HUMOR - Congress member needs to learn more?

CULTURE/SOCIETY - The Trader Joe's Lesson: How to Pay a Living Wage and Still Make Money in Retail

Many employers believe that one of the best ways to raise their profit margin is to cut labor costs. But companies like QuikTrip, the grocery-store chain Trader Joe's, and Costco Wholesale are proving that the decision to offer low wages is a choice, not an economic necessity. All three are low-cost retailers, a sector that is traditionally known for relying on part-time, low-paid employees. Yet these companies have all found that the act of valuing workers can pay off in the form of increased sales and productivity.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/the-trader-joes-lesson-how-to-pay-a-living-wage-and-still-make-money-in-retail/274322/

HISTORY: 17 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes You Never Hear

While best known for his “I Have a Dream” speech, King's legacy included much more than that.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/17-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-you-never-hear

ECONOMY: The importance of unions!

ECONOMY: Some of my fave Labor Day tweets!

HUMOR: The economy and its effects

POLITICS: A Fun Take On The Bailout

WARNING: The following contains profanity!

Here's a great take on that automotive bailout. - OlderMusicGeek



A better - and larger - look at this pic

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Spreading Cheer

I found this on Yahoo. - OlderMusicGeek

Secret Santas in 3 states spread cheer, $100 bills

ST. LOUIS December 5, 2008, 09:15 pm ET · At a suburban Goodwill store on Friday, Theresa Settles selected a large, black comforter to warm her family until she can raise the money to turn the gas heat back on. A petite woman approached, her face obscured by dark sunglasses and a wrapped winter scarf, and handed Settles two $100 bills stamped with the words "secret Santa." "The only condition," she said, "is that you do something nice for someone. Pass it on."

"I will," Settles said, the only words she could get out of her mouth.

The secret Santa was a protege of Kansas City's undercover gift giver, Larry Stewart, who died of cancer nearly two years ago. Stewart roamed city streets each December doling out $100 bills to anyone who looked like they might need a lift.

Before his death in January 2007, Stewart told a friend how much he would miss his 26 years of anonymous streetside giving, during which he gave away about $1.3 million. Stewart, from the city suburb of Lee's Summit, made millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.

The friend promised Stewart he would be a secret Santa the next year. "He squeezed my hand and that was it," said the Kansas City Santa, who would say only that he was an area businessman and investor. "I honored a promise."

Two secret Santas, one from the Kansas City area and the other from the St. Louis area, descended on thrift stores, a health clinic, convenience store and small auto repair shop to dole out $20,000 in $100 bills, hugs and words of encouragement to unsuspecting souls in need.

In this economy, they weren't hard to find.

Cynthia Brown, 40, was laid off three weeks ago from her food service job. Santa found her at the St. Louis County health clinic and gave her $100, exactly what she had asked to borrow from her mother a night ago to buy food.

"I have three daughters, and I can't get unemployment yet. I was down in food," she said.

Leotta Burbank, 50, of West Frankfurt, Ill., was at a thrift store Friday to buy decorations for her sister-in-law's room at a St. Louis hospice, where she is dying of pancreatic cancer.

When Santa gave her money, Burbank collapsed into his arms and wouldn't stop hugging him.

"God provides," she said. "This is real emotional for me."

For the secret Santas, it's not about keeping Stewart's memory alive as much as the meaning behind his legacy.

"It's not about the man, it's not about the money, it's about the message," the Kansas City Santa said. "Anyone can be a secret Santa with a kind word, gesture, a helping hand."

He said the money is given without judgment, but on the condition that the receiver pass along a kindness to someone else. Stewart began his holiday tradition at a restaurant in December 1979, after he had just been fired. He gave a waitress $20 and told her to keep the change and was struck by her gratitude.

Stewart also gave money to community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss.

The secret Santas want to expand their operation to every state, but so far only nine givers operate in Charlotte, N.C., Phoenix, St. Louis and Kansas City. They plan to start giving in Detroit this holiday season.

———

On the Net:

Secret Santa World, http://secretsantaworld.net

A link to all my Christmas posts

Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you're celebrating!
MY CHRISTMAS INTERNET RADIO STATIONS
OlderMusicGeek Radio - Christmas Edition
OlderMusicGeek Radio - Christmas Rock and Punk Edition
OlderMusicGeek's Christmas QuickMix

powered by PANDORA
But if you don't have Pandora, you can hear some of songs at http://www.playlist.com/oldermusicgeek

POLITICS: What To Do With Our Rebate Checks

Well, I already put the text up 3 months ago, but Ernest T Spoon sent me some cartoons that go well with it, so I posting it again with the cartoons! Plus, I figured I better put them up while they're still topical! - OlderMusicGeek

How to use the rebate

As you may have heard the Bush Administration said each and every one of us would now get a nice rebate.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.

If we spend it on gasoline, it will all go to the Middle East.

If we purchase a computer, it will all go to India.

If we purchase fruit and vegetables, it will all go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car, it will all go to Japan.

If we purchase useless crap, it will all go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America, so the only way to keep that money here at home is to buy prostitutes and beer, since those are the only businesses still in the U.S.

HUMOR and POLITICS: How to Use the Rebate

Another email forwarded to me from Ernest T Spoon. - OlderMusicGeek

How to use the rebate

As you may have heard the Bush Administration said each and every one of us would now get a nice rebate.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.

If we spend it on gasoline, it will all go to the Middle East.

If we purchase a computer, it will all go to India.

If we purchase fruit and vegetables, it will all go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car, it will all go to Japan.

If we purchase useless crap, it will all go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America, so the only way to keep that money here at home is to buy prostitutes and beer, since those are the only businesses still in the U.S.

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Garbologists: US Consumers Should be Ashamed of Lack of Waste Production Over 2007 Holidays

This was forwarded to me from Ernest T Spoon. It's originally from NewsMutiny. - OlderMusicGeek

Garbologists: US Consumers Should be Ashamed of Lack of Waste Production Over 2007 Holidays

Covering nearly three acres of land, the mountain of garbage trucked into the Fresh Kills landfill in Queens, New York the day after Christmas this year consisted of an estimated 35,000 tons of refuse - a pittance of filth relative to the usual prodigious holiday waste production of the area it serves.

Pensively contemplating the unopened packaging of a Leo Tolstoy bobblehead figure lying amidst the fly-ridden skeleton of a half-eaten turkey carcass at the base of a two hundred foot tall pile of junk, Fresh Kills Chief Operator Michael Lewis lamented, "We're usually good for 40,000 tons everyday for at least a week past Christmas, but not this year. Not even close."

Lowered hauls of trash were the norm across the nation as consumers in the United States barely produced 30 million tons of waste this holiday season, a harbinger of economic hardship for everyone if the trend continues, garbologists claim.

"Waste production is a barometer of health for a consumer based economy, but drops such as we're seeing this year can also indicate a lack of patriotism when other economic vital signs fail to absolve consumers for not going out and purchasing vast amounts of products regardless of whether they need them or not," remarked garbologist Grant Simon, "Americans who are most to blame - the ones who make their own presents and decorations, impose spending limits for gift buying, and conduct Secret Santa methods of gift distribution even amongst their own families should be ashamed of themselves."

Not limited to a disappointing haul in discarded cell phones, coffee mugs, perfectly functional DVD players, television sets, fruitcake and non-voice activated electronics, sanitation officials report that reduced levels of solid human waste flowing through their treatment facilities indicate Americans consumed less food this holiday season as well.

Noted economist Philip Buchanon: "You can see a lot looking into a toilet, and what's floating in America's collective bowl is certainly a sad, sorry disappointment."

A link to the original piece

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Holiday Gifts Pave the Way to Self-Sufficiency

This was a Christmas article I found using Netvibes. It got the article from Topix, which got it from Irin. If that doesn't make sense, don't worry about it.

Anyway, the article involves the country in Africa that I lived in for a few years. So I reprinting the parts about the country here. You can click here if you link to the complete article. - OlderMusicGeek

Holiday gifts pave the way to self-sufficiency

TURUPU, 24 December 2007 (IRIN) - When Mamanuel Rampai heard she would receive a free pig for Christmas a few years ago, purchased by an anonymous donor in the US through an aid group's online gift catalogue, she all but dismissed the present.

But the gift, a seven-month-old sow named Pinki, has since made her a role model for other pig farmers in her rural community. "I've learned so much about how to care for them, because they've become a livelihood," Rampai, 43, told IRIN.

Rampai lives in Turupu, one of Lesotho’s many remote mountainous villages and used to survive on the occasional sale of a chicken and during periods of drought was dependent on international food aid. Her life mirrored the economic stagnancy of the other 80 families in her village, hard hit by the combined effects of poverty, food insecurity and HIV/AIDS.

"Life was difficult for my family," she said in front of the cinder-block home she shares with her seven children. "School fees cost 1,300 Maloti (US$194) per child per year. I couldn't pay for all of them to go to school every year."

Rampai's fortunes changed when the international charity World Vision gave her Pinki. In the last 16 months, Pinki's proven to be an income-generating resource, producing 24 piglets, which Rampai has sold at various points of development to earn between 150 Maloti (US$21) and 1,000 Maloti (US$145) each.

"I never expected I could earn this much by raising pigs," Rampai said in front of Pinki's sty.

Funds for Pinki were donated through World Vision's gift catalogue – which allows charitable shoppers to 'buy' symbolic presents for impoverished communities. An individual donor can choose dairy goats in Malawi, alpacas in Ecuador, and in this case – pigs in Lesotho. A charitable online shopper in the US clicked their mouse and paid $195 to cover the cost of the pig, which World Vision then granted to Rampai.

Changing lives
The grants though are not symbolic for beneficiaries such as Rampai. Next year, she expects to have the funds for her 20-year-old daughter to complete high schooling and hopes that her daughter will continue her education at a university in neighbouring South Africa the following year.

She's also sees hope for her own future. "I want to have a highly improved life when I am an old lady, so my life gets easier in old age," said Rampai.

Nine other families in her village were given pigs at about the same time. So far, they've given or sold a number of piglets to needy neighbours, and sold older offspring to the slaughterhouse in the capital, Maseru. In little more than a year, the group has raised 10,000 Maloti (US$1,445). A portion of this is used to support the village's five children orphaned by HIV/AIDS with school uniforms and materials – a condition all recipients agreed to when they received the pigs. The rest of the earnings are divided between them.

Village chief Mathato Leluma told IRIN these were the area's first entrepreneurs. "The way they are regularly feeding the pigs, and even fetching water from far away during the drought. It shows they're determined to make it a success."

However, the grant project has created tensions within the village. "When we see that people are jealous, we encourage them to form the same kind of group," said villager Molulela Ramanyaka, 29. "And we ask them to buy our pigs."

Other members are dreaming big; they see Turupu becoming a key pig farming community in the coming years.

"Right now, we have to go all the way to Maseru to reach a slaughterhouse. That's two hours away," said 38-year-old Makhabela Macheli. "My wish is that in 10 years we'll build our own slaughterhouse to serve this area. And, yes, I want to be the boss."

Sustainable growth
World Vision Lesotho says of all its operations, the small capital investments supported by the gift catalogue are the most life-changing, because they are run by individual families.

"This project is strong on sustainability because it targets the household," said Hape Matli, operations director of World Vision Lesotho. "Everyone takes care of their own projects, compared to when we pool people together."

World Vision still supplies feed for the pigs. Matli says she would like to design a model in the future where beneficiaries take full financial ownership of the project more quickly, which may entail more training in business skills. Matli said group members often do not know the fair market value of their livestock, so they may not earn as much as they deserve.

"If I could talk to the donor in America who made this possible, one thing I'd say is that I'm very thankful for the help they've given us. Because this has improved our lives," Rampai told IRIN.

gw/go/tdm
Theme(s): (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Food Security

A link to the complete article at the Irin website

A link to all my Christmas and holiday posts

Happy Christmas and/or Boxing Day and/or Kwanzaa and/or Hannakah and/or Bodhi Day and/or Sanghamitta Day and/or Shabe Cheleh and/or Makara Sankranti and/or Junkanoo and/or Dong Zhi and/or Toji and/or Soyal and/or Yule and/or Seva Zistane and/or Alban Arthan and/or Long Night and/or Mean Geimrech and/or Brumalia and/or Dies Natalis Solis Invicti and/or Saturnalia and/or Lenaea and/or Wren Day and/or Tekufah Tevet and/or Winter Solstice and/or ChriFSMas and/or any other December or winter solstice holidays i missed!

Oh, and Bah Humbug to those who don't celebrate the holidays! :)