Rethinking things
I heard a very interesting and very telling sign of the times yesterday. A news report mentioned that about 70% of the US economy is consumer spending and the word an analyst used to describe consumer sentiment was "depressed".
I think of how many are unemployed. How many of us are teetering on the brink because of a loss of an income; or how many have had to take lower paying jobs and are struggling. One of the biggest things I've noticed lately is how empty the grocery store parking lots appear these days. Maybe it's just because I don't go at the right times, but it's enough to notice that when I do, there aren't as many cars in the parking lot as there used to be. I also see that the beef selections at the store aren't quite what they used to be. I think that's another telling sign of how prices are hurting people.
If we're the engine, and we can't shovel enough coal into that engine to keep it running by spending money we don't have, we're in serious trouble. The sad part is that I don't have the first clue of how to fix it.
A friend of mine and I were talking about his idea. One thing he thought was important was that we tariff goods coming into America from China at the same rate they tariff our goods. I think we're at 2%, the Chinese are at 25%. I agree. Free trade is and always has been a bad idea because the playing field isn't level. Look at Airbus. They're subsidized by European governments. Boeing is subsidized by its stockholders. Steel producers have been feeling the effects of subsidized steel from other countries, which keeps the price for their products artificially low and makes it hard to impossible for American companies to compete in that market. But, what if we, tomorrow, implemented a policy to up the tariffs on Chinese goods? Is your household ready to pay 23% more for just about everything at Wal-mart and every other store?
We want jobs. Good jobs. But we also want cheap TV sets and toasters. We don't fix anything anymore because it's cheaper in most cases to just buy a new one and throw the old one away. How many perfectly working computers have you gone through in the last ten years because the technology and software grow so fast that you need to have a new one just to keep up?
We really gotta re-think some things, folks. Our politics, our policies, our needs as a nation. I don't have the answers but I don't think most of the people running for office have much more of a clue either. I think is says a lot when the most qualified guy for the job seems to be Jon Huntsman and he's polling at about 1%. But then again, I thought the most qualified guy for the job that ran last time was Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. He had the resume' for the job and made a lot of sense but not a lot of people were listening.
It can't be about popularity and it can't be about extreme ideas on either side. We really all need to look at our values, our morals, and our priorities. Greed has taken over our politics. Money and special interests who have that money influence (dictate?) our choices. We rely heavily on 30 second sound bytes for information. We gotta start having a conversation with our friends about what we want as a country, not a debate. We don't have national referendums on ideas like heath care. We have elections. We really need to think about what we want for our country and share that with each other, not argue about who's right and who's wrong.
We also need to talk about our culture with each other. I think we really need to decide if the values we see on TV, in the movies, and see our young people living today are helping or hurting our country. I'll be the first person to admit my moral compass was broken. But I re-thought some things and learned some new things (another great reason to go to church!).
We do have some decisions to make as Americans. We have to decide about the future, what we want from Government and how we're willing to pay for it. And as for the "job creators", I'd like you to think about this: Poor people create jobs too. People caught up in this mess create jobs too. Wouldn't it be great if our economy and country ran so well that we could start laying off bill collectors, foreclosure specialists, bankruptcy attorneys, etc...
American ideals are great. They really are. The conversation, though, needs to change from where we've been, to where as a country we're headed, and how we're gonna get out of the mess that got us to where we are today.
I think of how many are unemployed. How many of us are teetering on the brink because of a loss of an income; or how many have had to take lower paying jobs and are struggling. One of the biggest things I've noticed lately is how empty the grocery store parking lots appear these days. Maybe it's just because I don't go at the right times, but it's enough to notice that when I do, there aren't as many cars in the parking lot as there used to be. I also see that the beef selections at the store aren't quite what they used to be. I think that's another telling sign of how prices are hurting people.
If we're the engine, and we can't shovel enough coal into that engine to keep it running by spending money we don't have, we're in serious trouble. The sad part is that I don't have the first clue of how to fix it.
A friend of mine and I were talking about his idea. One thing he thought was important was that we tariff goods coming into America from China at the same rate they tariff our goods. I think we're at 2%, the Chinese are at 25%. I agree. Free trade is and always has been a bad idea because the playing field isn't level. Look at Airbus. They're subsidized by European governments. Boeing is subsidized by its stockholders. Steel producers have been feeling the effects of subsidized steel from other countries, which keeps the price for their products artificially low and makes it hard to impossible for American companies to compete in that market. But, what if we, tomorrow, implemented a policy to up the tariffs on Chinese goods? Is your household ready to pay 23% more for just about everything at Wal-mart and every other store?
We want jobs. Good jobs. But we also want cheap TV sets and toasters. We don't fix anything anymore because it's cheaper in most cases to just buy a new one and throw the old one away. How many perfectly working computers have you gone through in the last ten years because the technology and software grow so fast that you need to have a new one just to keep up?
We really gotta re-think some things, folks. Our politics, our policies, our needs as a nation. I don't have the answers but I don't think most of the people running for office have much more of a clue either. I think is says a lot when the most qualified guy for the job seems to be Jon Huntsman and he's polling at about 1%. But then again, I thought the most qualified guy for the job that ran last time was Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. He had the resume' for the job and made a lot of sense but not a lot of people were listening.
It can't be about popularity and it can't be about extreme ideas on either side. We really all need to look at our values, our morals, and our priorities. Greed has taken over our politics. Money and special interests who have that money influence (dictate?) our choices. We rely heavily on 30 second sound bytes for information. We gotta start having a conversation with our friends about what we want as a country, not a debate. We don't have national referendums on ideas like heath care. We have elections. We really need to think about what we want for our country and share that with each other, not argue about who's right and who's wrong.
We also need to talk about our culture with each other. I think we really need to decide if the values we see on TV, in the movies, and see our young people living today are helping or hurting our country. I'll be the first person to admit my moral compass was broken. But I re-thought some things and learned some new things (another great reason to go to church!).
We do have some decisions to make as Americans. We have to decide about the future, what we want from Government and how we're willing to pay for it. And as for the "job creators", I'd like you to think about this: Poor people create jobs too. People caught up in this mess create jobs too. Wouldn't it be great if our economy and country ran so well that we could start laying off bill collectors, foreclosure specialists, bankruptcy attorneys, etc...
American ideals are great. They really are. The conversation, though, needs to change from where we've been, to where as a country we're headed, and how we're gonna get out of the mess that got us to where we are today.
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