is too Catholic and too religious.

Say what?

Over in Seattle, Washington, some students attending a Catholic private religious high school think they know better than everyone else about what Catholicism teaches because they’re abject degenerate idiots.

--snip--

GUYS. IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN CATHOLICISM DO NOT GO TO A CATHOLIC SCHOOL.

Sounds like good advice to me.

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Have any of you noticed something missing at the Democrat debates? I have to admit that I didn’t until it was pointed out to me.

That missing something?

There are no American flags evident. Not one.

One has to wonder: What message is the DNC is sending?

I doubt it is an oversight on their part.

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Is the #Tradwife movement gaining momentum?

In a culture that has championed feminism, the Women’s March, #MeToo, and national campaigns to close the gender pay gap, life as a full-time homemaker seems anything but progressive. And yet, the growing #TradWife social media movement celebrates the classic domestic female as its role model.

The movement, often illustrated with 1950s posters of apple-cheeked housewives brandishing vacuums or serving their husbands dinner, consists of a growing multitude of women who proclaim their choice to be “traditional” wives by staying at home and fulfilling household duties rather than pursuing a career outside the home.

Not surprisingly, the trend has met fierce backlash. Critics have called it backwards, dangerous, and even racist. The reactions generally claim either that misogynistic males are hypnotizing their wives into submission, or that women who somehow prefer domestic life are spreading an insidious message that hinders the female crusade for equality.

While I have no thoughts on this movement either way (the WP Mom was not a traditional housewife my any means), I would think that people would support any woman who chose to fulfill such a role. However, that has not been the case, as seen in the quote above. So much for tolerance for other people’s choices or their way of life.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the sun is shining, the temperatures are getting warmer, and where there is going to be a lot of snow and ice melting over the next few days.