There are many ideas about what can be accomplished to get our economy back into a prosperous position. Most of the unemployed are ready and able to go back to work.
Why are we making other countries wealthy by buying their products and closing our manufacturing plants?
Contents at a Glance
Infrastructure - Streets - Bridges - Water treatment plants - et al
After the Great Depression President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a program which put people back to work. The program turned the depressed position of the country around and unemployed people were able to get off of the welfare rolls. Some of the unskilled were given a broom and told to keep a certain area of street CLEAN. It gave them a paying job until something else, paying better, and allowing them to use whatever talents they had. I have heard that our public bridges, streets, railroad tracks, water treatment plants and many other parts of our INFRASTRUCTURE - ARE FALLING APART!! And none of the Government Agencies have the money to repair them.
Create Employment
When President Roosevelt started his work program he initiated a method for unemployed individuals to re-establish a sense of pride. They were once again, able to earn a living, pay their bills and feed their families by the sweat of their brow, giving them their independence.We are currently at a critical point in our economy. The current home foreclosure rates have reached staggering proportions.
Unemployment has teetered back and forth giving the indication things aren't as bad as they actually are. The problem is, people that were earning large wages have been laid-off and their jobs have left the country. Leaving them with the option of remaining unemployed or taking a job paying them as little as half or less then they were previously earning.Can this be stopped? Possibly.
Taking a page out of history and using it today to change the direction of this global disaster seems to be one of the ways to accomplish it.I am not a big fan of government controlled projects! so, that IS NOT what I am suggesting.
Perhaps creating some sort of volunteer alliance involving large, wealthy corporations and some of the wealthiest individuals on the FORBES LIST of Multi-Millionaires might be the solution.
I am not selecting any individuals or companies specifically, but perhaps companies like EXXON-MOBIL, MICROSOFT, CHASE MANHATTAN, and many more that report large profits while some individuals are at their wits end because they are losing their home. I will not list the wealthy celebrities or atheletes that boast about how they want to help the country turn around, but there are many of them.
So what am I suggesting? Well, I have heard statements to the affect that there has not been a new oil refinery built in the past 30 years. Also, some of the oil companies have leased land that is in the midst of oil fields, that are not being drilled on.
Would that relieve the immediate problem? Probably not, but it would eliminate the conversation about off shore or arctic drilling.
How about this one? Import autos have been in the top ten demand and sales position for quite a while while American made autos manufacturers are closing plants and laying people off. I just read that FORD is building two new Fiesta Auto Plants. One in Mexico and a second one in another off shore location.
O.k. I know, they are trying to keep the costs down. To this I respond; It is my understanding the company increased the use of robotic assembly lines to [supposedly] increase production, thereby reducing the cost of the finished product.
HOW ABOUT THIS? The robotic machine can be operated by one person eliminating 6 people. What would be the matter with training those six people to operate 6 other robots and multiplying production [by six] with the smaller increase in cost for the additional production attributable to materials instead of laying off five people?
I THOUGHT INCREASED PRODUCTION IS WHAT ROBOTICS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ALL ABOUT.
I recently had a lengthy conversation about the economy with a 26 year old college graduate that was married with one child. He told me he drives an older Japanese auto that he bought new while attending college which has 100,000+/- miles on it and NO PROBLEMS. He told me he plans to continue driving it and eventually trade it in for another Japanese auto.
I asked, "why?"
He related to me, his views on American made autos was that it is a continuous rip off, according to him. "American made products are made to break down and require repair or replacement after limited use," he continued. "Have you read Consumer reports," he asked?
He makes a valid point.
We, Americans, have been the leaders in many fields. Whether it is engineering, medicine, science, or whatever. You name it, we've probably done it.
So the question is; why can't we compete with these other countries? The standing excuse is, the wages we have to pay OUR employees is outlandish as compared to what they pay their employees over seas.
Righhht, has anyone paid any attention to how these people live? Excuse me, exist. These statements are usually made by CEO's or similar executives, that are earning millions of dollars in salary with additional millions of dollars in bonuses each year.
Alright, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
If the employees are earning enough wages, aren't they putting it back into the economy? You know, like buying homes, furniture and cars, which creates other jobs.
We've almost come full circle to the home foreclosure reference made earlier.There is more to be said.
I'll leave it there for another post.
