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The State Of Our Economy

nybuckboy
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nybuckboy Enthusiast

nybuckboy

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This is a letter to the editor I wrote in January 2010. It goes to show you that the current problem we have is not Obama caused. I'm not trying to say that Obama nor another president is going fix this economy and if so, it's not gonna happen in 4 years. This economy will never rebound until we have Republicans and Democrats putting their heads together for common good of our country. Until that happens things will not get better. Below is the editorial. Give it a read.

The state of our economy can be directly linked to a warning that someone told us about nearly 20 years ago. Do the words “giant sucking sound” ring a bell.

The "giant sucking sound" was United States Presidential candidate Ross Perot's colorful phrase for what he believed would be the negative effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he opposed. The phrase was coined during the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign, referring to the sound of U.S. jobs heading south for Mexico should the proposed free-trade agreement go into effect.

Perot ultimately lost the election, and the winner, Bill Clinton, supported NAFTA, which went into effect on January 1, 1994.

I don’t think Ross Perot himself could have predicted just how much this would impact our economy. Not only did our jobs go to Mexico but to China, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Indonesia and many others in Central Asia. Companies thought why not, we can have overseas worker could do the same work for $3 a day. They could have their product manufactured for much less, yet more often than not, they got an inferior product and with poorer quality control. These countries have grown richer due to our manufacturers electing to build their products for less money overseas thus ultimately killing our own working man and woman.

Prior to this, the Unites States was known around the world as a manufacturers of great products. Now we are known for our great customer service. Which jobs do you think pay more? Most customer service people make less than $10 with many making minimum wage. Workers on the floor of assembly plants could expect 2 or 3 times that much and many earning more than $30 an hour.

The US sold it’s soul. The manufacturing jobs are gone and now everyone is forced to go to college, inheriting huge debts through student loans to make that same $25 or $30 an hour.

Many took Ross seriously, almost 19% cast their vote for him, including myself twice. Unfortunately, not enough of us thought this short, odd looking man with big ears and a funny voice could win the election, therefore dismissed him as a serious presidential candidate. Perot was not only a businessman and self made billionaire but a he was a modern day prophet. He knew what would happen and it did. The US needed someone who knew how to run a large business. Not another politician. Perot understood large business and after all isn’t the government just a large business.

We live in a looks obsessed world, where people today are judged by how good looking or attractive they are rather than by what they say or do. I have often wondered… what if Ross Perot had looked like John Edwards, Harrison Ford, Bill Clinton or just an average looking man with a normal voice, would he have been our president? What would our country be like today if the NAFTA agreement had never been signed? Think about it!

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Culvercreek hunt club Enthusiast

Culvercreek hunt club

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Let' s say it didn't pass and no foreign trade was allowed. those faoctory jobs making $30 an hour, without competition they go to 35...40...45? where does it stop? The same "corporate greed" that is sendig jobs over seas now would have had Union and worker greed and they still would have been replaced by technology. That machine that can run 24 hours a day, doesn't call in sick and never complains starts to look really good when the wages get inflated.

Look at the unemployment numbers. even at 10% I am not surprised and no one should be. I personally know 1 out of 10 of my friends and family that I would not hire for a position if I were hiring. Problem is that 10% would just go on public dole rather than picking fruit.

If it wasn't NAFTA there would be some other reason or excuse for failure rather than pricing ourselves out of a job

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BizCT Grand Master

BizCT

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Look at the unemployment numbers. even at 10% I am not surprised and no one should be. I personally know 1 out of 10 of my friends and family that I would not hire for a position if I were hiring. Problem is that 10% would just go on public dole rather than picking fruit.

I wouldn't hire 1 out of every 4 of my friends lol.

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Pav2704 Rookie

Pav2704

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Nobody down here in NYC is effected by the economy. We still get our raises, promotions, bonuses, etc. Sucks for the kids getting out college right now though.

The problem is that everyone is going to college today, even those students that are not college material. Colleges should not have to offer remediation courses/programs. Some students are being accepted into college on temporary probation programs because they didn't make adequate grades in high school. Years ago they simply wouldn't of been accepted. Today it plain and simple greed!! This greed is flooding the job markets and children are now living with their parents well into their thirties because they can't find jobs. I have to kids of my own and I would never tell them not to go to college, however, I am definately going to encourage them to learn a trade. With the cost of living being what it is, children will need every advantage they can get so not to be a drain on society.

If we want to fix the economy we should stop attacking the men and women who are actually working, union or non-union, and find a leader that has enough guts to go after the drains of society that have not worked in years because its easier to simply collect a check from the government that they have not earned!!!

Plain and Simple!!!

Edited by Pav2704
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sits in trees Newbie

sits in trees

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Wow, good post man! just goes to show how Doomed we really are, Republiturds or Demotards will never be able to fix what we are up against. all they can do now is keep the lies flowing. kinda the way you do to a dying child, and also try and keep us all as stupid as possible. i think they are doing a good job in that respect because they still have the American public argueing who the better man is??

Edited by sits in trees
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Sogaard Newbie

Sogaard

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I've recovered since then, but in 2009 I (and 4000+ other people nation wide) were laid off by IBM. The next month they reported record profits for the quarter. Nice.

And I know a number of people who worked in finance / Wall Street that still haven't found jobs that pay even 50% of what they use to make.

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Culvercreek hunt club Enthusiast

Culvercreek hunt club

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And I know a number of people who worked in finance / Wall Street that still haven't found jobs that pay even 50% of what they use to make.

It is a dangerous thing being at the top of your occupational pay scale.. even worse if it is a speacialty area. I told my daughter that no matter what you are making structure you finances around the income you could earn for a job you can get in 1 month. If you can find a job in your industry at your rate of pay in 1 month you are probably at a competative scale (assuming you are a good employee) If you go years and cant find a position in your market at you scale you are either too specialized or overpaid.

I was hring folks during our construction high between 2005 and 2010. The asking prices from candidates were way above their ability but help was hard to come by. Those priced above their ability are always the first to go in a downturn. The other ones that took a beating were the engineers that were told by professors (who don't know thier a$$ from their elbows) that you are always worth more to someone that doesn't have you and the best way to move up in wages is to change employers. So I saw many many kids that were 5 years out of school with 4 to 5 employeers on their resumes. That shows no commitment to a position and they are not even considered in a down market for positions that do come up .

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fasteddie Grand Master

fasteddie

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I worked at Xerox for 35 years . Most of it was spent as a Materials Management / Ware Housing Supervisor . Had to deal with too many lazy asses who didn't want to work for their paycheck . The last 4 years I was a Buyer Analyst and didn't have to baby sit any more . Guess what ? The ware houses are gon and minimal assembly is done any more ! The union members overpaid themselves out of jobs .

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