The Press Sun Bulletin Has an IBM Blog?
Ok, I'm confused... Why does the Press Connects website have an "IBM Blog?" I guess I missed why the area is still concerned with a corporation that pulled out, moved their head quarters, dismantled their manufacturing facilities, etc...
I know it was a huge deal for about fifty years here, but that is over and we need to refocus on building an new economic base, forget the manufacturing industry. I guess I just don't understand why people are still so focused on the company here. Instead we need to figure out how to attract the high-tech services sector, leverage BU to bring in talent and rebuild the area. There is so much potential, we just need to harness it.
Maryland: Four airlines apply to serve Hagerstown
WASHINGTON COUNTY — Four companies have applied to provide commercial air service out of Hagerstown Regional Airport through a federal subsidy.
Is Hagerstown Improving?
"I have a question for our city fathers. If downtown Hagerstown is being improved so much, why are people moving from that area to the outer edges of Hagerstown, where I live? And people that moved into my area all tell me the same thing: They have to get away from the traffic congestion, no parking and the extremely loud stereos up and down the streets all the time. Now we have a couple (of people ) with loud stereos occasionally driving by, and some speeders, of course, but the times I've driven through downtown Hagerstown, I see no improvements." - Hagerstown
This is an interesting question to ask yourself as you drive through the town center and around 40 East and West. I think the simplest answer to this question is yes, the town is improving slowly but surely. The point I would emphasize though is that the progress is slow due to the state that Hagerstown deteriorated into after the 1970's when the rail yard went away. The economy in Washington County has been so bad for so long that there is no such thing as a quick fix to the situation that we find ourselves in currently.
If you look at the renovation occurring at some of the major buildings around North Potmac street, you will see the face of the Hagerstown to come in the next 10 - 15 years. The transformation will not be overnight, but it will come.
Are their loud stereos in the city? Almost all the time.
Are the streets overly congested? Every weekday rush hour.
Is there a high poverty rate? Absolutely.
For all of these reasons I don't live in the city center. Actually I live very close to Smithsburg because I like the space and the people that live around me. But then again, as more money gets pumped into downtown, it will become cleaner, more affluent and appealing to young professionals like myself who want to be in a more urban setting. Small, well maintained cities are great places to live and there are plenty of people who want to be in that environment. Hagerstown is moving in this direction and will get there in the next several years.
It seems that all too often people forget that improvement on this type of scale is not fast moving, nor does it always benefit the people living in the town currently. To revitalize a city of Hagestown's size takes years and lots of capital from outside sources which means the first companies and people to invest in the area are taking a substantial risk. The investors willing to take this step are not easy to find and like almost any business decision there must be a cost-benefit analysis done before any actions are taken. There is enough new money moving into the area now that this analysis is beginning to look favorable to more investors who are slowly trickling into the area.
Keep watching over the next 10 years and I bet you will see an increasing number of projects cleaning up downtown and making it into a much more trendy and cosmopolitant place to live.
Volvo Powertrain to "Idle" 59 More Workers
HAGERSTOWN — The Volvo Powertrain plant in Hagerstown laid off 59 workers this week as the heavy-duty truck market continues to skid, officials said Wednesday.
The layoffs, effective this past Monday, are in addition to the 99 workers idled here in April.
The two furloughs reduce Volvo’s work force at the local plant, which makes engines and transmissions for Mack and Volvo trucks, to 1,278 employees.
Volvo Powertrain is going to "idle" 59 more workers this week as the economy continues to falter during what is now essentially a recession. Between rising fuel and food costs, the demand for large vehicles, construction equipment and large trucks just isn't what it used to be which makes sense. But how one of Hagerstown's largest employers will weather the rest of the storm is an important question that has yet to be answered. Hagerstown is built on these types of businesses, especially since the rail yard was dismantled decades ago. Hagerstown needs these businesses to continue the renewed growth that we have seen over the past several years. The money that these workers spend in town help revitalize the downtown area, clean up the old industrial complexes that no longer are in operation and ensure that Hagerstown's cultural growth continues into the future. I hope that Volvo can find someway to continue their operations well into the future as losing these employers hurts the town, the people and the companies.
Should the Government Limit Gas Mileage?
"To the Hagerstown caller who commented on bad gas mileage: Spot on. If the government limited weight to under 3,800 pounds and power to under 300 horsepower, then this wouldn't be a problem, but we are American."
Why should the government limit the gas mileage of vehicles? Since this is a free market (somewhat) and consumers are supposed to vote with their dollars which is why they will stop buying gas guzzling vehicles eventually. You want to remove the SUVs and large trucks that people don't need from the roads? keep the gas prices going up, it's only a matter of time until people can no longer afford to drive them. Or if we want to look at this from a green perspective then the government should tax the heck out of the larger vehicles on the road and that will force people to change. We may be Americans but hit us in the pocketbook and people will change.
Manufacturing and China: The Truth.
"The Americans are making China very rich. If Wal-Mart and all these other outfits would quit ordering things and importing things from China and everything would be made in America, China would not have near the wealth that it has now. That's the American way, I guess, so." - Williamsport
And to this point I say: If you think you want to stop giving money to the Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesians, etc. then you'd best be ready to pay a lot more for what you are buying. There is one reason why it is made there: cheap labor and the more labor costs, the more you are going to pay. The best part about this whole issue is that if companies and the US were to actually cut off trade with these countries, everyone would be begging them to make things in China again because costs were too high.
As countries become more affluent and industrialized, this type of labor and industry moves away in favor of high-tech industry that requires more education than manual work. Yes, there will always be some jobs in the US that are manufacturing oriented, but even if we did bring these factories back to the US they would not increase the job market by much due to a high degree of automation. People in rural areas assume that if we bring back manufacturing to the US, the clock will turn back to 1945 and everyone will have a job again and quality will be stellar. This is not the case, in fact all we will do is speed up the automation of processes if we do this and reduce the needed human intervention in the processes down to a manager and some robot technicians to keep everything running.
If you want to stop making China rich, spend a lot more money on things from niche retailers in the US and then come back and tell us how much you hate Wal-Mart and China. I doubt you will be ready to argue this point once you are spending 5 times as much on those same goods that are making China rich. The free market is an amazing thing and while it has certainly led to the reduction of manufacturing jobs in the US, I would argue we really are not worse off for it in general.
Bush: Mr. Ethics Himself
"I am a Bush lover. The reason that I'm a President Bush lover is because he's fair, he's a good president, and he cares about values and morals; something that we can't say about a lot of other of our public officials. And I am a Republican, and I did pick up a rifle and I did fight for this country." - Hagerstown
So he cares about values and Morals? When does going to war for a lie constitute a moral act? When does causing tens of thousands to lose their lives in a war that was a complete waste a moral act? When did morals include vetoing federal research grants for stem cells that could potentially fix numerous nervous system problems? When did supporting a clearly ineffective abstinence only sex education policy in Africa constitute as a morally sound thing to do when the policy is a complete failure?
I would argue he is also one of the least "Fair" presidents that we have seen in a long time. How many tax dollars did you save compared to the millionaires in this country under him? How have your job prospects faired during his tenure in office? I'll take a guess and argue that many of the jobs you might be looking for are no longer in the US.
The only thing that have faired well under George Bush are his own interests, the religious right, and the growth of hatred for the US among the rest of the humans on Earth. We are heading for one of the biggest shocks to our economy in a long time, our military is in shambles, we are in a war that we cannot ever "win" nor extricate ourselves from, and I honestly don't know if we can repair the damage we have done to our standing in the world community. Your rifle is not going to solve any of these problems and if you are a true fiscally conservative republican (which is actually what republicans are historically known for) you would not support George Bush.
State of the Union: Same as Last Year + A Slowing Economy
Ok, so I know I will be ripped apart by the conservative readers out there for this but was there anything new in the State of the Union address this year? Here is my summarization of the address:
- Let's accomplish more in a bi-partisan atmosphere
- The economy is slowing
- The war in Iraq is and will be successful
- No Child Left Behind is successful
- Let's make my tax cuts permanent
- The housing market is still in trouble
- Stop putting ear-marks in spending bills
- We need to develop alternative energy sources and people tell me we have a thing called "Global Warming" going on
- By the way... If you attempt to send me anything that isn't exactly what I want, it will be vetoed. How's that for bi-partisan action!
So rather than saying what will be coming this year and all of the great things we are going to do, President Bush dwelled on the past and tried to convince us that he had done a good job in the past year. Shouldn't the achievements of the past year speak for themselves? Should we need this speech to try and convince us that everything finally went to plan? I would have liked to hear some plans for things that he hopes to accomplish that maybe are not what he would have attempted earlier in his presidency. Instead we got a regurgitation of what has already happened which is not what should be said in this type of forum.
I guess I am just a disappointed moderate that really has become completely disillusioned with the current administration. All I seem to ever hear are hollow promises and arguments that use half truths to try and convince me that things are not as bad as they sound. The only good thing to come of this presidency is that it has energized the population to finally take who they elect as president seriously again and get out there to make a choice. I just hope it is the right one.
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