Bridge to Nowhere

Ford road for those who have not had the pleasure is a two lane ribbon which starts near the midway mall off West River road and goes north and ends at Gulf road near Rt. 254. The road winds through two of the Lorain County Metro parks: High meadows and Burr Oak. Midway on Ford road is a small one lane bridge which has fallen into such disrepair that the road is closed to through traffic. Consequently, the maintenance to keep the road passable has stopped and the road has begun crumble as a result of slippage of the ground under the roadway. The bridge itself has a large hole in the center and probably needs to be completely replaced as well as a major part of the road. Will the roadway ever be repaired? The rumor mill is circulating a story that when ODOT repairs the route 2 bridge over the black river the Ford road bridge will also be repaired or replaced. With the state of the funds in this state it maybe just a rumor!

Really, Jim Really

Let's just take a second and think about what is going on in Washington, the big picture. The republicans are digging in their collective heels about the budget and being stubborn about raising taxes and especially about raising taxes on the "job creators". Now, we need to look at why the republicans are so stubborn and what they have to gain by doing so. Well, without a doubt most of the big contributors to any republican campaign are big businesses. Additionally, what do they expect to get for their money? Well, they expect to have legislators that will be business friendly, that is no taxes, no regulations; no standing is the way of the bottom line. So, how do you get that? Easy, you first get as many legislators in your pocket as you can afford. Moreover, you need to have someone in the Whitehouse that will rubber stamp every piece of legislation that comes down the pike. Unfortunately, currently there is a stumbling block in the way of having the perfect climate for business. Then conservatives don't own the Whitehouse. Well you ask how do you get the Whitehouse back? Easy, first you get big business to keep hiring to an absolute minimum and then fight the president on every issue no matter how bad it impacts the everyday American. You then wait the four years keeping unemployment high and keep the rhetoric hot and partisan. Wait until election time, blame everything on the president and hope the public buys the whole lie and get your man or woman back in the Whitehouse. Consequently, once you're in and have the house and senate you start hiring and declare victory and say we should have done this all along. Genius absolute genius and the really sad thing is Americans won't care how or why but, when the jobs come back it's all good. Really…..

Unforced errors

I remember my parents talking about how the things had changed for the worse in the land of cotton and they had to journey to Ohio to find work. They had made the journey on faith that a job would be here when they arrived. Hill and Hubbell I think was the name of the steel maker what is now U.S Steel. My father secured a job as a loborer. A series of layoffs and re- hires ensued and my parents stayed and eventually died here in Ohio far away from the land of their birth in the Deep South.

Now, this drama is playing itself again in the lives of folks in Ohio. Jobs are scarce for many who do not possess the skill set needed for the current business climate and many are older which another strike against you is if you need a job. Some years before those looking for work headed north and now those looking for work are headed south. Much of the business has moved back to the south as the labor is cheaper.

How does this have anything to do with unforced errors? Those of us that have to move south are most likely doing so not because we want to it's because we must and we must because of someone else's mistakes their unforced errors! Much like the late fifties things have changed, politicians then as now believed that left to their own devices business would do right by the American people who helped them get to the prosperity they enjoy. However, then as now we are paying for that trust. While the vast of majority of small business are good folks on the other hand it is my opinion that big business would step on their dead mother's grave to abuse their crippled sister. The obsession to appease shareholders at all costs sets the American people second or third on the list of folks big business cares about if at all.