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Link...

He says it's money, not his health but it all seems kind of weird.

pgs

After a series of happy talk articles in the paper a couple of weeks ago about what a great place East Tennessee is for boating and how much Sea Ray loves it here, and a more recent article last week noting some disappointing financial results but no indication of any related job cuts, the other shoe finally drops.

The KNS has a somewhat biased article about the federal minimum wage increase that went into effect this week. They advance the tired right-wing conservative argument that it isn't necessary because nobody makes minimum wage anyway.

So if nobody makes minimum wage, what's the big deal with raising it?

The KNS fails to mention that Tennessee is one of only five states without a state minimum wage law, in the distinguished company of Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Louisiana -- some of the poorest states in the nation.

The KNS fails to mention that more than thirty other states have a state minimum wage higher than the federal, including our neighbors in North Carolina and Arkansas.

The KNS fails to mention that nearly 50,000 Tennessee workers are paid at or below the federal minimum wage. They also fail to mention that many of these workers are single mothers who cannot afford health insurance or day care, even with the increased federal minimum wage.

Finally.

A local E.W. Scripps division is looking for an experienced Drupal/PHP developer for a full-time contract position.

Staci Martin-Wolfe (SWolfe[at]scrippsweb[dot]com) says they are looking for a full-time Drupal/PHP developer to work on a contract basis for some rapid development projects at Scripps. They have several projects and an immediate need for someone full-time on a contract basis to work from their office, although telecommuting a couple days a week would be OK too.

Click here for more info.

That's one opinion.

The 2007 State New Economy Index by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation examines a number of key indicators in every state to assess their ability to compete in the emerging global economy.

As Southern states fall all over each other to recruit new auto-manufacturing jobs with big incentives, the report suggests that much of the South is falling behind in a new economy that began taking shape in the post "mass-production and corporate economy" of the 1940's and 1950's.

Read more after the jump...

Nissan has completed a voluntary reduction in force at two Tennessee manufacturing plants that results in the loss of 775 jobs, a 12.5% reduction.

That just about nets out the 750 new employees hired by Nissan when the State of Tennessee paid them $200 million in incentives to move their corporate headquarters to the Nashville area last year. That's in addition to the $200 million the state spent on expansions at the Smyrna and Decherd plants two years ago.

On a related note, this report says states like Tennessee are chasing the wrong kinds of jobs with the wrong kinds of incentives.

Economy of the New Old South

A new survey shows consumer confidence at a recent high:

Consumers’ economic outlook has skyrocketed during the past month, as seen in the RBC Expectations Index, which stood at 83.8 in January, a dramatic increase from December’s 55.0. This month’s index score represents the strongest level of optimism for future conditions in more than two years (in October 2004, the Expectations Index stood at 95.3).

An analyst says "This increase is likely derived in substantial part from the takeover of the new Congress," but also "likely stems from the continued tight labor conditions, evidenced by the current low unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent."

But then there's this:

The Commerce Department reported Thursday [Feb. 1] that the savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent, meaning that not only did people spend all the money they earned but they also dipped into savings or increased borrowing to finance purchases. The 2006 figure was lower than a negative 0.4 percent in 2005 and was the poorest showing since a negative 1.5 percent savings rate in 1933 during the Depression.

For December, consumer spending rose a solid 0.7 percent, the best showing in five months, while incomes rose by 0.5 percent, both figures matching Wall Street expectations.

I guess it sort of correlates.

Bill held up over tax cuts.

Guess the Senate Dems will need a supermajority to get anything through the Senate. Which they would probably need anyway to override Bush's vetoes.

There is more work to be done to bust out the people's legislative logjam, starting in 2008.

UPDATE: Sen. Alexander and Sen. Corker both voted against cloture, i.e. for the filibuster. Aren't they supposed to be friends of the working people of Tennessee, where nearly 14% of the population lives in poverty?

Lost among all the yammering about idiot man-child's latest recipe for disaster was the news that the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 within two years. It passed 315 to 116, with 82 Republicans voting for it.

To their credit, the House passed a "no strings attached" bill. Senate Majority Leader Reid says it will have to be amended to include tax breaks for small business to get past the Senate and for Bush to sign it. He suggested Republicans would filibuster otherwise. Interesting.

Anyway, America may finally be on the road to recovery.

Here's a local outsourcing story with a twist:

The job cuts are part of an ongoing downsizing of the company's Blount County operations and transfer of production to a Ceramaspeed plant in Monterrey, Mexico.

Some "manual operations" have already been shifted to Mexico, and "automated production" operations will be moved to the Monterrey facility later this year.

So now we're outsourcing robot jobs, too? Do Mexican robots work cheaper than American robots? Have American robot unions priced themselves out of the U.S. labor market?

As a follow up to the Alcoa restructuring and related job losses recently discussed here, Alcoa officials have announced that 30 to 60 jobs will be eliminated at the Alcoa TN plant.

By being master video gamers, I guess. From the Knoxville News Sentinel:

"My parents think I am the stupidest person alive," said Ervin Grove, a Bearden High School senior. He and seven of his Bearden classmates were the first in line outside of Best Buy in West Knoxville. Some of them skipped school, and they pitched a tent to be assured of getting the game [Sony Playstation 3], which they intend to keep and play.

It's bad enough parents let their kids spend so much time on these games, but letting their kids skip school to be first in line to buy one? How sad is it that a parent thinks their kid is "stupid" and doesn't do anything about it? Anyway, it must be a pretty sensational game.

Update: More madness.

2007: The year of the American worker?

Will Congress raise the minimum wage? Magic 8 ball says: Outlook is Good!

Don't let the GOP rain on our parade.

Read more after the jump...

Over 1 million bank workers in India are on strike today. They're protesting the outsourcing of their jobs.

My head just exploded.

The Alcoa R&D park is expected to announce its first tenant today.

It's a local company relocating, but it's a prestigious, nationally recognized high-tech company that is a perfect fit for what local officials say they want to accomplish there. We hope this helps attract similar companies from outside the region or even the state.

I'm impressed. I take back every bad thing I ever said about the project, except maybe that the process wasn't very open.

The local United Campus Workers-Communications Workers of America union says that U.T. faculty, staff, and hourly employees are being shortchanged by the state:

This year Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen gave state agency employees a minimum 3 percent across the board raise. With an additional $21.1 million that went to address salary compression, many agency employees saw over a 7 percent increase in pay. (Source: TSEA)

Meanwhile, the 40 percent of University of Tennessee hourly employees making poverty level wages only saw only a $600 increase. Additionally, the vast majority of UT faculty members did not even receive the minimum 2 percent raise afforded to all other higher education workers (with many seeing nothing more than a mere 1 percent raise). This meant that the raises of many UT faculty members were even less than the $600 minimum all UT staff received. It is clear that higher education employees got the leftovers.

U.T. has a mighty fine football program, though.

I saw a couple of weeks back Number 9’s Halls Shopper Tyler Harber string with a couple of posts about Bill Johns should be our county mayor.

I doubt that Mike Ragsdale will let the Sentinel ever cover this guy, but maybe the Metro Pulse will since he is also an organic farmer. As suggested, here is a new string about the guy I met last week:

It is funny about that "degrees of separation" thing since last Thursday; I met Bill Johns at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Nanotechnology Conference in Oak Ridge. Bill Johns was the keynote speaker about nanotech business.

It just so happens, he is the guy who ran the "Marty" for mayor campaign (dog - voter awareness) in which I wrote about last month. Apparently, my wife also met him that same day at Bearden High School when he was talking about the new high school ( Link... ).

If you did not watch the County Commission meeting on this past Monday, you should have. With Mike Ragsdale sitting a few feet from him, Bill Johns gave probably one of the most serious, facts-based, and informative talks linking education, technology, and economic development that has ever been heard before the commission. He also laid down the law about financial management and proactive planning of our community.

I heard he blasted the proposal of the PBA conducting a $600,000 study to determine if our schools are overcrowded to the likes of studying if Al-Qaeda wants to kill us. Bill Johns also talked about how politics and bureaucracy are hurting us and referenced an e-mail group he had with the school board and the PBA.

During his talk, he mentioned his background and referenced his site:

Link...

For those who are interested in nanotechnology, education, politics, conservation, and other information, you should check him out.

If anything, check out the posts about education. Our community has really dropped the ball on education and Bill Johns clearly states it there.

Perhaps we should start shopping around for a new vision and leader. If the current guy is already looking at Nashville, then why not start?

... could employ up to 300 team members by the end of next year.

"This is simply about supply and demand -- like most major U.S. companies we're facing a shortage of qualified technical talent and we're not able to continue to meet this growing demand for such talent here in the United States alone,"

I find it hard to believe there is a "shortage of qualified technical talent" in the US. I would suggest there is a shortage of qualified technical talent in the US that will work for very low wages and very few benefits. Would it still be beneficial for Wells Fargo to outsource if workers from India required the same wages and benefits as US citizens?

James McMurtry:There’s a Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on his wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing and both hands free
No one’s paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget’s just stretched so thin
And now there’s more coming back from the Mideast war
We can’t make it here anymore   [...]

The bar’s still open but man it’s slow
The tip jar’s light and the register’s low
The bartender don’t have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day
Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won’t pay for a roof, won’t pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far $5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one your stores
Bet you can’t make it here anymore  [...]

Now I’m stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
‘ Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can’t make it here anymore...

That last part doesn't turn into "hate the foreigners," by the way. Peter Anderson video and James McMurtry lyrics via riggsveda.  Really good music, too. 

I think it ties in pretty well with Andy Axel's post on Monday about Bredesen's Wal-Mart job training initiative, and one of mine about Wal-Mart's Monday announcement that they're freezing the pay level for long term employees (Wal-Mart: No careers here).  No wonder Wal-Mart stays on top; they get the most help, and pay the worst.  An economic model for all to admire.

According to yesterday's News Sentinel, the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership has hired some consultants to study the East Tennessee labor market and workforce.

We predict the study will conclude that East Tennessee's workforce is the best trained, hardest working, and best looking workforce in the whole entire U.S. of A, and the only thing that could possibly make it any better would be millions more in funding for the Great Schools shadow school board and millions more in funding for Jobs Now! to spread the word about the wonderful, well trained, hard working, good looking East Tennessee workforce.

Governor Easley signed it into law today:

House Bill 2174 raises the hourly minimum pay rate from $5.15 to $6.15 per hour and also ties North Carolina's minimum wage to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

At a news conference Thursday, Easley said the bill is just one step in changing the state's economy.

"We are not trying to build a low-road economy based on low wages and low skill. Those days are gone," Easley said.

Wouldn't it be great if we had leaders with vision like that in Tennessee state government?

Senators Alexander and Frist vote against increasing the Federal minimum wage.

The minimum wage has not been adjusted for inflation in nine years.  During that period, Members of Congress have received seven pay raises.

According to this calculation, the Congressional pay-to-minimum-wage ratio (15.7 - 1) has reached a level achieved only once (1994) during the past 60 years.  I guess Senators Alexander and Frist are shooting for the record.

Received a flyer on our mailbox this morning. For $20/hour they will clean and organize your home, maintain your lawn, do woodwork, and computer/electronic repair. Computers really are becoming a commodity. Shouldn't I be able to take my computer to the same place I take my toaster for repair? Of course, then, who really repairs toasters?

Just days after killing a minimum wage increase for Tennessee workers, the Tennessee General Assembly voted to give themselves a 9.5% raise, nearly three times the raise voted for state employees. They also voted to increase the governor's pension by more than 83%, from $42K to $77K annually, and to raise their own pensions.

Aside from the obvious hypocrisy, there's a bit of irony in the fact that the legislator's raises were slipped in at the last minute. The reason given for killing the minimum wage increase was that the sponsors waited too long to introduce their bill and its amendments, which did not allow enough time for review by the judiciary committee. There was plenty of time to give themselves a raise, however, because giving yourself a raise apparently doesn't require any review. Tennessee working people would like to have jobs like that.

It should also be noted that GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson was for the pension raise before he was against it, and in the end recorded a cowardly "abstaining" vote. Bold, decisive leadership, indeed.

UPDATE: CE Petro has more.