Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Fed Chair Jerome Powell's Full Remarks at Economic Club of Chicago

This discussion provided an excellent broad overview of the economy through the Fed Chair's perspective. Dr. Powell offered some key insights and viewpoints. Surprisingly he comes up with some quick witty answers to tricky questions. The ability to answer questions on the fly comes from years of experience and knowledge. 

This event was hosted at the Economic Club of Chicago (I am also putting the Detroit Economic Club because that is another site to bookmark. I included the YouTube Links to both in the right hand column because they have some pretty good videos.)

If you own a business or are an executive try and stay on top of the economic news because it helps you make better business and investment decisions.

Visions Museum of Textile Art Fundraiser April 26th, 2025 (Moral Economies and Matrilineages of Quilts)

Quilting was once a requirement for families that wanted to conserve cloth by making blankets and other useful tools of life. Quilting also is sometimes a masterful show spanning the full color spectrum. The Visions Museum of Textile Art provides an eye sensory experience of robust colorful displays and hand-crafted work that could take a month or longer to finish. The time and expertise needed to complete one of these dazzling works is significant and the skill necessary to create quilted pieces of textile art were years in the making. 

There is a story behind quilt making. Quilts are more than something to throw over a bed. Moral and matrilineages stories are often woven into some pieces. You may read about the history of quilting in Moral Economies and Matrilineages (pdf).

The museum offers some unique quilting displays, education, and information, Their purpose is, "Visions Museum of Textile Art celebrates and advances contemporary quilting and textile art through exhibitions that explore cultural traditions, contemporary relevance, and innovative creativity."

They also do a few nice things for others such as,
  • Support the families of LA fire victims with art pieces.
  • Further they partner with Liberty School to teach kids about art and showcase their work for visitors. I saw two pieces that I thought were done by professionals. Liberty School Program
Upcoming Threads of Time Art Auction and Fundraiser Event

Because of value such quilting offers to society you may want to support the Visions Museum of Textile art by attending the April 26th art piece auction. Purchasing items helps supports the museum and the artists.

Consider joining the Threads of Time Auction
April 26th, 2025 5:30 to 8pm
  • Wearable art show featuring Mesa Fashion Program
  • Art engagement
  • Food and drinks
  • Silent and live auctions of artwork.
If your more interested in a donation you can do that HERE


Monday, April 14, 2025

Veteran Jobs and Veteran Hiring Opportunities (Veteran Sources)


Veterans are an underutilized labor resource for local businesses and employers. Whether you are looking to hire a veteran or you are a veteran seeking a career move, you may find the resources below of interest. Some of the resources show the value of hiring veterans as well as links for veterans to explore gainful employment opportunities. Industry needs the skills veterans have gained in an increasingly highly technical working world. Hiring a veteran leads to increased competitiveness as well as enhancement of community resilience. 

A Few Facts on Veterans:

-In 2024 Veterans unemployment rate was at 3% which is much lower than the 3.9% experienced by non-veterans. Veterans are a people with s strong work ethic. Veteran Unemployment Rates

-Veterans are more likely to be self-employed and own their own businesses compared to the general population so entrepreneurial perspective is an asset. Veteran Entrepreneurs Research

 -Veterans are more likely to be employed in STEM fields even without a BA degree. Therefore employers may be interested in veterans for skills they can groom in technology. Perhaps even more beneficial or leading edge industries. Stem Employment and Veterans

-Helping veterans transition their learned job skills to civilian employment is important for maximizing contributions to society. While the hard skills are valid it is often the soft skills that make a difference. Soft Skills Learned in the Military

-Transferring the skills learned in the military to employment attributes that employers are interested is helpful for successful gainful employment and contributions to industry.  How Military Service Affects Veterans’ Job Outcomes

Veteran Job Boards: If you are a veteran and looking for work consider the following sources.


If your not in the military yet and/or could reenlist consider Military Careers 2025






VA for Vets Offers some upcoming job fairs as well as a number of resources. 





A video to consider on hiring veterans. 


Saturday, April 12, 2025

JDI: Introducing Girls to Business and Leadership (Women in the Workplace 2024 Stats)

Job's Daughter International of California (JDI) is a non-profit that teaches young ladies how to become confident leaders in society through their teaching and organizational endeavors. Exposing young people to financial literacy, business, and leadership can develop internal expectations for growth as well as provide a solid footing for leadership and learning throughout their lives. It is nice to see people making the effort to improve the prospects of young ladies and furthering business interests through volunteering.

A Few Important Links:

About information San Diego JDI

Interesting history History JDI

You can donate to JDI HERE

A Few Writing Reasons:

Part of the blog is about showcasing organizations and philanthropy. Being part of a few organizations this one came up in discussion as beneficial. One way to do that is put a little blurb that raises exposure. I have fun because I support many of the things I believe in while furthering the health of society.

Women in the Workplace Still Faces Some Challenges:

If you want to know more about current women in the workplace then read McKinsey & Company Women in the Workplace 2024. From this report it doesn't seem like women have reached parity yet. The report says it would take 50 years! Wow! One of the largest reports out there. Some good tips at the end.

Biking to Golf: When Three Clubs is All You Need! (1/3 of Americans Engaged in Golf 2024)

 

Velcro Straps
Some of us drive to golf in style while some of us turn our golf outing into a bike adventure with a little fitness. To be fair I use my ebike to do a lot of things and don't always have access to a car in San Diego. Sometimes I rent a car and sometimes I just run around on my ebike because 90% of what I do is on the coast (I used to have a nice classic car I restored and someone ran into it. 😭 The other car I gave to my child when turned 16)Now I don't want to deal with parking.). Bikes also fit on boats and have a 30 mile range.


The Loma Club is fairly close to me and I just love how I can get on the course relatively quick, play a round in just over an hour, and then have something to eat and listen to the bands on Friday and Saturday. 

Classy look

Three clubs is all I need in most situations. I take a couple of balls, a few tees, and three clubs (putter, 5 iron and 5 wood). I strap those onto my bike and I'm ready to go! No excuses!

Apparently, I'm not the only one who likes golf. Over 1/3 of Americans were involved with golf in some way in 2024. I didn't see any stats on how many people bike to golf (just kidding its not important). You can read National Golf Foundation

Friday, April 11, 2025

The Role of Justice: Does the Rule of Law Spur Economic Growth? (Hypothetical Thought Experiment)

Justice is an important medium by which society makes sense of their world through understanding fundamental relationships among societal members. We have been exploring a hypothetical thought experiment where bad actors known as The Clan were able to manipulate their environment through social and/other bullying. The behaviors some engaged in are immoral in all societies. Not only did they reward themselves through misuse of public resources they also threw a wet blanket on societal health and economic prosperity (Selfishness has few bounds, hate can be unchecked, but fundamental societal universal truths/beliefs can't be broken. i.e. perhaps hardwired into our species.

In this philosophical learning example, the community stood up and mass reported the poor actors after years of blind eye treatment and that led to eventual exposure of the group and documentation of misbehaviors. Years of economic decline and foot dragging on justice were reversed when the will of the people and good officials stood hand-in-hand to remove corruption and the poor actors who contributed to it. This is why as people we should always support good officials as judged by their commitment to the community and essential laws of society (Fulfilling oaths, pledges and having character/honor is as important today as it was in the past.)

The example is meant to help us learn about the deep roots justice has on societal life and why as a foundational glue we must always point true north toward shared values and social contracts. In our thoughtful example, the commitment of the people to something greater than themselves created a "sense of community' and that improved economic health through collective goal directed behaviors. People circumvented justice with no checks and balances but were ultimately brought back into societal alignment. This occured because of micro exchanges and the implicit learning that makes upward moral adaptation possible through new knowledge and insight-Moral Conscious(<<<< That word again. 👆We can discuss the theoretical foundations of this at a later date. Some will understand the higher responsibility of their duties and some won't.)

What is Justice? You can read about one definition in Justice and Fairness. In our learning example there was foot dragging on protecting the public leading to new victims. Those who reported behaviors were retaliated against and once crimes were indeed discovered the victims had no recourse and stuck with the bill. Some of that based in social networks and some based in extreme bigotries mixed with false ideologies. What does justice and fairness look like where so many wrongs occured and the people had to correct because some officials either were confused about what values people thought were important and/or no longer believed in what they professed (oaths, values, beliefs, social contracts, etc.)?. (We will write in a positive outcome with greater commitment to our central values.) 

Let us explore in our example some of the reasons why decades of decline may have occurred where "Clan" members were given free hand to engage in any poor behavior they want and what that says about bias, choice, and outcomes of some decision makers. We can also explore how the root of democracy and shared values help restore economic and social health through collective belief in something that benefits everyone. This study sort of touches on some of those concepts and how the rule of law can impact economic growth through various facets. There is a little science behind our philosophical dribbles, 

The Role of Justice in Development I: How Rule of Law Spurs Economic Growth

An interesting quote that supports the idea of philosophy of justice and the application of law as both being part of the same concept of fairness that society is built upon (We can also discuss that in conception more in the future.), 

"Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness." James Wilson. Of the Study of the Law in the United States, 1790 Bill of Rights Institute

*This is an economic philosophical theoretical discussion for learning purposes so take with a grain of salt. It is ok to disagree and discuss. We can write the ending in any way we want but learning is the goal in and of itself.

CPI Inflation Declines .01% on Energy in March 2025

Good news that inflation has been temporarily tamed and much of that is because of lower costs of energy. It might cost you a little less to heat your home or power your car. That is not a bad thing considering many things have gone up over the past few years. For those of us who are not rich, reduction in basic costs helps (save and invest). If you are a business, then energy is a major component of costs and profitability. You may want to read, 

March Consumer Price Index US Bureau of Labor Stats

Energy is important is a fundamental aspect of keeping the lights on, powering manufacturing and ensure the economy is functioning well. Gas/Oil are still one of the biggest contributors and therefore decreasing their cost has an upward economic lift. However, diversity of energy is also important so using various forms and creating multiple inputs that range from coal, nuclear, solar/hydro renewable, etc. Each energy source should be evaluated based on its total costs and benefits (including environment). 

Consider,

A Broader Perspective on Inflationary and Energy

In my theoretical lens decreasing energy costs in the U.P. is important. There has been a movement to utilize existing power plants more effectively. Let us also not consider some sustainable things we can do such as reducing waste and ensuring we keep the environment clean in the long term by thinking about new science and energy production/sustainability (science is additive process and cost parity is still important). 

Things take time and it is a process. Eventually in the future are likely to have very clean sources and use certain resources more frugally with increases in efficiency with everyday advanced technology(hypothetically) At this time in history oil, coal and nuclear are some of thecheaper sources but that doesn't mean we can't make them cleaner by reducing waste or continuing to explore diversification of the gride through local and regional production (protection from outages through redundancy). 

Source CPI March, 2025