The Panda Bear on Afghanistan, Freedom and Unions

The world today makes no sense today for the Panda Bear.   Like why is the US in Afghanistan why Kharzi does not even want the US there?   What is the US defending? It is not clear whether large groups of Afghanis even wants the US there or want Western type democracy.   And are we in the USA really free when people are afraid to speak freely against their employers?

In one previous post the Panda Bear said she wanted to stand on her desk and shout "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," until she remembered they were from the French revolution not the American.  However, she found on some US stamps the motto "Liberty forever, Justice forever, Equality forever, Freedom forever" with the American flag.  She posts this on her desktop.   She hides the revolutionary nature of these American sentiments (she works for a very hierarchal organization) by putting it near some materials from the organization.  

Today is the day after the second anniversary Father's Panda death.   Father Panda felt the heads of US industry were both corrupt and incompetent.  His father helped organize some car worker Unions in Michigan (However, it should be noted that Father Panda and his father appeared not to have gotten along).   Perhaps, the anniversary of Father Panda's death is making the Panda Bear more upset about things than she normally would be but she feels the rebel’s blood flow through her veins and now she feels so proud.

The Panda Bear recently got a card recognizing her as an affiliate member of the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO has now realized that most American workers don't work for unionized places anymore and has opened an affiliate membership for all workers.   The Panda Bear works for a large publically funded institution and she is tired of hearing whenever she asks about a company policy regarding something as basic as attendance rule both HR and the managers say they don't know and to the Panda Bear this is pretty basic stuff.

The Panda Bear got a written up for speaking too loudly and being denied some bonus days at work.  If she had union there would there would be an advocate for her.   The Panda Bear has made a counter claim that she has a medical condition that is covered under American for Disabilities (which she really has this condition and her providers have supplied to the institution her medical information).  It has been two months she has declared her disability but the process for setting up accommodation has not yet happened. 

However, the Panda Bear still very hurts about those two bonus days.   She is trying not to let it ruin her weekend.  It is going to be hard to handle her angry feelings at work. 

The Panda Bear had a friend who thinks the Panda Bear's employers should be so glad to have her because she is a straight arrow and works very hard.  The Panda Bear had a hard time not laughing when she heard that-many employers badly treat their good works.

The Panda Bear knows of many good workers who are don’t feel treated well by their employer.

The Panda Bear on Pain Killers, War and High Unemployement

The Panda Bear apologizes to her readers for not posting for a month.   Right now the Panda Bear aims to post twice a month.   Mr. Panda had a kidney stone and was in a lot of a pain for about two weeks.  Hopefully, he has passed the stone out.  

For a while Mr. Panda was on different kinds of narcotic pain killers.    He was not himself on the pain killers.   The Panda Bear noticed that his judgment was effected but he was not aware that his thinking was effected so he got quite irritable when things did not get done.   The Panda Bear thinks her judgment has been effected when she was on pain killers.   She got extremely talkative on them which is not her usual self.   She has heard from other people that when they are on pain killers they have become have also become more talkative.   The Panda Bear wishes to advise her readers that people can act a little tipsy on pain killers and the people on them may not realize their thinking has been effected by the medication.

This week President Obama gave a speech on foreign policies.   As readers of the Panda Bear Blog know, the Panda Bear wants the US to immediately get out of Afghanistan and for the US to end all military involvements that aren’t directly related to its self-defense.   She was very disappointed to hear that US troops will remain there 2016.     While the Panda Bear truly feels sorry for the kidnapped girls in Nigeria, she thinks some of the interest of the US in Nigeria comes from it being a big oil producing country.   

To those critics who say it makes the US weak not to get militarily involved in other countries the Panda Bear wishes to say:

1. She does not care.   She would rather have Americans be safe, healthy and cowardly than dead and brave for wars that are none of the US’s business.
2. The US would not be in the position of being seen as backing down from foreign conflict if it minded its own business in the first place and did not threaten other countries with wars over concerns that don’t involve the US.

The Panda Bear remembers the Vietnam War.   She remembers hearing that terrible things would happen if we pulled out of Vietnam (also wasn’t it supposedly a security threat for us to leave Iraq?).  The Communists would think US was weak and take over the world is what the supporters of that war said.    When the US left Vietnam the Communists did not take over the world.    Instead in the long run the cold war ended and the influence of communism declined.

Of course what made the former Soviet Union collapse was serious economic problems.   However, the US has serious economic problems.   Do those who want the US to fight abroad consider the security threat to the US coming from its own economic collapse?
\Though the US is not an empire in the traditional sense of the word, look at all the great empires that have risen and fallen.    One theory about the collapse of world powers is that these world powers overextended themselves.   The Panda Bear thinks that over commitment is a potential security threat to the US.

Of course, the present high unemployment in the US aids the US war effort in that it gets and keeps people in the military.   While the US has no formal draft, high unemployment creates a greater financial incentive for people to join the military.   The Panda Bear is sure that the military would have more recruitment problems if the job market was booming (in contrast, wars can provide a distraction for problems at home).

The Panda Bear thinks Americans are being too passive in demanding that US government and business do something about high unemployment rates.   In future posts, the Panda Bear will discuss other segments of society that can be “benefiting” from a high unemployment rate.

 

  

The Panda Bear Bear on Wage Inequality and Yes People

Today the Panda Bear’s work group had a meeting with the president of the Panda Bear’s organization.   The President of the Panda Bear's organization was talking to the employees about the rising wage inequality in the United States between the lower and middle classes and the very rich.   At the same time, he discussed a potential big project that the Panda Bear's section and the Panda Bear herself would receive. .   He kept on apologizing to the employees for the additional work.     However what bothers the Panda Bear is not the additional work but the fact that it appears that the organization will not give the workers any professional benefit for this increased workload(In fairness to the President of the organization said he would pay for an employee party and he seems to be a nice person).   The Panda Bear strongly suspects the upper management is getting better job titles and more money as the organization expands while the employees are not getting anything additional for expanding workloads.

The Panda Bear felt like saying to the President of the organization something like this:

With all due respect sir, I don't mind doing the additional work.   I am here to work.   What I do mind is that I am not getting any professional benefit from this project and an increased workload.   Of course more money or a changed title would be nice.   However, it really does not have to be money.   Just some kind of performance award or recognition would be nice.   Even just saying you value us as skilled employees would be nice.   I am not a dog or a child.  My weight is a problem.  I don't want food.  You talk about growing wage inequality in the US.  Good deeds start at home.   Give your employees some recognition and respect for the work they do to bring the organization money.  Let us have plants in the office [plants were banned in the summer much to the distress of the employees].

It is not the work I mind but the lack of acknowledgement and respect.

Of course the Panda Bear said no such thing.   The Panda Bear is a humble office worker who needs to keep her job.  However the Panda Bear remembers the time that even humble workers were recognized by organizational leaders.   She knows of many other employees who feel there is an increasing divide between upper and lower level workers in their organizations.   Also many workers are starting to believe that it is a myth that if you work harder that you will be paid more.

Also the Panda Bear is increasingly feeling that leaders like yes people; people who will agree with anything they say even if it is factually wrong.   At work the Panda Bear remembers an old sign.  It said:

Work Rules:

1.  The boss is always rights.

2.   The boss is wrong-see rule number 1.

The Panda Bear every day goes on bended knees saying she is so glad she is not a manager.   She does not understand why bosses like yes people so much; she thinks bosses would really be better off if people were free to tell them the truth so that certain mistakes can be avoided.

The Panda Bear does not have the soul of a yes person.   There are a lot of things in modern organizational life that the Panda Bear feels are mean and counterproductive.  

The Panda Bear might try to work at becoming a yes person if when felt it would help her get a promotion.   However, since she feels that she has been labeled as being unpromotable she feels there is no incentive for her to become a yes person.   Instead the Panda Bear aims at simply treating people respectfully and keeping her mouth closed in terms of her opinions at work.

The Panda Bear is actively hunting for a new job.   There will be more about her job hunt in future posts as she deals with the plight of the unemployed and how she feels the government is not doing enough to help the unemployed.

The Panda Bear on the Boston Marathon , Large Crowds and the 3rd Blog Anniversary of her Blog

The Panda Bear wanted to take a moment to introduce her readers to a blog written by a friend of the Panda Bear,  saltyspring.   The address of the website is http://saltyspring.wordpress.com .   She writes on some similar topics to the Panda Bear.   However, unlike the Panda Bear she has lived many different countries.   The Panda Bear has led a very routine-some might say(including the Panda Bear) unexciting life.   

It is coming up on the year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing.   Just before sitting down to write this post the Panda Bear was near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.   Psychologically, September 11 was much harder on the Panda Bear than the Boston Marathon bombing probably because at the time of September 11 the Panda Bear was working near downtown Boston which some people felt  might be attacked that day.  After September 11, the Panda Bear felt that all large gatherings in urban areas were vulnerable to terrorist threats.  

The Panda Bear has heard there migh have been many more casualties and serious injuries during the Boston Marathon bombings had there not been a lot of medical personnel near the Boston Marathon finish line and the bombs went off near the time additional medical personnel were arriving because of there was going to be a change of shift.  

Now that the Panda Bear is in the area the Boston Marathon will finish she sees signs that the security is being tightened for this year's run and she sees more blockades and barriers than she has in the past   She has heard that more people will attend this year's Marathon than last year's to show we are Boston Strong.   Also there will be a baseball game that day which will also attract large crowds to the area.

While the Panda Bear is all for showing that Americans and Bostonians are strong and unafraid of terrorism that Panda Bear does not always feel that large crowds in urban areas show strength. Also in the case of the Boston Marathon bombing, it does not appear that there was a large terrorist network involved so there is no need prove courage to enemies..    Large crowds are hard to manage under the best of circumstances and can cause many problems.   Probably large crowds make it much harder to secure the area.

In addition many people have to go to work during the Boston Marathon.   The Boston Marathon occurs on a normal workday for most people.  Mr. Panda will have to go to work going  through the  Boston Marathon and he needs to carry some bags to go to work(bags will be checked for security reasons).   Both the baseball game and the Boston  Marathon can attract crowds that are a nuisance to people who don't go to these events.    To have two high crowd events on a normal working day plus it being the year anniversary of the Marathon bombing which may bring more people to Boston is too much for the city to  handle.   She wishes at least the Red Sox game could be cancelled.   The Panda Bear hopes a lot of people don't show up Monday.     Even without an terrorist threats, the Panda Bear worries there are going to be too many people in Boston one  day that and it is just going to make life difficult for people who live and work in the area.

This time of year is also approaching the third year anniversary of the Panda Bear Blog.   The Panda Bear Blog is a blog about a humble full time office worker who wants to challenge the corrupt American establishment.   The Panda Bear views one success she had this year was being a foot solider in the movement to prevent the US becoming militarily involved in Syria.   This movement appears to have been a success.    Next year the Panda Bear wants to push the US to do more to create jobs for Americans.   The Panda Bear believes the high unemployment is not hurting the rich so the politicians aren't putting enough emphasis on helping the economy.

Personally, the Panda Bear remains as humble as ever in her humble daytime office job.  Many people think that certain reforms don't happen in the US because people think they will be able to become part of the corrupt oligarchy.   The Panda Bear knows the oligarchy will not have her as member so therefore she will never be corrupted.