<Soapbox On>

The President gave his much anticipated “jobs” speech to a joint session of Congress. He offered overall reasonable proposals if you’re of the mindset that only the coordinated efforts of government and business can goose the economy to health. In our current situation, goosing to health means getting more people back to work creating & building “stuff” for others to consume (there are a few other economic levers, like implementing a fair plan for the hundreds of thousands of “upside-down” mortgages, and another extension of unemployment assistance, but I digress.) Over the past 3 years our “create/consume” delicate balance is wobbling like crazy.

So after the big jobs speech, the one post-speech non-partisan review that pretty much sums up the current economic outlook is here: NYTimes – “Employers Say Jobs Plan Won’t Lead to Hiring Spur.” Despite tax breaks, incentives to hire the unemployed, and boosting short-term spending to fix infrastructure and schools, there is really nothing the government or business can do at this point to solve long-term unemployment. We have gone past the point of no-return with this (world) economy. (I remember thinking this same way after watching Al Gore’s Climate movie. There is one scene that describes how the Arctic ice shelf is melting at a geometric rate, and at some point so much of the ice will have melted that the whole thing disappears rather quickly. That’s a “point of no return” with catastrophic results.)

Read more…

I was fortunate to spend Labor Day weekend in New York City. The adventure was spurred by a desire to see a couple Broadway Shows, dine at some great restaurants, and see the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site. It wasn’t a coincidence I chose this weekend, right before the ten year 9/11 anniversary, to be in NYC. I wanted to participate in my own cathartic experience, support the local New York City economy and get a glimpse of the awe-inspiring water fountains that are the heart of the memorial location.

The NYTimes created a great photo and animated preview of the water fountain designs. I had no idea the engineering feat represented by the fountains and tree gardens at the site. The water features are the largest in the world and the technology to power the pumps and maintain the trees is hydroponic elegance. The positioning and location of the victims names is also well thought out. The families were consulted, and a year-long process solicited feedback from survivors to allow them to select the location of the inscriptions on the back-lit, heated/cooled brass plated rails that ring around the fountains. Names are not simply in alphabetical order, but rather grouped by their friends, work colleagues or the building and floor of the destroyed towers.

Today, the country and the world are very different places since 9/11/01. The “1990′s” feel like the “good ole-days” in terms of economic prosperity and the sense that our best days still are ahead of us, versus behind us. In our current economic plight, today now more than ever, we need the same unity we achieved as a collective “United States” as we mustered on September 12, 2001. My hope for this country, and this planet, is the 10 year anniversary ignites a collective positive mindset to power through the next decade on a different trajectory than the last three thousand six hundred and fifty-two days.