Many of the important events of the past week are continuing stories from weeks gone by. Two of these stories I referred to during the past week were the unemployment rate, which came up in my reflection yesterday, and the British election, which was noted briefly in my commentary outlining where I stand regarding their lack of leadership in the economic calamity in Greece and the European Union.
So, let’s start with the most fascinating of circumstances the greater than expected addition of 290,000 new jobs in April while the unemployment rate continued to rise to 9.9% nationally. Actually, this perceived contradiction has been explained before when it initially became apparent that those who had stopped looking for work and were therefore not counted as unemployed returned when the chances of finding employment looked better. People, such as myself, will continue to frustrate statistical analysis as we redefine our means of contribution and earnings during our transition in this economy.
Taking a close look at the British election one has to wonder if we can take away some lessons from the democracy from which we sprang. Our country took nearly a hundred years to arrive at the two party system. Attempts by a third party to impact government, other than spoiling the election for one of the two parties, have not worked to this point. In England, however, the third party, became power brokers when neither of the leading parties had enough seats in parliament. Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government, the first in 65 years, with David Cameron of the Conservative Party, forcing Labour out of power for the first time in 13 years. I’m not advocating a third party but the idea of a coalition among lawmakers is appealing.
Looking at the mess in the Gulf of Mexico there does not seem to be a particular partisan point of view and one could hope, against odds of course, a consensus about how to avoid such problems in the future can be reached. Taking policy statements from both sides of the aisle, NRDC president Frances Beinecke proposes some ways each of us can help find solutions in her book, Clean Energy Common Sense: An American Call to Action on Global Climate Change.
In another attempt to show his level of pragmatism over idealism President Obama nominated Elena Kagan to replace the more liberal John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. Her ability to raise both the margin of feminism and Judaism to a third of the highest court is unlikely to increase the number of conservatives voting for her confirmation, but her consensus building style may move senators to put the party line aside to act in the best interest of the country.
Of course after the regular season the consensus among basketball sports writers was Cleveland would continue their domination to the NBA Championship. With Boston eliminating LeBron and company in just six games, the question arises whether they are good enough to topple the reigning eastern conference champion Orlando Magic, which is undefeated in the playoffs so far. In the west the Lakers hold the upper hand in my opinion largely due to someone who remains on the sideline. No, I’m not referring to Jack Nicholson. With more NBA championships than any other coach or player in history and a firm grasp of how to influence all forces, players, refs, and reporters, the Zen Master will do everything in his power to return to the finals again.
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