Economy and jobs

While the economy is coming out of it's latest recession, the economists and pundits discuss how long it will take for the job market to recover. I believe that the market never really recovered from the last recession.

I have been looking for another job for a long time now. I have one that I am doing fairly well in and have made some good friends as well. The problem is I commute 60 miles one way to get to work. My wife works closer to where we live and moving close to work is not really an option right now.

My point is I have been looking on and off for a while to upgrade my job and find somewhere closer to home or Downtown Chicago. The problem when I was looking a few years ago is that there was a recession and I was lucky to get into the company I work for now. At the time I was out of work and there was not much out there to chose from. At that time a recession was ending and all the experts said it would take time for the job market to come back.

When I kept looking at the time I got my job and my current company, I don't really think the job market improved to the point where there was an abundant amount of jobs available. I think the same will happen this time as well This means that the job market which never recovered from the last recession will have taken a second hit. This would be why unemployment is over 10%

Some of the reasons why the job market never recovered are the following;
Outsourcing: Companies sent tech support and customer service jobs overseas. I think these jobs may eventually come back because the quality of the customer service is so poor

Companies that layed the people off during the recession were able to make due with less people and never hired new people when the economy improved.

Technology: For some jobs new technology was able replace a human and do the job faster and cheaper. This save the company time and money.

I hope I am wrong with my analysis but I do believe that the recovery of the job market will take longer that a lot of people believe. Hopefully it will recover and people will be able to get quality jobs soon.

Yankees and Zambrano

I just saw a report that the Yankees inquired about Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs. I may be in the minority on this one, but I say as long as the Yankees take the entire contract of Zambrano and provide some good prospects and major league players in return, get the deal done!!!!

Getting rid of Zambrano would get rid of another clubhouse cancer and a lot of money from the budget that can be spent elsewhere. Zambrano is a nut case who I have grown tired waiting for his potential to become a reality. I think both the team and Carlos could use a fresh start.

On the down side, trading Z would leave a big hole in the rotation that would need to be filled. Zambrano has a lot of talent but is his own worst enemy because he can't control his emotions on the mound. If the Cubs could get a guy like Josh Beckett, I think they would be better off.

My guess is the deal will not get done one of my new Christmas wishes is that it does.

Hockey and the Blackhawks

I have never been a hockey fan until recently. I still really don't understand all the rules and nuances of the sport. I am a Blackhawks fan and started watching them when they started to become good and they started to be on TV more often.

Since the Blackhawks got Kane and Toews I have noticed something about them Up until this year the team has had problems with other teams that were really physical. If a team wasn't as physical and would not check as much they would have an easier time because of their speed.

Now that Kane and Toews are a couple years older, have gotten bigger with weight training and they have signed Hossa from the Red Wings, it seems like they do a better job against the big physical teams. To me their measuring stick will be against the Red Wings. The Wings are a big, fast and physical team that have dominated the smaller Blackhawks in the past. If the Hawks can beat the Wings at their own game they will have a shot to go all the way.

GO BLACKHAWKS!!!

Good job Jim Hendry

The worry before the Cubs 2009 season ended was how would Jim Hendry trade Milton Bradley with the $21 million left on that deal. Well Hendry was able to do it and it appears he will get money back in return!!!!

Jim Hendry has had years where he has done well making deals and has also done poorly. Some of his better deals was getting Aramis Ramirez from Pittsburgh for practically nothing!!! Another notable deal is to bring in Ted Lilly who has been one of the Cubs top performing pitchers!!

A couple of the bad deals Hendry has made would be the awful contracts to Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley. Soriano has performed well at times but his contracts is way to large for his numbers and he can't be traded. Bradley is overpaid, an idiot and underperformed as a Cub.

I don't care what the Cubs do with Silva. It's possible they may trade him somewhere else or bury him in the bullpen. As long as the team didn't have to trade Bradley, pay his salary and pay someone else's salary on top of it, it's a great
deal.

Now Jim Hendry has to make some quality deals with some people who are less crazy and more talented. If this works out Jim Hendry may have saved his job for another year.

Cubs news

There have been several reports that the Cubs are about to finalize a deal with the Seattle Mariners to trade Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva. If this trade happens good riddance to Bradley and now the Cubs can start down the road of filling the holes on the team that need to be filled.

The Cubs need a center fielder, a 2nd baseman and another starter. Hopefully they can fill some of these holes through free agency. I would like to see their top prospect Starlin Castro get a shot at shortstop and Ryan Theriot moved to 2nd base.
Hopefully the team can catch lighting in a bottle and one of their pitching prospects can step in for Ted Lilly while he is out and win a job.

As long as the team can stay healthy and play to their potential, I am cautiously optimistic about next year. Soriano has to stay healthy and play like the Cubs hoped he would when they signed him to his huge contract. Ramirez is the best player on their team and if his shoulder is healthy he will be a force to be reckoned with. Lee has to have a year like last year and he will be fine.

Only time will tell how next season will go but I hope that it will be the season that ends over 100 years of agony for a fan base and a baseball team.

Commercials

When you are in the car as much as I am, I listen to the radio and hear lots of commercials. The commercial that aggravates me the most is for Marconi Giardiniera.

These commercials are supposed to portray Chicagoans with thick Chicago style accents worrying about if they can get Giardiniera to put on their Italian beefs or for tailgating. The problem I have with these commercials is they make it sound like all Chicagoans are not very intelligent, have thick accents and sound like they would be a character in the Sopranos. It would be nice if the producers of this spot would give Chicagoans a little more credit for their intelligence and less of a mobster mentality. I am from the Southwest side of Chicago and probably have some sort of accent although I have never really noticed one. I do not feel that this commercial represents me or how I talk.

On the other end of the spectrum I get a kick out of the Subway commercials where 4 guys are sitting at lunch and they have kids voices over lapping the adults voice and they are offering the guy eating the Sub their lunch. I find it a very unique and amusing commercial and do not mind watching it.

In the end both commercials are doing their jobs in making the public remember the product and talking about them.

Weather People

On the eve of the a snow storm headed towards the Chicagoland area, I would like to to pose this question. Would it be possible for the weather people on TV and radio to get together and get their stories straight?!?!?!!??!

On the way home from work I heard one weather report that indicates the snow will come Tuesday and cold Wednesday and on another report the snow will be Wednesday and cold Thursday. THIS WAS ON THE SAME RADIO STATION!!!!! I realize that weather can be unpredictable and weather patterns can change without much notice, but it would be nice to have a little a consistency from the weather people to be able to plan my commute.

One person who I find amusing doing the weather is Tom Skilling of WGN News. Skilling gets in so much detail with his weather forecasts that after awhile I stop paying attention. Once I start to pay attention again the forecast is over and I have no idea what to expect. It's hard to know if Skilling is right or wrong when you can remember and/or understand what he is predicting.

With the technology available today, forecasting the weather is a lot better than it used to be but it's hardly where it should be. All I ask to get a consensus once in awhile and have it be correct.

Fantasy Football

It's Sunday night and I am watching my third football game of the day. Just a few years ago I would have watched the Bears game and then gone on to do something else. Two years ago, I joined a fantasy football league and all of that changed. Now I watch games that I have a rooting interest in because I have players on my fantasy team playing in that game. I usually do not care who wins that particular game(unless it's Green Bay haha) as long as the player on my fantasy team does well.

I have to think that I am not the only one this has happened to. The television networks have to be making a lot of money indirectly from any of the fantasy sports whether it be football, baseball, hockey and basketball. That would be because the people, who have a rooting interest and possibly a monetary interest, if their leagues are set up that way, are tuning in to watch the players on their teams.

I have yet to play in a fantasy league for baseball, hockey or basketball. I have considered playing in a Baseball league but have not done it yet. I expend too much time and energy following the Chicago Cubs every year to follow multiple teams and their players.

As for Fantasy Football itself, I think it's a lot of fun to play a general manager
of a team and try and figure out who you want to start and what match ups will get the most points. This being my third year, I still have to work on identifying the best match ups for my team and to start the correct players. Of course since we can not predict the future, you never know when one of your regular starters will get shutdown by the other team or when your bench players will have a great game.

Thoughts on the Chicago Cubs

With the house cleaning trade of Jake Fox and Aaron Miles I would like to provide some thoughts about the Chicago Cubs. I like the new owners and believe they are going to try to get a Cubs fans a winner. The Ricketts family are smart people and they will learn fast what they should and should not do with the franchise.

I would have liked to see Lou Pinella retire after this season. I am tired of listening to him act like a doddering old man who can't get his thoughts straight. It doesn't look good for him or the team. It doesn't seem like he has the energy to try new things to help his players perform better. That being said he still can manage a baseball game very well. I would like to have see Ryne Sandberg replace Pinella when he leaves. I think Sandberg has earned the shot at managing with his years of experience in the major leagues and managing experience in the minor leagues. I think Sandberg will be good at it.

During his tenure, Jim Hendry has made some very good moves and some poor moves as well. In 2003 Hendry practically "stole" Aramis Ramirez from Pittsburgh. Ramirez is probably one of the top clutch hitters in baseball and is an above average defender at third base. On the other end Hendry brought in Milton Bradley who has been a disaster on the field and in the clubhouse. Hendry deserves another shot at fixing this team anyway he can.

To start off Bradley has to go one way or another. I understand they don't want to pay a lot of his salary but you took on this risk knowing his baggage that he came with. Go get Curtis Grannderson to play center field. He had a bad year with the bat but should rebound with the switch the the National League. I am not sure you should have an untouchable prospect when you haven't won the World Series but consider giving up one of your prized prospects to get him.

Hendry may want to consider finding out what he can get for Zambrano and/or Soriano as well. Zambrano may get more interest around the league and he needs to go. Carlos is has become the prima dona that Sammy Sosa was. It's time to move on because you can't count on Zambrano in a big game situation. If you can get rid of him, take a look at Roy Halladay or Lackey. Soriano has been a disaster but his contract is so bad that no team would want him or his contract. If by some miracle that he could be traded, the team should pick up Matt Holliday.

The Cubs need to have Soriano and Ramirez come back next year completely healthy and put up big numbers. Lee has to play like he did last year. Theriot has to play smarter, Fukodome has to be more consistent and Soto has to return to his rookie form. The starting rotation could use another veteran arm but has a couple young guys that can possibly do the job. The bullpen looks solid but could use another veteran.

Baseball will hold it's winter meetings next week and hopefully the Cubs can get a lot done in regards filling their holes. I have faith that Jim Hendry can do the job to fix this team and get them to the World Series.

Congress

It's amazing to watch how Congress works these day or should I say how it doesn't work. When one of the political parties in Congress have a plan that they really want to get passed, they have a hard time getting everyone in their own party to agree much less the opposing party.

It seems everyone in Congress is handled by one special interest group or another. Instead of voting for their conscience or even for the constituents, their vote is directed by special interest groups. These groups control the money and thus control how congress votes.

When the House of representatives was voting on their version of the health care plan it was interesting to read how many special interest groups from the latino groups to the Catholic Church had their say as to what goes into the bill. At the very least the Church should not be involved with discussion regarding legislation. That will be another post for another day!! Among the Latino groups concerns were issue related to illegal aliens. My question is why? Illegal immigrants are not supposed to be here in the first place!!! They should not be covered either. Once again a topic for another day : )

Now that bill has to go to the Senate to vote on a completely different version of it. Then the bill has to go into negotiations between the two house of Congress and if they can agree on a new bill, it has to be re-voted on by each house. This is how each piece of legislation works it's way through Congress. Wouldn't it be more efficient to have both houses of Congress negotiate the bill together first and then take the final bills back to their respective houses to vote?

On top of the inefficient way of creating these bills there is too much influence by the aforementioned special interest groups and too many back room deals by the congressman themselves that corrupts the process and makes the bill too large and expensive.

Winston Churchill once said the Democracy was the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried. In this day of email, instant messaging and online bill pay, Congress needs to become more efficient and work more for the people than for themselves and the special interest groups.