The Blaisdell Blog

In the United States, over 3 million people work at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25.    This represents almost 3% of all wage and salary workers.               The people earning minimum wage are, by-in-large, whom you would think they are.   Fifty percent of them are 16 to 24 years old, and half that number are teenagers.   Over 75% of them are white, and half that number are women.   Finally, 64% are part-time workers. They work in the jobs you would expect: food prep, cleaning, personal care, sales, manual and unskilled labor.   The debate over raising the federal minimum wage is a constant of politics.   Recently, however, I saw a new approach to the discussion.   I read an article comparing what the minimum wage would have to be to provide monthly income to rent an average two-bedroom home in each state.      There were 17 states at the high end of this list.   The most expensive states were Hawaii and California where it takes a minimum wage at $35 and $30 re

Memorial Day is the day we honor those who died while serving in our nation’s armed forces.   The numbers of those honorees are staggering.         Civil War:                   750,000                        WWI:                           117,000 WWII:                        405,000 Korean War:               37,000 Vietnam:                      58,000 Iraq/Afghanistan:         7,000  Each one of these numbers represents a personal tragedy.  Lives not just lost, but collateral lives altered and a cascade of opportunities never realized.  These lives were not wasted, they were given for what was hoped to be a greater good.  We owe all of these people our attempt at that better world.  But success will not be achieved without a realistic look at a world of humans who are imperfect creatures and where evil is always at work. If there is anything mildly positive about these numbers it is that they show a general downward trend.   Grim as it sounds, the more deadly and s

Last night my husband took me to Menards.   This was not a case of “we need something at Menards” this was more like a date.   I thought I was going to Fritz’s for frozen custard. As it tuns out, the whole “Fritz’s” gambit was one more example of a man offering ice cream and then slipping in some hardware.   To Tom’s credit, I did get ice cream and the grand tour of Menards was simply foreplay.               This was my first time at Menards.   Some of you may find this strange. Menards is the third largest home improvement retailer in the country.   It has some 300 stores in 14 states (most in the Midwest).   The chain started in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and is an all-American success story.   John Menard, Jr. started building post-frame (pole) buildings to finance his college education.   By the time he graduated he had a solid business going and is providing employment and unbounded joy to hardware lovers everywhere.   So why haven’t I been in one? First, there is that missing