Into The Swamp
Stopped in at the local CVS yesterday to purchase a birthday card. Walking with purpose to the greeting card display against the back wall, I passed a solitary individual who was busy stocking shelves who said “hello.” In the big, quiet store I chose a card with a superhero graphic on the front. Making my way to the checkout counter at the front, the individual who had spoken to me a few minutes earlier came to take my money, and give me the receipt. I commented that this was a big store, a lot of work for just one man. He smiled and agreed. He explained with sadness in his voice, that he was unable to keep up with all that was to be done to maintain the store. He mentioned further that he was the store manager, and had a severely limited budget for hiring help. Because he could not offer enough hours with benefits, many good candidates, upon interview said “they were out.” He observed that the company had recently purchased Aetna Insurance, and opened up pharmacies in Target stores. The only way to pay for those decisions was to take the money from payroll.
I offered that I well understood his position. I looked him in the eye and said that I was in support of him personally, in support of his sense of professional responsibility to his work.
This morning as I prepared for my day I listened to a NPR interview with a Republican congressman from Iowa. He said unambiguously that the corn and soybean farmers in Iowa would be wiped out by the impending tariffs in the looming trade war with China. The President has said that trade wars are easy to win.
