REPORT ON THE REGULAR FEBRUARY MEETING OF THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER, ERA
I was privileged to attend the regular February meeting of the local ERA Chapter, Feb. 7th. The speaker, political analyst Dr. Larry Gerston of San Jose State University, was excellent. Although a bit brash in his stated intention was to “Step on everybody’s toes before the night was over,” his topic was a broad analysis of the general political situation(s) extant here in the U.S. His position was relatively neutral. But, his analysis was cutting, favoring no particular party. He dissected portions of candidates speeches that have become commonplace to the point of annoyance and pointed out the differences between each position.
He intimates that our country’s population is polarized – in gridlock on major subjects, all of which demand attention. There are rules that must be adjusted. He specifically mentioned Sarbanes-Oxley as being a major source of challenge to our legislators (Wikipedia provides a 28 page write-up); health care costs that are rising every year; he mentioned The Volcker rule (eight pages) and all its impacts. Very candidly, this writer was dazzled by the magnitude of the subject matter he introduced. But the feeling was good, leaving me with a strong interest in the overall situation.
Professor Gerston cited the great need for Air Pollution Standards for without them our general health will further suffer. He made steaming comments about “In-Sourcing,” the return of jobs to the U.S. He stated emphatically that we will never regain the number of manufacturing jobs we had in the past due to the degradation of hourly wages. He quoted actual U.S. hourly rates, ranging in the $35-$40 range dropping by half! He pointed out that this was because the unions have lost so much bargaining power.
A major point was made about Corporate Tax Reform. He pointed out that 2/3 of the corporations in ’09 paid zero taxes. He started closing on the subject of Deficit Reduction, targeting entitlements as the culprits preventing (delaying?) the reduction of the deficits. Social Security; Medicare; and Medicaid all came into his discussion. He mentioned a figure of $200 billion in the red each year, even though the Social Security Trust has enough money to last through 2037 and the Medicare Trust will last until 2029. Medicade is the most volatile challenge.
He closed stating that this promises to be a great election! He encouraged us to get informed and regardless of which party we may choose to favor with our vote, we do so with the conviction that this is how we feel.
He answered several questions about the various subjects and then closed with his personal absolute when it came to topic matter – We must invest more in our educational System, specifically K thru 12. He cited the fact that there are literally millions of jobs unfilled because of the lack of trained young people able to step into these jobs due to their lack of education.
Was the meeting a success? The topic was well researched and Dr. Gerston is an accomplished speaker. The audience was rapt with attention. The Q&A session produced well-thought-out questions, questions that obviously gave the speaker cause to think before answering them. The timing was good when considering the up-coming National Election’s importance to us all. As is often the case when listening to presentations by people not familiar with our industry, he had little opportunity to adjust the sequence of his talk, nor the particular points he chose to make. The complexity of the subject matter truly indicated the fact that we were not what he would consider a “typical” audience. Had this been a State of the Union Speech, both parties would have deserved time for rebuttal comments.
So, we ask that those of you who were present to please take a minute and give us feedback. Did you like the meeting? What did you take away? Can you say that you now know more about how to deal with your future? The word in the announcement was impact. Did the content of this meeting help you better prepare for another year in the rep business?
May 9th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
[...] titled “ERA TODAY, see correction above) Every once in awhile we are reminded how important it was for us to belong to a working [...]
May 22nd, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Thank you the emails and newsletters – we appreciate all your hard work! The newsletters make it easy to share with our principals. And it’s always good for them see what we do! Kind Regards,
Barbara