Monday, November 5, 2012
The Case for Obama: A Vision to Move America Forward vs. Duplicitous Elitism
The 2012 Presidential election, simply put, is about vision. That is, which vision, President Obama’s, or Mr. Romney’s, will best move this country forward. In my opinion, it is the contrast of hope, optimism, growth and inclusion for all, of President Obama, versus the duplicity, flip flopping (read, lying) and indifference, if not outright hostility to half this country’s populous, of Mr. Romney. As President Obama stated when he closed the second Presidential debate “when he [Mitt] thought nobody was listening he said what he really felt--47% of the American people don't matter because all they want is a government hand out”. For Mr. Romney to now come back and say he cares about all Americans because he wants their vote is just disingenuous. Therefore, when given this choice in vision, I choose, and believe America should choose President Obama for a second term.
For me, that President Obama should be the man to lead us forward for another four years was decided long ago. The progress he has made in his first four years is laudable in the absolute sense. Taken in context, and viewed relatively, the progress he has made is remarkable. In inheriting an economy on the brink of another Great Depression, and in four short years returning us to an economy of growth should be applauded. Moreover, despite constant attacks from the radical right, and a Congress that has tried to impede his every move, he has continued to govern as the President for all.
The bible tells us that “without a vision the people will perish”. To better determine the right vision for America let us flesh out in a bit more detail, the above referenced visions:
Romney:
• More tax cuts for the rich
• A land with less diversity under more strict immigration and affirmative action laws
• Fewer social services for those who most need it including the elderly
• A repeal of Universal health care and corresponding denial of access to millions of Americas who desperately need preventative and ongoing healthcare
• Less choice for women in what to do with their bodies and laws that tell us who to love and how we can love them
• Promises of economic growth and tax reform with no specifics stated
• A vision where 47% of the citizens in this country don’t matter
This does not sound like a compelling vision to me. How about President Obama?
Obama:
• Inclusion. 100% of Americans matter
• A land where women’s rights are protected; where people are free to love who they want
• Healthcare for all Americans as the President demonstrated with the passage of Universal Healthcare
• Job growth and a strong economy. The President and his team have (i) saved us from a second Great Depression by putting in place a stimulus package, that among other things, saved the auto and banking industries and (ii) stopped the job losses that where occurring under Bush, and is now adding more than 100k jobs a month
• A tax system where the rich pay their fare share and where a healthy middle class can exist; not a system where a millionaire like Romney pays 14% and our teachers, policemen and bus drivers pay 30-40%
The contrast between these two visions could not be clearer. In Mr. Romney’s America, the middle class will further dissipate as the “haves” will continue, unchecked, to hold down the “have nots”. The tyranny of the majority will be law of the land. Finally, given how often Mr. Romney’s positions seem to change, there is no telling what further untold dangers await the American people if his vision is the one we follow. On the other hand, President Obama’s vision is about hope, optimism and rebuilding. While we, and he, must acknowledge that more hard work lies ahead, in President Obama’s America, there is an opportunity for us all to prosper.
Given the President’s track record, his well defined vision that moves all of America forward, I believe he has stated the case for another four years, and a chance to finish the job he started. I believe we must cast our vote with President Barack Obama in this election.
Friday, March 23, 2012
What the Price of Milk has to do with Jobs in Oakland
Sobering Moment--Problem Deeper Than We Knew
On a recent evening I found myself at a local Oakland theatre watching the movie “Good Deeds”. The movie, beautifully set in San Francisco (could have been Oakland, but that will be a story for another blog), tells the story of a successful CEO cast in the wrong life and a single mother working as a corporate cleaning lady. In one very poignant scene, the cleaning lady asked the CEO if he knew the price of a gallon of milk. Sadly the CEO did not.
This story, for me, has many lessons—the divide between the haves and the have nots, the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street, and the very real struggle the underemployed and jobless face each day. For millions of Americans, and thousands of Oaklanders, the price of milk represents a quandary. How do I feed my family? What choices do I make if I am very tight on money? What will I do without a job or a job that does not pay enough to maintain a decent standard of living? For these Americans/Oaklanders the rising price of milk and other necessities drives home a larger point of deeper despair. The larger point, we are all connected to this, and so to the solution in some meaningful way
Lengths of Despair
I was struck by a recent article in the New York Times entitled “How Far Would You Go for a Comeback”. The article tells the story of several men who have left their homes in Anywhere, USA, some of them on the brink of bankruptcy or homelessness, for jobs in the oil industry in Williston, ND. For these men, Williston, where the unemployment rate is 1% vs the national average of 8.3% (Oakland is at 16.5%), is a source of salvation allowing them to send money back home to their families thereby keeping their lives afloat. One, a trained cook, who at one time owned his own home, had been reduced to picking up cans, musing in the process “if we’d get $10 to $15, we used it, we did what we had to do”. Part of me admires this indomitable example of the American spirit. The other part of me is filled with profound sadness that able bodied men and women, who want to work, support themselves and their families, increasingly often, don’t have the option to do so. This is not the American dream.
Oakland is filled with people of similar resiliency. We recovered from the big earthquake of 1989, the Oakland Hills fires of 1991 and most recently the sit ins of Occupy Oakland. This resiliency, alone, has not adequately prepared us for the country’s current recession. This recession has proved to be a beast of considerably greater magnitude than the aforementioned tragedies. It has left our city with an unemployment rate of 16.5% or twice the national average. There are many reasons for this fact. David Simon, writer of the Wire, and winner of a MacArthur genius award grant, writes about the ghettoization of America. He asserts that many lower skilled jobs have been pushed to the outskirts or overseas. Additionally, for various other reasons (perception of dangerous city and an out of control crime problem, too much bureaucracy at the city level, lack of a favorable tax climate and perception around level of disposable income of city’s residents available for purchase of company goods and services) we have seen other companies relocate from Oakland or out of California taking precious jobs with them.
This joblessness has pushed up both crime and general feelings of desperation in our city. What are we to do? I remember growing up in the shadows of the Bay Area, the child of a single mother facing similar struggles. My mother dug deep, sometimes working two jobs. She made sure I had access to good schools. These schools provided me access: access to a good college and a law school. Ultimately theses schools led to good jobs. Assuming we make some fundamental changes to our primary education system, I believe we can have similar experiences here in Oakland.
There is Hope (for Oakland)
There must be personal accountability to be sure—secure additional training, ensuring we are involved in our schools and children’s scholastic endeavors, demonstrating a willingness to share costs such as healthcare with businesses and engage in community policing to help make our neighborhoods safer. We, as the residents of Oakland, must be willing to do whatever it takes to get this city back on its feet. Demonstrating such a “cant fail attitude” through actions such as the above in a vacuum are likely not enough. There is also a role for government and business. Oakland has many pluses that should attract business: a largely educated workforce—colleges (Berkeley and Cal State East Bay), community colleges (Peralta), unions that train many workers in trades, a solid transportation system and access to a water front. We also have a Port and sports teams that could also be greater engines of economic growth.
We must aggressively market our positives to attract businesses if we want well paying jobs in our city. We must support our Mayor and her economic development team in this activity. We can do this through the “personal accountability” actions above, participating in the Mayor’s block by block program, and encouraging the companies we work for to come to Oakland. I have done this with my own company. My company is now in the process of building a location in East Oakland that will provide 70-100 healthcare based jobs. Imagine if we all made a concerted effort to do this kind of outreach. As the current Chair of the Oakland Workforce Investment Board I believe we have what it takes to succeed. It will take a material number of jobs to reduce our 16.5% unemployment rate.
We must be bold and audacious in attaching this number. A few examples:
• Appropriate tax breaks for small business so that may create jobs
• A unified effort, including a healthy Oakland effort where we are take better care of our health, that reduces healthcare costs and makes it more attractive for businesses to provide jobs
• Using our unique attributes as a city as real sales tools to attract businesses that can hire thousands of workers at a time
• Doubling or tripling the size of our police force and leveraging technology (like Shotspotter) and advanced data techniques to combat our crime problem and combat the perception that our city is an unsafe place for workers to work
• Organizing a standing business council that the Mayor may rely on for real, tangible ideas; this can be done as a roundtable with our chambers and labor councils as well
• Ensuring that our city government continues to build diversity and attract people, both elected and employees, with deep budget and economic experience
• Work to develop a more efficient government, with a surplus, where hard choices are made to encourage savings and the creation of a surplus, and discourages spending where certain items cannot be readily paid for
I do not claim to have all the ideas, but these are a start. I believe we can achieve our goals through hard work and concerted effort. However, until we take such actions, dare to be bold and audacious in our thinking, for many Oaklanders, like many Americans more generally, the price of milk will continue to matter—a lot!
On a recent evening I found myself at a local Oakland theatre watching the movie “Good Deeds”. The movie, beautifully set in San Francisco (could have been Oakland, but that will be a story for another blog), tells the story of a successful CEO cast in the wrong life and a single mother working as a corporate cleaning lady. In one very poignant scene, the cleaning lady asked the CEO if he knew the price of a gallon of milk. Sadly the CEO did not.
This story, for me, has many lessons—the divide between the haves and the have nots, the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street, and the very real struggle the underemployed and jobless face each day. For millions of Americans, and thousands of Oaklanders, the price of milk represents a quandary. How do I feed my family? What choices do I make if I am very tight on money? What will I do without a job or a job that does not pay enough to maintain a decent standard of living? For these Americans/Oaklanders the rising price of milk and other necessities drives home a larger point of deeper despair. The larger point, we are all connected to this, and so to the solution in some meaningful way
Lengths of Despair
I was struck by a recent article in the New York Times entitled “How Far Would You Go for a Comeback”. The article tells the story of several men who have left their homes in Anywhere, USA, some of them on the brink of bankruptcy or homelessness, for jobs in the oil industry in Williston, ND. For these men, Williston, where the unemployment rate is 1% vs the national average of 8.3% (Oakland is at 16.5%), is a source of salvation allowing them to send money back home to their families thereby keeping their lives afloat. One, a trained cook, who at one time owned his own home, had been reduced to picking up cans, musing in the process “if we’d get $10 to $15, we used it, we did what we had to do”. Part of me admires this indomitable example of the American spirit. The other part of me is filled with profound sadness that able bodied men and women, who want to work, support themselves and their families, increasingly often, don’t have the option to do so. This is not the American dream.
Oakland is filled with people of similar resiliency. We recovered from the big earthquake of 1989, the Oakland Hills fires of 1991 and most recently the sit ins of Occupy Oakland. This resiliency, alone, has not adequately prepared us for the country’s current recession. This recession has proved to be a beast of considerably greater magnitude than the aforementioned tragedies. It has left our city with an unemployment rate of 16.5% or twice the national average. There are many reasons for this fact. David Simon, writer of the Wire, and winner of a MacArthur genius award grant, writes about the ghettoization of America. He asserts that many lower skilled jobs have been pushed to the outskirts or overseas. Additionally, for various other reasons (perception of dangerous city and an out of control crime problem, too much bureaucracy at the city level, lack of a favorable tax climate and perception around level of disposable income of city’s residents available for purchase of company goods and services) we have seen other companies relocate from Oakland or out of California taking precious jobs with them.
This joblessness has pushed up both crime and general feelings of desperation in our city. What are we to do? I remember growing up in the shadows of the Bay Area, the child of a single mother facing similar struggles. My mother dug deep, sometimes working two jobs. She made sure I had access to good schools. These schools provided me access: access to a good college and a law school. Ultimately theses schools led to good jobs. Assuming we make some fundamental changes to our primary education system, I believe we can have similar experiences here in Oakland.
There is Hope (for Oakland)
There must be personal accountability to be sure—secure additional training, ensuring we are involved in our schools and children’s scholastic endeavors, demonstrating a willingness to share costs such as healthcare with businesses and engage in community policing to help make our neighborhoods safer. We, as the residents of Oakland, must be willing to do whatever it takes to get this city back on its feet. Demonstrating such a “cant fail attitude” through actions such as the above in a vacuum are likely not enough. There is also a role for government and business. Oakland has many pluses that should attract business: a largely educated workforce—colleges (Berkeley and Cal State East Bay), community colleges (Peralta), unions that train many workers in trades, a solid transportation system and access to a water front. We also have a Port and sports teams that could also be greater engines of economic growth.
We must aggressively market our positives to attract businesses if we want well paying jobs in our city. We must support our Mayor and her economic development team in this activity. We can do this through the “personal accountability” actions above, participating in the Mayor’s block by block program, and encouraging the companies we work for to come to Oakland. I have done this with my own company. My company is now in the process of building a location in East Oakland that will provide 70-100 healthcare based jobs. Imagine if we all made a concerted effort to do this kind of outreach. As the current Chair of the Oakland Workforce Investment Board I believe we have what it takes to succeed. It will take a material number of jobs to reduce our 16.5% unemployment rate.
We must be bold and audacious in attaching this number. A few examples:
• Appropriate tax breaks for small business so that may create jobs
• A unified effort, including a healthy Oakland effort where we are take better care of our health, that reduces healthcare costs and makes it more attractive for businesses to provide jobs
• Using our unique attributes as a city as real sales tools to attract businesses that can hire thousands of workers at a time
• Doubling or tripling the size of our police force and leveraging technology (like Shotspotter) and advanced data techniques to combat our crime problem and combat the perception that our city is an unsafe place for workers to work
• Organizing a standing business council that the Mayor may rely on for real, tangible ideas; this can be done as a roundtable with our chambers and labor councils as well
• Ensuring that our city government continues to build diversity and attract people, both elected and employees, with deep budget and economic experience
• Work to develop a more efficient government, with a surplus, where hard choices are made to encourage savings and the creation of a surplus, and discourages spending where certain items cannot be readily paid for
I do not claim to have all the ideas, but these are a start. I believe we can achieve our goals through hard work and concerted effort. However, until we take such actions, dare to be bold and audacious in our thinking, for many Oaklanders, like many Americans more generally, the price of milk will continue to matter—a lot!
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