Bottom Of The Totum Pole

One thing we learned on our trip is that the economy, at least in the Western U.S., is still in the dumps. While the southwestern United States does not have totum poles, you'll get the drift.

Our second night out was a planned stop in Las Vegas. We don't go to gamble, we go to eat in any one of many great restaurants. Try to find one open! The resorts were nearly deserted as were the gaming tables. Most of the better restaurants were closed, mostly Sunday through Tuesdays. Oops! We arrived on Tuesday!

We chose, on the strength of it's menu, the Chinese restaurant at the Wynn where we were staying. It was beginning to draw a few conventioneers about the time we were finishing - around 9:30. The service was lax, the food less than stellar and we experienced our first taste of discrimination because of our race.

We had ordered soup. We had no spoons. We waited. And waited. We had serving spoons resting next to our chop sticks, but no soup spoons. We finally flagged a busser. The only white working in the place. He told us, as he delivered the spoons, that the waiters figured whites were too dumb to know the serving spoons weren't for the soup and would ultimately use them. Curious way to treat customers!

Our next clue of how things were going was in Sedona where we visited our usual stop for rugs, kachinas and occasional pieces of pottery or baskets. Buying discretely to keep their artists working. The same held true for the sister store up Oak Creek Canyon. A larger problem looms for them. Selling mostly jewelry, they have to be aware of forgeries. The Chinese, Mexicans and others have refined the art of forgery to such heights it can be impossible to tell the difference. If a piece is being purchased because it's pretty and cheap, little matter. If you're a collector, it's crucial!

That's where a bright spot occurred. We met 'Bumper the talking deer'. He's rigged with push button sound that delivers a delightful enticement into the store. You've got to love puns! The sound at the beginning of the clip is fuzzy due to traffic but if you listen carefully you'll get the message.

The message was the same at a trading post on the Second Mesa of the Hopi reservation as we watched as a couple selling baskets was turned away. They weren't buying.

The same again at the Hubbell trading post on the Navajo reservation. The young girl helping us told of the first ever rug auction being planned - so their weavers can keep working. What really hit home was when she told us the only ones that weren't feeling the pinch were people like her grandmother - who didn't have much to begin with.

The same in Santa Fe. More auctions going on. We stayed at a new resort casino just out of town. It was nearly empty on a Friday night. We didn't even need reservations for a Mark Miller, of Coyote Cafe fame, restaurant.

We had dinner with friends Sunday evening. As we noshed on Navajo tacos (oops, that's supposed to be Indian tacos - a tale for another post!), our host and hostess regaled us with tales of how difficult the art market is from their perspective. She is a well known Navajo potter who makes the circuit of the Indian art markets. People aren't buying and therefore it gets more difficult for them to afford to participate. The shows cover the calender and the country.

Last stop of note was Jackson, Wyoming. Deader than a doornail. Yet every highway project we passed, even those we knew to be several years in the making, sported fancy new stimulus package signs!

It's very selective to say the least. We met more people hurting than those we saw standing around while one worked on a highway project! Do I believe what I'm hearing from Washington? After this trip, not on your life!

So enjoy Bumper. Unless the economy starts to turn around, this may be the only place you can come to enjoy him!

"Stimulating" Pawtucket

I was listening to Obama extolling the health care public option before a hand picked crowd of union members last evening when he came forth with a over used mantra. "If you have a better idea, where is it?" Well, there are better ideas out there. The Wyden Bennett Health Reform Plan for one. I would throw a question back at him, "Why is it being ignored?"

The push for a "public" (read government run) option confounds me. So many people are against it. The reason goes far deeper than the plan itself, but the apparent idiosyncrasies of other government plans the Obama administration has come up with. Like the "stimulus" bill.

Also on last night's news, regarding government run plans, is $550,000 in stimulus money that must be spent on a "shovel ready" project in the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It is going to be used for a skateboard park! It will employ contractors and laborers, materials will be purchased and lunches eaten at local eateries. My question is then what? How long does it take to build a skateboard park in the grand scheme of creating jobs? Sustainable jobs.

A story in the Providence Journal, by Michael McKinney, points out Pawtucket has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in Rhode Island not to mention a $10 million budget deficit.

They've wanted a skateboard park for the kids for years. One has to wonder how many of them still have homes. The stimulus money can only be used for Community Development grant projects. While both the police and fire departments have needs, they cannot get a piece of the pie.

Were cities given the flexibility to spend dollars on their most pressing needs, I'm sure there would be abuses, but still...

The city is facing a $5.2 million school budget deficit and with a $4.8 million shortfall on the municipal side, 40 city jobs have been lost.

$550,000 may not sound like a lot, but I can't help wonder if it could be better used to maintain those 40 city jobs that are probably full time and long term, not to mention the needs of the fire and police departments. Are they not worth saving compared to the 30 to 40 jobs estimated to build the skateboard park that are project specific?

I understand trying to create jobs for those who sorely need them; I'm just not convinced make work on a temporary basis is the way to do it.

The inflexibility is what concerns me. Will it be the same in government run health care? I would guess so. Patient needs will be at the mercy of those setting the rules. Congress no doubt. If that doesn't frighten you nothing will. Should it become reality we won't be skatingboarding in a park built with stimulus dollars, we'll be skating on thin ice!