Craig's Corner

Fall is upon us and with it some more temperate weather. As I pull out the sweaters to replace the polo’s in the dresser I’m reminded of the stories behind each garment. One I got as a student in Scotland two decades ago that no longer quite fits but I just can’t let it go. Another brings a smile as it was a gift. Other than these types of remembrances I’m not much for seeing where something is made. When I bought my first Honda there was a national discussion about the decline of Detroit and the uprising of Japan taking American jobs. The car came with a certification that 83% of the vehicle had been built in North America under NAFTA and nearly 70% was made in America…higher than most ‘American’ brands. So I certainly keep an eye on who owns what, but my purchase decisions aren’t driven by patriotism. The U.S. Government doesn’t have the same luxury, and they just proved it again. During the last week of September 2015 the United Nations General Assembly is in full swing in Ne

I’m not much for the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic entertainment that makes up a portion of popular culture. It’s not that I’m looking for stuff that's all sunshine and gooey, rather something in between: good entertainment. It’s the dark and largely negative expectation that is the world vision of a post-apocalyptic world  that puts me off. I suppose it makes sense given that the premise is some sort of cataclysmic event occurring. As we move towards the end of another September the rhetoric, gamesmanship and predictions of the End are upon us. You guessed it…It’s time for Government Shutdown! (Cue music.) Like a bad penny certain legislators are using the budget process as a way to demand their way on a particular issue. This time it seems to be around the funding of Planned Parenthood. Last time it was Obamacare. The time before…does it matter? Partisans get their dander up and cable TV gets to run an end of the world clock to when the government will run out of money

I just reviewed my Social Security statement so I know what I can expect to receive in benefits if I retire in a dozen years or if I stop working in twenty years. The agency sends me a reminder each August to log in and see the information – and it includes a total of wages earned by year from the first time I got a paycheck.  The century old program takes funds directly from each paycheck (both from workers and their employers). Then at a certain age (62, 65, 70, etc.) when retirement kicks in then there’s a monthly benefit that flows back to each person who kicked into the program. Looking at my wage totals was a quick trip down memory lane – I can see when I was an union worker making $3.10 an hour to being part of the top 5% of earners for a short time. I’ve never worked directly in the government sector, but the significant range of earnings available in the private sector doesn’t exist in the public sector with its more steady salaries and benefits. Or that was the prevailing

I’m a Baby-Boomer living in a Millennium and Boomlet world. Translation of the generational lingo: I’m 50 years old and most of how today’s world operates has been dictated by those 18-40.   Superficially that means that we’re all navigating a connected world where information is available at the touch of a finger or a query to Siri. I wouldn’t have it any other way. My life is demonstrably better with the device I walk around with day in and day out. It also means that there’s more of an openness about our lives thanks to the Internet. There’s a huge benefit to that – and some consequences as well. Millions of people discovered that the hard way. In mid-July 2015 “a group calling itself ‘The Impact Team’ stole the user data of Ashley Madison, a commercial website billed as enabling extramarital affairs” according to Wikipedia . A few weeks later they “dumped” millions of records onto the internet for all to see. The media went crazy – as did the public. There’s a website where