confusion

June 2, 2014 6:21 AM , Leave a Comment ,

When I used to work at an office I would arrive quite early in the morning.  As I would arrive first in the morning I would unlock the office with my copy of the office key.  Sometimes I would try to open the office door with my house key.  Then sometimes when I was getting home I would try to unlock my door with the office key.

They look nothing alike but I caught myself doing that more than once.  I asked a friend in the mental health field what that meant.  She said it may mean that my unconscious was confusing my home life with work and that when I came into work in the mornings that I was equating work with an escape from my home life.

This worried me somewhat as it made me think of why I would be thinking of my home life as some sort of work.  I sat down and considered what I was going through at home and realized that I was challenged in some ways that I didn’t like and that I might consider my home life to be work.

I’m not one of those “live to work” types that bosses dream about.  For me work is something that I do to make a living.  I don’t really consider it a passion of mine.  Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t hate work and If I commit to do something I will do it as best as I can but honestly I can’t see how some people get overly excited by office work.  It’s not what I consider exciting or fun.

I find that when I don’t enjoy something I tend to equate it with work.  The really surprising thing to me is that I considered work to be an escape.  Was my home life really that bad?  In some ways it was.

I knew it was really bad when I tried to use my house key for my car.

I had to put the office back into its proper category and to return my home life to the category of being my sanctuary away from the problems of life.  That’s when I sat down and began trying to sort out my life and really see what and who was making my life miserable.  My solution was to begin cutting the problem aspects of my life from my home life and devoting my home space as an inviolable place where the troubles of everyday life would not be allowed.

I haven’t had the problem with the keys since that time.

I think that in some sense we all sometimes have confusion with regards to some parts of our lives becoming blurred and meshed together with other parts of our lives.  Sometimes our subconscious will come up with odd and unique ways to let us know that something is wrong.

Posted in: career, habits, home, thought

thoughts during a trip back home

May 31, 2014 6:29 AM , Leave a Comment ,

 

Convention in Dallas

Convention in Dallas

I was driving home on a rainy Monday afternoon.  It was the last day of Comicpalooza 2014 and the rain seemed to have held off till the end of the convention but now it was full on raining.  As I hit the Montrose/Westheimer intersection traffic slowed to a crawl and it gave me plenty of time to reflect on not just this but all the conventions I had attended over the years.

Most of these conventions (cons) follow a pretty standard format.  They are usually 3 days long and tend to take place over a weekend when not much else is going on in the local area.  Comicpalooza is an exception in that this year it was a 4 day convention and it always takes place on the Memorial day weekend.  The scheduling couldn’t be helped.  Other conventions take place before and after in Dallas and these conventions try to not book on the same weekend if possible.

On the first day the die-hard fans, the professionals, and the artists prefer to show up.  Casual fans usually don’t show up on the first day or if they do they will come in limited numbers.  The crowds are light and those of us that are interested in getting to know the artists, performers, and to see all the merchandise on sale in the dealer’s room will usually make it a point to come in on that day.  I see old friends and go in to listen to the small professional panels.

The big stars that were invited to the con are usually out on Friday night touring the town with the convention committee or recovering from their trip.  In some ways this is the best part of the convention for me.

Saturday is almost always the big day.  If you ever do more than one convention you quickly learn how invaluable parking is.  You arrive early at the convention hall and pretty much stay all day long if possible otherwise you are forced to endlessly circle a parking lot or park miles away.

Long lines and waiting are the rule.  Lines for popular panels, lines for autographs, lines for food, lines for the bathroom.  Of course you can get VIP or privileged tickets to avoid lines but even these end up having lines.

In the smaller meeting rooms the real panels take place.  These panels are the professional panels.  Authors explain their writing process, artists discuss the current market and how best to network, people discuss the future of genres like comics, anime, books, and film.  They don’t have wide appeal but they are very important to small groups of creative types that want to know about these things.

In the main hallways little kids run around trying to see and do everything that they can.  Teenagers and young adults sit on the floor in corners looking over an autographed picture or discussing some TV show or movie or game that they all know.  Older people like me act like kids.

Some time around the middle of Saturday afternoon a real sense of community descends down upon the convention.  Attendees are more comfortable around all of these fellow conventioneers.  People in costume readily pose for pictures, impromptu debates erupt with everyone giving their opinions, someone in the crowd breaks out a guitar and starts singing the theme song to some TV show and complete strangers around him join along.

On Saturday evening come the big events.  Usually a local band will play, some sort of costume ball will take place, and some big movie will be screened later in the evening.  By this time in the night most of the kids have gone home and the hardcore party people will be out in force.  The bigger conventions will sell alcohol or someone might suggest the local hotel bar or nearby drinking establishment and people in costume will be wandering round the convention neighborhood, possibly inebriated but everyone is having a good time.  The really die-hard fans will camp out in the 24 hour a day anime TV room and basically fall asleep there.

Sunday and things are quickly winding down.  Everyone involved in the con from the fans, to the dealers, to the stars, to the volunteers (most of these conventions are run by volunteers) has given their all by this time and the enthusiasm that they had is pretty much gone.  The last few panels and sessions occur but no one is really into it.  You have a last chance to pick up some items in the dealer’s room and maybe hook up with that new friend you made while standing in line on Saturday but basically it’s all over.

By the early afternoon everyone is earnestly packing up and getting ready to leave.

I feel a slight wave of melancholy wash over me as things wind down.  Here is this wonderful bunch of folks that like all the stuff that I like and we’ve spent a couple of great days together and although you hope that it will continue on, it has to end.

So here we are stuck in traffic where things began.  It’s not all sad of course.  Overall I feel re-energized.  I’ve shared all the latest ideas, thoughts, concepts in fantasy, science fiction, pop culture, and general fiction.  I’ve gotten to talk to people with different perspectives, with radically different ideas.  People that have their own dreams and ambitions.  My mind courses with ideas, with new ambitions, and I find some things that have slept within me for a while begin to re-awaken.

I suppose that the main thing that these conventions give me is life.  They revive the youthful enthusiasm for my fiction writing.  They remind me of more carefree days.   They let me know that I am not alone and that my ideas may not be so odd after all.

Posted in: activities, attitude, conventions, life in general

you don’t deserve a thing

May 29, 2014 6:16 AM , Leave a Comment ,

I was writing up a post on conventions in general but current events have taken precedence and I will release that post another day.  Over the weekend another in a seemingly endless series of mass murders took place in California.  A young man injured 13 people and killed 7 including himself in a vengeance rampage that seemed to be fueled by his lack of a love life.

I first heard about this on Monday and the online article that I read linked to his last YouTube video where he explained what he was going to do.  It was a 7 minute long self-pitying rant about how his love life was unsatisfactory and how he had done everything required of him to “get a girl” and how he literally blamed the entire world for what he was now going to do.  He apparently also wrote a 100+ page long manifesto that went into more detail but after hearing his video I felt I didn’t need to hear more.

One thing that struck me is the way he continued to use words like “deserve” or “fair”.  He said that for all his efforts he deserved love and that women were not being fair by denying him that love.  In his mind they were not people.  He in fact refers to them as animals.  To him they were merely prizes to be won if he put in the hard work and effort.  He really didn’t care about their happiness or what they wanted.  All he cared about was his own happiness.

This holds up an uncomfortable mirror up to all the male gender and how we relate to women around us.  Do we really see the women in our lives as equals?  Or do we instead see them at best as second-class citizens and at worst as inanimate objects to be used at our discretion?

What’s particularly troubling is this idea that there is a magic formula for “being loved” and that it’s all a merit based system.  The notion that if you persist enough and do all the right things that eventually you will wear down the woman of your dreams and make her your own, regardless of how she feels about it.  This turns the woman into an objective to be won and conquered and is pure misogyny plain and simple.

In this life you don’t deserve a thing.  You are not guaranteed to get the woman of your dreams, guys.  If you’re going to find that true love of your life then it has to be a two-way street and the attraction has to be mutual.  If it’s not there, then it’s not there and it’s time to move on and get on with your life.

Posted in: culture, current events, feminism, life in general, relationships

to share is to care?

May 27, 2014 6:43 AM , Leave a Comment ,

I recently attended a sci-fi convention over the memorial day weekend.  Comicpalooza took place last weekend and it was a major success.  My next blog post will be partly a summary about that and about conventions in general but I wanted to address a side issue about this last convention before that.

I posted a lot of my activities and a lot of the sights and sounds from the convention to my social circle on Facebook.  At one point I thought to myself that I was posting too much.  I have seen people become obnoxious on social media and post every passing thought and every event that takes place in their lives.  One of my peeves about Twitter is that it seems to encourage that sort of thing.  Not so much on Facebook but it still happens.

Apart from this I have noticed that some people really don’t like it when you post good news or life events.  They tend to feel sadder and find their lives less satisfying. I have a couple of friends that always detail the latest tragedies in their lives and how much worse that they are doing in comparison to everyone else.

When I think about these two categories of people I get self-conscious posting about the good things in my life.  I want to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone is having a good time like I am yet I don’t want to limit myself either.  I thought about this a lot on the first day of the convention and decided I would go ahead and post my updates and here is my reasoning.

Firstly, I post the positive, the good and the interesting things that happen in my life.  I very rarely post the bad.  Now that doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen in my life.  They do.  In fact bad things have happen to me all the time but they never get mentioned on Facebook.  I don’t really see the point in posting these “micro tragedies”.  Apart from people telling my how sorry they are, they really can’t do much to alleviate the situation.  So I really don’t see the point in doing that.  If it’s something big I will post about it but otherwise it doesn’t get mentioned.

Secondly, posting about things that I do, see, hear, experience lets people who might be far away share a little of that.  If they were curious about a movie, or about steampunk, or rock climbing, or about night life in Houston then they might learn a bit from me.  Maybe they wanted to ask about something but didn’t know how to broach the subject, or they might become emboldened to try something new.  You can never tell what one little thing can lead to.

Lastly, sharing my news encourages others to do the same and lets them explore their own interests.  Marianne Williamson’s quote from “A return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles” is quite pertinent to this point.

“There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you… As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I know that people brag.  I acknowledge that they sometimes get carried away.  We should all strive to be a little more humble in our daily lives.  But at the same time, being a shrinking violet and refusing to share is just as bad if not worse than being a braggart.  In this life we should look to each other and support each other in whatever way we can.

I say that part of that is sharing your gifts, talents, interests, and even good news with each other.

Posted in: activities, attitude, current events, social media, social networks

musical tastes

May 25, 2014 5:41 PM , Leave a Comment ,

I began appreciating music later in life.  Coming from a family that moved around a lot we didn’t really have much as far as musical roots.  My parents had a record collection from the 1950s and they were warily suspicious of modern music as not being good for kids.

When we finally settled in Houston, my Episcopalian grade school had some bizarre fixation about the links of Satanism and rock and roll that was common in the early 80’s.  They stressed that it was a corrupting influence and partly due to that for a long time during my childhood I thought that the name of the rock band KISS was an acronym and it stood for “Knights in Satan’s Service”.

So I was somewhat late to the music scene in the 1980’s.  Which was a real shame because it was such a wonderful decade for music.  I was finally able to fully experience it when I got my Walkman cassette player in the 1986 and listened to music of my choosing with the earphones.  Tape cassettes were on the way out and cheaper to buy than CD’s and they were also much more rugged and easier to transport so I spent a lot of time with them.

I found that the hard rock music I had originally been denied held the most appeal for me.  Bubble gum pop rock was nice but sometimes too nice.  Lite rock came into being around that time and it had this wimpy reputation that I couldn’t get into.  But hard rock bands like AC/DC, black sabbath, Joan Jett, Metallica.  Those I felt represented what rock was really about.

Then I got my first taste of progressive rock (prog rock) bands from the 70’s and I was hooked.  Led Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd.  The music was lyrical, it told a story, it had deep meanings and multiple meanings.  It was the difference between Dune and Star Wars.

Other music types?  I did listen to them as well.  I don’t really believe that there is anyone out there that doesn’t have a favorite song from a polar opposite genre.  They might not confess to it among friends but I am willing to bet that they do listen to it in the car alone.

Country music?  Mostly the older songs from older artists like Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubbs, Bob Wills.  The modern country songs are too much like lite rock for my taste

Rap? Not my favorite but again I will listen from time to time and my tastes run to older artists like Run DMC, Ice T, the beastie boys, some public enemy, and even some N.W.A.  Again though I am not a fan of the modern stuff.

So what do I listen to that is contemporary?  Not much.  Of Monsters and Men is a good indie folk band from Iceland with some prog rock stylings.

But mainly I like going back to my old 70’s and 80’s songs.  They still hold a lot of power for me.

 

 

Posted in: music

over analysis

May 23, 2014 7:11 AM , Leave a Comment ,

A little suspension of disbelief would be nice.  Just an iota.

Why can’t things just exist for the sake of existing?  Just for the joy of being?  Why do they have to have deep meanings and always be nutritive, always be purposeful?  Sometimes we need to unplug and enjoy life and do or take part in those things that serve no real purpose.

I of course mean the movie Godzilla.

Not high art by any means, not a deep philosophical subject, nothing there that’s really original thinking or even a fresh reinterpretation.  Eye candy really.  But I can see that you need something.

 

fine…

 

Standard spoiler warning here.

 

The original movie, Gojira, produced in 1954 reflected the contemporary mood of the Japanese populace to a wide variety of issues.  Chief among these issues was the concern over atomic power in all its constructive and destructive guises.  Japan at the time was a society in transition.  They were not only in the process of physically rebuilding from a devastating war but of changing their mindset in a radical new direction.  The Japanese people had first hand experience with nuclear weapons and according to the film’s producer, Tomoyuki Tanaka:

“In those days, Japanese had a real horror of radiation, and that horror is what made Godzilla so huge. From the beginning he has symbolized nature’s revenge on mankind.”

The feeling of the film conveyed some of the first doubts that the mainstream media had about unfettered progress and whether just because mankind could do something if it was a good idea to do it.  This movie also took issue with the idea that all progress came without a price and that industrial activity was totally benign.  This by the way was 8 years before Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring came out and caused quite a stir in America.

Take that, notion that all pop culture is totally useless as meaningful social commentary!

Godzilla was nature’s reaction to mankind’s nuclear tests in the Pacific.  The themes of war and environmental degradation were intertwined in a horrific form.  The vast scale of mindless destruction not only resonated with kids looking for an action movie but with their parents that had seen real mindless horror unfold before their eyes during the war.

In the movies, Godzilla takes on the symbols of authority and progress in the guise of the military and industry. Not a single weapon in the military’s arsenal can stop him and Godzilla seems to take particular delight in laying waste to factories and nuclear power plants.

The environmental themes were expanded upon in the 1970s with Godzilla vs Hedorah (or as it was known in the US, Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster), a film in which Godzilla takes on a literal representation of pollution by using pollution.  As a mutant created by mankind, he uses mankind’s own nuclear waste to make himself more powerful.  He literally eats nuclear waste.  We as a civilization feed the means of our own destruction.  Quite relevant in today’s debate over climate change.

Yes, I know.  Silly.  Reading way too much into this.

But as a means of communicating the concerns over environmental problems to a mass audience I think it does a much better job than a dais full of scientists wringing their hands in front of a room full of bored reporters.

Now we come to the 2014 film.  This in a way was an attempt to restore the reputation of the “king of all monsters” in the eyes of American audiences.  The 1998 Godzilla movie was widely panned by critics and fans alike.  The plot was bad (even for a monster movie), the effects were terrible, and worst of all, the classic look of the monster was radically revamped making Godzilla almost unrecognizable.  For a long time no one would even talk about Godzilla in Hollywood.

So when they decided to tackle this project they went back to the original and they leaned heavily on the source material.  The exploitation of nature had re-awakened prehistoric monsters (other than Godzilla) and they thrive on nuclear power.  In this movie Godzilla isn’t just a mindless beast but is in fact a leveling force of nature come to re-establish equilibrium.  All humans can do is stand by and watch in horror.

Ken Watanabe’s character, Dr Serizama, states this eloquently:

“The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in their control and not the other way around.  Let them fight”

Indeed that is what finally happens in the end.  Godzilla finishes off the other monsters and returns to the sea although he had devastated the city that they fought in.

Godzilla is neither hero nor villain.  Just as with any other force of nature he just is.  He exists to do what he has to do and we really cannot do anything to change that.  All we can hope to do is get out of the way as best as possible.

Or we could just sit back and enjoy it as a guy in a rubber suit stomping around a movie set stepping on little movie props.  Your choice.

 

Posted in: movies, thought

looking back, looking forward

May 21, 2014 6:47 AM , Leave a Comment ,

I was doing some writing at a tea shop the other weekend and dug out my notebook from my satchel.  I usually have notes for my next section or chapter or whatever on paper.  I have writing tools like Scrivener but I’m hide-bound about some things and I prefer having a notebook for all my notes and planning.

Anyways as I was flipping pages I paused on the pages  that I wrote back in December with my plans and goals for the year.

Some people do monthly reviews, some do reviews every quarter or third of even half-year reviews.  As it was mid May and I hadn’t done this since February I decided to look it over and see how I was doing.  In some ways this post is part of that review.  Making some of my goals public puts extra pressure on me to get things done.

My health goals are proceeding ahead of schedule in some areas and behind in others.  Overall I am happy with the way they are coming along but I recognize that in some respects that I have a way to go and if I want to meet some of the hard number goals by December 31st that I need to get a move on.  I’ve run a couple of short course races and I think I will give Summer a break and wait for the Fall and look to races then.

Business wise I hit a horrible speed bump starting in late February and extending into early April.  A shame as January started very well and I had a glimmer of a hope that my business goals would be a breeze.  I’ve been putting in extra effort during the last month and a half and it seems to be paying off but it’s not going to be a breeze as I hoped and I will need to keep on it for the rest of the year.

General plans for home improvements are proceeding apace.  I have achieved a couple of small projects and will have a second round of flooring done in the Summer; sometime around July probably.

A new car….I think this is going to have to wait till next year.  Even back in December I recognized this as too lofty a goal for this year.  This would be nice to have but it’s not a necessity.

I’ve done several local events that I wanted to attend and that is going well.

The big vacation for the year is still a bit of a question mark for several reasons.  My initial plans focused on a trip to somewhere in Asia or the Indian Ocean in October but the time needed to travel there is a big stumbling block.  So I am still without a destination and frankly a lot is going to depend on how work proceeds during the Summer.

I am content with my progress.

For the most part.

Some things are missing of course.  Some aspects of my life aren’t easy or quick to fix.  But I think I could be in a much worse position so I am thankful for where I am.  I think I will schedule some time in late August or early September to look back and read this and see how the Summer turned out.

Posted in: life in general, plans

How to get and keep business

May 19, 2014 6:32 AM , Leave a Comment ,

If you only rely on old steady customers to keep your business going then you won’t be able to expand or grow.  Conversely if you only get new clients all the time and only do single projects for them then you’re really not fulfilling their needs and once the project is done they will go elsewhere.

Getting new business in the door and keeping existing clients happy and coming back for more is a huge part of sales and customer service and one of the keys to making your company successful.

You have to go beyond just selling your product or service and really becoming an adjunct to your client’s success.  Becoming that “go to” resource in your field is a huge compliment and will keep you in the thoughts of your client long after the project is finished.

But how do you connect with a potential client?  Firstly by answering their inquiry.  Astonishing but true, there are salespeople out there that ignore client requests.  A good example was when I first started working out, I gave my number to a gym staff person and they passed it on to a trainer.  2 weeks later and nothing.  I went back and verified that my phone number had been shared but the trainer never called back.  Something very basic but ignored is that you have to accommodate yourself to your client’s time table and if they come to you with an inquiry that timetable is now.

Next you need to listen to what the client wants, expects, and needs.  Three very different things.

The client wants what they think will solve their problem.  They may or may not have a good grasp of what that is.  They may get good or bad advice as to what to get.  You need to listen to them first to see what their frame of reference is.

They expect that whatever it is you sell will be a “turnkey solution”, something that will be easy to incorporate into their project and as foolproof as possible.

What they need from you is for you to use your knowledge and expertise to bridge the gap and give them your expert advice as to what you can provide and how that product or service will make their life a lot simpler and get their project off and running.

Once you have made the sale, your job isn’t finished.  You have to tell the production team what you’ve sold, what the client’s level of expertise is, and you need to discuss the client with the production or account manager.  Is the client an easy-going individual?  An exacting taskmaster? Do they have special requirements or needs that have to be met?  What sort of time line are they working on?

Here you enter a new phase in the sales process.  Maintaining the client.  Making sure that they’re satisfied with the end product and interacting with them to see if this met their expectations and needs.  You can’t just walk away after the sale.  This isn’t a grocery store or a fast food joint.  If you expect to have that client return when they need your product or service then you need to make that client think of you and only you when the need arises again in the future.

Becoming that go to person is hard work and it does take a lot of effort but ultimately this is the key to growing and expanding your footprint in whatever field that you’re in.

Posted in: business, sales

Sunday driver

May 17, 2014 7:08 AM , Leave a Comment ,

[Author’s note.  This is an edited reprint from an April 2007 post]

I went to Best buy looking for a DVD.  Nothing looked particularly appealing so I walked out into the parking lot and looked around.  The day was still young, it was early afternoon and I had no plans.  As I found myself on Highway-6 and Westheimer, for no particular reason I went West.

It was 2 PM, it was a Sunday, the sun was shining, Westheimer was practically empty of traffic and I was in a Dodge Charger.  Out past Highway-6 Westheimer is all fields and new subdivisions.

It’s the outskirts of Houston, but the housing developers are working hard to change that.  It has changed so much since I got to Houston back in ’76.

It was once all cattle and oil wells, the stereotypical view that non-natives hold of Texas.  Now its $300,000 houses, SAAB dealerships, TGI Fridays, and Best Buys.

If you follow Westheimer long enough it curves past the grand parkway.  The future third beltway around Houston.  Out here 25 miles from downtown Houston, a gleaming 6 lane highway that will push the boundaries of the suburbs out even farther.

I keep going farther not really knowing where I was going, just going.

45 MPH reads the speed limit sign.  Well Westheimer IS technically an FM (a farm to market road).  I take the speed limit sign as a general suggestion, not a requirement and press down on the accelerator.

Fulshear, a sleepy little town that refused to grow up.  Two old men sitting under the front porch of the Fulshear market talking about whatever it is old men talk about on Sunday afternoons.

Even out here there’s development.  Early development that is.  Tractors and back hoes out leveling the rolling hills.  Making everything flat as possible for the builders to lay out yet another cookie cutter subdivision.  The drainage ditches full of muddy water as another field full of topsoil washes away.

A pest.  Some yuppy in a GMC Suburban, one of those turbo Suburbans that GM built for those that really want to waste gasoline.  I’m doing 60, he wants to do 65 so he’s right on my tail.  I look in the passenger seat and I see why.  His wife (or girlfriend, but I rather think a wife since you don’t impress a girlfriend with a turbo Suburban), blonde about 30ish, him about mid to late 40s.

I could be nice and get on the shoulder and let him pass…

Screw it.  He’s obviously got money and he’s got a wife younger than I am.  No need to be nice here.  I lightly press the pedal and the Charger lives up to its name and bolts ahead leaving that plodding hippo in the dust.

Brookshire, the real outskirts of Houston.  I’m on I-10 and the sign says 37 miles to Houston.

The developers are just getting here, eyeballing it seeing if its worth developing yet.  The open pastures are still mainly untouched.

Next to the road is a field that rises at least 6 feet over the road.  Someone has cut into the side of the bank of earth and exposed it.  Deep dark soils, Mainly Clays with just enough sand to allow adequate drainage.  You gotta remember that I’m an Aggie, and all Aggies regardless of what they majored in or what they do in life still have a little bit of farmer in them.  I wince thinking about all this lost farm land.

I start back into town.  Everyone must have had driving on their mind today.  There’s a Pontiac Solstice, a Mazda Miata, a Corvette, and of course the nemesis of the Charger, the Mustang.

The speed limit is long forgotten.  Some guy towing a trailer full of lawn mowers is doing 75 for Pete’s sake!  Anyone with a decent vehicle is doing at least 85.

The Charger is happy.  I can tell.  Driving in stop and go traffic every day is death to it, and going all out with nothing but highway is a dream.  It needed this even more as I did

The journey back is too short and soon we’re back in town.  Back where I started.  The car’s hungry for more but its time to get home.  Maybe next weekend.

Posted in: Automobiles, driving, Houston

making ends meet and how much is it worth to you?

May 15, 2014 6:20 AM , Leave a Comment ,

I suppose everyone has an opinion on the minimum wage issue.  Some want to essentially double it, some want to abolish it, some hope that it will stay the same.

The argument to raise it is that the minimum wage has stagnated for several years while prices have risen and those in minimum wage jobs are in effect getting poorer.  American taxpayers have to pay to support these people in the form of food stamps and other forms of public assistance.  In essence those of us that pay taxes are subsidizing businesses that rely on minimum wage employees.

The argument to keep it at the current rate is that any increase in the minimum wage will lead to job losses as employers will not be able to maintain the same staffing level at increased pay rates.  Either that will happen or consumer prices will have to rise to offset the pay raises.  Or a combination of the two will happen.  In any case, pay raises will have to be paid for one way or the other.

The argument to lower or totally get rid of the minimum wage is that without a minimum wage law that employers would be able to hire more employees and create more jobs.

A few communities have increased the minimum wage on their own initiative and time will tell what will happen to the job market in those communities.

While I do support a rise in the minimum wage laws to keep up with the costs of living I have to ask how much of a rise is enough and how exactly is it to be paid for?

Those of us that enjoy the services and commodities of life provided to us by minimum wage workers have to realize that all of these benefits come to us due to the hard work and efforts of these people who don’t have as good a life as others.  They deserve to have a decent life for all their labor.

Those that make minimum wage have to realize that these pay raises don’t come out of thin air.  They have to be paid for either in the form of fewer jobs or more likely in the form of higher prices for everyone.

The balance will have to be found by the market in the form of prices that the public is willing to pay for everyday items.  Are you willing to pay $10 for a hamburger at a fast food chain?  $4 for an apple at the supermarket? $12 for a cup of coffee at some coffee chain?  I’m not saying that prices will go that high if we do raise the minimum wage but merely pointing out that these raises do resonate throughout the economy in various items and services that we have grown accustomed to having.

So what’s the answer?

Posted in: economy, jobs, thought