Any Soul Searching For Christmas in July?

Some businesses have been advertising "Christmas in July." Well, if we had reruns of Charles Dickens' famous Christmas tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, would the super wealthy get it, or would they even watch? Do they ever sit and think about the lives of their employees? Do they take pleasure in telling others about the many hardworking men and women who have retired from their companies and who are living a relatively good life in their "golden years" because of good pensions and company benefits? For that matter, do they even think about the lives of their current employees, and how well they may be living? It "should" give them great pleasure to think about the many lives they've helped make better. The question is, do they fit into this category, or are their employees, current and retired, struggling to get by and in fear of losing what little they have, including a place to live, while the wealthy business person only thinks about their next million or billion in profit?

WORD HISTORY:
Ripe/Ripen/Reap-These two words come from Indo European "hrep," which meant "to grab, to snatch." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "ripanan," with the same meaning, but it seems to have only endured in the West Germanic branch of the Germanic languages (English is West Germanic). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "ripan," which meant "to harvest grain, to reap." This then became "repen," before the modern version. It also produced West Germanic "ripijaz," which meant "mature, ready for picking and eating, ready for harvest." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) the adjective "ripe" (the ending "e" would likely have been pronounced "eh" or "ah") and the verb "ripian," meaning "to mature, to become ripe;" literally, "become ready for reaping." This later became "ripen," and it has retained that form for hundreds of years up to the present. Other Germanic relatives: German has "reif" (ripe) and "reifen" (to ripen [for produce], to mature [including for people] ), the German form related to English "reap" has now died out in German, as it was replaced by other words,^ as it has too in other Germanic languages; Low German has "riep" (ripe), "riepen" (to ripen) and some dialects have "riep" (harvest, reap);^^ Dutch has "rijp" (ripe) and "ripjen" (to ripen); West Frisian "ryp" (ripe), "ripens" (ripeness, maturity) and "rypje" (to ripen). 
  
^ One of the characteristics of the high/upper German dialects centuries ago, was that what was usually a "p" sound in Low German, Frisian, Dutch and English, "often" became an "f" or "pf" in the high dialects; thus English "ripe" is German "reif," with the same long "i" sound as its English cousin. For those wanting to learn German, remember the "ei" vowel combination in German is pronounced as a long "i," but "ie" is pronounced as a long "e." So the second vowel of these combinations gets the sound.

^^ There is no "standard" Low German, only a collection of low dialects, and so words, spellings and pronunciations can vary from one area to another, so much so, that people from one area may not understand, at least completely or easily, what someone from another area is saying.

The Great Depression, Part Six

Prior to the 1930s, generally, the Republicans were the “protectionist” party in terms of trade policy. American farmers wanted tariffs on any foodstuffs being brought into the country and American labor wanted tariffs on just about any goods being imported. During the Great War (later called "World War One"), American farmers produced agricultural products in huge quantities and a sizable portion of these products were sent overseas to help feed people where their own national economies had been disrupted so much by war. Since there was really no need to worry that these countries would try to sell agricultural products in America (after all, they couldn’t produce enough to feed their own people, let alone export anything), tariff issues were a cold topic and remained so for a time after the war ended. As the rest of the world recovered, trade issues began to heat up, although from my reading and recollection, the idea that masses of foreign agricultural products would somehow flood the United States in those times was mostly nonsense; still, American farmers liked the idea of high tariffs for goods coming into the country. Republicans benefited from supporting such tariffs, as farmers “tended” to vote Republican. Likewise, labor unions wanted high tariffs to protect against foreign manufactured items from entering the country, or at least to keep these products high in price. Naturally each industry and their workers wanted tariffs on items they produced to limit or exclude competition. The labor vote was frequently split between the two parties, but some unions “tended” to be pretty staunch supporters of Republican candidates. (Just a note: If you aren’t familiar with American politics in those times, you might think ol’ Randy has lost some of his marbles. Of course, you might think that anyway, but unions DID frequently support Republicans back then, and Republicans tended to be much more “protectionist” than Democrats. So yes, things have changed considerably since those times. Hey, what’s that rolling on the floor? Looks like a marble!)

Just for the sake of simplified example and explanation, let’s say that companies in fictitious country “Beneluxia” produce a surplus of radios. They want to sell their surplus in other countries. If American made radios cost $10.00, and “Beneluxia” made radios cost $7.00, our producers wanted to make sure that foreign made radios would cost more by the imposition of tariffs; so we would put a tariff of $4.00 per radio brought into the country, thus the “Beneluxia” made radio now costs $11.00, giving the American made product the price edge in the market.

In the spring of 1929, Congress took up legislation about tariffs. President Hoover wanted new legislation, but he and the White House staff lost control of the bill, and the whole situation got out of hand. All kinds of products were added to the tariff list, as business interests weighed in to limit or exclude competition. The problem was, a couple of years before, America had committed to trying to curtail tariffs and move toward a more open exchange of goods. The final legislation, known as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, was really not what Hoover wanted, but he reluctantly signed it into law in June 1930. Almost immediately other countries retaliated, and a virtual tariff war ensued, all in the midst of America’s economic downturn. Further, without American markets to sell their products, other countries began to experience their own downturns, and before you knew it, economic calamity began to become pretty much worldwide, although especially in industrialized nations.

Germany suffered tremendously, as the peace treaty ending the Great War imposed large reparations payments on her. American banks made loans to many European businesses and countries in the post-war era. As Germany struggled to pay reparations, and she and other European countries lost markets in the U.S. because of tariffs, loan payments began to become more difficult to make. If lots of folks owe money to banks, and they can't make payments, guess what? The banking system becomes shaky.

WORD HISTORY:
Tariff-This word traces back to Arabic "arrafa," which meant "notify, inform." From this came the noun "ta'arif," which meant "list of fees." Latin borrowed the term as "tarifa," with the same basic meaning, and it later was inherited by its Italian offspring as "tariffa." English borrowed the word as "tariff" in the late 1500s.

Consider Working America

I hope you will check out the site in the link below. You do NOT have to agree with unions all of the time, but without them, American workers will head in the direction of becoming serfs. If you thought serfdom died long ago, look around. It is no coincidence that income disparity has grown so much as worker organizations have declined. The wealthy and their sidekicks, mainly Republicans, but some Democrats, too, have convinced many Americans to support legislation (like huge tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans) that is NOT in the interest of those many Americans, but definitely in the interest of the few. Even after more than thirty years of prevailing conservative thought, we still hear how tough life is for those upper income people. Contrary to what we have been told would happen by "unleashing" American investors and business people, the country has gone down hill, as millions struggle to keep from losing ground. The "interests" are firmly in control, and with all of the anti-union talk and action, they intend to take an even firmer grip on the nation.

Again, you do not have to agree with union positions on everything; that's part of our system, give and take, but now the conservative idea is to strip away the "give" part, and just "take." They want investors and the super rich to have "freedom," but they don't want the same thing for average Americans.

http://www.workingamerica.org/

WORD HISTORY:

Work-This goes back to Indo European "werg," and its derivative, "wergom," with the meaning "do, work." This gave Old Germanic the noun form "werkan," which then gave Anglo-Saxon "weorc" (seems there was also a dialect form "worc"), with the same general meaning: "action to accomplish some task," and even "to make things." The spelling changed by Middle English and has remained the same since then. Later, the place where "work" was done (or things "made") became known as a "works;" thus we have had work places like "steel works," "iron works," etc. Myself, I never wanted one of those places, but some people kept insisting to "give him the works." Hmm, I guess that's what they meant by that? The noun form is quite common in the other Germanic languages: German has "Werk," and also "Werke" for "works;" Dutch has "werk;" Frisian has "wurk/wirk;" Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic have "verk;" Danish has "vaerk." Note: some Low German has "woakj."

The verb form naturally also traces back to the same Indo European "werg" and Old Germanic "werkan," which gave Old Germanic the verb form "wurkijanan," with the meaning "to work, to function, to make things go, to operate, to make." This gave Anglo-Saxon/Old English the verb "wyrcan" (also as "wircan" in some dialects). German has "wirken," some Low German has "wirkje;" Dutch has "werken," Swedish has "yrka."

What Will Happen To Greater Cleveland?

Most of us are aware that the Greater Cleveland area has been in decline for decades. The area, once a bulwark of industry, had seen its industries slowly erode. Each recession brought layoffs. Each recovery brought rehiring, though often with fewer workers than before the recession, but the workers still made decent wages and had good benefits. The thing was, however, the area still had a relatively strong industrial base AND a strong corporate headquarters base, many in the downtown area. I remember a number of years ago, in one of campaigns to sell Cleveland to the rest of the country, it was publicized that Cleveland was home to the third largest number of Fortune 500 headquarters, and that it also had a fair percentage of the largest financial institutions on the Fortune list. Much of this came as a surprise to many people who lived here. So, maybe Cleveland was “the best kept secret,” as one of the slogans proclaimed, even to its own residents. All of this came at a time, the 1980s, when Cleveland seemed to be moving forward, and the community had a sense of pride and an attitude that it could accomplish things. The “Light Up Cleveland” nights for Monday Night Football showed the City in a glow that reflected the pride felt by many Greater Clevelanders.

Today, I shudder to think what might happen to this community. There seems to be no one able to put out a “call to arms,” to rally the community. I don’t want to bash our elected officials too much, as I think we have many office holders who are well intentioned, but they aren’t leaders. We also need to hear the stark truth about how bad the situation is, and how bad it could become. All you have to do is look around: businesses closing, businesses moving out, declining population, lower wages and benefits, if you’re lucky to have benefits. We can’t have many of those Fortune 500 headquarters here anymore, nor can we have many of the top financial institutions, either. The inner city is in serious decline, and poverty is about the only element that is in ascendance. Poverty doesn’t recognize city boundaries, and it has leapt with vigor into the suburbs. As cited by the Plain Dealer over the past year, food pantries are now not only in many suburbs, but they are visited by substantial numbers of residents seeking help. A number of years ago, such stories were a thing limited to Cleveland proper. Further, I drove down Superior Avenue at 4:30 p.m. recently, and thought for sure that I'd regret getting stuck in rush hour traffic, only to find that it was a breeze getting to the Detroit-Superior Bridge, and that there weren’t even many people waiting for buses. I lived in Downtown for years, and at that time of day, this town was alive with people rushing to the parking garages or to catch the next bus or Rapid home, and the traffic was always heavy.

It would seem to me that everything we treasure in this community is now open to demise. Make no mistake about it, we are in trouble here! The community was stunned by Modell’s treachery in the mid 1990s, but even with a new Cleveland Browns team and a new multi-million dollar stadium, the team’s embarrassing performance since its return has left even many diehard fans turned off. Let’s not forget, the team moved once, and if it moves again, I would have to believe that it would not return. The Indians have also been floundering around for a number of years. Declining attendance brings to mind the many years when the team threatened to leave town. The most disturbing thing was the poor attendance during the late run by the Indians in the 2005 season. It used to be said that if the Indians played well, the fans would come out, but that saying, just like the BP offices in the BP Building, is empty. Of course, with the tremendous cost of attending ANY professional sport’s event, average folks are lucky if they can afford to take their family to see a game or two per season, without mortgaging the homestead, which is difficult these days, since we have the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, if I understand it right. The Cavaliers have certainly been the exception, and they have given our forlorn town something of a morale boost. I don’t want to sound the “party pooper,” but if ANYTHING happens to LeBron… well you know the answer.

With so many corporate headquarters gone, money for many charities has also left town. As I mentioned above, everything here is in danger, and that includes the renowned Cleveland Orchestra, as well as the museums. I’m not saying that any of these things WILL happen in the next two or three weeks, but unfortunately, they COULD happen in the next few years or so, and we need to start thinking about how we stop the bleeding here. Some will no doubt say that I’m overreacting, and that while these things COULD happen, we COULD also have two weeks in January with temperatures in the 40s and 50s. Oh, we just did.

Will We Be Bogged Down on Trade?

Just some brief thoughts about trade, and I won’t just be picking on George Bush. I just wonder, now that we’re in all of these trade agreements, how do we alter or scrap them?

Just to refresh memories, it was Clinton-Gore that pushed through some of the big trade agreements. Remember the debate between Vice President Al Gore and businessman and sometimes candidate Ross Perot? While many Republicans tended to favor the trade agreements, not everyone was in lockstep, as Pat Buchanan was probably the most prominent Republican to oppose these agreements. Democrats were a mixture of support, and vociferous opposition, with, as I recall, less than half of congressional Democrats supporting the administration’s trade policies.

Not long after Bush took office, the American steel industry, suffering terrible losses since the 1990s, and with several companies in bankruptcy, asked for help from Congress and the Bush Administration to curtail low cost foreign steel imports. In a fairly amazing development, the Administration responded with duties on many types of steel and steel products, with the duties scheduled to last for three years. I’m sure the Administration also had the State Department try to smooth over ruffled feathers in the countries affected by this change in policy. Other countries growled, but essentially that was all they did, at least at first.

I don’t remember every detail, but if memory serves me right, by World Trade Organization “rules,” the Administration had to review it’s policy every so many months. Each time a “review” was in the offing, other countries turned up the rhetoric, with Russia being the most vocal. The Administration gradually lifted the duties on certain small specialty steel imports, but kept the duties on the vast majority of imported steel. By the halfway point in the policy, other countries, but Russia in particular had turned up the heat, threatening retaliation against American products coming into their respective nations. American businesses that were selling their products to these countries began to complain that they would be severely hurt, if trade duties were placed on their goods. Eventually, the Administration declared the policy a success and cancelled the remaining import duties. By that time, the American steel industry had recovered somewhat.

The question is, now that Democrats have control of Congress, will they be able to curtail the loss of American jobs, principally in manufacturing, to other countries. To do so will require changes to trade agreements. The problem is, we’re knee deep in trade agreements, and other countries are not going to just stand by and accept these changes without threatening or actually enacting retaliation against the United States.

In 1930, the Congress passed higher tariffs on a number of imported products. President Hoover was inclined to veto the legislation, but reluctantly signed it. This prompted retaliation against American products, and some economists over the years have felt that this legislation turned an economic recession into a depression. (Well, not just any old depression, but THE Depression.)

I don’t like what has happened to many American jobs. Not everyone is cut out to be a nuclear scientist or a computer whiz. Having grown up in a blue collar neighborhood, I have tremendous respect for people who earn a living by the sweat of their brow and the strength of their back. American unions set standards for working people, even if many working people did not belong to a union. Many working class people were able to earn enough and have enough job benefits to live the dream of owning their own homes and cars, and of having medical care for themselves and their families. It seems that some in America have now totally forgotten these folks. We’re creating an entirely new underclass, in my opinion. The question is, are we so entwined in trade agreements that no matter what we do, we will create serious problems?