No, not the dismal confidence numbers released today. I'm referring to some numbers I found in the Daily Reckoning.
But, keeping up with the Joneses can get rather expensive. The average consumer household in the U.S., according CNNMoney, carries $8940 in overall credit-card debt, holds 16.7 cards and owes $1363 per card. Likewise, the average homeowner owes $90,000 on his home by way of mortgages and an additional $30,000 in equity loans. The average vehicle loan is now in excess of $20,000...
I'm new to the Daily Reckoning, so for all I know, maybe they make this stuff up. Adding to my distrust was the fact that the CNN article was not linked. I thought that 16.7 cards had to be a mistake. If it's a mistake though, it's CNN's mistake as I looked up (and archived) the article myself. People really *are* in debt up to their eyeballs. How do they manage the bills for 16 credit accounts!!! Amazing.
The whole article is a real eye-opener. I knew things were tough out there, but I had no idea just how tough. Generally, I see broad, all U.S. numbers for stuff like this. Rarely, do I see numbers on a per consumer basis. These are really alarming, and they certainly explain the lack of confidence.
Dr. Kurt Richebächer has a short article in the Daily Reckoning (already re-posted all over the place) explaining exactly how the government has been jiggering employment numbers. I think most people are aware that the numbers are a very poor representation of the jobs situation, but I haven't seen a short essay explaining it concisely.
Who is this guy?
Respected International Banker and Economist, Dr. Kurt Richebächer's articles appear regularly in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, the US edition of The Fleet Street Letter and other respected financial publications. France's Le Figaro magazine did a feature story on him as 'the man who predicted the Asian crisis.'
Posted by nicole at 10:52 AMMy level of disgust with the Washington Post has reached a new high.
Generally, I find their technology and business writing to be hostile to my employer. I don't usually find it to be completely untrue, but it does always put the company in the worst light possible. AOL certainly did get up to some hijinks with their accounting, but the amounts paraded out by the Post like heads on pikes are only a tiny fraction of the company's revenues. But I digress.
Today, they have published this gem by David Vise: Women, Minorities Feel Left Out at AOL. This article contains this bit of stupidity:
AOL had "no people of color" among senior executives in 2002, the report said.
Interesting that this report manages to miss the CEO of the whole she-bang, Dick Parsons, who happens to be a black guy.
Also, I have no idea where the people quoted here could be working:
One African American employee referred to Dulles-based AOL as "a plantation, a digital plantation," and another worker said she and other women have been relegated to support roles, "like baby sitters."
Sure, AOL has done a lot of stupid stuff strategically, especially since the merger, but it's a great place to work. The staff in my division appears to be, like the workforce of the United States, mostly white men. Based on other jobs I've had, however, the staff at AOL is unusually diverse. There are not a lot of African American folks, although I can think of one manager right off the top of my head. I think about 40% of the staff in my entirely technical organization is, in fact, NOT made up of white males.
The fact is that the field of people with C.S. degrees and/or advanced technical skills consists in large part of men. Hispanics and African Americans are not very common (like women), but non-whites are well represented, in general. Apparently, Asian does not equal diverse. It is not the fault of AOL that women and African Americans don't seem to enter the field in large numbers.
The article points out that Microsoft is doing the following, lest they be accused of running a "plantation" in Redmond:
Many firms, including Microsoft Corp., argued that the pool of candidates from top engineering and science programs tended to be shallow and they have since poured money into minority student associations and other recruitment efforts.
This is further evidence that the women and minorities with the skills required are simply not available. Vise even contradicts himself here:
...the report notes that AOL hired a slightly higher percentage of women and minorities in 2002 than had been represented previously in the workforce.
This is shoddy journalism at best. It's as if he talked to a few disgruntled workers, perhaps laid off workers, and didn't bother to ask anyone else. Many facts were ignored to write this piece of muckraking.
There is a valid point made about ineffective management tactics:
"Today, everything at our company is a sports metaphor," one woman said. "Miller's main agenda is 'Win every week. Play your position.' There were a series of classes -- coaching for success, and they were based on books written by former football coaches...
But then Vise goes and drags diversity into it:
...This may disenfranchise women."
This is actually quite insulting to women. I know this is a quote from a woman, but he chose to include it in the article even though it perpetuates a stereotype. Are there no women who like sports, football in particular? Of course there are (I can think of some that I know without stretching my brain at all), but in his world, women are a sports-widow monolith.
I find sports metaphors are used all over corporate America. I find this amusing, ineffective and annoying, but not "disenfranchising." In fact, I find AOL's culture to be the most inclusive corporate culture I've experienced since I've moved to Washington.
This is also a valid point:
Employees of all demographic groups complained that senior management overlooks internal candidates for jobs in favor of outsiders and places little value on institutional knowledge.
This is true, but you'll notice that this has nothing to do with diversity. The Time Warner folks don't trust the AOL people. They seem to see us as a bunch of backwoods hillbillies who couldn't possibly know what we're doing. I mean, who would voluntarily run a company out of Virginia, after all?
The loss of intitutional knowledge will contribute to the demise of AOL far more than any lack of diversity in it's workforce. Our Time Warner-centric management certainly needs a kick in the pants, but this particular kick is poorly aimed and sensationalist at best.
Shame on you, David Vise, and shame on the editors of the Washington Post.
9/16/2003 ~ 19.4 miles hiked
My shoes really worked against me today. They were pretty dry when I started, but due to the wet grass and fog, they were very wet again in short order. Because of the constant wet and the nature of the metal lace holders on these shoes, my left foot is being torn up.
Rice Field Shelter's setting is beautiful. I stopped there for lunch, and could barely find it for the fog. In a few minutes, the wind blew the clouds and fog away and I could see everything. It was really stunning to see the whole high meadow appear in front of me out of the grey.
Symms Gap Meadow is also pretty, but it's no match for Rice Field. In Symms Gap, I was disappointed to see that *all* the apples on the trees were blighted. And there were a lot of them too.
The blazing between Rice and Symms was really terrible. Part of the problem is that there are a lot of trails on the ridge. While I could follow the ridge all right, I lost the trail repeatedly and had to back track more than once to make sure I hadn't missed a turn off the ridge. One power cut in particular was extremely difficult to cross due to very high burrs and no blazing when you come upon it. Maybe there's a post buried in plants, but if not, how the hell am I supposed to know where to re-enter the woods without looking along the entire power cut for an entrance!?
Pine Swamp Branch Shelter is very close to the road, and I really didn't like that, so I moved on to an unused area out of sight.
9/15/2003 ~ 15.3 AT miles hiked
I spent a peaceful night under the tarp. It rained, and I stayed completely dry, which is nice. I did have to pick a snail off my groundcloth though. Ew. It was so dark and foggy when I woke up today that I thought it must have been 5am, but it was 7! It was not raining though, that took another hour or so. I got completely soaked within two hours of when I'd packed up. Shoe squishing soaked.
I had lunch at Doc's Knob Shelter. Doc's Knob Shetler is in a rhododendron thicket, always a nice setting, but the spring is hard to find. Once you find the water, there's plenty as long as you have a way to dip it out. The log claims that a mountain lion was seen nearby. I kinda doubt it.
I saw a deer, notable only because it didn't bother to run away. I saw many others that did, of course. I saw a rabbit, a couple of frogs and a turkey (at Angel's Rest, which was completely fogged in). Except for the blisters from the soaked shoes, it wasn't a bad hike even though it rained all the way into Pearisburg...then it stopped...right when I got here.
The blazing into town is confusing and unhelpful. I went way out of my way, and actually hiked a mile *past* where I wanted to be. I'll get a ride past that in the morning, maybe.
Posted by nicole at 04:58 PM
9/14/2003 4:30pm ~ 13.6 miles hiked (so far)
The shelter is totally deserted, and there is no register. If there were a register, I would probably hang around and see if anyone showed up. Cowboy said a bear approached the shelter within 30 yards. A register might tell me if this is a fluke or if the bear is a regular vistor. Also, it's too early, so I'll eat dinner and move on.
The water source here is excellent. I'll drink up and carry a little extra for morning. There are many campsites here. The mosquitoes are already biting!
9/14/2003 7pm ~ 15.3 miles hiked
It's drier and seems like better sleeping weather tonight. I suspect I'm coming up on the Ribble Trail Junction, but I'm really not sure. I'm up the mountain anyway, so now I don't have to do that first thing. I hate climbing first thing. It's much better as a last thing for me. Tomorrow I'll be in Pearisburg. I'd love to call Tino and call The Rendezvous ahead, but I haven't had a cell phone signal at all on this trip, which is really poor reception, even for me. I hope my phone works in Pearisburg or I will use the hotel phone and DAMN THE CHARGES!
There are some *very* noisy birds up here. Also, I hear a helicopter, which is odd. I wonder what's up with that? it's getting closer now, just by a little bit. I saw two southbounders today: Wheel and Elk. I also saw a pack at the falls trail head, but I didn't go down there.
Here's a great radio show I found while camped on Sugar Run Mountain.
Posted by nicole at 06:52 PM9/13/2003 ~ 12.1 miles hiked
Cowboy and Charlie are here. Charlie is an odd little dog that Cowboy adopted in Viet Nam and brought back to the U.S. Cowboy is an interesting guy of 39 who ran a camera (repair) shop in Blacksburg but sold out early this year. He's taking a year off from everything, he says.
The spring at Jenny Knob is damn near dry (in spite of the wet year the state is having), and it was a real trial to get enough water out of it.
While hiking, the woods were incredibly quiet. If I knew anything about mushrooms, I could have been entertained for hours by the mushrooms alone, which is part of the reason I was surprised at the depleted look of the spring here.
Overnight, there was a lot of owl activity. Two sounded like they were arguing, then there was just one that was hooting, and very soon after the owl argument, I'm pretty sure I heard a small animal scream for a good minute or so. It sounded like a rabbit or something. Short work night for that owl.
The tarp worked OK, but the bug net sucked. I wound up having to stay covered and use DEET on my head and hands. Man, I hate mosquitos.
Posted by nicole at 07:41 PM