BOOK REVIEW: Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown

I read this book in ~ 2005, and found my notes as I was getting rid of some old notebooks.  Here are the memorable lines I recorded while reading Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown by Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo.

"The recovery of a positive memory of itself is the first important step toward reconstructing a sense of place, belonging, and ownership."

"Where there is work, there is social organization."

In 1963, a Saturday Evening Post cover story dubbed Youngstown 'Crime Town, USA'.

Urban Policy expert said about Youngstown:

"I have never been in an urban community before where jails and prisons were treated as a growth industry."

"While work gave people a sense of pride and brought them together, it could not bridge the gap between workers and managers, nor could it fully erase differences of race and ethnicity."

Youngstown would become a place known for loss and resistance.

1977-1987, unemployment would reach over 20% and remain in double digits.

Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce headline one week after Youngstown Sheet and Tube shutdown, "Not Our Valley!  No Place for Doom and Gloom."

"We've been in a 20 year pity party.  As long as week looking backward, we'll never keep going forward."  - Rufus Hudson

The book does not acknowledge that most of the job growth in the last twenty years has been in the service and retail sectors.  These sectors traditionally provided short job ladders, contingent and part-time employment, and low pay and miserable benefits.

Mark's Thoughts:

Overall, I really enjoyed the book because it put into words many the things I did not see growing up in Youngstown (my era was 1985-2001).  I knew it wasn't always doom and gloom, but it fascinated me how long people held on to views that it would just get better with time.  There is definitely not an entrepreneur attitude among residents, and that led to so many years of just the status quo. 

In 2015, some of the things the book points out as problems are still ongoing in the city.  The City Government is as Tax Hungry as ever, even though the majority of the population in city lives under the poverty line.  Instead of finding ways to decrease the size and scope of Government, the city boo hoos about how their 2.75% Business Profit Tax, and the 2.75% Personal Income Tax the city imposes will be down in 2015.  See Vindy Article HERE. Never forget, taxes are just a form of theft.  The City will never be prosperous again as long as the city government feels it deserves a large slice of the economic pie.

BOOK REVIEW: Cybill Disobedience by Cybill Shepherd with Aimee Lee Ball

Many may wonder, "Why would you read a book about Cybill Shepherd?"  The answer is 'Why Not?'

The ol' saying of 'Don't judge a book by its cover' is thoroughly shattered with this book.  You truly can judge the book by this cover, and know you are going to be thoroughly impressed!

Below are the Insightful/Hilarious/Frightful quotes compiled by reading 292 pages about Cybill Shepherd:

Family Life and Advice:

...My siblings and I ignored the frisson between my parents and never discussed the family drinking patterns, except that we referred to Moma and Da-dee's Florida Condominium as Fort Liquordale.

I can take a trip down memory lane just by walking past the men's cologne counter of any department store.

After winning Miss Teenage Tennessee, a note arrived '...you are such a sweet, thoughtful All-American Girl.  If you stay this, and I am sure you will, you can never really become a loser.'

My room looked like the inside of a pepto-bismal bottle.

On dating Elvis:

Then he opened his jacket and revealed a pearl-handled revolver stuck in his belt.  "I carry this little girl everywhere I go."

Elvis was the first person I ever saw drink bottled water, which he imported from the Ozarks.  "You drink enough of this,and it'll keep you regular."

 Advice and Movie Reviews:

"If I was still acting, you're the kind of girl I'd like to work with.  Whatever you do, don't get depressed and start eating." - Cary Grant

When Gene Shalit reviewed the film on The Today Show, he said "In this movie Cybill Shepherd appears as if she cannot walk or talk, much less sing."

"Casting Cybill Shepherd in a musical comedy is like entering a horse in a cat show" - Cincent Canby of the New York Times

There's nothing like rejection right in your face to keep you humble.

"Cybill Shepherd is a no-talent dame with nice boobs and a toothpaste smile and all the star quality of a dead hamster." - Critic 

Life Choices:

I gained forty-five pounds during my first pregnancy, and just to keep me company, my husband, David, gained fifty.

When my daughter was christened, I wore Birkenstocks.  My Mother and Grandmother complained, but I told them Jesus wore sandals and would have understood.

By the third tri-mester, I was so i huge i began to resemble Marlon Brando.

...I got to do The Return, not quite the worst movie ever made, but close.  The plot, such as it was, concerned aliens who come to Earth and inhabit cows.

My first choice for the part was Paula Poundstone, a stand-up comedienne with a twisted wacky charm.

Introductions:

I'm Cybill Shepherd, You know, the Movie Star?

If you are looking for a good time on a Saturday night, I wholeheartedly recommend Cybill Disobedience!

- MO 6/2/14 

Book Review: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein

Recently, I finished the Libertarian Science Fiction Novel - "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A Heinlein (1966).

I was given a copy when I attended a Chicago AFF Event.

The book was a tough read at times, partly because of the content, and partly because of my complete absence of reading books the last couple of years.  I have read blogs and magazines almost everyday, but the 'chore' of reading a book cover-to-cover scared me.  It took me over 3 months to finish, but the book's core message inspired me to finish.

Here is a quick summary: Luna is a colony controlled by Terra.   Luna residents create a strategy to revolt.  Terra strikes first, but Luna wins out.

The book had one great quote that I want to capture in this post:

You have put your finger on the dilemma of all government - and the reason I am an anarchist.  The power to tax, once conceded, has not limits; it contains until it destroys.  I was not joking when I told them to dig into their own pouches.  It may not be possible to do away with government - sometimes I think that government is so inescapable disease of human beings.  But it may be possible to keep it small and starved and inoffensive - and can you think of a better way than by requiring the governors themselves to pay the costs for their antisocial hobby?

 I find it fascinating that this book was written in 1966, and in 2014, I feel exactly the same way.  When I advocate for the elimination of entire departments in Governments, its because if you leave a pulse, it will find a tax or fee to keep it alive and eventually grow again.  I have convinced some ardent Liberals that there is no value in sending money to Washington for the Federal Department of Education, to have them create tests and standards to implement at state level, is asinine.  How does a bureaucrat know whats best for Oregon, Iowa, and Florida?

For a full chapter synopsis, please click here.

~Mark

Raisin farmers don't want to be subsidized!

It's always nice to see a pro-free market solution rise to the top, even if it has to go all the way to the Supreme Court!

I love the first line of the article:

The Supreme Court is giving California raisin producers a new day in court to object to a government program that aims to stabilize prices by regulating the market.

So the people are against a government enforced program that stands no chance as being efficient as free market.  In a free market, raisin prices are set by supply and demand.  Aspects such as weather conditions, crop yields, acreage planted, distribution systems, etc... all factor into the prices and will rise or lower depending on the outcomes.

Read the article.

Tenth Ammendment Center - Kansas - Holder overreach

It's amazing, but not surprising, that Eric Holder has a job.  How could we forget 'Fast and Furious' ?

Mr. Holder has sent a stern letter to the Kansas Attorney General with regards to Kansas voting to void any Federal Laws that they deem unconstitutional.  People like Holder don't like being told what they are doing is not the law of the land.  The DOJ feels all of its laws should be adhered and supported by all the states.

The gun law conversation has been more of yelling and finger pointing, then actual true debate.

I feel the most unsafe areas in the world are gun-free zones.  Have you ever been to the southside of Chicago?  This city is a case study of what happens when you make it nearly impossible to own a gun.
The Tenth Ammendment Center takes down Holder step by step.  I really enjoy the conversation created by the TAC.  I hope to read more about their work and mission and spread the good word of nullify unjust, unconstitutional Federal Laws.

Check out TAC article here.

$15/hr to provide a 'living wage'

In a classic 'we are paid too little, but don't understand Marginal Revenue Productivity' mantra, workers at local retail and fast food in Downtown Chicago staged a walk out to demand higher wages.  Did they forget they dont get paid if they are not working?

This is my favorite quote:

* According to WLS , Lorraine Chavez of the Workers Organizing Committee said, "These are poverty wages and homelessness wages."

Poverty wages?  Homelessness wages?  I tend not to agree with these absurd, non-economic based theories.

Also, it's good to hear (sarcasm):

* Those involved in the protest are also rallying for the right to unionize without intimidation from their employers.

But the employers would be forced to recognize the union and pay union wages.  How intimidating is that?

$15 is such an arbitrary number that makes it seem like people will be 'richer'.  Little is shown how the increased in wages will cause costs to be passed on to the customer, decrease the amount of people an employer hires, and puts the business at greater risk of failure.

Why not $20/hr?  $50/hr?  When does it end?  How do you know the minimum wage (even though wages are determined by supply and demand curves like any other good or service), yet not know the maximum wage?

Also, do these people ever protest at the Federal Reserve?  Inflation makes every dollar for everyone worth less and less.  Instead of protesting the job creators of the world, the protests should be aimed at Chairmen Bernanke.

Yahoo article here

Early Mornings

I remember winter mornings as a kid getting ready to go to Holy Family School.  My Dad would always be up before us, already ironing uniforms for myself and siblings.  My youngest sister would perch herself in front of the vent to stay warm.  (Disclaimer: My house never felt warm in the winter, but it was always welcoming)

Now that I am 29, I look back at those days and I wish I could have held on forever.  It's not that I don't appreciate Adulthood, but life just felt so much simpler.  All the 'problems' I had were intriguing and were defining who I was to become later in life.

I view my economic and intellectual life much differently.  I don't wish to revert back to my 'childhood' with regards to intellectual thinkers and economic viewpoints I had as a younger person.  My view on Healthcare was that it was a travesty that the Government did not provide everyone Healthcare.  Unbeknownst to me it was NOT the gov't's role to provide Healthcare to everyone.  I thought there was a difference between Democrats and Republicans.  I thought taxes should be raised to fund everything, not researching how detrimental taxes are to a society.

Two different childhoods, two different reflections.