Those who do not know History…
May 13, 2009 Political
I get frustrated sometimes, having to tell someone that this time isn’t unique, and if you take away the election of an African- American, and just substitute the election of a man, (which is how it should be viewed), all of this economic cycle, complete with both the recession and the attempted government interference in the free market has all happened before in history. Study the terms of Franklin Roosevelt and you have almost the same things attempted, and the same things failing.
Roosevelt tried “stimulus”, in the form of temporary jobs, and they did have the effect of slowing the fall, but they had no real, long- term effect on the economy, because in order to affect the economy in a positive, long- term way, you actually have to make “new” money, not recirculate money around. If you have several people in a circle, and you pass a ten dollar bill from one to the other, everybody gets ten dollars, for a minute, but it is the same ten dollars, versus someone from outside the circle putting money into the circulation, which is new money, and it accumulates- more and more money finds its way into the circulation.
All these “green” jobs, and road jobs are fine and dandy for the moment, but they truly are not adding much to the economy, because to do this, we need to actually create something, and it must be private industry that does this. And when private industry does this, government must stand out of the way.
Government has always been a handicap to free markets, first, because government wants its cut of any profits, and second, because government has this irrational compulsion to “make things fair” in the markets. That concept is hilarious- that’s like trying to make a snake and a rat good friends- that’s not going to happen. The business world is in a constant state of flux, with companies rising and falling according to the markets.
Our problem has come about because of a lack of blue- collar infrastructure, and no- I am nor talking about the unions, they have been part of the problem here.
It all began with the experiment of “Globalization”, and the global economy, as if we would ever do well having our economy tied in any way to that of Sri Lanka, or Thailand, or Venezuela, for that matter. People in governments around the world have been pushing to “Globalize” the economy, much as the Europeans did with their common currency, and relaxed borders.
This won’t work with us, or I should say, it shouldn’t work with us, but Barama is part of the group that thinks that having one happy world will be a good thing. The problem is, in order to do this, our economy will have to go down to third- world levels, and we all become poorer because of it.
A good example might be a container with several compartments- you can fill these several compartments with different levels of water, but if there is no separation between the compartments, the water seeks its own level, and everybody has the same amount. This is contrary to free and open markets, where a person can make as much as the market can bear. A country that is productive doesn’t have to prop up a country that does no work- the last thing we need is a country on welfare.
Then you mix in the unions, which began as a good thing, but became useless, because they believed they were bulletproof- not so, and their thinking was so calcified, that they didn’t see it coming. Globalization, NAFTA, CAFTA, all the various openings that appeared in the world trade situation did the unions no favors- their status and membership shrank like a cheap chinese cotton shirt.
Unions, with the exception of those with captive corporations, lost their influence, because the manufacturing corporations found that they could move to a more favorable climate with regards to wages and taxes, and so they moved from our shores. No unions, lower wages, less taxes- what was not to like? Who cares if the quality is shoddy- if everybody wears shoddy clothes, who knows the difference?
There is no way to get them back. Absent lowering our wages to third- world amounts, those companies are gone forever. Neither can we completely close our borders to trade, for we no longer make what the world wants- they are beating a path to someone else’s door.
The best we can hope for is that we learn our lesson, re- institute a free market, and do what Americans have done through the ages- re- invent, retool, and rebuild our economy, but we will not be able to do this successfully if the unions cannot bring some innovative ideas and flexible thinking to the table. Neither can we do this if the government insists on impeding these ideas with government regulations. The government needs to step out of the way, and try to sweeten the deal with tax breaks for companies that locate here.
Manufacturing must return to the United States. Blue collar jobs must be held by Americans first, because blue collar jobs are the backbone of this country, and lets face facts- not everybody is cut out to be a software designer or a lawyer. The Nation needs carpenters and bricklayers also, and these people deserve a living wage in order to be a productive member of society.
Only by being able to get ahead can they begin to start their own small businesses.
And that is how we begin to get out of this mess.
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Tags: globalization, living wage, nafta, small business, unions