William and Kate Finally Wed, Len Goodman Gets A National Table Dance

It appears to this boomer, that the British have progressively taken over the airwaves and television stations throughout this nation, and this past two weeks simply highlighted the degree to which Americans are now served up British political commentary and also even entertainment fare.

The highlight of this week, of course, was the fourth month long commercial for the "Royal Wedding" of Prince William and his chosen commoner bride, Catherine Middleton. And U.S. gossip shows abounded both hosted by primarily British commentators, and also those in the U.S. media who mostly work for British television in this country. Fox in particular, with the Fox of course being the national animal of those Brits. Of course, this couple has been in the news for well over nine years now, so I guess this dramatic finish to almost a decade of courting was no surprise, and it was reported that over a million British pounds were spent simply on the flowers alone.

Of course, much also was made that the royal family would be picking up much of the tab, which was also carried by that Brit owned "Sky TV" who provided all those big screen televisions throughout London, I would guess, so that no one on that island could miss a moment of the drama.

Although what was left out is that all that wealth has been accumulated for centuries from the British public in the form of taxes, so actually no new taxes were inflicted for the wedding, simply the interest used on all those levied by this and prior monarchs.

Interesting, although poignant mention was made of the groom's mother, her side of the family sat with the family of the bride and little coverage was even given to any of the guests from that quarter, but given that marriage did not begin or end well, I suppose again the British are counting on the public's short memory to take care of that oversight.

I wish them both happiness, that hopefully their union will not end up another casualty of "the firm," as it appears some of those Brits refer to the demands of all those tours, public appearances,vacations, social events and, well, you know.

The second event was the celebration of "Devilish Delights" or "Delectable Delights" or some such theme week on that BBC Worldwide production, "Dancing with the Stars." Which has progressively also degenerated into a show that attempts to actually portray true ballroom dancing, rather than this flashy knockoff version, and with lots and lots of skin in order to up those ratings and titillate the audience.

Or Len Goodman.

Celebrating his birthday this week, that all American reality show star and female contender, Kendra something or other, and her partner truly knocked the socks (and hormones) of the oldest judge on the panel, Britain's Len Goodman, by doing a table dance identified as a samba. Her scores were never higher, and her enthusiasm and hip shaking got her the highest score yet.

But on the repeat performance, it appears Kendra is not the dumb blonde she appears to be, and seems the light was beginning to sink in that she just may have been had in the choreography and British sense of "all good fun," for their global profit.

Seems maybe Princess Kate and Kendra the reality star may have more in common than it would appear.

Maybe Joan Rivers ought to do a show on that.

Federal Taxpayer Monies Go To Study The Unemployed

As one who has been seeking employment in several fields for many months as are literally thousands of other Americans, especially the empty nesters now in the boomer generation, last week while visiting the local job force center I was amazed to see just where some of those stimulus monies are now going.

Posted throughout the center were advertisements from a local college requesting the jobless to be interviewed or videotaped in order to "tell their story" about their quests to seek work in this depressive U.S. economy by both the unemployed and underemployed.

The work force center, of course, was packed and every single computer was taken, even those in the overflow rooms.

Seminars on resume writing, computer skills and training, and even mock interviewing are also provided by the local communities through federal grants aimed at "getting Americans back to work." Putting many people to work or providing jobs aimed at both studying and assisting the jobless. Of course, many are jobless due to the fact that most of those jobs are taken by former state workers and teachers who are already collecting pensions or retirement from their former governmental positions, or students who go unpaid but are getting their credit hours at the unemployed's expense.

Connections with also local social services agencies or taxpayer funded special interest groups receiving federal grants aimed at assisting the jobless are also provided, along with classroom space and time.

Most of these centers also contain individuals who "market" to the unemployed, as if they had the monies to even pay for their services, rather than their rent or utilities with what little savings they have left, or their unemployment.

A changed job market (with online applications which take over an hour each to complete using "keywords" that will set your resume apart from the pack) and fewer and fewer jobs due to the tech focuses of many industries which have outsourced or computerized all those former jobs resulting in fewer middle income positions is this boomer's opinion.

With the majority of those jobs paying less than $11.00 per hour, especially those call center jobs which are nothing more than mills due to the focus on gaining those training dollars and meeting conflicting performance matrixes, rather than employee development and retention just might also be at work here. I mean most of those large cell phone companies and insurers and financial concerns which have seen better days did grab at those billions in stimulus monies, and of course big brother never gives without having at least some strings attached. Most are "temp" jobs actually due to the actual working conditions and performance standards which must be met in order for those employees to "earn back" some of their taxpayer dollars since, of course, most of those businesses would like to keep as much of those stimulus monies for corporate profits rather than providing new jobs as they can.

Recently, I saw a job posted by a local real estate company asking for an administrative assistant (with graphic design skills). The individual would be responsible for handling creating all the flyers and brochures on a weekly and monthly basis for all the agents in several publications which were used by the company each week/month to stimulate their sales, tracking the agents sales and listings, handling any and all secretarial/administrative tasks assigned and creating and maintaining spreadsheets and reports for the company.

It was represented as a part-time position of 30 hours per week paying $11.00 per hour, which "might" go to full time in a few months as "anticipated" sales increased.

A local bank just announced that it will now be charging its customers for using their ATM cards to check their balances, rather than using the internet and raising its minimum balances for free checking and upping its monthly fees for accounts under those minimums by about 40%. About the same amount Americans now face in raising gas prices throughout the nation, post Deepwater and the greed of the global oil industry during both this war, and after that disaster.

Bet those observations don't make the final cut.

Washington's Shame, Shame on Bankers Far Too Little, Way Too Late

It was reported in the mainstream media that Washington has "chastized" the banking industry and its foreclosure practices during this recession, calling for an investigation of homeowners who were foreclosed upon in 2009-2010 and purportedly inflicting "heavy fines" on those banking institutions if found to have been using loosey goosey practices with respect to the ongoing foreclosures throughout the country.

With most of the homeowners affected by this recession and boom and bust cycle starting in 2005-06, it does seem this is, once again, far too little and way too late.

And, of course, there has been no investigation initiated in order to address those contracts and loan documents and their unlawful and illegal practices which even lead to what has transpired this past five years.

Some of those bogus loans are still being marketed by many of these institutions to new home buyers and also to the young for their educational costs - many based upon the British LIBOR lending rates and not the U.S. prime at all.

The politicians are hard at work, and it is clear that the 2012 elections are actually their main concern with this recent announcement.