This week, when the National Urban League took Nike to task for its $350.00 LeBron X sneaker, it talked about the company being insensitive to the plight of some Americans. Wow, that is beyond a crazy cop-out. I don't get how makers of inanimate objects like guns and sneakers get blamed for the dumb decisions made by actual human beings. There are a lot of people in the country that can afford $350.00 sneakers, although many got that money by being frugal enough to never buy $350.00 sneakers. Be that as it may, when will this blame game stop? When will people be held to account? I can hardly stand another four years of victimization.

The ultimate goal is to punish success and excuse laziness all in the name of social justice. It will destroy the country. If someone wants what I have, they better be ready to give up things like vacation and lunch breaks. If you want my money, you better be ready to read and learn every single day. Taking from people that earned to give to others that didn't is the same line of logic as guys sitting in the joint for hitting an old lady over the head with a brick at an ATM. If some mother buys her kid the new Nike sneakers, and they can't pay the rent, she's the bad person. On the flip side, the same people that hate Nike also hate Wal-Mart where sneakers could be bought with enough money to pay the rent and grab a couple bags of groceries. But, this line of thinking is spreading and is becoming more dangerous.

Pew ... Something Stinks

I happen to be a big fan of the work from the Pew Research Center, so I was kind of disheartened when they took the Occupy/White House view of a recent survey on the so-called middle class. In a report titled "Fewer, Poorer, Gloomier ... The Lost Decade of the Middle Class", Pew points out the awful job of turning this economy around, but missed a few silver linings.

Looking at the Pew data, the difference in the so-called middle class now and back in 1971 are ten percentage points. Of that total, 6% are represented in the upper class while only 4% are reflected in the lower class. So, prosperity actually improved the basket of the middle class.

When it comes to who to blame for this shift in the middle class, all the work from the bully pulpit and main stream media has worked like a charm. Congress gets blamed the most, followed by banks, while the bottom of the list is the person in charge for the last three and half years and the person in the mirror. It's so hard for people to admit they could have done things differently. But, anyone working at auto assembly line had a minimum of a decade to notice that their jobs would be in trouble as a result of competition and robots (surprised they didn't make the list).

Is there a single industry that's suffered where there wasn't advanced warnings? That being said, if you knew your job would be obsolete in ten years would you have begun learning a new trade? Or, would you have demanded more money from your employer, milking the situation until the bitter end?

There is no doubt Americans need to have a chance to make more money, and that only happens with free market policies that focus on growth. But, people can help themselves and must take greater responsibility for where they are in life.

Megatron and Joe Six Pack

The NFL season is approaching soon, and I'm pumped to see how the rookie players do; I want to see if Cam can take it up a notch and I expect Calvin Johnson to set records and redefine the wide receiver position. Calvin Johnson is also known as Megatron for many reasons, including his robotic like presence, his persistence and his intensity. This year, you could also add because of the amount in his wallet. Calling it a "tremendous blessing," Johnson signed the highest contract in NFL history, $132,000,000 for eight years. A contract like that puts Johnson in the top one percent of the top 1%. But, it also illustrates the greatness of America and the bogusness of how data is articulated to the public.

Let's take Johnson born in Newman, Georgia in 1985 and Joe Six-Pack born the same day in Detroit, Michigan. Let's assume their families were in the bottom ten percent of earnings in the nation at that time. Joe Six-Pack makes $45,000 after getting a raise of $2,000 last year. In the narrative of President Obama, Joe Six Pack, who never misses a home game for the Lions, should get a piece of Johnson's contract. According to the world of share-the-wealth, Johnson gets 99.8% of the combined earnings between Joe Six-Pack and he, so it means something is wrong. It has to be racism, banker greed or a republican plot. Maybe, there will be a rule for Johnson to give up money for each touchdown.

Rich people can lose it all and poor people can have it all. We all move up and down, but we should be moving up more- let's not cap all dreams at that middle class level.

The Pew report is valuable for its insights, but for me the biggest is the one that speaks in direct opposition to the cover title. It should have been titled "Upward Mobility Alters Middle Class-But More Work Has to be Done." Make no mistake; the notion that the same people stay rich and the same stay poor is a terrible and deliberate misconception. Amazingly, 67% of the middle class in the survey agreed that "most people who want to get ahead can make it if they are willing to work hard" versus 29% that think "hard work and determination are no guarantee of success for most people." There is one guarantee, however, and it's if you don't make your own destiny it will not be the best it could be and most of the blame will have to go to the person in the mirror.

Durable goods orders were up 4.2%, but mostly because of aircraft. Excluding transportation, orders were actually down 0.4% versus an expected gain of 0.4%, and this is weighing on the market somewhat.

Comments

Clearly Obama .....instead of taking care f the economy first and then Obamacare, he went for the latter and wasted 2 years. He will go down in history as the most incompetent president ever. He just doesn't have" it."..... tom wayne on 8/24/2012 10:19:59 AM

The great digestive system in DC which can print money at one end, stuff it down its own throat, and leave us the crap at the other end. z on 8/24/2012 10:23:24 AM

Not to sound apocolyptic, Just wait until food inflation hits in the next 3 months. Base commodity/protein is up 20-40% yoy. Already seeing 200% increase in layer and broiler feed in East MS. Beef will become scarce as the inefficent farmers cannot afford hay/wheat/corn/sb to last out the winter in MT,ND,SD,CO,etc... will liquidate their cow/calf, grazers, and feedlots. Nike shoes, they better be worried about paying $8.00 cornflakes and wheaties. C. Robinette on 8/24/2012 10:30:34 AM

As a 25+ year HR veteran, I blame a basket full of things including: Jobs shipped out of the country to reduce costs; a still growing separation between almost stagnate hourly wages and over lush senior executive/CEO salaries/packages (the middle managers are pretty much gone now); Obama's war on success and desire to bludgeon the rich; the race towards full-out socialism and over regulation; and shutting down of any attempt to create a responsible energy policy, and I am sure I could go on. I think we are seeing the "reset" of American hourly wages to much lower levels. If we are smart and shackle the unions, once wages fall to be more competitive with other countries, manufacturing will return to the USA and with it, prosperity. If we can force schools to actually teach the 3 Rs, greatly improve advanced science/mathematics/engineering education (not social studies, those activities are for your personal time, not college), complete overhaul of the tax system and real taxs cut for everyone, and improve incentives to all businesses, I think we will start to see the aircraft carrier of our economy start to turn around. I hope Romney can do it. My fingers and toes and crossed. OBTW Charles, are you going to vote for Obama again this time around? I hope not, we need your capitalist Stetson firmly planted on your adorable and brilliant head, leading the charge ahead to a major turnaround of our country with your passionate commentary and spot-on business analysis. Keep up the hard and worthwhile work you do. Please know that there are an army of your fans out here that truly appreciate the long hours you work that accumulate to make you the wicked smart guy you are. You DID build that! A tip of my Florida Stetson to you Mr. Payne! Victoria Gray on 8/24/2012 10:38:41 AM

I blame Obama and his administration for standing in the way of the free enterprise system (free markets) that has proven to work. Not is fairy dust system of socialism. Bob Medkeff on 8/24/2012 10:45:27 AM

thanks Charles you are the best all the best Bill william Moloney on 8/24/2012 11:00:11 AM

The only person to blame for whatever they are earning is that person. I disagree that earnings have gone down. Yes, the average has, but I think many individual earner's incomes have stayed the same or gone up. You have to average in more on unemployment and that drags the average down. I had two uncles both worked hard. They started out working in a shoe factory. One worked hard at his job, never took a day off, stayed at the same place all his years. The other worked hard and on the side opened a vegetable and fruit stand at his house and grew some produce. Soon he was buying produce from other farmers. Later, he opened an auction house and went around buying up used furniture to resell. He did much better than the other uncle. You have to work hard, yes, but it is the determination to get ahead and to have more that increases your worth. The first uncle just kept working hard doing the same thing all his life. Kept his nose to the grindstone, but didn't have that determination to get ahead like the other uncle. Great guys both, but if you want to get ahead it has to be a goal you work towards. I am not where I want to be financially but at 65 I am still not giving up. I can't take 4 more years of victimization either, but so many people are believing the lies. Fran Touchette on 8/24/2012 11:21:40 AM

I blame the President for all of the backroom legislation that will continue to hurt this economy long after he is gone. I don't want to pay for some elses medical bills or even for their food unless they are willing to work for it. There should be no free lunch for the lazy. Norma on 8/24/2012 11:41:44 AM

I do not blame anyone. That is life judith lundquist on 8/24/2012 12:14:52 PM

Federal and state governments Roy W Prideaux on 8/24/2012 12:58:06 PM

Squarely on the sad lack of a work ethic; the refusal to take a less paying job for at least a while. True, there are plenty of exceptions due to this Obama economy, however the lack of a work ethic is prevalent..just take a look at the "Occupy Wall St Group". Marie C on 8/24/2012 2:47:10 PM

Regulators and other inhibitors make it no fun to play. When the joy and confidence of success through challenge and struggle are stifled, players go elsewhere or sit out a few rounds. Patricia Flynn on 8/24/2012 3:18:02 PM

If a person is making less money today, it is their fault. We are all accountable for who we are, what we do, and yes, what we earn. Jane on 8/24/2012 4:55:54 PM

Obama and his divide and conquer strategy. I wonder how many of the middle class retired and were counted in the lower income bracket. D. D. Dewey on 8/24/2012 6:58:16 PM

They can only blame themselves - get a second or third job if necessary. Marilyn on 8/25/2012 7:58:08 AM

I trace the root of our problems back to the ACLU and the corrupt Supreme Court demigods they inspired. The basis for most of the economic problems today is the same as the problem with our lazy workforce and poor performance in education (internationally). We have a breakdown in accountability and character. These virtues come from family. This is evidenced by the way we refer to those who substitute for absentee family in these roles as "family" even when they are not blood relatives. When we seek to undrstand why family has broken down, it comes back to 3 sources. First is the court decisions to remove guilt from divorce. EVERY PERSON WHO GETS A DIVORCE IS TO BLAME FOR BAD BEHAVIOR OR A MISTAKE. No divorce occurs without fault. Most cases these days, the fault lies with both parties for falsely taking a vow for a lifetime and then immorally walking away from that sworn commitment due to their own egocenticity and lack of character. In all the other cases, and in many of the false oath cases, there is also an element of making a bad choice in whom to marry bacause they used a poor procedure to choose a mate (ignored parent advice and chose based on unbridled lust or other emotion). But our courts have made divorce routine and blameless, which has amplified the problem untold times. Our courts have also made promiscuity and adultery blameless by usurping the 10th amendment rights of the citizens to outlaw these behaviors which destroy society. Once the courts legalized these atrocities against self, mate, & society, they became justified as legitimate behavior by law. The second problem is the lack of the open presence of the true God in our society, based on an outrageous decision by the Supreme Court outlawing prayer in public schools. This decision not only was foolish and has been proven destructive to children and society, it was also in opposition to the 10th and 1st amendments. It was made with no precedence in law cited and against over 100 precedents including more than a dozen previous Supreme Court decisions on the same subject. Now, the ACLU continues to intimidate society with threats of expensive lawsuits unless both 1st and 10th amendments are forfeited. I believe we have all the evidence we need to hang the leaders of the ACLU for treason (not because of their expressed views, but because of the atrocious way they use racketeering techniques to force those minority views on the majority. I can think of nothing better for society than if the Congress would pass a bill condemning the Supreme Court Justices who voted for removing prayer from school as traitors postmortem so history can record their folly in best perspective. The third source of the breakdown in family is the federal government and its welfare programs (the legacy of LBJ). Obviously, this impact was focused on the poor who received the welfare payments. And since LBJ reigned in a time of vast economic disparity between Caucasions and Blacks, the impact was huge in the Black community. The government granted the largest welfare checks to unwed mothers. And the checks were much larger for additional children who did not bear their father's name (I will not call these children "illegitimate" because they are not to blame for their parents' illegitimacy). And what a study of demographics reveals is that the Black community responded to funded immorality by changing from having significantly better family structure than other races to having significantly more children without bith mother and father. And now that family breakdown is more to blame for the continued economic disadvantage than all other causes. Children raised without both father and mother in the same home are severely disadvantaged. As a society, we can cover for a few such families caused by death of a parent, but we hooelesss against the massive problem caused by pregnancy without marriage or child abandonment (tantamount to abuse) through divorce. Summary: the breakdown of family has a double effect on standard of living. Children without 2 fully engaged parents do poorly both in school and in character development, making them less valuable in the workforce, so they earn less money. Second, breakdown of family means more people not married or divorced, both of which are more expensive ways to live so the money they have runs out sooner. And the ACLU and corrupt Supreme Court are doing far too mcuh to destroy families in this country, plus they promote individual unaccountability which further hurts families (and children). Bob G on 8/26/2012 4:37:39 AM

Capitalism at its best. Supply and demand. When business is booming those guys ask for a raise, when business is failing they get a cut. Capitalism... Roberto Oliveira on 8/27/2012 1:49:26 AM

Obama's failed economic policy ! Peggy on 8/28/2012 2:58:46 PM

First, as a manufacturer in CA, I can't compete with China and other cheap labor manufacturing hubs. Second, California's cost of doing business (regs, taxes, energy cost, etc) makes it challenging to compete with other US companies, say ones located in Kentucky. I'm forced to find other ways to reward my employees other than through their pay-check. It is exhausting, demoralizing and just not much fun anymore. Lorraine Heppner CEO/President 555 Danlee St. Azusa, CA 91702 626 969.7983 Ext 108 Lorraine Heppner on 8/28/2012 3:44:06 PM

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