Last year, about 1.3 million factory jobs disappeared in America, according to USA Today. Every year we see more and more of our jobs moving to Mexico, China, and other countries, while Americans are left with fewer and fewer options to find employment.
As companies close down or ship jobs offshore, we see small towns and big cities across the country reduced to virtual ghost towns as workers move away in search of new jobs. Businesses shut down because their customer base is shrinking, schools lose funding as class sizes diminish, local governments cut back on services, and the downward spiral continues.
It’s easy to blame big business for the problem, believing that all they care about is profits, and if they can produce their goods cheaper offshore, that’s what they are going to do. And cooperate greed is a very big part of the problem.
However, that’s only one part of the problem. Employees themselves have to carry some of the blame for the predicament they now find themselves in. For years labor unions have demanded more and more, until some companies just could not break even. I saw it in Arizona in the early 1980s, when copper miners in Clifton and Morenci went on strike against the Phelps Dodge Corporation for even higher wages than they had been getting. Three years later, none of them had jobs. If Arizona copper miners didn’t want to work, there were plenty of miners in other countries eager for jobs. Today copper mining, once a powerhouse industry in Arizona, is almost a forgotten relic of times past. A few weeks ago I wrote about an Elkhart, Indiana band instrument company where the same thing happened.
The world has changed. As Third World nations emerge, their industries do not have the restrictions and pressures American industry has. To survive, American industry and industrial workers need to change too. The “us against them” labor/management attitude needs to be replaced with one of “we’re all in this together.”
Another factor are the environmentalists who don’t want us to cut down trees, drill oil wells, build pipelines, open factories, or do anything else that might in any possible way disturb obscure critters like dung beetles and spotted owls.
And let’s not forget the folks in Washington, D.C., who heap restrictions and taxes higher and higher on the backs of American businesses. If they make a dollar profit, it seems like they are expected to give 99 cents of it to support foreign aid, foreign wars, illegal aliens, and home grown welfare moms. How can a factory survive?
But we, as consumers, are not without guilt either. We all want to spend the least amount of money for anything we buy, which has led to the proliferation of big box stores that have run the small retailer out of business, and to the glut of cheap foreign goods those big stores sell. Every American wants to earn top wages and pay bargain basement prices. That just doesn’t work.
For a company to produce quality goods and pay their employees high wages, they have to charge more for the finished product. Only by cutting expenses can they produce and sell anything cheaper. Do you remember that old saying about buying oats? If you want nice, fresh oats, you have to pay top dollar for them. But if you are willing to settle for oats that have been run through the horse already, they are a whole lot cheaper!
The government announced in January that, for the first time in history, most union members are now government employees, not workers in the private sector. America needs blue collar jobs. We need manufacturing. We need industry making products that bring wealth into a community and a nation, instead of spending our dollars offshore to buy products made elsewhere. We cannot survive as just a service economy. We need to stop shipping our jobs to Mexico and China, and bring them back home.
So how do we do that? I’m afraid we can’t. Well, let me clarify, I’m afraid we won’t. The first thing we all have to do is to change our mindset, and I don’t see that happening! We are all too selfish to give up the cheap junk we buy at mega retailers. Our government is too afraid of offending other countries by imposing tariffs on their goods. Our lawmakers are too happy sticking lobbyist and special interest money into their own pockets, rather than allow things to change.
We need to impose sanctions against companies who close down U.S. plants and move them overseas. We need union workers to understand that it’s a new world and that the gravy train has derailed. They need to learn the word compromise. We need lawmakers who have the guts to say “no more” and make the hard changes, no matter how unpopular they are. We all need to be willing to pay a little more for quality American made goods.
If we don’t, just like the mill and factory towns that sit mostly empty and broken, I fear that America itself is in danger of becoming the world’s biggest ghost town!
Tags: America, American businesses, American industry, Americans, Arizona copper miners, band instrument company, big box stores, big business, blue collar jobs, build pipelines, cheap foreign goods, China, consumers, cooperate greed, copper miners, copper miners on strike, copper mining, cut down trees, drill oil wells, earn top wages, employees, environmentalists, factory jobs, factory towns, foreign aid, ghost towns, government employees, high wages, higher wages, illegal aliens, impose sanctions, imposing tariffs, industrial workers, jobs moving to Mexico, labor unions, mill towns, Phelps Dodge Corporation, powerhouse industry, profit, profits, quality American made goods, schools lose funding, service economy, ship jobs offshore, small towns, spotted owls, taxes, Third World nations, union members, union workers, USA Today, Washington D.C., welfare moms
News reports this week say that Iraq is reinstating some 20,000 officers who were part of Saddam Hussein’s army. Huh? Didn’t we just dismantle that army after first whipping them, throwing their murderous leader out of office, and then hanging him? I don’t get it.
Weren’t they part of the evil regime that terrorized the nation and their neighboring countries? I mean, Saddam himself wasn’t the only bad guy in Iraq, was he? Without his army of thugs behind him, how could he have gotten away with so much for so long? If these are good men, why didn’t they take him down a long time ago? If they were not part of the solution, then weren’t they part of the problem?
These are not nice people. Most of the officers being reinstated are Sunnis, who dominated Saddam’s regime. After Saddam fell, many of them took their experience in bloodletting and joined the insurgents, and are responsible for many American deaths in the ongoing efforts to bring peace to this warlike land.
What’s to stop these clowns from rearming themselves and putting another dictator in place, so we have to go back and do the same thing all over again in fifteen or twenty years? Did we give the Nazis control of the German army once Adolph Hitler killed himself and we beat Germany into submission?
Hitler wasn’t the only sadist killing and torturing people in concentration camps. It took a lot of sick bastards to do what they did during the Nazi regime. The same for Saddam Hussein. His underlings were just as evil as he was, and putting them back in charge of Iraq’s army is a recipe for disaster. But it shows you the thinking of that nation. They have not learned from their recent history, and I fear that we are doomed to relive it all over again.
I don’t get this whole idea that once the bullets stop flying, we all shake hands and walk away friends. We’re talking war, not a football game. Bad guys are bad guys, and their very nature doesn’t change just because the politicians decide we have achieved whatever lofty goals they set in the LaLa Land they live in.
How about if we give released felons who served time for violent crimes a handgun and a ski mask when they walk out of prison?
Tags: Adolph Hitler, American deaths, army of thugs, concentration camps, dictator, evil regime, felons, football game, German army, Germany, handgun, insurgents, Iraq, killing and torturing people, Nazi regime, Nazis, politicians, prison, recipe for disaster, Saddam Hussein, Saddam Hussein’s army, sadist, Sunnis, violent crime, war
Back when I had employees, I was never a good boss, because I was too easy on people. I always wanted to be a friend to everybody who worked with me, and sometimes people think that makes you soft, and then they try to take advantage of the situation. Disciplining employees was always hard for me, and firing someone was especially stressful. But sometimes you have no choice. You have an employee that just refuses to follow the rules, who creates discontent among the rest of the staff, or who is dishonest, and they must go. I’ve also had a few employees who just were not cut out for the newspaper business, or for advertising sales, and I had let them go for their own sake, as well as mine. Those were the hardest ones to handle.
I have also fired a couple of doctors, an attorney, and an insurance company who forgot that I was the customer and did not give me the service I wanted. Some people don’t think you can fire your doctor or your lawyer, but you can. It’s your money, your health, and your future you are dealing with, and if you are not happy with the relationship, it’s time to part company. Speaking of relationships, I’ve even fired a wife or two! I’m no Donald Trump, but if it had to be done, I did it.
But I think even Donald of the Bad Hairdo can’t top the school board of Central Falls, Rhode Island, which just fired the entire teaching staff at their high school because of the school’s terrible performance record. Yes, you read that right. 88 teachers and other support staff were booted to the curb because they were not doing their jobs!
News reports say that the school’s track record was indeed pretty dismal; only seven percent of 11th graders were proficient in math, just 33 percent were proficient in writing, and 55 percent met expected grade levels in reading. Only 48 percent of students graduated within four years!
The school superintendent said that she tried to work with the teaching staff to resolve the school’s problems, suggesting changes that included extending school hours, requiring teachers to offer tutoring, having them get additional training, and asking teachers to eat lunch with their students once a week to try to form relationships with them that would carry over to their classrooms. But when the teachers’ union nixed that idea, the next step was to clean house.
Now there’s an employee incentive plan for you! If you come to work and do your job, you get to come back and do it again tomorrow!
Now, I’ll admit that I have never been a school teacher. But I have known many teachers over the years, and I know that there are a lot of kids who are just too lazy and unmotivated to even get out of bed in the morning, let alone come to class and participate. And I also know that there are way too many parents who are a big part of the problem. But when more than half the kids in a high school can’t graduate in four years, it’s time for a change. Since the teachers at Central Falls High School either couldn’t or wouldn’t get the job done, hopefully the school system can hire some new folks who will.
And if they do, can we send the school board down to Washington, D.C.? There is a lot of deadwood sitting around there picking their noses, scratching their butts, and ignoring the people they are supposed to be working for. Can we give everybody inside the Capital Beltway their pink slips? Because I think a lot of them got their education and their work ethic at Central Falls High School!
Actually, if we traded all of the congressmen, senators, and bureaucrats in Washington for the student population at Central Falls, we’d probably still be better off!
Tags: advertising sales, attorney, bureaucrats, Capital Beltway, Central Falls Rhode Island, classroom, congressmen, Disciplining employees, doctors, Donald Trump, employees, firing someone, health, high school, high school teachers, insurance company, lawyer, newspaper business, school board, school superintendent, school teacher, senators, students, teachers’ union, tutoring, Washington D.C., work ethic
Watching Tiger Woods making his public statement about his recent marriage problems and his infidelity, and how his entering a rehabilitation center has been helping him overcome his personal weaknesses, I suddenly had a revelation that has changed my life, and one that I’m sure can help many other men.
I’m not a dirty old man after all. I’m not a horny guy trying to get laid. No, I’m a sick person trying to get better! It’s not my fault! I need therapy.
I didn’t mean to stare at that cute cowgirls’ firm little butt in her tight blue jeans, but it’s a sickness man, what can I do? I didn’t run my van off the road twisting around to look at that college coed in the halter top, I had a seizure. I wasn’t ogling that woman in the low cut blouse, I was just suffering a relapse. This explains why I have a thing for tall, well stacked blondes. My Daddy always said to set high goals for myself and to climb every mountain. Thank you Tiger, it all makes perfectly good sense to me now!
Apparently I have suffered with this affliction ever since puberty. My high school algebra teacher told me I was stupid, but as it turns out, even then I was dealing with this terrible handicap. I remember that when that redhead in the tight angora sweater slipped into the desk next to me, my mind just wouldn’t allow me to count higher than two divided by 36C. It makes you wonder what kind of man I could have turned out to be, and what I could have accomplished, if only I had been diagnosed and received treatment at a younger age, doesn’t it?
Fortunately for Tiger and myself, we both have good women who are standing by their men, and who intend to help us walk this long road to recovery. Once I explained all of this to Miss Terry, she was very understanding and supportive. She says if I don’t keep my eyes to myself, I will need therapy. Physical therapy! Damn, I think I’m cured already! It’s a miracle!
This whole celebrity sex thing, with the recurring scandals that we keep learning about, has helped shape my life. A lot of you blog readers have suggested that Bad Nick should be President. But you’re not the first folks to come up with that idea. My Meemaw always wanted me to grow up and become President too. But the Clinton scandal convinced me that I just don’t have the sex drive for the job. And if I can’t handle one chubby intern, how the heck do you expect me to screw an entire country? A good man knows his limitations.
Tags: blog readers, celebrity sex scandal, Clinton sex scandal, college coed, diagnosed and received treatment, dirty old man, handicap, high school algebra, infidelity, marriage problems, Physical therapy, rehabilitation center, relapse, seizure, set high goals, sex drive, sex scandal, Tiger Woods sex scandal
I try to be mellow most (okay, some) of the time, but even I have my limits, and lately it feels like I get pushed there more and more, so it’s time to vent about some of the things that piss me off!
1. One of my biggest pet peeves lately are self-checkout lines at the grocery store, Home Depot, and every place else. Half the time I can’t figure them out, and the rest of the time they don’t work anyway. Instead of having that young lady standing by at every other self-checkout lane to come and help me out when I get stuck, why don’t they just put her behind a cash register and let me pay for my stuff and leave? When I go to a store to spend my hard earned money, I don’t want to have to ring up my own stuff. I want somebody to do it for me, then take my money and tell me to have a nice day.
2. I hate it when we go to a buffet restaurant, and the person at the cash register asks me if I get the senior discount. Please don’t make me choose between vanity and frugalness. If I look old enough to qualify for the discount, just give it to me. Otherwise you’ll just waste my time if I am, or insult me if I’m not and you think I look that old!
3. The post office is one of my greatest sources of frustration. Why are they always understaffed? Why does one window clerk always close up just as I get to the front of the line and think I’m finally next? The people who really tick me off at the post office are the little old ladies who want to look at the pictures on every postage stamp in the inventory before they decide which ones to buy. Hey, Grannie, it’s not artwork, it’s a stamp! You’re not going to hang it on the wall and admire it for the next decade. You’re just going to stick it on an envelope and drop it in a mailbox!
4. I hate Mormon missionaries and Jehovah Witnesses who come knocking on my door when the blinds are closed. Those blinds are closed for a reason. Leave me alone! I might be busy reading my bible. Or I might be busy getting lucky. Whatever I’m doing, I don’t want to be interrupted, and I don’t want to talk about it with you! Go away!
5. Physical fitness nuts bother me almost as much as religious nuts. I know I’m out of shape. I spent a lot of time and money getting this way. Stop encouraging me to diet and get into shape. Round is a shape! And don’t tell me it’s for my health! You keep that up and some fat guy like me might get fed up and shoot you, and that would be bad for your health!
6. People who want to impose their religion and their sense of morality on the rest of the world get to me. If you want to go to church on Sunday morning, and it fulfills you, I’m happy for you. If you want to walk around the desert in a loincloth and worship a rock, that’s fine too. Just don’t insist that I worship the same rock that you do. It’s none of my business if you sleep with men, women, or gerbils, as long as you do it behind closed doors and don’t bother me. A lot of the self-righteous, holier than thou types I know are going to be in a lot of trouble if Judgment Day comes and they find out that God is a black, Jewish lesbian!
7. Are you as sick and tired as I am of those Save The Children type television commercials? They’ve been showing me that same little snotty nosed kid named Maria or whatever for the last fifteen years. By now Maria has either grown up and become some drug lord’s main squeeze, or she has slipped over the border and is running an illegal daycare in the apartment next door, hosting an entire platoon of snotty nosed kids. I’m sorry that Maria lives in a cesspool, but I can’t save the entire world, so stop trying to make me feel like I should. I have enough guilt to live with after that stuff I said about Mormon missionaries and Jehovah Witnesses. I don’t need any more.
8. Reality television shows have no basis in reality at all. They are beyond stupid. Even somebody who just had a lobotomy would find them boring. Stop taking off good comedy and drama television shows to give me more “reality programming!” I watch TV to escape reality!
9. When some rude idiot pulls up beside you in traffic with one of those obnoxiously loud stereos that go BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, and shake the fillings out of your teeth, am I the only one who wants to stick something in their window that goes boom too? Okay, I really wouldn’t go that far, but I’d love to have one of those handheld emergency fog horns that boaters use, and stick that in their ear and blow them into the middle of next week. I hate noise pollution!
10. Last, but certainly not least, are the people who blame the current President for everything wrong in society, or those folks on the other side of the issues, who blame the last President for the same things. We didn’t get into this mess in the last year, or even in the last eight years. But until we all stop throwing rocks across party lines and realize we have problems, and start compromising and working together to solve them, things will only get worse. Hey kids, the house is on fire! Let’s put out the damned blaze first, and then we’ll decide who was playing with matches!
Of course, all of these things have one common denominator – stupid people. I don’t know if it’s something in the water, or the result of watching too much reality TV, but we really seem to be awash in idiots lately, and they’re breeding like flies.
I know you can’t fix stupid, but don’t you think that every once in a while, you should at least be allowed to grab it by the throat and choke the living crap out of it?
Tags: bible, black, buffet restaurant, cash register, drug lord, emergency fog horns, Home Depot, illegal daycare, Jehovah Witnesses, Jewish, lesbian, lobotomy, loud stereos, mailbox, morality, Mormon missionaries, noise pollution, Physical fitness nuts, post office, postage stamp, Reality television shows, religion, religious nuts, Save The Children, self-checkout lines at the grocery store, senior discount, stupid people, television commercials
I didn’t always appreciate the politics of Arizona while I lived here, and in my time publishing small town newspapers, I used a lot of ink pointing out that too many of our politicians on the local, state, and national level were two IQ points short of swinging from vines and eating bananas. But I’m beginning to like the current thinking in the Grand Canyon State more and more.
I’ve always been a fan of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his no nonsense way of enforcing the law. The good Sheriff doesn’t care if you are black, brown, white, or green, if you break the law in his county, you go to jail. And once you’re in his jail, he makes sure you don’t come away thinking you just had a vacation.
As it turns out, Sheriff Joe isn’t the only elected official in the state who is not suffering from cranial-rectal inversion. State Senator Russell Pearce recently introduced SB1070, which would require Arizona police officers to make a “reasonable attempt” to determine the immigration status of anyone they come into contact with during an investigation, and empowers them to stop and arrest anyone they believe is in this country illegally. The bill also would make the mere presence of an illegal immigrant anywhere in Arizona a violation of state trespass laws.
Among the other points, the bill would prohibit illegal immigrants from soliciting work in public places (parking lots of building supply stores, for example) and make it a crime for illegal immigrants to do any kind of work in Arizona; make it illegal to stop on a street to hire temporary workers; bar state government agencies from having policies that prohibit or punish workers for informing federal officials if someone seeking a permit, license, or government benefits is an illegal immigrant; and calling for the arrest of people for transporting, concealing or harboring anyone who is in this country illegally. The new bill would also toughen penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Now, you might say that in today’s “enlightened” society, such a bill would never make it, but SB1070 was approved 17-13 by the State Senate Monday, without debate, and will now move to the State House of Representatives for a vote.
Meanwhile, State Representative Frank Antenori has introduced HB 2770, which prohibits welfare recipients in Arizona from owning expensive cars, and consuming or purchasing alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, or illegal drugs. Antenori’s bill would limit the amount of money a welfare recipient could spend on a car to $5,000, and limit him or her to only subscribing to basic cable television, and only having a cell phone if it is the recipient’s only telephone.
Antenori said he is tired of seeing people buy soda and junk food with food stamps that taxpayers are paying for, and then pull out $40 in cash to buy booze and cigarettes. He doesn’t think people on welfare should have such luxuries as HBO and Pay Per View. His bill would also encourage citizens who see welfare recipients buying the restricted items, or who know of those who ignore the law, to turn them in to state officials.
I don’t know about you, but I think we need a few thousand more elected officials like Joe Arpaio, Russell Pearce, and Frank Antenori nationwide, and in Washington, D.C. Maybe if we did, the will of the people might be enacted into law, instead of the will of the do-gooders, bleeding hearts, and special interest groups who have allowed our nation to be overrun with welfare rats and illegal aliens whose only contributions to society are to break the law and suck up benefits they don’t deserve.
Tags: alcoholic beverages, Arizona, Arizona police officers, basic cable television, bleeding hearts, break the law, crime, elected official, enforcing the law, federal officials, food stamps, go to jail, government benefits, Grand Canyon State, HBO, illegal aliens, illegal drugs, illegal immigrant, immigration status, is in this country illegally, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Pay Per View, politicians, politics, publishing small town newspapers, sheriff, special interest groups, state government agencies, State House of Representatives, State Senate, state trespass laws, taxpayers, tobacco products, Washington D.C., welfare rats, welfare recipients
Last week, Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans announced that the country is tightening its rules to control the type of immigrants allowed in. Evans said the new policy will favor people who speak English, and professionals. Evans said the country has been attracting too many hairdressers and cooks, and too few doctors and engineers.
Can you imagine the uproar if an American politician announced such a policy? He and whatever administration was in office would be labeled heartless racists stepping on the hopes and dreams of the unfortunate people who just want to come to America in search of a better way of life! Of course, the hell raisers wouldn’t mention that most of those opportunity seekers don’t come here legally, but instead sneak into the country in defiance of our laws.
I applaud Australia for having the national cajones to say they don’t want to become home to people who cannot make a contribution to the country, and can’t even speak the language. But they are not the only country that takes a hard line on immigration.
If you want to immigrate to Canada, you must show that you have enough money to support yourself and your dependants, you must have the work skills to obtain employment, and you cannot have a criminal record. If you enter the country illegally, you are deported.
In England, an immigrant has to meet educational, savings and salary requirements to qualify. The same applies to Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.
Switzerland, worried about the increasing number of unskilled immigrants, has introduced regulations that restrict immigration and make it particularly difficult to obtain Swiss citizenship. Their laws severely restrict low skilled immigrants, who are already in Switzerland in large numbers. Their politicians have no problem saying enough is enough.
Mexico, the country that supplies most of our illegal immigrants, has a pretty rigid policy for immigrants into their country. They must enter legally; they must be able to support themselves economically; anyone who would be a burden on their society is not welcomed; immigrants must contribute economically to Mexican society; and immigrants cannot have a criminal record. In Mexico, foreign visitors who violate their visa status are deported, and those who enter the country illegally are imprisoned or deported. Gee, maybe we need a bunch of Mexican politicians running our government. Of course, if we give them a few years, they will be!
I think the Aussies, English, Canadians, Swiss, Mexico, and others have the right idea. Why is it okay for them to enact strict immigration laws and enforce them, and not apologize for that, but not us? We need to be more like the Australians.
Of course, they are an island nation, which makes it a bit harder to sneak in than it is here, where illegals can just walk across the border. I think we need a moat.
Tags: America, American politician, Australia, Australian Immigration, burden on society, Canada, citizenship, cooks, criminal record, doctors, engineers, England, hairdressers, hard line on immigration, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, immigrants, Ireland, low skilled immigrants, Mexican politicians, Mexican society, Mexico, politicians, racists, restrict immigration, Scotland, speak English, strict immigration laws, Switzerland, unskilled immigrants, Wales, work skills
In America, two states, Washington and Oregon, legally allow assisted suicides for terminally ill patients who choose to end their lives. 34 states have laws making assisting suicide a crime, and the remaining states have laws somewhere in between, or do not have an official stand on the matter. The Supreme Court has ruled that it is up to the individual states to decide on this issue, without federal interference.
While I believe that life is precious, I also believe that a person who is mentally competent and suffering from an incurable disease should have the right to make the decision to die with dignity, and that physicians should be allowed to provide them with prescriptions to do so.
I have heard people who oppose suicide say that it is the quitter’s way out, and there is some validity to that claim. If an angst-ridden teenager or a depressed adult just chooses not to deal with life anymore, is it okay to end it?
I don’t think so. There have been times in my past when I have been so far down emotionally that the easiest thing in the world would have been to pick up a gun, or turn into the path of an oncoming train. But I’m too much of a coward to do so, and I couldn’t do that to my kids. And guess what? I eventually came out on the other side of the crisis, and now I can’t wait to get up every morning and see what life holds for me today.
On the flip side, I knew guys who vowed during their time in combat to save their last bullet for themselves, because they knew they could not withstand being taken prisoner. I don’t think I could have handled that ordeal either.
I watched my father die a horrible death from cancer, and when he began to go downhill, my mother asked me to take his guns out of the house, which I did. But, as his disease worsened, I can’t honestly say I could have refused him if he asked me to bring him a pistol. Dad said he would never do that to my mother, but I do believe that he should have had the option to end his life with a prescription, if he chose to, in comfort and surrounded by his family.
I believe in the right to die with dignity. I have an Advance Directive stating that if I am in a vegetative state with no reasonable chance of recovering, that no artificial means be used to keep me alive.
There is a time when death is coming and you can’t stop it, but I do believe that if you are in that position and cannot handle the suffering, you should have the right to speed up the inevitable. We do that for the pets we love, so why should we deny it to the people we love?
Yes, I know that it’s a grim subject, but not everything in life is sunshine. It’s something any of us may be faced with someday. How do you feel about this issue?
Tags: Advance Directive, angst-ridden teenager, assisted suicides, cancer, combat, die with dignity, incurable disease, mentally competent, Oregon, physicians, suicide, Supreme Court, terminally ill patients, Washington
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