John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 4 - 06/02/99

Welcome to the fourth edition of our new feature column. This will run three times a week. We'll be looking at current events, life in the Philadelphia area, politics, sports, the weather and a lot of other things. A key to the success of this column will be you, the readership. We want to hear your response to what you read here, so speak up!

Now that was a great holiday weekend especially with some of the best holiday weather I can ever remember. I spent much of Saturday at the Jam on the River. I took lots of photos of the bands and the crowd. Check them out and maybe you'll see a picture of yourself. The feature is called simply, Jam on the River.

Sunday, I  had a chance to play a round of golf at the Deerwood Country Club in Mount Holly, New Jersey. This course still allows the public to get a tee time. If you like a links style of course, check this out. Speaking of golf, have you noticed how many new courses are opening in the suburbs? Just today the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story on two new courses which have recently opened in Bucks County, Lookaway Golf Club in Buckingham Township and the Jericho Club in Upper Makefield. It's a very interesting article. I was amazed that between 1986 to 1998 the ranks of women golfers has grown from 4.5 million to more than 6 million, and the ranks of Junior Golfers has grown from 1.8 million to 2.5 million during the same period.

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I never know what to make of what I hear about the economy. We keep hearing how the economy is doing so well and unemployment is dropping, yet every time I look around I see companies merging and people being laid off. It seems like the common scenario in a merger is to then layoff about 10-15% of the workforce within the first year. I guess that it's the nature of corporate America but wouldn't it be nice to see a layoff where the people let go were the ones who could really afford to be let go? It frustrates me when I hear of a single wage earner, father of two or three kinds laid off after 25 years of service with a company. It seems like an easy way for corporate America to push to increase their profits and put an even greater strain on the public assistance programs.

I am convinced that within my lifetime, I will wake up and read The Newspaper. I will go out and buy my food from The Grocery Store which is located near The Bank and The Insurance Company. Some mergers make sense, but the whole idea of constantly merging companies to get bigger and stronger and bury the little guy really irritates me. I look back and ask myself, if this is where this was all headed, why did they ever break up the phone company - a monopoly that worked so well?

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Well, enjoy the rest of your week and stop back on Friday for our next column.

So, that's my perspective. Let me hear yours on these or any pertinent topic. Drop me a note at philadelphia.guide@about.com.

If you missed last week's columns you can still catch them:

John Fischer's Philadelphia 05/24/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 05/26/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 05/28/99