Secrets of the City

According to a recent article in The New York Times, those of us between 32 and 44 years old are increasingly discontent at work, as we wait for the economy to improve, all the while missing out on promotional opportunities, raises, better treatment, new jobs, and improved work-life balance. “The lack of promotional opportunities has pretty much killed job loyalty within a generation,” says Rich Yudhishthu, a 37-year-old GenXer from Minneapolis. Is this true? Do we lack job loyalty now? And is it strictly a result of the economic downturn, or is it somehow related to our GenX distrust in leadership?

The economy certainly doesn’t limit itself to one generation. But, those of us between the ages of 32 and 44 might be hoping for some stability by now. Then again, those who have reached 65 by now might be hoping for security, too — as in social security (and $250/year isn’t going to cut it), and medicare, too! (Instead, they get a great new online tool to compare drug costs and see how much they’re spending.)

Thoughts?

The headline is City Pages‘, and they also include the bizarre “Jesus as a banker” painting that reportedly hung in the bank, but the news story is that Riverview Community Bank has been shut down by the feds. They’re not alone: Banks are failing left and right, apparently.

Via Minnesota Independent: According to Cappello, Wells Fargo introduced a program in 2002 called “Loan Economics,” which gave loan officers the authority to offer discounts to loan applicants. The savings on lower fees and interest rates could be significant, ranging from $500 to as much as $10,000 per loan. The suit claims that the Los Angeles area Wells Fargo manager refused to allow loan officers operating in certain minority neighborhoods to offer the program. Borrowers in predominantly white neighborhoods were given access to the software.

Cappello said the suit stemmed from complaints by black and Hispanic loan officers for Wells Fargo, who said they asked to use the software in their branches but upper management refused.

From the Mpls/St. Paul Business Journal: The North Star State was 39th among a ranking of 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Bizjournals — the online arm of American City (the parent of the Business Journal) — analyzed the recent economic records of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each state’s results were compared to corresponding national averages in six categories. Above-average performances received positive scores, while below-average numbers drew negative scores.

One of the strange qualities of Denny Hecker’s bankruptcy is that we get to peek in on some of his spending habits. The PiPress gives a partial inventory: A pair of $30,000 guard dogs. A $60,000 fur coat. Gifts of jewelry worth $47,000. These were not, by the way, mentioned in Hecker’s bankruptcy filing, which listed listing $18.5 million in assets and $767 million in liabilities; the jewelry was apparently given as gifts (although Hecker couldn’t remember to whom), the guard dogs were apparently family pets, and therefore, for some reason, not assets. DeRusha was puzzled enough to ask why dogs might cost that much, while Bizjournal lists Hecker’s finances. It’s also possible to find the various political donations Hecker made over the years, which went to both Democratic and Republican candidates. Gievn enough time, I suspect I could find a Web page that opens his wallet and displays the contents. Although this sort of information has always been public, it’s never been easier to access it, and to what end? Are you in favor of this sort of information-driven society, or is it too much?

An interesting discussion broke on on Twitter today when it came out that Baja Sol’s CEO is also the chair of the Republican Party in Minneapolis, prompting some to decide not to eat there (summary and links to the conversation courtesy of Heavy Table). DeRusha opens the discussion on his blog, asking “Would you punish a company by taking your business elsewhere, because you dislike the politics of the CEO?”

KARE11 reports that the Pioneer Press will be laying off employees; Brauer is even more specific, saying it will be nine members of the paper’s 138-person newsroom, and points to a Facebook status update from former copy editor Andrew Pritchard reading “became an ex-journalist at 9:25 this morning. Am told there are eight others.” Brauer speculates that the cuts will hit editors and page designers hardest, which would be consistent with newspaper layoffs elsewhere.

TC Sidewalks looks into the precipitous decline of one of Minnesota’s best-known salesmen: The rise and fall of Hecker reminds me about how central suburban greenfield development, home construction, and auto sales have become to the US economy. It’s depressing to think that so much of the US GDP depends on the mindless-construction of planned obsolescence homes in empty farmland, and selling new homeowners the broken dream of remote country living. Hecker honed this to a fine art, attaching his name to a package of car loans, home loans, and easy financing. It turns out, it was all a sham. Now he’s up to his neck in law suits, while the US auto companies, parts suppliers, mortgage brokers, investment banks, and construction firms go belly up one by one.

Okay, I’m Mr. Lungs, not David Brauer, but even I can see some really troubling trends in local journalism. Yesterday I heard that KARE-11 staff were getting a pay cut, on top of the unpaid furloughs they are required to take. Our largest newspaper is in bankrupcy. The layoff ax has cut deep at virtually every major news provider in the state, and we can all see the results. Thinner newspapers. Bush League errors. Excellent jounalists getting laid off.

Why care about the newsies’ troubles? If we want good elected leaders and local governement, we need well-informed and motivated voters. To be effective in business, we have to be able to follow trends and promising leads. While many of us have issues with the way the mainstream media does it job, we really need them to do that job, and to do it well.

As consumers of news, what can we do to make this better?

Today is unallotment day, wherein Pawlenty will unilaterally slash the budget via unallotmen. Pawlenty won’t say just yet what he’ll be cutting, but he’s been bragging about it a little: “The state of Minnesota has never — since 1858 as far as we can find, in 151 years of history in the state of Minnesota, in a biennial budget — never has the budget gone down, until this year,” he said.

The PiPress looks back on his budget for clues to possible cuts, while PIM looks into whether such cuts are temporary or long-lasting. Are they even constitutional?