Many of you know that during the last five years or so I can't seem to keep a job longer than about 20 minutes. I haven't been let go because I am an abysmal failure, because I surf the web instead of doing my work, or because my co-workers loathe the very sight of me or anything like that. I lose jobs because the projects end, the contract is up, the work goes to someone else, another company buys the one I'm working for and reorganizes, etc., etc., etc. I've been through all of that, and I know I'm not alone.
What is it going to take to get this country back on track? How many people have to lose their homes, have their families broken up, and go through the miserable suffering that our sour economy has brought us the last few years?
Even worse is how the fatasses in the Elephant Party blame the jackasses in the Donkey Party for everything, and vice versa. It's not unlike watching a bunch of spoiled kids play---and they get big salaries to boot. How some of these people got into office in the first place astounds me.
What I found pathetic is how the previous governor of my home state of
On the national level, many are jumping all over President Obama because he didn't snap his fingers and make all of the problems go away. These problems have been long in coming---and will be long in resolving. The economy has its own cycle, and has ever since there's even been an economy.
Is anyone in particular even at fault? That's hard to say. Many banks took advantage of people who wanted to own homes back in the middle of the 2000s. People got suckered into mortgages that they really couldn't afford with "teaser" loans---easy to pay at first, but after five years were hit with payments that had doubled or worse. And while many of those poor folks had to dump their homes in short sales or lose them altogether to foreclosure, many of the banks got a nice bailout from the government, as did some big corporations---notably General Motors. The government seemed to forget that its job is to "govern," not run businesses. Who stepped in to help "the little guy?" Are those crickets I hear?
Now, is our present state of things a recession or a depression? It never seems to get better, whereas previous recessions caused a dip or a ripple, then went away so prosperity can return. But this one is so stubborn that many aren't so sure that it's "just a lil ol' recession." And I'm not so sure, either.
The question is what do we do to fix this? Many people make suggestions like "Bring manufacturing back to the U.S." "Make CEOs take major pay cuts." "Buy American, and only American." "Hire more people." All of those are very good ideas. But easier said than done. I will give my take on each of these thoughts, one at a time. And remember, it's just my opinion and not necessarily "right."
"Bring manufacturing back to the U.S." It would be wonderful to bring manufacturing back here to the U S of A. But labor is too expensive. Some people made incredible amounts of money doing jobs that required some training and not much more. I'll say it right in public---I'm not a union supporter. Never have been. Unions had their place and we have them to thank for getting laws into place to protect workers from the horrible abuses they suffered a century ago at the hands of unscrupulous employers. Today, however, some of their demands are just too much. There are situations where you just cannot get rid of a bad worker no matter how bad they are. Protecting a person who isn't doing their job is the wrong thing to do because there is no incentive for them to do what's right. Would unions make concessions? We can hope, but that will be a tough one.
"Make CEOs take major pay cuts." Trying to get CEOs to take cuts in their seven- and eight-digit salaries is sort of like trying to make a cat do...well, anything. It's unpossible. Just once I'd like to see some corporate executive have the balls to voluntarily lower his own salary to "poverty" level---you know, in the five-digit range---and put the extra back into the company to hire more people, develop new products, or make improvements to the company. Any of those things could generate the need for more people.
"Buy American, and only American." Buying American is not as easy as it sounds. I laugh at the e-mails going around encouraging people to refuse items made in other countries and only buy things made in America. When you need an item that is no longer made in the U.S., you have to take what they have, regardless of where it came from. But I will agree with one point of this: if you do have a choice, choose the American-made one even if it is a bit more expensive. Here's an example: As an insulin-dependent diabetic, I need alcohol swabs to clean insulin injection sites on my body, and the swabs do the job nicely. At one point, I was buying store brand swabs because they were less expensive. I thought it was just because they were thinner. No, it was because they were made in China. The BD brand ones are thicker---and made in the U.S. They're a bit more expensive, but I get them anyway. I like to think that I'm doing my part to help keep jobs here.
We have to be willing to ignore the temptation to buy things at the lowest cost possible. That's what Walmart is doing wrong now. In order to cut prices the way they do, they have to sell things that are not made in America. Sam Walton didn't start the company doing that. To be fair, when he started Walmart, most things were made in America, but of course that has changed. People who don't have jobs buy things for as little as possible to save money, which means buying foreign made goods. More foreign made goods means fewer jobs in the U.S., which means more people out of work which means more people buying foreign goods. It's a vicious cycle indeed.
"Hire more people." Hiring more people would be wonderful, but as I've already pointed out, labor in America is expensive. In order for a company to make a profit, they have to make cuts somewhere, and in their view, labor is a good place to start given its cost.
For decades, each generation has fared better than their parents' generation for the most part. Sad to say, my generation is the first in decades that did not. Some of today's young people have been called lazy. Some are, of course, but most are more than happy to jump in and get the job done. Companies aren't paying as well. A lot of people my age have had to go back and live with Mom and Dad because they just can't make it on their own.
As long as foreign labor and materials are cheaper, it will be more profitable for most companies to manufacture goods elsewhere. However, I like to think that there is a big pendulum swinging back and forth. Right now, that pendulum is swung the other way, but it's on its way back. A slow swing, perhaps, but a swing nonetheless.
