The fall of each year is a busy time for me because I am an avid supporter of Arizona State University football as ASU is my alma mater. We travel to see each football game home or away which means that we are traveling virtually every weekend between September and December. I, like most of you, remain concerned about the state or our economy as I am an educator, and yes, one of those public employees! Although, I am 59 and not even considering retirement because I could not continue to live in Newport Beach on my pension benefit.
I attended the Orange County Economic Forecast presented by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce last week. There was an outstanding group of panelists, who seemed to agree, that the economy is not likely to improve until consumers begin to spend, and consumer spending is, of course, linked to jobs. All four panelists stated, at some point during their presentations, that many of the jobs which have been lost due to corporate downsizing and improving efficiency will not come back leaving everyone there to ponder, "What will bring us out of this?" That thought, however, is not the impetus for this piece.
Last Saturday we arrived at John Wayne airport as we were going to catch our flight to Phoenix. We are “A-listers” on Southwest Airlines meaning that we avoid any lines, walk right up to the kiosk, punch in our reservation confirmation number and take our Boarding pass without even speaking to a real person. About an hour later, we arrived in Phoenix and noticed that soon there will soon be a computer operated tram to take us directly to the Rental Car Center. We are Dollar Car Rental Express members so we head down the escalator to pick up our car and notice a new electronic board that has my name on it and the number of the space in which we will find the car reserved for us and the keys on the dashboard.
Granted, most of us are familiar with the kiosks at the airport; they have been with us for a while now. However, it wasn’t that long ago that Boarding Passes were issued by ticket agents. Until that tram at Sky Harbor Airport is operational, which apparently will be soon, the shuttle bus to the Car Rental Center is driven by a bus driver. Two weeks ago when we picked our car from the Dollar Express station, it was an agent who issued me the keys to the car and directed me to the space in which it was parked. Then, it hit me, and I thought to myself these jobs have gone, or will be gone soon, and they won’t be coming back. Corporate efficiency may be improving profit in a weak economy but corporate profit, in and of itself, will not help us move out of the economic doldrums we find ourselves in.
Then, I begin to think about my students I face in class twice a week. I teach at Riverside City College and many of them are there to improve their chances for employment by earning a degree. I suspect that maybe more are there because they have lost their job, possibly one of those that won’t come back, and are seeking to be retrained. Then, I think about the hundreds of students that are turned away now each semester because there are no longer as many sections of my course being offered due to the California budget woes. I start to feel some frustration and realize, "Wait a minute; I am on my way to a football game. This is supposed to be fun! But then, I have job that, as of yet anyway, hasn't been replaced by a computer.
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