Ask Yourself One Question

There are those who think I’m crazy.  There have always been those who thought I was crazy.  There are those who believe that it’s lunacy for me to really report news that goes right to the core of your values and those issues that truly affect your successes and those of your family.  Our increase in news over the next two years, that is, an hour of news at 7 PM, an hour of news at 3 PM, and an additional hour of news sometime between 11 AM and 3 PM, is using a sledge- hammer to drive in a tack.  It’s my belief that even the sledge-hammer won’t give you enough information to successfully plan the next year of your life, let alone the next 20 years of your life.  Ask yourself one question:  Am I going to have enough money to feed my self and my family when I can no longer work past 55 or 65, but I’m likely to live to be 85?

News With Substance

Substantive news:  news that’s more than an inch deep and 4 miles wide; news that really affects your life; news about more than whose house burned down, who was shot during a fight, and which politician is on the take.  I call it news with substance.  And I don’t see a lot of it on television.  I may be making a big mistake in believing that the public understands that present news coverage of nearly all events that really do affect our lives is so shallow that it is of no importance.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

When we ceased broadcasting Judge Judy, a television show that I find repulsive and an insult to the legal problems of this country, I got calls from many people protesting my decision.  I was both amused and shocked by the response.  But after some consideration, it began to trouble me greatly that the Judge Judy solutions seemed to be the guide for solving all of our problems.  I believe that if you think the Judge Judy and her approach is the one that all of us should use as our guide to success, then we’re all in big, big trouble.

August 27, 2013

I’m told by some (not by all) that there simply isn’t enough news or written analysis that’s worthy of broadcasting to require more than local newspapers and local television stations to produce now.  It’s my belief that those who hold this belief have either given up on trying to direct and influence the economic and intellectual policies of this country, or that they simply have no understanding of what’s going on around them.  Whatever the reason, people had better begin to be engaged in the direction their government’s going, or the first thing they’ll know is that they’re falling off a cliff.

Sampling

Sampling may work in buying cookies, ice cream, vegetables and automobiles, but sampling of the news does not work as a guide to what’s happening in the rest of the world.  Americans have become samplers in everything they do, and sampling is not working to help the public know what policies to support that come from each of the two major political parties.

Net Worth

If your present situation in this economy is such that you’re not in the top 5% of the wealthy in this country, you’d better start looking to find out what, if anything, you can do to ensure that your standard of living when you retire will be sustained and supported by the assets you then have.  If 60% of Americans have no net worth, I will bet that in ten years that percentage will rise to 85% — Not a very good outlook.

Information

For those of you who sincerely believe there is barely enough news to fill 3 half hour television broadcasts each day, let me say this to you.  Your desire to get to the sitcoms and the game shows has become so voracious that you don’t even bother to learn about the financial piranhas that are consuming your house and eating your money and preventing your retirement when you thought you’d have a few bucks in the bank to live on.  It’s our intention, because we have the ability to communicate with 97% of you, to provide you with some semblance of information that will help ensure your economic future.  News to us is not limited to rape, robbery and mayhem, which in reality affects very few of you.  We believe news should educate you so that when you get to the end of the road you will not find there is no place for you to sleep, eat or simply enjoy life. 

Freeze You Out Of The Economy

I tie Monday’s and Tuesday’s thoughts to today’s thoughts and I will continue this theme through Friday.  The middle class has spent too much of its time paying little attention to the social and economic factors that influence their lives.  Americans love to be entertained and Americans love the seemingly never-ending amount of entertainment provided by a multitude of sources, including television. Many sitting in front of the television watching mindless sitcoms and so-called reality shows that really have no reality in them, believe that if they watch 30 minutes of 30 second news sound bites at least once a week, they will be able to understand and therefore control the direction of the American economy.  I would say we’re in for a surprise, but I think the surprise is already very real, and I’m not sure that its effects will ever be changed.  While you sat in front of the television set being entertained, the rich folks were planning their next step to freeze you out of the economy.

This Tells You...

Five years ago the stock market fell like a man trying to commit suicide by jumping off a thirty-story building.  Today the stock market is over 5% higher than it’s ever been.  This tells you the rich folks are back to being rich, and yet the poor folks didn’t get to ride along as the rich made their come-back.  If the rich conclude they can remain rich without the financial support of the middle and lower classes, the rich will never see the middle and lower classes again in their rearview mirrors. 

A Very Significant Fact

All of you either remember or have heard about the Great Depression of the late 20s and 30s.  Stories of Wall Street millionaires losing all their money from the time the stock market opened and the stock market closed on the same day.  I’m no economist, historian or social expert, but one factor sticks out in my mind:  Everyone was affected by the Depression—the rich, the poor and those in-between.  This latest economic disaster, while affecting many wealthy people, didn’t affect the wealthy as much as it affected everyone else.  I think that’s a very significant fact and I intend to discuss it further with you this week.

Different World | Different Economy

I cannot imagine working hard for 40 years and reaching the age of 60+.  What it must be like to find yourself unable to work with 20 years of life left and no savings to sustain your life.  When I was born in 1938, life expectancy was 59 years; now it’s nearly 79.  It is a different world and a different economy, and we must solve the problem of how we support those who have done so much, but whose lives now are extended far beyond their years of production.

Working Man’s Production

President Obama asserts that people who work a full week should be paid a minimum wage that is capable of sustaining their lives and their dignity as human beings.  He’s right.  This economy is created by every stratum of Working People.  The rich folks may have been responsible for much of this economy’s success, but don’t you ever believe that the rich got rich without the Working Man’s production.

Question

I’m not sure which world the rich folks live in—especially those who inherited their wealth.  I’m mystified because it seems to me the Working Man who never seems to accumulate any funds to carry him even one year is vilified by the rich folks as a parasite.  What’s wrong with my thinking?

The Working Man Part 2

There are no old brick layers, sheet rock hangers or concrete finishers.  Their careers burn up their bodies at an early age.  They don’t work for poor people—they work for rich people.  And while their careers end before they’re 50, the rich folks’ careers and abilities to produce last into the 70s.  It seems to me the rich folks ought to be thankful for the Working Man, for without the Working Man, there would be no rich folks.

THE WORKING MAN

THE WORKING MAN.  Don’t tell me the Working Man doesn’t earn his wages.  A hell of a lot of “Working People” work a hell of a lot more than their rich counterparts whose income far exceeds their work ethic, abilities, education or brains.  I love construction.  I was drawing 20,000 square foot houses by age 12.  At present I’m building a barn at our home in Montana.  Today (Sunday), I watched four men hang sheet rock.  It is work I could never have done.  They certainly earn their wages.

Race Relations

As chancellor, I made every attempt known to me, even though my knowledge and experience is not sufficient to bring the minorities into the main stream, to open doors for them to go through unmolested.  I failed.  But here I am again enlisting, if not your support, at least your ear so that maybe all of us (and it will take all of us) can move race relations in this country forward by more than the inch and a half it’s moved in the last 60 years.

Crusades

I don’t often go on major crusades. I tend to be involved in a lot of little ones.  But whatever my concentration has been in these mini-crusades during the last thirty years, I intend to use my last years as a crusade to help the minorities and people of lesser financial means to enjoy a fundamentally secure and healthy life.

The Poor

Have you noticed the stock market lately?  It’s over 15,000.   And if that indicates to you that the economy has returned to good health and will prosper indefinitely, I think you might give this a thought.  It’s the rich that drive the market, and it’s the rich who have separated themselves from the common man even more.  Why shouldn’t the market go up if it means the rich don’t have to take care of the poor?

This Country’s Race Relations Problems

Hatred based upon race color and creed doesn’t seem to manifest itself in direct bloody confrontation.  On the surface those direct shots may be the easiest to fix and the remedies simple to develop because all you have to do is pass a law that prohibits specific conduct.  But there is no set of laws or policies that will solve this country’s race relations problems.

Race Relations

Since 2008 I’ve thought the world’s greatest and only problem was its economy.  I saw the banking industry nearly take down an American economy; and yet, with  all our economic problems, they pale when we consider the underlying problem of race relations.  The economy can be fixed, new medicines can be invented to make us healthy, but there seems to be no remedy for the bigotry that dwells within each of us to some degree.

Real Interest And Commitment

I believe there’s a great need for Las Vegas television stations to penetrate the minority communities and draw from those communities their needs for information, news and news analysis to become more and more part of our community.  A recent poll of Hispanics shows that more than 80% of Hispanics would rather watch and listen to news in the English language than in Spanish.  That will make our job easier.  But we will not forget that the news needs of the minorities must be met within in-depth analysis following our news reporters infusing themselves into the minority communities with real interest and commitment.

Useful To All Of You

We will continue to test and experiment on the news and information needs of Southern Nevada. We know you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a princess. But we’re ready to kiss a lot of frogs.  We will be adding considerable substantive news programming that we hope will inform and educate you about most of the issues facing all of us.  We’ll get it wrong many times, but given time and your continued suggestions, even though they sometimes are brutal and filled with four letter words, we think given a reasonable time, we’ll be able to produce a product useful to all of you.