Neff Zone Column

Print Edition: August 27, 2005

I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW…

*According to conservative columnist Paul Craig Roberts, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July payroll jobs report is misleading. The public was told that 207,000 jobs were created. That sounds dandy until you look at the kinds of jobs that were created. ‘Of the new jobs, 26,000 (about 13%) are tax-supported government jobs. That leaves 181,000 private sector jobs. Of these private sector jobs, 177,000, or 98%, are in the domestic service sector: 30,000 food servers and bar tenders; 28,000 health care and social assistance; 12,000 real estate; 6,000 credit intermediation; 8,000 transit and ground passenger transportation; 50,000 retail trade; and 8,000 wholesale trade. Approximately 7,000 construction jobs were created, most of which were filled by illegal Mexican immigrants. Not a single one of these jobs produces a tradable good or service that can be exported or serve as an import substitute to help reduce the massive US trade deficit.’ The US economy is employing people to sell things, advise each other, move people around, and to serve them fast food and alcoholic beverages.

*While the Saudis are holding the rest of the world in virtual oil captivity, half of all the known oil reserves in the world are in Alberta, Canada. It has been there all along in the form of tar sand, but up until recently the price of a barrel of oil was too low to make extraction of the oil cost effective. Not so anymore. In fact, Canadian oil is so enticing that China and India have formed a $150 billion consortium with the goal of buying up all the Alberta oil output. Hmmmm, makes you think that with all the money we’re continuing to spend in Iraq perhaps we’d be better off giving that cash to the Albertians thereby solving our oil problems, eliminating the need for Middle Eastern oil, and cutting China and India off at the pass.

*A new coal-fired power plant is going to be built in Milwaukee, even after opponents waged a 4-year battle against it. The $2.15 billion plant now has the go-ahead. Let’s see, Milwaukee is across Lake Michigan due west of Cadillac. The prevailing winds run west to east. All together now, let’s practice: "Cough, hack, cough."

*Now that we’re going to have an extra three weeks of daylight savings time, here’s a question. The dates for switching to daylight savings time have been the same since 1987. What’s going to happen to all the computers, VCRs, DVD players, cell phones, clocks, electric utility meters, and other gadgets that have built in calendars? Who’s going to reprogram all those? Many of the calendars are embedded in a built-in chip. Oh, by the way, other countries (like Canada) are not adopting the new times, so all the airlines’ schedule computers will be off. May I suggest a hammer to deal with all your appliances and then your head.

*Ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in a prescription medication? Life Extension magazine did a study to compare how much the active ingredient (often produced off shore) costs and compared it to what you pay for the pills. One hundred mg of Celebrex costs you $130.00 but the active ingredient costs just 60 cents, a markup of 21,712%. Ten mg of Norvasc is $188 to you and the ingredient costs 14 cents, a 134,493% markup. Twenty mg of Prozac: $247 – 11 cents – 224,973%. One mg of Xanax: $136 – 24 cents – 569,958%. The list of outrages is endless. Now you know why the drug companies measure their profits in billions (with a capital "B"). No wonder they can buy politicians.

*Speaking of politicians, there’s a move afoot in at least 16 states to take the right to draw up congressional districts out of the hands of legislators. Instead, districts would be set up by non-partisan commissions. Why? Incumbents of the two main parties have hijacked the process to make sure incumbents never lose. Of 435 House races last year only 10 were actually competitive. Every incumbent won in Tennessee and California and only one seat changed occupants in Florida. And you wonder why voter apathy is at an all time high?

*As high school sports get underway it’s a good time for parents to take a realistic look at their student-athlete’s chances for a college athletics scholarship. According to the NCAA, in men’s basketball only 2.9% of high school players make the jump to college, 3.1% in women’s basketball. In football it’s 5.8% and in baseball it’s 5.6%. From that tiny pool, less than 2% of college athletes move on to any kind of professional level. More amazing to me is that 70% of kids who begin playing sports in elementary school will have quit by high school. On the other hand, the surest way to scholarship and grant money for college is by attaining top grades in high school (it is called a SCHOLARship). From a strictly monetary perspective, parents would be better off cheering an "A" in math or science than a converted free throw or touchdown pass.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to: neffzone@gmail.com . Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews .