But is not a partisan issue.?ÿ It is simply the "powers that be" attempting to put band aids on everything related to the impact of Covid on day to day things.
Due to the shortage of healthy school teachers, the minimum standards for applying to be a substitute school teacher have been lowered for the remainder of the Spring school term.?ÿ Passing a drug test, fingerprinting and background check plus having a completed a minimum of 60 hours of college credits was the standard. Now, the education requirement?ÿ has been dropped to having graduated from an accredited high school.?ÿ We have a retired school cook as one of our regular substitute teachers.?ÿ She is 80 years old but acquired those 60 hours of college credit somewhere decades ago.
Ten or more States have requested the National Guard to be school bus drivers
Today I learned a bill has been introduced, and will probably be passed quickly, to allow retired and not-yet-licensed medical-career students to provide services legally.
Any Covid-related issues are inducing attempts to find A SOLUTION no matter the opinion of the one thinking up a solution.?ÿ If it can work, try it.?ÿ If it doesn't work, try something else.?ÿ Anything else.
I am mainly confused about pushing people out of the work force with mandates when we need the workers.
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But no, this isn't politics, it is just history...it all happened before.
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When the BIG SHUTDOWN happened, I warned my friends and family that this could very well end up with hunger, scarcity, and possibly violence. Pretty much they all scoffed and said, "Never here."
I thought we had gotten through it, but as I walk down barren store shelves, and what is left costs 25-30% more, it makes me concerned that my warning might have merit.?ÿ
Scarcity + Inflation = Instability?ÿ This is an immutable fact.
But those that are older than me will remember that some of the same types of things were occurring in the 1970's. Rising prices, price controls and other factors that caused shortages, economic worry, political upheaval, war threats, all of it. We at least do not have double digit interest rates, but it has to come with the inflation we are experiencing.?ÿ
My point is that we survived. We beat the Soviets, we balanced the budget even (thank you to Newt and Bill), and became the first standalone global superpower.
Of course, we had the baby boomers hitting their stride in the 70's. Their retirement and passing is something we are dealing with that the 70's didn't have...
If it doesn't work, try something else.?ÿ Anything else.
And, philosophically and morally, I completely disagree with this. It has led to great evil and great destruction throughout history. "Doing anything..." is dangerous. I know this from my own life.?ÿ
Wise decisions made deliberately and with resolve is always worth the wait. I do agree with the old Patton quip that a good plan today is better than the best plan tomorrow, but I think even he would agree that a good plan tomorrow is better than a bad plan today.
Oklahoma has lowered their minimum standards for substitute teachers also.?ÿ There was one school district that utilized volunteer off-duty police officers as substitute teachers.?ÿ Someone raised a flap about the officers being in "full uniform" which included a sidearm thinking a student might overpower the officer and take possession of the weapon.
It might be a good argument except for the fact it was only for the grades K thru 3.
If they keep it up the standards will be close to those required to become a notary public in my state.?ÿ When I got mine all I needed was a current DL and a hundred dollar bill.
Learned a few minutes ago that eight medically-trained members of the National Guard arrived today in my home county to operate remote Covid testing sites.?ÿ The number of confirmed positives this week for the county is triple the number from one week earlier.
thinking a student might overpower the officer and take possession of the weapon.
Police are generally well equipped with retention holsters, and in violent methods of retaining their firearm. A classroom, regardless of the age, isn't the worst place they have been.
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My state requires a bond...
Learned a few minutes ago that eight medically-trained members of the National Guard arrived today in my home county to operate remote Covid testing sites.?ÿ The number of confirmed positives this week for the county is triple the number from one week earlier.
They waited till the cases were dropping to ramp up testing centers around here. 75% of the people I know with COVID symptoms over the past month couldn't get into testing. Many tested positive with the quick tests, but they do not count in the published totals.
Honestly, the testing seems mostly about getting people back to work, IMHO. The raw number of cases is irrelevant, or at least no one in public health seems to care. The testing is necessary if you have had close contact and want to get back to school or work before 10 days. With a clinical test and results you can cut it down to about 5 days around here.
And, they are doing the NG thing around here as well, and all well and good, but I wonder what Peter got robbed of a worker to pay Paul. If they weren't doing anything else, all good. If they were working on a farm keeping food on my family's table, then it isn't worth it.
If they keep it up the standards will be close to those required to become a notary public in my state.?ÿ When I got mine all I needed was a current DL and a hundred dollar bill.
Kind of like engineers that wanted to be surveyors in the 60's?
Did not want to stir up anything.?ÿ Just reporting the range of efforts being made to fix whatever happens to be the problem for any individual.
Being able to be at work is great.?ÿ Getting paid is also great.?ÿ Being dead is not so great.
I think a major effect of the current COVID-era employment situation is that lower-wage households have realized that they have been money-behind by sending both partners out the door to work.?ÿ Economists left-right-and-center have long pointed out that the household work performed by a domestic partner is extremely valuable, and encouraging that partner to enter the non-household workforce often results in economic harm to the household (once costs of childcare, house cleaning, restaurant food, etc. are fully considered).?ÿ Many households prefer to have both partners in the workforce; however, I think many were under the mistaken impression that they were financially better off because of this.?ÿ COVID layoffs drove home an economic truth that poor financial literacy had long covered up.
So I think the labor shortages are really a result of too-low wages.?ÿ The solution should address that problem directly.
Oh, my first wife and I figured that out 35 years ago.?ÿ She was working at a decent paying job, but, when you figured all of the spending involved for her to hold that job while we had three kids amounted to about the same amount of money the baby sitter, who never reported that income, had to spend for her needs.
This does not apply to my youngest daughter and her eight month-old son.?ÿ She makes FAR more money for her skill set and education than her nanny and her maid make combined.?ÿ Any idle funds in that household are invested in ways that have been netting over 12 percent returns.?ÿ Having a husband with a PhD in Economics and who obtains his income from the energy industry helps a little bit.?ÿ His Bachelors Degree is in Electrical Engineering.
If it can work, try it.?ÿ If it doesn't work, try something else.
90% of the policy around here seems to be driven by 'We need to do something. X is something. Okay, let's do X. See, we did something"?ÿ
Obviously the US workforce system has been a house of cards ready to collapse since before covid. Wages too low, costs too high. No one expects the food supplier to sell food to the restaurant for less than the cost of production but the staff are expected to work for less than the cost of living. This system is unsustainable and is falling down now.
@dmyhill I once worked for a firm here in NJ that had 4 Principles, two were surveyors who spent their time in the field and became licensed, then got degrees in Engineering and tested to become PEs.?ÿ The other two were PEs who simply mailed in their box tops and the Board gave them a Surveyor's license.?ÿ That can't happen these days though.
"RE: This involves government"
Here is "short" read that may shed light on what's ahead. ?????ÿ
https://www.historyonthenet.com/romans-the-rise-and-fall-of-roman-empire
When they built the transcontinental rail road; the policy was: just get the road built, we'll fix it later...
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