Boomers Looking for Work

Would someone like to explain to me how people in their 50’s -- who used to be considered at the peak of their earning curve – are going to make it through their (excuse me for throwing up) “golden years”?

All I ever read and hear about is how the imminent retirement of the baby boom generation is going to bankrupt social security and the nation. Hey guys – where have you been? Most boomers didn’t have the savings to retire before the recession. Remember all that talk about needing to work into your 70’s? Now – even with the improvement in the stock market since the recession ended –it may take 10 years or more for a 401K to get back just to where it was in 2007, when the financial crisis began. And even if you actually have some cash stashed away in income-producing savings – that income has been reduced to virtually nothing as interest rates have fallen.

So today I glance at the front page of the New York Times and there it is. What so many people know already. People over 50 have been losing their jobs in droves – and aren’t likely to find new ones anytime soon.

A few of the facts quoted in the article – which you can link to from my title: an April Gallup poll found more than a third of people who haven’t yet retired plan to keep working beyond age 65. It was just 12 percent in 1995. Now look at this figure from the Labor Department: if you’re 55 or older and unemployed – it takes an average of more than 39 weeks to find a job. That’s the most of any age group – including the 20’s somethings who would presumably cost employers a lot less in wages and benefits and be more technologically skilled. And we’re just talking averages. Many older people have been collecting long term unemployment benefits for as long as 99 weeks.

So here’s my question to all you political types who seem interested in nothing but getting elected or re-elected in November. Are you ready to deal with an army of homeless 50 and 60 somethings?

Many boomers have tried hard to update their skills – often taking out loans to do so. So what will you tell them to do with those new skills – if no one will hire them? There isn’t much of a demand for writing software in homeless shelters.

It’s not such a tragedy in your 20’s and 30’s when you have to scrounge for work. I certainly had to. But I and my friends were always sure we’d make it up later – when we were older and experienced and thus more valuable to an employer. Hah! Now an entire generation is teetering on the scrap heap of life.

As I said earlier – excuse me while I throw up.

Remembering John Henning

John Henning died in July. I saw the notice on line then -- but I was in Prague, loaded with work. No time for anything except a shocked "oh no!".

But tonight I was leafing through the latest AFTRA Magazine - which mercifully still comes in print form so you can actually "leaf" through it as you eat dinner. (iPhone screens don't take kindly to greasy fingerprints). I saw the tribute to John -- and I wanted to add my own. It is never too late for memories.

John Henning was a towering presence on the TV news scene in Boston - where for many years he was both an anchor and a top political reporter. For decades everyone in Boston knew his name. He was everything someone famous should be. Personable, smart, knowledgeable and - oh yes - an old fashioned gentleman and all around good guy.

For years I just watched him on my mother's old TV. But then one day - I became a network correspondent. Covering presidential political campaigns. Since TV stations were flush with cash in those days, local news departments usually sent their crack political reporter and a crew to travel with each of the candidates during the last crazy week before the November election.

So one day there he was with his crew -- spending a day with us -- the "veterans" who had been on the campaign trail for months. His station was affiliated with my network. He asked me to fill him in. I - who had worshipfully watched this man for years in my hometown - was now helping him! OMG!

We met one more time. I was "parachuted" into Boston for a story and had to get up to speed fast. There was John Henning -- with all the information I could possibly want.

When a network news star dies -- it makes headlines everywhere. But when John Henning died this summer at age 73 - from leukemia - it was only a big story in Boston - where he was still working as an analyst for WBZ.

Too bad the whole country didn't know about it. Because in a media world where true newspeople are becoming an endangered species -- John Henning leaves a big hole. As much for his decency as for his news acumen.

The Boston Local of AFTRA has established a broadcast scholarship in his name.

September 11 2010

Nine years ago I walked up the two steps to the "bridge" at Channel 9 (WWOR) and looked somberly at the assignment editor. "Everything's changed," I said. "Life will never be the same."

We both knew I was right.

Nearly 3000 people died in the coordinated attacks on that bright September day. More than 1100 of them are still not identified. Imagine. Your husband, son, wife, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother --- to stay only in the nuclear family - went off to work as usual that day and simply never came home. Obliterated. Pulverized. Disappearing into thin air. Not even enough remaining for his or her DNA to be tested.

It's almost impossible to think about it. And as a reporter I tried hard --then and now - to maintain the emotional detachment that allows me to do my job. But when you are NOT being a reporter but simply being a human being --- the awful truth rushes in and overwhelms you. I had never seen war, never been a war correspondent, never experienced any major attack on my home or anyone else's. Until that day in 2001.

So here we are nine years later. Two misbegotten wars later. Many, many more people dead on all sides from terrorist attacks, battles, corruption, outsourcing and stupid mistakes in countries we are not - so far at least - leaving in better shape than we found them.

What would we be saying today if we had gone only after Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen? If we had not left the hunt to untrustworthy "others" but had used our own forces to blast through the caves where we tracked him? If we had followed every convoluted path until we found him? If every effort had been concentrated on wiping out Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan and wherever we could find its cells. No more. And no less.

But trying to rewrite history is a useless endeavor. What's done is done; you cannot take it back. Nine years later we are still the victims of our own ignorance and panic. With so-called Christians threatening to burn the Qur'an. And make us all victims yet again.

But even within that reality -- we must move on.

And so finally buildings are rising at the World Trade Center site. 16 of 400 or so trees are already planted on the ground which by next year should be a full-fledged memorial. The much-delayed and much-discussed "Freedom Tower" is now quite visible above ground -- now sensibly named simply One World Trade Center. The two square holes marking the outlines of the original towers are lined with black granite tiles. By next year they will be reflecting pools.

Yes everything is different. It will never be the same again. But of course that would be true even if the terror attacks had never occurred. Maybe there would have been something else. Or not. You can't blame the housing bubble and the resulting financial crisis and Great Recession on September 11th. And for those caught in the rubble of those implosions - the world is certainly a different place.

So let's move on. For change, as we now know, is the only constant.

R.I.P. ABC News?

The story broke Monday night --the one about David Westin resigning as head of ABC News. On Wednesday -- in the New York Times article linked to this post's title -- former CBS News President Andrew Heyward suggested one approach post Westin: re-invent ABC News as nothing but a video file sharing social network. As Heyward put it: "(it's) a real opportunity to not be beholden to the traditions of television news...."

Excuse me Mr. Heyward???? I've spent a day thinking about what you said. And since when do the "traditions" of TV news -- many virtually invented by your former network's own Edward R. Murrow--belong in the dumpster of history? Innovate, yes. We've always been about innovation. Grow and even mutate some. Fine. No one wants to watch or, for that matter, work in a profession that's encased in an iceberg. But dump all the great traditions of broadcast news? Isn't that exactly the problem right now?

Sure, it's wonderful to have a story so powerful that it's shared among all sorts of viewers. But what everyone who sees the network and local station news divisions simply as a profit center seems to forget is this little thing called democracy. You know -- the form of government we're supposed to have here and have so zealously exported to much of the rest of the world? Like Iran, Afghanistan, the formerly Communist countries?

How's this for an innovative idea: news divisions which are not run as profit centers. News divisions which are simply the best sources of necessary information they can be, using the best production values they can find. Call it a full circle; Bill Paley, Mr. Heyward, was proud to let the entertainment arm of CBS make the money. He could boast about his great news division. And not force it to earn a penny. Don't you think perhaps our rudderless nation could use another Walter Cronkite? And remember -- he was Managing Editor of The CBS Evening News first, anchor second.

Without a free and intelligent press there can't be much democracy. People need to know things they may not voluntarily click on and share. That used to be the role of the newspapers' front page and the networks' evening newscasts. Was it and is it elitist to "edit" news so that even in headline form -- people are force-fed at least some of the important information they need to make reasonable decisions about their own lives and the future of their state and country?

If Disney decides ABC News is nothing but a profit center with no higher calling, then it could, indeed, become nothing but a video news service. Just a feed like that all networks send out to their affiliate stations. A bunch of stories in no particular order -- ready for local producers to use if needed.

Enter Paris Hilton. Exit truth, freedom, democracy, intelligence. Not laughing.

The Silly Season

I am listening as I write this to President Obama giving a campaign speech in Parma, Ohio. Talking about the America he believes in. The America which allowed both him and Michelle to rise from their humble beginnings to become rich lawyers and ultimately, the First Family.

But this isn’t 2008. And he isn’t a candidate. Trouble is his Democratic party – and all the Congressmen and one third of the Senators and a bunch of Governors – ARE candidates. And the Republicans are tasting blood. And a huge victory.

The latest polls show a huge dissatisfaction with the current administration. President Obama’s approval ratings are in the 45-46% range. Two thirds of those asked think the country is heading in the wrong direction.

Going political at this point may be too little too late for the President and his party. Mr. Obama has been so busy since he took office trying to bring Republicans and Democrats together (an admirable concept) that perhaps he hasn’t really looked at America recently. We’re a country so dangerously polarized in all ways – politics, religion, social issues and yes – wealth – that it would take news that a huge meteorite was about to hit Toledo to pull Americans out of their funk. It would HAVE to be Toledo. If it were heading toward Washington – or even New York City --- I think it would still be business as usual around the Fox News Network’s TV hearth.

Now -- we have these Bush tax cuts --- which will expire at the end of this year. AFTER the midterm election. President Obama and the most liberal Democrats are determined to let them expire on the richest Americans making over $250,000 a year. Problem is --- if those tax cuts just expire --- they will expire for the middle class as well. And everyone but the very poor will be hit with higher Federal taxes.

Standard economic theory says you don’t raise taxes during a recession. So there have been ideas floated by some economists to extend the tax cut for – say – a year. Or keep it alive –but just for the middle class.

Ah – but that could help the Democrats in November. So even if the Republicans think it’s a good idea ---- don’t look for any cooperation of any kind from them.

Tyler Mathisen said it best on CNBC’s Power Lunch today. I’m paraphrasing but as he put it – the Senate Republicans will block anything the Democrats propose before the election – or in the lame duck session after it. Which means – pure and simple - a tax increase for the middle class. Tyler is an honest, intelligent reporter. He’s also human. His frustration spoke for all thinking Americans.

This political gridlock in Washington benefits no one – except maybe a few politicians. And it hits exactly the folks who are most fearful about their jobs if they have them or least able to get new jobs if they don’t. Exactly the folks who have pulled back on spending recently. Exactly the folks who desperately want to see solutions from their government – whether Republican or Democratic – which can give us all back the America we believe in.