June 23, 2022…

Politics don’t do much for me.  I’m not cut from that cloth and am not active in any way at any level.  No rallies, no door knocking, no phone canvassing, no volunteering.  My opinions are largely my own (which is probably a good thing).  I’ve only written one letter to the editor(
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/01/1658443/parents-should-cut-the-string.html
) and it had no political overtones at all.

But I’m about to write one that does.

The only thing is, the Charlotte Observer (if it’s still around) will need to wait a few years to publish it because the paper would be cc’d on the note below.

North Carolina has one-upped itself in terms of being a state of short-sighted nitwits.  Granted, the economy continues to struggle, yet our legislature has turned back the clock by shoving North Carolina into the upper 40s in terms of per-student education spending.  The budget has largely done away with early childhood education plus other deep cuts that deny public education’s role in forming kids into ready-to-go workers and an educated populace.  The problem is, the extent of the damage really won’t be known for a decade or more.

Fast forward to the year 2022.  Let’s say I ran a successful business that would move to or expand its sizeable operations in North Carolina.  My due diligence would weigh North Carolina’s business environment in a number of ways, including the size and extent of an educated workforce.  Assume, too, that the governor and other business-types were cozying up to my firm in the days leading up to my decision.  This year’s actions – or non-actions – would kick in right about then.

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June 26, 2022

Dear Governor and President of the North Carolina Senate:

I greatly appreciate the time and attention you gave our company as we explored our options to grow our business.  There is much to like about North Carolina; a favorable business climate, ready access to transportation, a physically attractive state, and yes, your moderate weather.  All of those factors, and some others too, weighed in your favor.

As you know, we asked about (and explored on our own) the scope and availability of the qualified work force we will need to help our business succeed.  Your assurances aside, we are not convinced that such a work force exists today in North Carolina.  We disagree that your unemployment rate signals sufficient numbers of a ready-to-be-tapped labor pool.  On the contrary, it is a labor pool that from our perspective lacks the prerequisite skills we need in quantity, particularly entry-level positions.  Not that we do not train our workers – indeed, we take great efforts to do so – but we expect any candidates to come to us with the fundamentals already in place so we can mold them into the productive work force we need.   We are troubled by your state’s low rank in per-pupil education funding.  My business takes the long term view that whomever we hire must come to us with sets of skills they have already been taught that we cannot be expected to teach.  At any of our locations, we depend on a steady flow of qualified workers year after year after year.

We have decided to pursue other options for our business operations.  We appreciate your attentiveness to our questions about incentives and favorable business climate, but in the absence of what we perceive to be a readily available, skilled and educated work force, we cannot stake the future of our enterprise on a state that cannot assure us of a continuous supply of qualified workers we need.

Sincerely,

David Bradley

The guy in the mirror…

My brother gives me the evil eye at an after-Christmas lunch. We share similar hairlines, political outlooks and other traits although the past year has tested our ability to cope with stress.

My twin and I have passed the tender age of 61.  That’s 427 in dog years.  It is utterly unfathomable to me that in theory, in one more year, I could dip into the Social Security fund you have contributed to for so long.  (My thanks to FICA contributors who make more money than me and the Ellens and Reids of the world who will continue to support my age group into the foreseeable future and beyond.)

Deep down, I don’t feel 61 although I’m not sure who the guy is in the mirror every morning.  My recollection of me and reality are not in snyc.  But I can tell I’ve lost a step in the gym, have developed an intolerance for uncalibrated bathroom scales, have come to rely on a grocery list as a must-have memory aid and know the ability to stay awake for the 11 o’clock news is a pipe dream.  The jury is out on whether I’m older but better.

Discussion of their old man’s age by Ellen, Reid has never been forbidden.  I could care less if they talk about it as long as they don’t rub it in.  There really have been no overt references to this birthday, hence no specific letter dealing with it; that would just rub salt into the gaping wound.

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It’s not an official week on this site without a photo of Ellen’s loveable dog, Henry.

Henry is an early riser. I don't know the caffiene equivalent for dogs, but he doesn't need it.

A new economic reality…

There is a new economic reality for me these days.

My bywords for the foreseeable future are don’t spend what you don’t have.   Some might bemoan curtailed personal spending but I don’t need more stuff.  I have just about everything I need.  That applies to most discretionary items; golf and my bike chief among them.   In an odd way, my continued 12-hour-a-day employment at the bank has staved off a couple of other possibilities outside the bank that would have let me get on with things.  But by the same token I’m perfectly comfortable with the continuance.

So last week’s letter to the kids is largely about economics, which, like politics, has national rumblings but is felt most heavily at the local level.

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November 15, 2010

Ellen/Reid: Suffice to say I’m excited about next week in St. Paul.  EP, the prospective grocery list was sent last night and it should be pretty basic in terms of what we’ll need to have on hand.  I volunteer to go to the market upon arrival in town.  You’ll have your hands full with your work so don’t worry about things on the shopping end of the spectrum.  Reid and I have that covered.

For some reason I’ve begun to dwell on the end-of-the-year deadline of my employment here at the bank.  The conversations I’ve had with those in my chain of command have only helped draw the conclusion that unlike the end of September, the end of the year will really be the end of things.  My recent world has been on the correspondence end of things.  It’s been a task to get my arms around the very protracted process of documenting customer complaints and responding to them on a point-by-point basis.  We’re not very clear-cut or warm in how we write but that’s dictated by the legal beagles who seem to want our letters to be another link in the legal chain if and/or when the customer decides to, as we say in bank parlance, escalate their claim to the courts.

Whereas I dreaded the onset of September, I’m not quite as fearful as I was before.  Why that is I don’t know.  It could be a numbing factor.  There is something at the end of the rainbow it’s just not altogether clear what that might be.  If nothing appears out of the blue toward the end of the year I won’t mind pounding the pavement.  Both REI and Williams Sonoma were options but neither panned out once my hours reappeared at the bank.  There was an article in this morning’s paper that was tantamount to preparing all of us for decades of diminished expectations economically.  It will end up being an even more lopsided battle between the haves and the have-nots.  Salaries won’t automatically rise year after year.  The benefit age for Social Security will tick upwards.  It’s really a sea change for workers and no one is absolutely sure with how it will all pan out.

As luck would have it I’ve been among those who have not only tightened their belts but are also comfortable with that.  I don’t need much to make me happy but just enough.  That is the question that remains to be answered: how much is enough?  As your uncle has told me time and again, retirement isn’t always about trips to Europe or gallivanting around the globe.  (Honestly, I had my fill of travel with Meredith when you guys were growing up.)  I’m sure there will be travel articles in the paper that would make me wish “I wish I could go there” but there won’t be many like that.  What does give me pause is the mortgage.  I’m down to about six years left on the original 15 year note (which I accelerated as much as I could).  The car payment a little less so.  The math isn’t entirely adding up although with John’s help the gap isn’t quite as onerous as it might have been as recently as a couple of years ago.  But something is going to have to fill that financial space after the first of the year.

Part of that belt tightening is staying here for Christmas.  I wish it could be otherwise but it isn’t.  You never know what might be ultimately up the bank’s sleeve but I don’t want to spend money I won’t have in February and March and beyond.  Felicia will probably be here for some of that holiday time although it doesn’t really bother me to be here by myself.  So don’t be concerned about that.  I will have enough to keep me occupied.  If push comes to shove the car ride to Grand Island to see your grandmother could be done in a reasonable couple of days.  It’s about 1,260 miles door-to-door.  I am anxious to see her in her new surroundings and see how she’s fairing with her new friends.

Well, I still have a day job and I’d better get to it.  See you guys in a few days and Reid, I’ll idle in the Minneapolis airport until you arrive so we can cab it together or bum a ride from your sister.