Brexit: Where do the parties stand?

10/23/19, BBC

The government's Brexit legislation is officially in "limbo" after MPs rejected the three-day timetable for getting the Brexit bill through Parliament. But where do the parties stand on Brexit?

Conservatives - 288 MPs - Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he wants to leave the European Union (EU) on 31 October "do or die". Mr. Johnson succeeded in negotiating a revised deal which scrapped the controversial Irish backstop and replaced it with a new customs arrangement. While he wants to leave with a deal, the PM says he is willing to exit without one, in order to deliver Brexit by the current deadline. However, this pledge now looks to be out of his hands. Mr. Johnson was forced to write a Brexit extension letter to the EU after MPs failed to approve the revised deal by 19 October. If the EU grants an extension which moves the Brexit deadline to the New Year, Mr. Johnson says he will push for an early election.

Labor - 245 MPs - Labor favors another public vote on Brexit. If the party wins an election, Jeremy Corbyn says he will hold a referendum which offers a "credible" Leave option versus Remain. Under its Leave option, Labor says it will negotiate for the UK to remain in an EU customs union, and retain a "close" single market relationship.  This would allow the UK to continue trading with the EU with minimal checks, but it would prevent it from striking its own trade deals with other countries.

SNP - 35 MPs - The SNP is pro-Remain and wants the UK to stay a member of the EU. It has been campaigning for another referendum on Brexit. The SNP's ultimate objective is for an independent Scotland that is a full member of the EU.

Liberal Democrats - 19 MPs - The Liberal Democrats have pledged to cancel Brexit if they win power at the next general election. This is new policy, which was endorsed by party members in September at the Lib Dem annual conference.

Plaid Cymru - 4 MPs - The party backs remaining in the EU, despite Wales voting "out" in the referendum. It wants a further referendum and to Remain.

Brexit Party - 0 MPs - The Brexit Party wants the UK to leave the EU without a deal in what it calls a "clean-break Brexit".

Brexit has left the Conservative Party heavily divided, with 21 of its MPs expelled after they voted to pave the way for a possible extension to the Brexit deadline.

  

If a referendum was held, Mr Corbyn has not said which way he would vote, although he has pledged "to carry out whatever the people decide". Other senior figures, including shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, have said they favor remaining in the EU. Labor has so far resisted the government's attempts to hold an early election. It says it won't agree to one until the threat of a no-deal Brexit has been taken "off the table".  Just like the Conservatives, Labor has had to deal with internal divisions over its Brexit policy. More than 25 Labor MPs wrote to Mr Corbyn in June, saying another public vote would be "toxic to our bedrock Labor voters".

The Lib Dems say they will continue to work with other parties to try to bring about a referendum before an election is called.

Democratic Unionist Party - 10 MPs - The DUP has an agreement with the Conservatives whereby it lends support in the Commons.  However, while the DUP wants the UK to leave the EU, it is unhappy with the revised deal negotiated by Mr. Johnson. It's worried that the integrity of the union between Northern Ireland and rest of the UK could be threatened, because Northern Ireland would have to stick to some EU rules. The DUP wants to be given a veto, so that it has the option to reject the new customs arrangement in the future.

The Independent Group for Change - 5 MPs - This party is made up of MPs who left the Conservatives and Labour, in part because of their positions on Brexit. They back another referendum, or "People's Vote", and want the UK to remain in the EU.

Green Party - 1 MP - The party's one MP, Caroline Lucas, has been a vocal campaigner for another referendum, and believes the UK should stay in the EU.

It say Mr. Johnson's revised Brexit plan is a bad deal because it does not "maximize the Brexit opportunities".

The party has previously pledged to stand candidates in all 650 seats across the UK, in the event an an early election.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48027580

Party Votes        Exit EU       Remain     Leave UK

Conservative      267               21

Labor                                    245

Scottish NP                             35              35   

Lib Dem                                  19

Plad Cymru                              4

Green                                       1

Brexit                     0

                           267             325

The minor parties not mentioned in this article are:

Independent               35

Sinn Fein                      7

Group for Change        5

                                    47

The EU has approved an extension up to January 2020.

Boris Johnson is pushing to hold an election of Parliament in December 2019 to give UK voters a chance to replace members who are resisting Brexit.

It is clear that the Labor Party is the target of this election. Working-class Brits have been damaged the most from this EU membership.

The Parliament needs to be replaced with members who support voter demands for sovereignty.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Brexit Extended

The UK will not leave the EU on October 31, 2019. But UK voters might have an opportunity to fire their members of Parliament on December 12, 2019. This election is all about leaving or remaining in the EU.
 The new Brexit deadline will be January 31, 2020, by Jen Kirbyien, 10/28/19.

It’s time to revise the calendars, yet again: It looks like the new Brexit deadline will be January 31, 2020.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said Monday that EU leaders had agreed to the United Kingdom’s request for a “flextension” until the end of January.

The “flextension” gives the UK the option to depart the EU earlier on December 1 or January 1  if the UK Parliament can ratify the new Brexit deal and generally just make a decision on Brexit.

Though UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed that he would take the UK out of the EU by October 31 “do or die,” the UK has accepted the delay offer. Johnson had to because the same law that forced Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ask the European Union for a delay against his wishes also required him to accept a January 31 extension if offered.

In that sense, this news that Brexit is about to be postponed for the third time is pretty anti-climactic. The EU has wanted to avoid (and did not want to be blamed for) a costly no-deal Brexit and all the trade and economic disruption that would likely ensue, so it was expected to grant a delay. It was not so much a matter of if, but of exactly how long.

The Brexit legislation the UK needs to implement before exiting the EU advanced last week, though British lawmakers rejected Johnson’s accelerated timeline of just three days to scrutinize the bill.

That would normally be a promising sign for getting the Brexit legislation done, perhaps even before January. But Johnson has put that legislation on hold, for now.

Instead, he’s looking to use the extra time to try to get a general election on December 12, which the prime minister argues will break the parliamentary stalemate over Brexit and give him the chance to return a majority to Parliament that wants to get his version of Brexit done.

The question now is whether Parliament will go along with his plan. Because of a 2011 law known as the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, a two-thirds majority of members of Parliament (MPs) must vote in favor of an election. Johnson has tried to call an election twice before, but the opposition parties have resisted until this point. They essentially wanted to wait until Johnson was forced to ask for this extension, thus betraying his promise that he’d rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask for a Brexit delay.

But now, even with a delay, Johnson’s December election plans are still in doubt. The main opposition Labour Party sees an election as risky, as Johnson’s party remains more popular — and so far, it doesn’t look as if Johnson’s broken Brexit promise will hurt him. (Though ask former Prime Minister Theresa May how much things can change.)

The pressure is certainly on Labour to go for an election now. They got the Brexit extension they desired. They’re in the minority, and there’s no working majority in Parliament. It doesn’t help that other opposition parties are now angling for an election, including the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats.

The Liberal Democrats, in particular, have gained popularity over their resistance to Brexit, and they want an election now so they can still run on a platform of stopping the UK-EU divorce. That won’t work as well if Brexit happens.

Still, most reports suggest that Labour will abstain (so, at least not voting against it). That would still deny Johnson the votes to get an election.

Which is why the very unlikely partners of the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, and Johnson might be cooking up an alternative plan to get an election by December 9 (a few days earlier than Johnson’s December 12 date). They’re proposing to amend that 2011 act that’s prevented Johnson from calling elections. New legislation would only require a simple majority, making it much easier to get an election.

The Brexit “flextension” looks to be set. But now it’s up to Parliament to decide whether MPs will use this time to actually debate and pass the Brexit legislation — or to focus on what’s sure to be a tense, Brexit-centric election campaign.

https://www.vox.com/world/2019/10/28/20936119/brexit-news-january-31-extension-european-union-uk

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Brexit View in Early 2019

From the Brexit Vote on 6/23/16 to January 2019, Pro and Anti Brexit forces have had time to consider the benefits of reclaiming UK sovereignty vs. the problems it might cause. The advantages of leaving the EU far outweigh the problems. See below.

22 Pros and Cons of Brexit, by Editor in Chief, vittana.org.

When the day ended on June 23, 2016, it felt like the entire world was going to change. The population of Britain voted with a 52% majority to leave the European Union. Gone would be the 40 years of building relationships as the people decided it was better for their country to push forward alone.

After two years of negotiations on how to make this happen, the Parliament voted in January 2019 to conclusively tell Prime Minister Theresa May to start new talks with the European Union instead of taking the deal.

That could take what was available off of the table for the country, creating a concern for a “no deal” arrangement.

The departure date is set for March 29, 2019, and at the time of this writing, there is nothing in place that offers Britain a deal. There isn’t even an option to have another referendum on the deal at this point. It will be something that happens one way or another.

At this stage (and for several years afterward), the pros and cons of Brexit are mostly theoretical based on information that we can infer from the past two years of negotiations. Here are some of the critical points, however, to look at closely.

List of the Pros of Brexit

Brexit may help the country experience immediate cost savings - One of the reasons that Brexit passed during its referendum involved the cost of membership to the European Union. Britain paid £13.1 billion in membership dues to the multinational structure in 2016, while receiving just £4.5 billion in return through spending. That means the nation experienced a loss of £8.6 billion in just the one year. If you were to multiply that figure over a decade, then the savings would create a sufficient cash reserve that could be useful in a variety of ways.

Brexit would shift the emphasis of trade for Britain. - The EU-28 is treated as its own import/export block on the global stage. Britain sends over 50% of their exports to countries in this bloc. Separating themselves from the European Union gives the country an opportunity to negotiate its own trade partnerships instead of relying on the multinational governing body to do it for them. Although they would no longer benefit from the trades arranged by the EU, they will also have the final say in what happens instead of being a contributing voice to the process.

Brexit establishes the sovereignty of Britain. - Being part of the European Union requires Britain to give up some of its unique identity. They were forced to give up some control over their domestic affairs to maintain its positive membership status. The goal with this process is to give the Parliament more of its traditional power instead of ceding to the mandates that come from the EU governing body. Instead of wondering about how the membership bloc works on any given day, or who is in charge, Brexit makes it possible for the country to grab the steering wheel once again as they steer toward their fate.

Brexit would reduce the issues with forced immigration associated with the EU. - Under the laws of the European Union, member nations cannot prevent anyone from another state that is also a member from moving to live there. Britons had the right to move elsewhere to live and work, but so did everyone else. This structure created a pattern of immigration where roughly 800,000 people moved into the country to take advantage of the opportunities in the UK. Although China and India are the most significant sources of foreign workers in the country, separating from Europe allows Britain to maintain the pace of immigration that works best for their nation.

Brexit offers the possibility of new jobs. - There are estimates that 3 million jobs in Britain are connected to trade policies, procedures, or activities right now. Separating from Europe does create a risk where these employment opportunities could be lost. If trading increases after the separation, then there is a chance that employment growth in this sector could occur. When you factor in the expected drop in immigration rates since the UK no longer follows what the EU mandates, there could be more jobs for people to find in the months and years ahead.

Brexit could improve border security. - Iain Duncan Smith, who is the former Work and Pensions Secretary, suggests that the recent spike in terrorism experienced in Europe would continue to be a risk for Britain domestically because of the free movements that the EU allows. By taking advantage of Brexit’s structure, Smith suggests that the country could close their open borders to begin checking visitors and controlling the flow of people movement.

Brexit might help Britain find ways to close some vulnerable borders, but it would also limit the information flowing from the European Union and NATO. There could even be a reduction in data coming from the United Nations after the separation takes place. Having access to passenger records, criminal data, and counter-terrorism teams helps to create a safer space for everyone living there. Although many of the bilateral relationships would continue, it will take more effort to get essential information items into the hands of the people who need them the most.

Brexit could help to stop issues with bureaucracy. - There are regulatory frameworks that the European Union implemented that do not always work well for Britain’s needs. That led most of the people who were for the referendum to feel like the membership block is a bureaucratic burden with far too many regulations to follow. By creating a separation between the two governing structures, it becomes possible for the local government to create a framework that is much more specific to the needs of everyone while still benefitting from the relationships formed during their time in the EU-28.

Brexit would create additional savings opportunities worth considering. - Consumers in Britain would no longer be asked to follow EU policies like the Common Agricultural Policy when Brexit occurs. More than £1 billion each year in subsidies goes to foreign farmers that help to make them competitive, so removal of this could lower prices at the supermarkets. There is also the Common Fisheries Policy that places regulations on the local industry that are believed to be keeping it from reaching its full potential.

When the changes in taxation and other regulations are calculated into the equation, the average family in Britain could save roughly £1,000 per year through less regulation and bureaucracy alone.

List of the Cons of Brexit

Brexit would eliminate protections of equal pay, maternity leave, and safe workplaces. - The idea that Britain would give up their push toward more equality for women seems low, even if a no-deal Brexit ends up happening. The European Union has spent much of their time bringing the country along, often reluctantly, to offer equality benefits to women and minority populations. Once the divorce happens, then there wouldn’t be the same protections against discrimination as there are now in the international courts.

We have seen what misogyny and populism can do to the United States and how it gains national acceptance. This issue could impact Britain more than anyone could ever predict. The various directives that could be reversed with Brexit include the following.

Four weeks of guaranteed annual leave for workers. 

Regulated break times and working hours that prevent more than 48 hours of labor per week.
Four months of paid parental leave, including additional protections for workers who are pregnant.
Worker protections that apply when businesses change ownership.

Brexit would change the perspective of Britain being the “gateway” to Europe. - One of the reasons that Britain decided to avoid the Eurozone was that the strength of its currency was higher. It continues to be the most valuable currency trading right now, with 1 GBP equally 1.31 USD and 1.14 Euro. Tax revenues will drop when the country separates itself from Europe because banks would move their headquarters back into the membership block. Banks in the United States would no longer do business in the country when dealing with Europe either, which could impact their economy in unpredictable ways. There would no longer be a free passport across the continent for financial firms to enjoy.

Brexit could create a labor shortage. - Although a drop in the immigration rates would create more job availability for everyone who stayed in the country, Brexit does offer the potential to create labor shortages as well. Should this disadvantage occur, then it could hold back the potential for economic growth within the country. A decline in population would also likely reduce the demand for goods and services sold domestically. Skill shortages could hurt specific sectors of the economy as well.

Brexit could prevent the sharing of intelligence information.

Brexit could reduce the amount of foreign direct investment that Britain receives. - By joining together in the European Union, the 28 members (before Brexit) form 25% of the global GDP. To give that figure some perspective, the United States currently holds a 15.2% share of the worldwide GDP. As Europe has continued to grow and form relationships, their common bonds have helped to leverage more of the world’s economy. The U.S. represented 40% of the global GDP in 1960. With Britain separating itself from this membership bloc, the impact will be felt first in the amount of foreign direct investment that comes into the economy. In 2012, over £937 billion was received, with 50% of that related to EU activities. There is a real possibility that the Brexit divorce could cost the country over £300 billion in FDI almost immediately.

Brexit could still force Britain to be subject to EU laws and regulations. - Many who support the idea of Brexit look at Norway as a model for how Britain could have a relationship with the European Union. Although Norway does receive an exception of CAP, it is still subject to the laws and regulations of the membership bloc. That is the price that is paid for having access to the single market of the EU. Britain would likely be paying the same price. It could require the government to continue following the bureaucratic requirements without having the power to influence decisions after the separation completes itself.

Brexit could reverse the protections of food, health, and animal rights. - Most of the food standards that are in place in Britain right now originate in the European Union. That gives Britons comfort in knowing that many of the potentially harmful additives which are put into food products around the world are not in what they eat. That’s why an ingredient list from items made in Europe is much shorter than for a comparable one produced in the United States. The European Union also banned animal testing (with some exemptions) across the entire membership bloc in 2012. This measure included animal welfare standards that could shift once Brexit begins its journey forward.

Brexit could force Brits living in EU member states to move back home. - Because of the border issues created by Brexit, there would be a separation between Britain and the remaining 27 members. More than 1.4 million people from the country have taken advantage of the travel and work agreements which exist in the European Union. Once this separation takes place, their status will become questionable instantly. They may be required to apply for a work visa, seek citizenship, or even move back home to avoid a potential conflict with their status. The UK would also lose the strength which comes when you are part of a diverse national and international culture.

Brexit would create more high-skill job openings that would remain unfilled. - When you compare the educational data of Britain with that of the remaining European Union members, then employers will see that EU workers tend to be better educated. About 32% of people living in the EU-27 (excluding Britain) have a university degree, compared to the 21% of citizens in the UK. People moving into Britain from Europe have contributed 34% more financially to the nation than they cost in required supports.

Brexit could cause Britain to lose the U.S. as a primary trading partner. - The United States and Europe have an on-again, off-again relationship with the creation of a free-trade zone between the two entities. They combined make up over 40% of the global GDP. If Britain separates itself from the EU, then it would lose the benefits of this trade arrangement. Although they could set up their own agreements, Britain wouldn’t have the same leverage to ask for benefits that help domestically as they would if they were part of the membership block.

Brexit would end access to the regulation cost guarantees that Europe provides. - Consumers benefit from the regulations that limit costs throughout Europe for specific products and services. Since 2015, consumers using cellular phones and data receive the same price for services in one of the EU-28 states as they do back at home. This structure prevents the unexpected costs from roaming. These costs might rise on the day that the separation occurs. There are additional travel cost concerns to consider as well, such as airline tickets, hotel bookings, and even the price of fuel.

Brexit could cause household energy bills to rise. - Although the average household would save about £1,000 from unnecessary regulations when Brexit is finalized, they’ll lose some of that savings by paying for higher heating and cooling prices. The energy costs could increase by £500 million or more in the years afterward because the UK would no longer be able to negotiate pricing on the same scale. There would be concerns with air pollutants and their impact on the environment. These costs could be enough to make some investors look for other options instead of staying in Britain with their money.

Brexit may shift the educational diversity found in the country today. - Students from the European Union are eligible to pay the same tuition and fees as Britons under the regulations of the EU. They can apply for the same financial supports when attending university in the UK as well. Once the separation is complete, then it would be up to the British government to determine how the costs for students from Europe would be regulated. It would also impact access to the Erasmus program that allows over 200,000 students and 20,000 staff to spend time abroad as part of their studies.

These pros and cons of Brexit show how complex and uncertain these current circumstances are. There are some suggestions that a second referendum might create a very different result if it were permitted. Europe seems to be taking a hard line on this separation, refusing to budge from the various deals that were negotiated in the past 24 months. The only thing we know for certain is that by April 2019, we will begin to have some answers to all of this uncertainty.

https://vittana.org/22-pros-and-cons-of-brexit

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Know Thyself

We are unique in our talents, interests and traits. As they develop, knowing these should serve to prepare us for life and point to our life’s work for our strongest interests.

“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” – Socrates.

I was homeschooled until 3^rd grade and became a “self-learner” early. I had an older brother and was raised with adults. My communications skills and sense of humor developed early. I loved singing harmony around the piano with my uncles.  I had musical talent and interests and taught myself how to play the piano, bugle and guitar. I practiced because I wanted to master these skills and developed self-reliance.

School was never hard. I scored 2 grades ahead every year on the Iowa Test. I was curious about how homes were built, how things were made and why things broke and went wrong. I liked maintenance work like painting, cutting the grass and mixing and pouring cement. I didn’t like toys and preferred to make my own castles with clay. I rode my bike everywhere.  I played every sand-lot sport but was never really that good at sports. I was included in all groups and learned a lot from everybody. I thoroughly enjoyed my grade school years. I won a Trumpet scholarship to high school and started a Rock Band after 8^th grade playing guitar. I played band jobs throughout my school years and beyond. 

My early experiences made me a self-learner, self-reliant self-disciplined and self-supporting. I liked accomplishing things. I had a sense of humor and used that all my life.

In my high school years I saw opportunities to improve things and viewed these as experiments to test my ideas. I was interested in a career in manufacturing as a Personnel Director to create a positive culture. I saw an opportunity to coordinate groups to support our highly talented sports teams and it worked. I organized a Dixieland band to play at away games and initiated a decorated car parade to these games.  Feedback from the teams confirmed my theory. They won State Championships in all major sports.

Through college, I played bass 6 nights a week in a dirty two-horn blues band. After college I played bass on the weekends in Jazz Trios.

Making good choices requires that we know ourselves. I chose to work for companies that needed the changes I wanted to make. I would avoid large bureaucracies and pick companies who needed to solve their operating problems and apply available technologies.

Improving company operations included automation of processes to ensure close tolerances and increase throughput. It also included avoiding and removing unions, terminating pension plans and replacing them with 401K Plans, moving to skills-based, market-based pay, improving selection and employee development processes and making work fun. All of these had to be consistent with valid employee needs and an accurate view of human nature and an accurate world-view. 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

My Work Life

I was blessed to get an early start in my work life. I went to work at age 14, thanks to opportunity and the ability to recognize and follow my talents and interests.

My work-life had its origins in my childhood. I was homeschooled from age 2 to 7 to read, write and do math as we moved from St. Louis Mo to Texas to Rhode Island to Tennessee and entered grade school at age 7 in New York.

When I was age 4, my uncle taught me how to play the piano.  When I was age 8, I found a bugle in a window-seat in grandma’s house. I watched cavalry movies on TV and learned to play bugle calls. At age 9, I became the bugler for my Boy Scout Troop. This was a small step, but it involved initiative. I was learning that I was free to decide to do something and could do it.

At age 10, my grade school started a band and I got a trumpet. I joined the St. Louis Boy Scout Marching band at age 11 as “first chair” trumpeter. Also, at age 11, I learned to play my brother’s guitar.  At age 13 I won a trumpet scholarship to CBC Military HS. I discovered that initiative could turn into cash.

Also at age 10, I determined that labor union tactics were destructive and needed to change. I placed the blame on management for allowing this to happen. That was the beginning of my interest in labor relations and manufacturing management.

My freshman year at CBC, I was elected Class President and recruited to join the Speech Club where I won gold medals for “Humor”. I was then recruited to be in musicals at St. Joseph’s Academy Catholic girls’ school. I starred in the CBC school play “Time Limit”. I was tapped to be the Drum Major of the Marching Band, a cheerleader for games, school reporter for Prom Magazine, a Yearbook Editor and President of Activities. I graduated as the Band Company Commander.

All of these experiences developed the communications skills and good judgment and leadership I would use in corporate life. I saw opportunities and implemented innovative solutions to improve performance. I was referred to as an “idea guy”. When I entered CBC it was clear to me that our sports teams had the talent to take first place in all sports. I shared this vision with all support groups and set about to coordinate a culture of support to ensure these victories would occur and it worked. Student support surged and CBC won State Championships.  I became interested in high performance teams and confirmed my interest in a Personnel career.

I met the CBC band members the summer before my freshman year and started a Rock Band in 1957 playing guitar and singing. The Band included 2 guitars, 1 saxophone and a drummer. We played 3 nights a week for 3 hours per job at $5 per hour at teen towns and parties throughout high school and each made $45 per week. This paid for my first car and running expenses. I also worked summers on the Admiral Steam Boat.

The summer before college in 1961, my band members were planning to go away to college. I had a scholarship to Berry College, but turned it down to stay home and go to St. Louis U to prepare to become a Personnel Director, a job I became interested in at age 10. Our Rock Band had worked 156 band jobs per year for 4 years and each of us had made $2340 per year or $9360 for the entire 4 years and had fun doing it.  This was a lot of money as household incomes were in the $5,000 per year range. We had played all the tunes that were popular on the radio, but I preferred the Chuck Berry songs.

I was tired of “light rock” and ready to join a dirty 2 horn blues band and play R&B.  I remember sitting at my desk and I prayed “Lord, I don’t want to start another band. I just want to join a dirty 2 horn blues band. Just then the phone rang.  It was a drummer from a dirty 2 horn blues band who wanted me to become their bass player.  I looked up and said, “Thank you Lord.

I joined the Mojos in 1961. We had a guitar, bass, drummer, tenor sax and baritone sax and everybody sang.  We played Little Milton’s club in Herculaneum Mo on Friday and Sunday and other jobs Southeast of St. Louis 4 nights a week.

In 1962, we became the house band at the Livingroom on Gaslight Square and played 6 nights a week until 1965. Bonnie Bramlett was our singer. Chuck Berry joined us for a while in the summer of 1963 and I got to know him. He had a Masters in Math and his family was full of snooty science professors. He was down-to-earth and had a great sense of humor. I earned $5000 per year and that was more than enough to pay for my $1000 per year college tuition. I also worked summers at St. Louis State School and Hospital and Granite City Steel.

I married my soul-mate in 1964. We were introduced by the Mojo drummer’s sisters and we met at a teen town in 1962. The band playing at the teen town was Ike & Tina Turner. We moved in with my mom to save money for a house. Marlene worked as a Dental Assistant. In 1965, I was set to join the US Air Force, but failed the eye exam. We knew our first daughter Lisa was due to be born in 1966, so as a “Kennedy Father”, I was exempt from military service and declined the commission.

In 1965, I graduated from St. Louis U a semester early and took my first day job with United Way as Campaign Director for St. Charles County. I was ready to play Jazz and joined a piano, bass, drum jazz trio. We played on weekends. I also played bass with several other rock bands, orchestras and dance bands.

We bought a house in 1966 next door to my brother and moved my mom with us to be with all her grandkids and be closer to her work. She rented her house.

I left United Way in 1967 after 2 years of 125% attainment and had arranged for the St. Charles Division to be absorbed by the General Campaign. I eliminated my own job. I was able to get to know all St. Louis corporate leaders.

I took my first Personnel Job in at Kearney Electric and handled all functions. I was on a 3-man committee that recommended we close the Kearney plant in 1968 to Atlanta to get rid of the Teamsters Union.  I eliminated my own job. I was fully trained in all Personnel functions and ready to join an elite Personnel Department. Monsanto was the place to go.

I joined Monsanto HQ in 1968. I learned advanced systems, converted the Textile Division job evaluation process to the corporate manual, learned union avoidance policies and turned down promotions to locations. I eliminated my own job. I was fully versed in automated systems and compensation practices and was ready to lead union prevention. Universities were union targets and were ill prepared to prevent unionization. While at Monsanto, I taught night classes.

I founded the St. Charles County Council of Homeowners Associations in 1968. I wrote the Charter and established committees for zoning, public service commission and direct communication with the County Commissioner, who had been my United Way Campaign Chairman in 1966. We formed to give voter input and it worked.  We had 300 subdivisions with 68,000 homes. I held open meetings monthly and kept the phone list for 300 Subdivision HOA Presidents.

I joined Washington U in 1971. I was hired by Bill Danforth 

to establish the Personnel function at Washington U Medical School. Our faculty operated a 5 hospital complex. We had 3500 employees at the Medical School involved in research and patient care.  I received an NLRB petition for election, conducted the campaign and defeated the SEU organizing attempt with 80% of the vote. I received a $10 million grant from NIH for cage washers for the animal care labs and started AALAS certification courses for 90 Animal Caretakers. The goal was to increase productivity and improve research data.

Bill Danforth was made Chancellor and I moved to the Main Campus in 1972 to continue to automate Personnel records to comply with federal regulations and handle union negotiations for facilities and food service employees. Facilities voted to decertify and food service was destined to be contracted out.  I upgraded the compensation system to include local salary surveys, job descriptions and skill-based pay.  The main campus had a law school, engineering school and all academic departments employing another 3500 faculty and staff.  I had accomplished what I came to do and was ready to return to manufacturing.  I did have a great time.

I had joined a new Jazz Trio in 1971. We played weekends and added 2 girl singers in 1973 and became a popular 5 part vocal group. The trio had a Ramsey Lewis sound and the vocal harmonies were pure jazz from Quincy Jones. I still have the CDs from our live recordings. Our fans included the local radio and TV stations who recorded us and the St. Louis Symphony who showed up after their concerts.

Our move from St. Louis in 1975 ended my 18 year career as a professional musician and singer. I was blessed to be able to do this. My band jobs gave me a balance from my home life and day jobs and had provided an extra $4000 per year income, so Marlene could be a stay-at-home mom. I was able to move from Rock to Blues to Jazz and got paid for it.

By 1975, we had 6 children ages 2 to 10 and Kansas gave us a break to boat, camp, buy a horse and focus on the family.

I joined Schwan Foods with a move to Salina Kansas in 1975. I went there to automate them and did. I wrote the job descriptions and established skill-based pay at parody with market rate averages.  I established a Computer Center and automated security with a PC and payroll with magnetic strip cards and a Mainframe modemed to Corporate in Marshall MN.

We expanded the maintenance group to include equipment design and manufacture to automate sauce, cheese and meat application that allowed throughput to triple. We developed the Red Baron Pizza to add to the Tony’s Pizza line. We trained and redeployed assemblers to operate machines and increase ingredient flow. I initiated testing and feedback to the training program that already included transactional analysis. Test scores were very high. All promotions were from within this very overqualified workforce. These were farm kids who did chores, understood equipment and did well in school.

Schwan’s went from $150 million with 3400 employees to $650 million with 3400 better paid employees. Schwan’s eventually grew to $50 billion through acquisitions and sold these acquisitions to pay the inheritance tax of the founder in this privately held company.

I founded the Salina Area Personnel Association to create a local salary survey and became ASPA District Director for Kansas in 1979 and columnist for Kansas Business News.  Marlene and I became Marriage Encounter Leaders in 1977 and Engaged Encounter Leaders in 1979. I became the Liturgy Chair and Choir Director at St. Mary’s Church. Marlene became the Pool Manager at the Elk’s pool. The kids were thriving with our camping, boating and horseback riding along with sports, cheerleading and theater performances.

I joined Rickel Manufacturing in 1979 to run off the UAW and did.  We sold Rickel in 1983 because the Japanese were coming to the US to dump heavy agricultural equipment. The kids were ages 10 to 18 and it was time to move to Atlanta.

I joined Hayes Microcomputer Products in 1983 with a move to Atlanta GA to manage the ramp-up and did. I avoided CWA union organizing attempt, converted the medical plan to self-insured, established the policy manual, founded the Metro Atlanta High Tech Personnel Association to establish a local compensation survey, established a Nurse-managed HMO and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. We took employment from 150 to 1200 and revenue from $35 million to $220 million.  When I joined Hayes, I was enrolled in a 2 year, on-line fellowship program in strategic studies and completed it in 1986. My wife Marlene entered Dental Hygiene School in 1983 and graduated in 1986. Our 6 kids ranged in age from 10 to 18 in 1983.  We continued to give Engaged Encounter Weekends in Atlanta. We had accomplished what I came to do.

I joined Electromagnetic Sciences in 1986 to support the Reagan defense initiative. I took employment from 350 to 1200 and revenue from $35 million to $200 million and grew a non-defense subsidiary to automate warehousing. On the defense side, we saw our inventions displayed in the Gulf War in 1990 on CNN. We developed Computer Integrated Manufacturing. I had served as HR Chair on the American Electronics Association Board with the electronics manufacturing CEOs who kidnapped me to start a consulting practice. I had accomplished what I came to do.

I started my Private Consulting Practice, NTL HR Management Consulting in 1993 and operated it until 2017.

My interests were in “turnaround management” and my motivation was accomplishment.  In corporate life, I would join companies to do what they needed and when I had accomplished what I set out to do, I moved on. I had always been an internal consultant and when I was kidnapped by 6 electronics companies to begin a private consulting practice, I knew that was a good fit.  I used a home office to save rent and travelled to customer facilities as needed.  A lot of my work involved recruiting engineers, handling regulatory compliance, writing policy, job descriptions and process documents, acquisitions, expansions and start-ups.  All of my customers were referrals and I never made any sales calls. I did my own taxes as a “sole proprietor”. I worked 60 hours a week and billed monthly. I had no employees. My focus was to achieve maximum results with minimum costs.

The 6 companies became 46 companies from 1993 to 2017.  Several were ongoing for the entire 24 years and several included involvement for multiple years. I pushed ISO 9000 Quality systems, skill-based pay systems, applicant testing, object oriented software development, lean management manufacturing process mapping, teams, schematic capture of bill of material CAD systems, targeted automation, Laser-reading Coordinate Measuring Machines for automated parts inspection and we solved the US product quality problems by 2005.

In 2009, Marlene and I began receiving Social Security and were able begin to cut back on work. I began to train my customers’ internal staff to assume the functions I had been performing to get ready to retire. I prepared some companies to be acquired and others to acquire other companies. I saw Atlanta Metro gain 100 electronics companies in the 1980s only to lose most of them by 2016 as product development cycles were completed and companies off-shored their most valuable enterprises. I am encouraged that Tariffs will bring manufacturing back to devastated rural US cities and allow us to again make all that we consume.

In 2011, I started the Dunwoody GA Tea Party and began publishing this blog. The purpose of the blog is to cover the news you need to know and don’t get from the US media, because they don’t want you to know the important stuff.

Everyone’s life is different, but I hope that my most unusual life will have some relevance in helping you identify how your unique motivated abilities mesh with your own work life and realize how soon these pieces fall into place.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Learning Gratefulness

My most important lessons in learning gratefulness were provided by my experiences visiting the home of my maternal grandparents, Dr. Leo and Mabel Couch who bought this home on Ellis Avenue in Maplewood, a St. Louis suburb around 1910. They had 12 children born between 1910 and 1930. My mom was their oldest girl and had 3 sisters and 8 brothers.

The city of Maplewood was incorporated in 1904. The Couch kids all attended Immaculate Conception grade school that had opened in 1906 and Immaculate Conception church built in 1925. The boys attended Christian Brothers College Military HS and some went to St. Louis University. The girls attended Nerinx Hall and Webster College.

The 2 oldest boys were killed in World War II before I was born. This loss was the first blow absorbed by the Couch family, but it wouldn’t be the last. Around 1920, Grandpa Couch was electrocuted turning on the new electric street lights.  He survived and recovered, but the children he fathered after that had a rare form of muscular atrophy. That left 3 of my uncles disabled and consigned to live at home, but they were at peace with their lot.

We gathered each Sunday at the Couch house for a roast beef dinner at 1pm. At 3pm we put up 3 card tables and the bridge games began. I would set up the big electric train to run drinks and snacks from the pantry, to the bridge tables, back down the hall through the kitchen and back to the pantry. I was the bartender. Jesuit Priests grandpa met on sick calls showed up for bridge. My grandpa, mom and several uncles joined the bridge games.  I would play monopoly with my 3 disabled uncles in the breakfast room. In the evening grandma Couch joined us to watch Ed Sullivan, Bishop Fulton Sheen and Liberace. The Couch house was an oasis for family and friends who attended these Sunday events.

To prepare for Christmas, I was my Aunt Ilene’s cookie-making helper. On Christmas Eve, we gathered at the Couch house to go to Midnight Mass and then came back for a 1am feast, followed by singing in harmony around the piano played by Uncle Billy until 4am when we left to go home and get some sleep. We returned on Christmas Day to continue the party.

My earliest memory of the Couch house was standing in front of the large console radio in May 1945 with a house full of cheering people as they announced Victory in Europe Day.

The Couch house was a 3 story, 5000 square foot house with a basement on a large rectangular lot. Grandpa Couch buried a bean can near the house and we would play golf on this one-hole course. 

The July 4^th fireworks were shot from the high school grounds and were visible from the back yard. We would walk a block to the White Castle and bring back dozens of hamburgers and set up lawn chairs to watch the fireworks.

We would make home-made root beer and ice cream.  

My experience with the Couch family began when I was born and continued throughout my childhood, teen years, college years and beyond. Even while my Mom, Dad, brother Bobby and I lived in other States, we made the annual pilgrimage back to St. Louis to the Couch house.

We moved back to St. Louis when I was 8 and lived in my Uncle Bob’s apartment. When I was 10, we bought a house across the street from the Couch house.

I learned finance from my family. The Couch family bought the 4 family apartment and the house next door to provide rental income for retirement.  When grandpa Couch died in 1962, my Aunt Ilene became the landlord.

The Couch house was also a home for Mom Couch’s sister Marion who moved there when her husband died. Aunt Ilene took care of Marion and my disabled uncles until they died in the 1970s.

The Couch family served as my role-model for what a family was. The family home was a fun, collegial refuge.

My reflections on my Couch house experiences always left me in awe of their resilience in pursuing their happy life despite losses and illness. Here was a family with great promise, whose hopes had been dashed.  But the music, love and joy this family had was a miracle.  I learned a great lesson from that. I learned to accept life as it comes.

My disabled uncles never married.  Aunt Ilene never married, but dedicated her life to caring for the family. They had every excuse to be depressed and bitter, but they chose to be grateful. Their example taught me the secret to attaining gratefulness.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader