Quote Of The Day: Thousands Line Up For A Shot A Job With Ford In Louisville

They line up in the rain, to fill out an application, which might be chosen in a lottery, which will lead to an initial screening for one of 1800 jobs Ford will add in Louisville, that is, 1800 less the ones they fill with UAW members already waiting in the wings.

And that quote:

“How can the wealthiest country in the world have people that are so desperate?” said Gary Wise, the employment office’s operations administrator, as he watched people fill out paperwork in the rain.

Thank you Mr. Obama, for the Hope 'n Change.

This is your economy, not George Bush's.

Pastor Peters: The Deconstruction Of Marriage

When is this gent going to write that book that needs to be read by so many?

Today's post is especially poignant, as the Pastor looks at how we have managed to so totally 'deconstruct' our lives and society as to leave both completely fragmented. 'All the king's horses, and all the king's men...' does come to mind when reading these thoughts.

The problem with deconstruction is that when we are left with only the parts, we also leave it to others or to the moment to reconstruct those parts into something (and therefore leave it to another day to be deconstructed over again). The end result of this is that our social institutions and values have broken down, we are even more fragmented as a people, and even more disappointed in what we have and our future. Far from offering us stability or hope, the result of deconstruction is that we have been left divided, bitter, and captive to the prevailing wind of the moment. We have no common morality or values to bind our diverse people together and we have no common vision of what the present or the future should be.

We were not created to live this way. And in saying this, OldSouth asserts that, yes indeed, we are creations, not accidents. We need not live this way, or at least let it dominate everything about our existence.

One of the most memorable 'deconstruction' moments in OS's inglorious life occurred about fifteen years ago, at Harvey Brown Presbyterian Church in Louisville. OS and his lovely bride were visiting on a Sunday morning, only to find that the service was being led by seminarians from Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. (Fair enough, gotta let the kids get some experience under the belt.) The brave young boys and girls decided to take the venerable Geneva order of service, and rewrite the liturgy based upon Dr. Seuss's environmentalist tome, The Lorax.

The service was, well, nonsense. Mr. and Mrs. OS sat in the pew, amazed, suppressing their laughter, when the best moment of all occurred: One dear old saint, eighty years old at least, stood up and walked out down the center aisle, deliberately striking her cane loudly upon the hard tile floor. Each impact reverberated through the church, like a hammer striking a nail. It was wonderful.

OS wishes he had followed her, but he was too polite. Or too timid. He prays for the good sense and character to follow her example in the days ahead.

Louisville' Ted Collins: There's No Fraud Like Affinity Fraud

On some beach, well out of reach...

There just must be a Perdition, because we live in a world where people like Ted Collins walk around and victimize people.

Tedd Collins, a Louisville businessman who is under investigation by the Secret Service and Kentucky authorities, has been hit with a $3.3 million default judgment for defrauding a minister in South Carolina.

Collins attracted national attention last year after disclosures that he was raising money for a Yale hockey player with leukemia without registering the charity and despite his history of fraud allegations in several states.

Actually, he's rather small potatoes, compared to guys like Madoff, who was small potatoes compared to the folks who kicked the legs out from under the entire economy and walked away, just to prove it could be done.

In this instance, though, it's the parlaying of his own daughter's death from cancer, and the death of another college student from lukemia, neatly packaged and sold to church-folk, that make this particular fraudster particularly odious.

In this life, he'll likely never face justice. In this life, his victims will never recover either their money or ability to trust so fearlessly.

In this life, which is short, and quixotic and unpredictable and unjust.

We are, however, assured of another, contrasting life...so enjoy this one, Ted, while you can. Drink up, bro'. Spend. Chase skirts.

Go for the gusto in this life. 'Cuz it's all yer gunna get.

Tom Jones has a word of wisdom to share in the meantime.

Home Again, Thursday Evening Return From Louisville

Several happy days spent in Louisville, still a favorite town in OS's travels. He met up with friends from around the Midwest, each with a tale to tell, but the specifics will be scrubbed here sufficiently to grant them their deserved privacy.

Things in general don't seem as depressed there as on previous visits, which is welcome news. OS is not one of these guys who wishes to emulate Jonah, who preached
'The End Is Near', was heeded, and his listeners were spared. He then was cheesed off at the Almighty for not raining fire down upon the former infidels anyway, and ended up with some 'Splainin-To-Do-Lucy to his Maker.

When things improve, OS is genuinely happy. Restaurants had diners, even if they weren't jammed. Stores had shoppers, even if the parking lots weren't filled. The airport parking lot was well-filled. And the mood in general seemed more upbeat.

Ford Motor's survival and re-emergence will result in retooling of one of its manufacturing facilities in Louisville early next year, which is most welcome news to a city that lives off its factories.

A much-needed bridge just upriver from Louisville may well be built, funded by tolls imposed on commuter traffic across the other bridges. So, some good things appear to be in the offing.

The friends had interesting tales to share. One lives in a small Midwestern town that is working heroically to maintain good schools, churches, and civic life. He runs a still-surviving small business, but his has always been a two-income household by necessity, with kids to raise and educate. His wife is very qualified in her industry's fields of expertise, but the jobs (or rather the firms that could make use of her gifts) have just simply vanished or operate as shells of their former selves. She is one of the 99-ers, the final unemployment check came this week, and as he talked, I saw some real fear in his eyes. Never had seen that in him in all these years. Certainly not despairing, but fear has crept in, a new experience in his life. OS passed on a second-hand job lead, but it would put the spouse in another city, six hours away from the family. She's willing to do that, if that is what is required. No whining, mind you.

Another friend works with an endowment fund that does significantly good things. She reports that the fund principal was really hammered; and with the subsequent crushing of interest rates by Zimbabwe Ben, there is only half the previous income to work with, and it's becoming tough to do some of the things for which the endowment was established. The New Normal. No despair, but a grim sense of 'We're just going to have to get through this, and keep our chins up.'

OS is helping revise a vita for another friend who got caught in the political undertow at his downsizing firm. A brilliant gent who never expected to have to do this at this point of his career. The New Normal. Again, no despair, but a real sense of loss to contend with as he forges on to his new and unexpected life.

The trip out of town took a while to complete, working around the traffic. OS decided to escape southward on the Preston Highway, through the outer southern 'burbs. It was sobering to drive by the large trailer parks. Things have not been going well, and the folks there, by definition, live on the edge of the economy and culture. What happens if, Heaven forbid, things take another serious downturn? What will The New Normal look like for them? Same experience driving much of the trip home on the old 31-W. The little towns are looking even shabbier than this time last year, and they weren't doing well then.

Not despairing, not fearing, but a bit worried. What are we prepared to do to aid people so much less fortunate if the ReallyBadStuff some predict begins to happen?
The folks in the trailer parks are not a rabble. They are people, with bodies and souls.

Sunday Night In Louisville

End of the business trip drawing nigh, and Mr. and Mrs. OS hosted a dear friend from distant parts to dinner in Jeffersonville, across the river from Louisville. It was lovely to see the lights on the Ohio, good food and friendly servers at the Montana Grill. Breathtaking huge portions. Memo to self: Order from the 'modest portions' menu next time.

Just to let our guest see downtown a bit, OS took the Clark Bridge into across the river after dinner. A few blocks in, we're at a corner light. Liquor store on the left, a car pulls up in front of it, blocking lanes both ways. That fight-or-flight reaction kicked in--get out of there before the guns get pulled. Thankfully, the way forward was clear, and as we hot-footed it out of there, OS was relieved to not hear gunfire.

One reaction could be: Well, what does one expect, driving through the city late at night?

Another reaction could be: Wait a second. Why shouldn't we be able to drive through the city on Sunday night without fear of violence? We're the good guys, the solid citizen types. Why should we surrender the street to the thugs?

Yes, it is an idealistic and self-righteous position to take. But the thought did run through OS's mind as he floored the accelerator...

Please, don't misunderstand. Louisville is one of OS's favorite places on the planet, for a long long list of reasons. He loves it when he gets to visit, and has even explored moving there. It is a wonderful place, for so many reasons.

He just wants it to stay that way. That's all.

You Know The Orchestra, Opera, And Ballet Are In The Fiscal Doldrums When...

...they turn to bingo and pull-tabs for a regular fund-raising source.

Really. No joke.

The Louisville Orchestra, Kentucky Opera, and Louisville Ballet all run weekly bingo games, with a 'pull-tab' operation on the side, to help fund operations.

Five years ago, the orchestra signed on at Bingo City, a hulking, blazingly lit space in Breckenridge Mall that once housed a department store. The opera and the Louisville Ballet have come on board during the past few months. Now, bingo regulars can attend an opera session at 10:30 a.m. Thursdays, orchestra sessions at 7:30 p.m. and midnight Thursdays, and a ballet session at 2 p.m. Sundays.

It's tempting to get preachy at this point, lamenting how these great organizations have muddied their hands with gambling, etc. etc., but OldSouth will resist the temptation.

Orchestras, operas, and ballet companies are, by definition, money-losers. They have always depended upon patronage from the wealthy quarters of society. The Austrian composer Haydn spent most of his career in the employ of the Esterhazy family, for example. Nothing new there, and nothing wrong. The Heinz family underwrote arts in Pittsburgh, the Fords in Detroit (and elsewhere), and more recently, the Ingram family fortune has fueled the high arts in Nashville. The great American arts institutions were built with private dollars, not tax money, and rightfully so.

What this presupposes, however, is the existence of businesses that operate profitably for long periods of time, which allows for the accumulation of wealth; wealth which can be reinvested, bequeathed and inherited, and eventually given away to worthy causes. This also presupposes a society in which new businesses can be born and succeed, to keep the cycle going.

It also presupposes that the orchestras, operas and ballets continue to prove their value to the community, as opposed to other needs such as hospitals for children, universities, medical research, orphanages and development needs in impoverished parts of the world. (Let's see, I can use this 50k to fund three performances of Giselle, or it can dig twenty wells and buy twenty thousand doses of medicine for HIV patients in southern Africa...what should I do?)

We now live in an economy that makes that long-term build of wealth much more difficult, its retention and transmission more fraught with hazards, coupled with a world of needs that make the purchase of a set of alpenhorns for next year's Ring Cycle seem relatively low on the list of priorities.

Thus, bingo for the arts, in a city that once prided itself on its generosity towards those activities, and enthusiastic attendance of them. It was a part of civilized and educated life, open to one and all. As the arts organizations increasingly isolated themselves from life around them (abetted by the unfortunate subsidy of tax dollars), the culture went on without them. Who needs Beethoven, when you've got the NBA?

We have both a cultural and economic quandry.

The bingo games are simply symptomatic.

On The Road: Louisville, KY 15 April 2010

A quick 'there-and-back' visit for business meetings. It is such a delightful city, in so very many ways, with large quiet neighborhoods well-supplied with locally-owned restaurants.

OS and his bride rewarded themselves with dinner at Molly Malone's, on Baxter Avenue in the Irish Hill neighborhood. The potato-leek soup is heavenly, the shepherd's pie just yummy, the service always cheerful.

We had just made the trip to the post office to drop the Tax Document into the box held by the cheerful Postal Service employee in the parking lot, and Molly's was close by, so...why not? With the three-hour drive ahead, we couldn't drink, but could take in the jolly atmosphere.

It was packed, at least all the outdoor tables and the party deck. We opted for indoors, a/c, and quiet. The folks outside were uproariously loud, and very jolly. The banner had been hung over the deck--it was a gathering of accountants and employees sponsored by one of the CPA firms.

Post closing-time on 15 April, it was indeed time to blow off steam. Excellent HR move on someone's part. Hangovers and absences this morning won't mean diddly, anyway. Hopefully, days off were granted. The nation's supply of Jameson whiskey took a serious hit last night. OS thinks of whiskey as the principal reason God created corn, and Kentucky is a place that understands the Theology of Corn.

Three quiet cheers for a humane employer, and a gracious city.

Back on the road today.