Now is the time for all good bloggers to come to the aid of their country!
Wow! I don’t know where to start…How about “I told you so!”
Back in the early eighties, when Reagan was our president, Japan had a struggling electronics industry. The Japanese government decided that they had to subsidize that industry, or it would fail. So they gave their electronics industry money to sell electronics in the United States. They sold electronics in the U.S. below what it cost them to manufacture each piece. But it brought a steady flow of dollars into Japan and helped shore up their economy, and brought them the wealth that they needed to invest in other industrial products, like cars.
Meanwhile, big American and Japanese investors made a fortune on the cheap labor that Japan was able to provide at the time. The American electronics worker lost his job. The American workers cried “Foul”. They were losing their jobs to the Japanese worker. They felt it was unfair of Japan to subsidize a product that the American worker could build better and cheaper. At the same time, the Japanese banned American agriculture products because the U.S. government subsidized them.
The answer to the American worker was; “Tough, we live in a world economy now”. (Translated, we found a way to get cheaper labor to build a product to fleece the American economy).
The explanation was that; “America has the world’s strongest economy”. They reasoned that the displaced workers would find another job in the manufacturing industry. After all, there were plenty of jobs, and the American economy was strong.
At the end of the Regan administration, the Japanese paid Reagan Two Million Dollars to go to Japan to make a speech…. If that wasn’t a message to other American politicians, about where their money comes from, I don’t know what was.
The adopted mantra; “It’s a World Economy, Stupid” was the beginning of the end of American Manufacturing jobs. The politicians soon started explaining to people that; “ We live in an information economy now”. Translated that means; “You’re going to have to be smart, and have a good education to become a corporate C.E.O.”. While they were slowly killing American jobs, they still depended on the American buyer to buy and pay for cheap offshore products. Soon the only product that you could buy was, and is, offshore products.
The latest knife through the Heart of America is the going to be the demise of the aircraft manufacturing industry. It seems that the American investor has found a better deal in France. We now buy the Presidential Helicopter and the military refueling aircraft from France.
That should drain the last American dollar out of the country. Either that or we will send it to the sand countries for oil. I would tell you about how wealthy some of the Sheikhs are, but you couldn’t believe it. The only people that benefit from spending all of our money over seas are the big stock market investors. The loss of every manufacturing job has been personal to me, because my whole family has been in manufacturing (Lumber) for more than a century. It was fortunately one of the last industries to go. But it is still hard to take.
America is finally broke, and broken. Banks are collapsing, The stock market is crashing. Soon you will seeing CEO’s moving to Switzerland. There's more.
Now for the good news!
Now when we say we need jobs, someone will listen.
The blogs are the last bastion of truth and honesty. The CEO’s, and the very wealthy own our politicians and our news services. When reading the blogs, you know that you could be told a lie, and you check it out. Why is it that nobody checks our politicians and newscasters. America has literally been sold a pack of lies, and bad politicians. This time when we rebuild America, lets form a system were our representatives represent us and not big money.
The blogs are the best way to tell the truth.
P.S... And just to deepen my suspicion that we are in trouble, the link that I had explaining the collapsing stock market has just disappeared. But don't worry, it's probably just me worrying!
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18 comments:
try this
Ernie, come with me and Tune In, Turn On and Drop Out!
Didn't we do that in the sixties???
Come to think of it, we were a lot better of then.
Yikes, I thought my post was creepy.
Kym, I didn't mean to creep anybody out. I guess it's just frustrating to me to see so many honest people out of work, and considering doing dishonest things to make a living.
I see people that live on the streets, and stay drunk and stoned, that a few short years ago would have been pulling green chain in a sawmill; people that would have led a productive life. Let’s face it; we are not all equipped to be brain surgeons. It’s just that I feel so sad over people that have lost their way due to the fact that there is no where to go. It is especially difficult for the minorities.
I can tell you stories about the people that would have good lives then, that can’t make it now.
It’s hard to read stories about multi-million dollar a year CEO’s that make their fortunes shipping our jobs overseas. None of us are immune to the loss of money to the upper echelons, and foreign countries. We will not get wise until we are ALL in the same life-boat.
I hate to preach gloom and doom, but maybe I can put things in terms that you will understand. The Southern Humboldt School District just had five-hundred thousand dollars cut from their budget. The teachers-aides will ALL be without work. No teacher will be replaced when they leave or retire. Please don’t think that I’m trying to scare you, but doesn’t your husband work for Caltrans? Do you worry about what the state budget cuts might do to you?
I feel like one of those nuts that carry the signs that say’s “The end is near”. But what if it is true? Am I still a paranoid? Especially in view of the fact that I have been saying, that all of what happened, would happen, and did. And will until we won’t take it anymore. Who wants to give up their job for the world economy?
I see people that live on the streets, and stay drunk and stoned, that a few short years ago would have been pulling green chain in a sawmill; people that would have led a productive life
Let's throw in the fact that a productive work ethic seems to allude young people today. Don't believe me? Ask people doing the hiring.
Remember Maynard G. Krebs? "Work?"
Good point Eko. But the jobs that are offered today are just that, jobs! A few short years ago there were jobs that you could make a living doing, and were plentiful.
I'm personally not complaining about the economy. When the economy is bad people shop at Radio Shack, and have their refrigeration fixed. So My wife and I do better in hard times. We are doing exceptionally well, which means things must be exceptionally bad. But I imagine that if the economy gets bad enough, it could affect everything.
Ernie, anybody sane would be concerned listening to the news. I had heard about the pink slips at the schools but I thought it was the regular lay them off in the spring/rehire them in the summer routine that happens every year.
I know that they do that every year, but I heard that they wont be hiring the aides back.
At any rate it is confirmed that they have to cut $500,000.oo From the budget and diesel is going sky high. The schools heat with diesel and the buses take diesel.
Cutting the fed interest rate is helping, but they can only cut that so far. Pretty soon somebody is going to need a job.
Thank you so much for this post Ernie! Truly a voice of the working people - something too often forgotten.
As for work ethic... how can we expect employees to be committed to the work or the company if they don't feel the company is committed to them.
I was once offered a promotion to join a team that was moving the company's technical support call center (600 workers) to India. I don't think my employment outlook was ever the same.
just my two shekels.
Thank-you kaivalya,
Proof of the fact that the problem is deepening is that educated people are now losing their jobs.
It's a catch twenty-two. Only people with educations will have jobs, but we can't afford an education, neither can we afford to pay educators.
I’m not paranoid, but I have a lot of paranoid friends who say that all the talk about the second amendment should be taken very seriously. They say that they want to take peoples guns away so we can’t protect ourselves against a government take-over.
Not being very up to speed on that issue, does anybody have any thoughts about that? Are we willing to let our police officers care for us?
...all the talk about the second amendment should be taken very seriously. They say that they want to take peoples guns away so we can’t protect ourselves against a government take-over.
That was my thought more or less when I saw the American soldiers sweep through Iraq about 5 years ago and take guns from all Iraqis. When you disarm the people, the government has a greater leverage of force. It doesn't even allow for the "common citizens" to protect themselves and their society from "terrorists". Of course going in tot he situation, law enforcement was taught that all citizens are or can be potential terrorists - leave no one armed.
Right now I am very worried about the precedence that is set when "building inspectors" show up with arms drawn. I didn't realize that unpermitted buildings had violent tendencies...
And if I were to meet a building inspector at my gate with a holster on my hip, do you think that would go over well?
"To protect and serve" ? just who is being served here?
What an intersting concept, if the Iraqi's are disarmed who is going to take care of them when the American troups pull out???
On the other hand I don't see American being willing to give up their guns, but I could be wrong. I see us putting up with losing American jobs just so CEO's and stock market investors can get richer. So maybe we are just sheep following our Judas Goat politicians.
There will be a meeting on the Code Enforcement Unit at the Vet's Hall in Gville on the fourth of April at 2PM. We'll get the story on this gate cutting tactic. It seems the County Planners have decided that our rural areas are best inhabited by the wealthy. New regulations are pouring from their pens and if we don't like it? Well we can just move to a well regulated city where we won't ever have to use a privvy or drink unchlorinated spring water. They're going to civilize us at last.
This morning's paper: the Feds will allow investment banks to buy safe government securities using mortgage-backed investments as collateral! So when they go belly-up next time, the taxpayers get to own their mistakes 100%! The Golden Rule: They with the gold, rule.
ben,
They have been spying on you from the air for years. Bush and Co. can enter without a warrant and don't have to tell you they were there. You can be arrested and taken away secretly: no phone call, no lawyers. You can be held indefinitely with no right to communicate with anyone. Welcome to civilization.
" when they go belly-up next time, the taxpayers get to own their mistakes 100%!"
When they were making money hand over fist, they wanted the free-market to be free like the wind. Now that they are losing their butts they want us to bail it out.
Foul!!
Good post, and good thread. Not much good news out there. We've been trained to shop ourselves into unemployment.
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