What happened to America?
I started thinking about how the country used to be. I came to the conclusion that the past out of context is a dangerous road to walk. I could pick a time in history and say America was the land of the free and home of the brave and be partialy right.
What does that mean? It mean’s that someone was always poor. Kids went hungry. People were beat based on the color of their skin or their ideas. So does that mean that America always sucked? I think it means that America sucked based on the seat you were sitting in at the time.
Back in the 1980’s the midwest textile workers were the brunt of the storm. Along with the textile workers, farmers were hit hard. Ronald Regan stood up and said we will retrain and retool the works for the next decade and century. Hi-tech was the future.
So in the 80’s plants closed and clothes were made over seas. Did we get a bailout? Not really. The country was economicly sound at the time. So the closures were absorbed by country. It did devistate some comunities that probably never recovered. Do those works feel any better? Textile works were some of the first people who’s jobs were off-shored.
Let’s go further back. Let’s take a look at the railroad. Steam engines once ran through the country. Town’s popped up along the tracks through out the United States. What happened to them? A drive through Ohio and Michigan you can find train stations with no railroad tracks. Where did all the workers go? They moved on to other things. The loss of the railroad killed many small towns where hopes and dreams were built.
So what is my point in some of this? Based on where you sit you can view the economy, the government, your neighbor, as the biggest problem. Does it make it less painful for the person living it? Part of bringing the country back together is making people aware of the problem and working to absorb the people into new jobs.
We have a huge up hill battle on this one. Every generation had the next thing to look forward to. We went from horses, to trains, to cars, to planes. We went from lo-tech to hi-tech. Something always replaced the thing that was going away. Now there are no manufacturing jobs that will be replacing the ones lost. There are no hi-tech jobs waiting to be filled. We have taken most of the middle class jobs and sent them over seas to make a quick buck.
Problem with offshoring is that when the middle class jobs are gone there is nobody buying your product. Ford and GM are learning that the hard way. When you employee almost a half of a million people, you have half of a million people buying your product. I know because I came from a 3 generation Ford family. We only drove what supported the family. Now we drive anything that is cheap. Ford lost a ton of business when the let my Dad go. He bought a new car every year on A-Plan.
I’m not sure why companies do not think that far ahead. Do they look at just the earnings each quarter. People love to buy what they make. It is a shame people companies do not see it that way. Also, It’s amazing to think that companies do not recognize that if other companies layoff people it will effect their sales. Citigroup just announced they are laying off 55,000. Bet those folks aren’t buying cars. Could any other company out their help Citigroup not layoff jobs?
We need to work together and realize what makes America strong is people working together. We need to let companies that work to seperate us fail and start new ones with the right ideas. Maybe we need a new Ford or GM. Let that company hire the auto workers and build cars that are cheap and ones that people want to buy.
The economy is a giant circle. Build – Sell – Buy. Right now its just sell and buy. With no new industry showing up we will have to go back to a build – sell – buy all back in the USA. If people in China or India are upset over that. Then they can buy their own products they build. I am willing to help and trade with other countries but not at the expense of this one.