Let's Rethink This

This is really not hard to understand. Anyone who reads a newspaper or who gets news from any other source besides Faux News and Breitbart understands this. I am, nevertheless, astounded at the number of people who, from all indications, get their information exactly that way.

Now hear this! Those jobs that the President says he is going to bring back to our shores are not coming back. This is just the plain, simple truth and here is why.

Post WWII Dresden

After WWII the United States had the only manufacturing base in the world that was not bombed into oblivion. Germany was divided into two parts and Europe was devastated. If you needed a refrigerator or washing machine you got it from the United States. Same with wheel bearings and widgets. In the 70 years since then the world has caught up. Now they can do it where they are and do it cheaper. We won't work for $2 per day nor should we. The jobs turning nuts or putting in
windshields are now done by robots. They will work 24 hours per day and not unionize to demand higher wages and vacations. If you are a high school graduate without any skills you are NOT in demand and you are not going to be in demand unless you are willing to work alongside immigrants that work hard for
minimum wage. Just accept that. We will still manufacture stuff here it just will not require you to do it. It will require people with advanced skills. There are other opportunities in the skilled trades and in health care that could be good jobs and need to be taken advantage of. But, we killed the unions that guaranteed good wages and benefits so now we don't have that.

The former Middle Class is in trouble. It's not that we don't have enough jobs. It is just that they don't put enough money in your pocket so the real question is not about bringing jobs back. It is about how do we make these jobs pay enough to sustain the American Dream. Think about this. $10 per hour is $400 per week before taxes. $15 per hour is $600 per week, about $30K per year. Can you live the American Dream on that? Pay for health care, college and braces for the kid's teeth? No, you can't. Now, if you are one of those Pulaski County residents who work at one of the factories out on 461 how much are you making?

So, just ask yourself this question. What can we do to assure that every American has the opportunity to earn not only a living wage but one that would all him or her to participate in the American Dream. If we deport all the illegal immigrants do you think that our native citizens would feel empowered to fill those jobs? Well, trends suggest that is not so. If we lower taxes on corporations will they be empowered to reinvest that money in new plants and new jobs? Well, trends suggest that is not so. What will create jobs and put money in the hands of workers. Infrastructure for one. Highways and bridges. How can we pay for it without increasing the already outlandish national debt? There are not too many ways to do that. Either allow private enterprise to build and charge us to use it, cut spending or raise taxes. When we built most of the infrastructure we have the top tax rate was 93%.

So, I'm going to just mention a few things. I'm not original in this. Hillary Clinton actually spoke about stuff like this but she couldn't figure out how to make it into a meme or 10 second sound byte. It is true that trade agreements have contributed to offshoring of jobs. What is not true is that we could have stopped it. Domestic markets are saturated, foreign markets are emerging. There is a demand for cheap products here in America. What could have been done was to support those whose jobs were dislocated due to NAFTA even if it meant doing so for the rest of their careers. Lots of
them were just aged out of the new economy. Retraining should be part of that support and creation of jobs through the use of government stimulus for those who were retrained to step into. Continuation of benefits even after a job is found so that the shock won't be financially debilitating. This last one is one we should be using now when we move people from government assistance to work. The loss of benefits in many cases offsets wages and creates a disincentive to work. And, central to all of this is access to a health care plan that is affordable and comprehensive. I prefer Medicare for all. This provision in the ACA has allowed countless entrepreneurs to start new businesses knowing that they will not have to suffer for giving up their work related health care. We should be supporting displaced workers who have lost jobs due to automation in the same way. It is not right that the American Worker should have to bear the negative results of improved productivity. Things like this should be taken into account when taxes are assessed so that corporations don't benefit from windfall profits. You may say, “well, they were just being smart” and that is true. No one disputes that but it still should not totally fall on the shoulders of the American Worker. No wonder they have no faith in government institutions.

My Take is that we are not going to bring those low skill jobs back. It is that we need to do a much better job of supporting those impacted until they are able to meet the needs of the modern manufacturers.