PANICS DEPRESSIONS AND RECESSIONS!
(Crisis Helper.com/Philly.com)
(Frazer Chronicle)
A funny thing happened on the way to the bank the other day.....the windows were shuttered, the doors were locked and there was a sign that read, (bank failed.) You think I'm kidding, well.....your right, at least today, August 10, 2012, but back-track 82 years ago, and you just might see that sign on your favorite lending institution, or where you put your hard earned cash, it's the reason many people kept their cash under their beds.
Money, the American dream, stature, owning a home and having a "nest egg" for a rainy day or retirement have all been a part of what we as Americans have dreamt about during our lifetimes in varying degrees. Some of us have attained what we "shot for" during our travels through life, others have failed. But you know something, it really didn't matter, whatever it was that we were reaching for, it was almost worth the thrill of being able to reach, dream and try. Actually it's what living in America is all about, and I've loved it.
It almost didn't matter from whence we came, in the beginning we were all foreigners, America has been the great melting pot of the world. Most of us immigrated to the United States to better our lives, and the lives of our loved ones. The woolen and fabric makers of the eastern seaboard, the coal, gold, and iron miners of Pennsylvania, Colorado and the upper reaches of the Midwest. And the dock hands, or Stevedores on the New York harbor docks who unloaded freight and people, they too were hopeful of a better life.
America has had it all, and really still does, sadly what we "still have" seems is being shipped overseas. Steel, oil, coal, and other mineral treasures are on ships, bound for exotic ports all over the world, places that we only read about, or see on television, places that we will never actually visit.
So is another treasure going overseas from the United States, places that we read about, but never really want to visit. I'm talking about the jobs that are being spirited away by the very industries that depended on the United States for decades. Villages, towns, cities, states and the Federal Government helped all manner of business to grow from their infancy to the lofty positions and outsourcing that they hold today.
ABOUT AMERICAN COMPANIES MOVING ON OUT!
When I say that "American companies moving on out," I mean literally thousands of big to small companies are leaving the United States for greener pastures overseas. Countries like China, the Philippines, Korea, Israel, Ireland, India and Mexico. Asia is generally the country of choice for many other small to medium business ventures.
Over the past several decade or so there has been a remarkable migration of American companies moving overseas, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S. economy. Major manufacturing companies have been taking advantage of lower overhead costs by going overseas for years, but now many, many more companies are taking advantage as well.
The reasons for American companies moving their operations overseas can really be equated to a one legged man entering an ass kicking contest, "he can't win." Low wages, no employee benefits, American companies are usually exempt from environmental and safety regulations, and finally these American companies have no obligation to remit taxes upon exporting their products to the United States.
Either outsourcing jobs, "lower wages, no benefits," or moving entire operations overseas has immense income, property and corporate income tax advantages that American companies fall under, and the hefty tax rebates are opportunities many companies simply can't refuse.
The bottom line here is laughably silly, if a person takes a long serious look at the pros and cons of moving offshore with a business. Lower wages, no benefits, little or no regulations governing environment or safety rules....."hell, where do I sign up," and I don't even have a business.
There are in excess of 1500 American based companies that are on the outsource "hot list," way to many diverse companies for any kind of boycott to use. From 3M Alamo Rent A Car, to Bank One, to Bechtel, Travel Lodge to Honeywell.....the list goes on and on.
WHERE DOES THE AMERICAN WORKER FIT IN?
"A good question," and there is a long and a short answer, the short answer is.....you don't, unless you are willing to work 10 or 12 or 16 hour days, 6 days a week, and get paid a "buck" an hour. There would be no overtime, no benefits of any kind, and really no "vested" interest. You would come in before dawn and leave after dark.....over 300 days a year.
The great American dream would be gone, life expectancy would drop, "through the floor," illness would be on the rise, and the core belief in America, "of the family circle," would be a thing of the past. No family car, no life insurance, little health care and no retirement "nest egg". You would work until you die.....like in the old days.
The long term answer for where the American worker would fit into the new landscape of employment in America would be lower pay, more work production with less people to do the jobs. Everything would be in a "downsizing" mode, automation would be the rule and watch-word of the day.
Incentives would be a thing of the past, wages would stagnate, "as they are today," and there really won't be any reason to reach for that higher plateau, because your already there.
America would become a nation of just two levels of people, the "haves and the have-nots," the upper middle, middle, lower middle and the low class would be replaced by the "class, and the no class." It's how it was centuries ago and how it's going to be again.....unless!
HOW DID WE COME DOWN TO THIS?
How.....by swallowing all the crap that we are told, by not thinking independently, by not questioning, and by not being informed. How many times have we been told, "collectively" that the rich business-man will re-invest in his business, pay a better, and more livable wage, and offer better benefits....."well, I'm waiting." It's what I thought, more times then anybody knows.
The United States has lived under a democracy for more then 200 years, a land of laws that governs the citizenry. We also have lived under a free market society, where demand regulates prices, and wages rather then the government. Of course free markets are associated with capitalism, free markets have been advocated by socialists and have been included in various different proposals for socialism.
According to Murray Rothbard, a free market economy refers to an economy were by buying and selling of goods and services is conducted without restrictions regarding price or valuation. The market players allow the market forces to determine the prices and value of the commodities and service that they offer.
Government regulations.....according to these "market players" is a bad thing and will in fact curtail the very concept of a free market. It works like this.....can anybody remember the "gas wars" that used to help regulate the price of gasoline at the pump. Well I do, and they were great, if one station had a price of .39.9 cents a gallon, the guy across the street would go down to .36.9 cents a gallon and everybody would go across the street for gas. That was the free market.....it helped save the consumer money.
Now gas prices are virtually the same at every station and the inducement to fill up are a lower price for milk, soda pop, or those belly bomb sandwiches that taste great, but do really bad things to the lower tract. However, lost in all the advertisement promotions is the fact that gas has remained the same, high, high higher.
The United States has seen more then it's share of hard financial times under the current programs that we subscribe to.....namely the free market with little or no governmental regulations. The first financial upset came way back in 1797 and lasted for 3 years and was caused by the deflation of the Bank of England across the Atlantic Ocean.
After that, there were panics, "recessions or depressions" in 1807, 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873 to 1893, 1907, 1918 and 1921, pre and post World War 1, 1929, 1945, 1948, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1973, "oil crisis," 1980, 1990, and finally 2008. Bet you didn't know that one.....a total of 20 listed recessions, depressions or panics.
Some of these "depressions" lasted just a few months while others lasted as long 23 years, "long depression, 1873-1893. There also were depressions within depressions, which happened at least 5 times over the history of the country.
THE AMERICAN DREAM TODAY:
The American dream today, the one where the country picked itself of the floor after December 7, 1941, or the America that has picked itself off the financial floor 8 different times not including the 2008 bubble buster.....it's still here, just harder to see, and becoming more of a trail for us to get up from.
Innovation is what has made our country strong, innovation is what we're all about, it's why we've been a world leader, and it's being taken away each and every day, we are becoming a 2nd. class society and a banana republic of a country.
Politicians talk on Capital Hill, industrial leaders talk in the board rooms of America, the Pentagon maps out war encounters and the C.I.A. conceives new enhanced ways to bring foreign countries in line with our hopes, desires and our needs.
There is a small group out there, a well heeled minority ready, willing and sadly able to get their message across to the American public. I'm not talking about some silly conspiracy like a Mel Gibson movie, no, this is real, and if people got their collective heads out of where they sit, it would be easy to see.
With so many corporations moving overseas, how long do you figure it's going to take them to wise up to the fact that they don't need the classes of people in the United States. With the world as the market place, exactly how important is one consumer group to these elite people?
Make no mistake my friend, we are in trouble here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we have only begun to struggle. It's not Democrat or Republican, most of them are already controlled by.....lobbyists, or don't you believe in them. They are a slick lot, doing the bidding of the few so that they can control the masses.
It's going to be a mighty struggle, are we up to the task, can we band together and fight the good fight? I sure as hell hope so, I don't want my Tru-T.V. taken away in my twilight years.
America has had it all, and really still does, sadly what we "still have" seems is being shipped overseas. Steel, oil, coal, and other mineral treasures are on ships, bound for exotic ports all over the world, places that we only read about, or see on television, places that we will never actually visit.
So is another treasure going overseas from the United States, places that we read about, but never really want to visit. I'm talking about the jobs that are being spirited away by the very industries that depended on the United States for decades. Villages, towns, cities, states and the Federal Government helped all manner of business to grow from their infancy to the lofty positions and outsourcing that they hold today.
ABOUT AMERICAN COMPANIES MOVING ON OUT!
When I say that "American companies moving on out," I mean literally thousands of big to small companies are leaving the United States for greener pastures overseas. Countries like China, the Philippines, Korea, Israel, Ireland, India and Mexico. Asia is generally the country of choice for many other small to medium business ventures.
Over the past several decade or so there has been a remarkable migration of American companies moving overseas, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S. economy. Major manufacturing companies have been taking advantage of lower overhead costs by going overseas for years, but now many, many more companies are taking advantage as well.
The reasons for American companies moving their operations overseas can really be equated to a one legged man entering an ass kicking contest, "he can't win." Low wages, no employee benefits, American companies are usually exempt from environmental and safety regulations, and finally these American companies have no obligation to remit taxes upon exporting their products to the United States.
Either outsourcing jobs, "lower wages, no benefits," or moving entire operations overseas has immense income, property and corporate income tax advantages that American companies fall under, and the hefty tax rebates are opportunities many companies simply can't refuse.
The bottom line here is laughably silly, if a person takes a long serious look at the pros and cons of moving offshore with a business. Lower wages, no benefits, little or no regulations governing environment or safety rules....."hell, where do I sign up," and I don't even have a business.
There are in excess of 1500 American based companies that are on the outsource "hot list," way to many diverse companies for any kind of boycott to use. From 3M Alamo Rent A Car, to Bank One, to Bechtel, Travel Lodge to Honeywell.....the list goes on and on.
WHERE DOES THE AMERICAN WORKER FIT IN?
"A good question," and there is a long and a short answer, the short answer is.....you don't, unless you are willing to work 10 or 12 or 16 hour days, 6 days a week, and get paid a "buck" an hour. There would be no overtime, no benefits of any kind, and really no "vested" interest. You would come in before dawn and leave after dark.....over 300 days a year.
The great American dream would be gone, life expectancy would drop, "through the floor," illness would be on the rise, and the core belief in America, "of the family circle," would be a thing of the past. No family car, no life insurance, little health care and no retirement "nest egg". You would work until you die.....like in the old days.
The long term answer for where the American worker would fit into the new landscape of employment in America would be lower pay, more work production with less people to do the jobs. Everything would be in a "downsizing" mode, automation would be the rule and watch-word of the day.
Incentives would be a thing of the past, wages would stagnate, "as they are today," and there really won't be any reason to reach for that higher plateau, because your already there.
America would become a nation of just two levels of people, the "haves and the have-nots," the upper middle, middle, lower middle and the low class would be replaced by the "class, and the no class." It's how it was centuries ago and how it's going to be again.....unless!
HOW DID WE COME DOWN TO THIS?
How.....by swallowing all the crap that we are told, by not thinking independently, by not questioning, and by not being informed. How many times have we been told, "collectively" that the rich business-man will re-invest in his business, pay a better, and more livable wage, and offer better benefits....."well, I'm waiting." It's what I thought, more times then anybody knows.
The United States has lived under a democracy for more then 200 years, a land of laws that governs the citizenry. We also have lived under a free market society, where demand regulates prices, and wages rather then the government. Of course free markets are associated with capitalism, free markets have been advocated by socialists and have been included in various different proposals for socialism.
According to Murray Rothbard, a free market economy refers to an economy were by buying and selling of goods and services is conducted without restrictions regarding price or valuation. The market players allow the market forces to determine the prices and value of the commodities and service that they offer.
Government regulations.....according to these "market players" is a bad thing and will in fact curtail the very concept of a free market. It works like this.....can anybody remember the "gas wars" that used to help regulate the price of gasoline at the pump. Well I do, and they were great, if one station had a price of .39.9 cents a gallon, the guy across the street would go down to .36.9 cents a gallon and everybody would go across the street for gas. That was the free market.....it helped save the consumer money.
Now gas prices are virtually the same at every station and the inducement to fill up are a lower price for milk, soda pop, or those belly bomb sandwiches that taste great, but do really bad things to the lower tract. However, lost in all the advertisement promotions is the fact that gas has remained the same, high, high higher.
The United States has seen more then it's share of hard financial times under the current programs that we subscribe to.....namely the free market with little or no governmental regulations. The first financial upset came way back in 1797 and lasted for 3 years and was caused by the deflation of the Bank of England across the Atlantic Ocean.
After that, there were panics, "recessions or depressions" in 1807, 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873 to 1893, 1907, 1918 and 1921, pre and post World War 1, 1929, 1945, 1948, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1973, "oil crisis," 1980, 1990, and finally 2008. Bet you didn't know that one.....a total of 20 listed recessions, depressions or panics.
Some of these "depressions" lasted just a few months while others lasted as long 23 years, "long depression, 1873-1893. There also were depressions within depressions, which happened at least 5 times over the history of the country.
THE AMERICAN DREAM TODAY:
The American dream today, the one where the country picked itself of the floor after December 7, 1941, or the America that has picked itself off the financial floor 8 different times not including the 2008 bubble buster.....it's still here, just harder to see, and becoming more of a trail for us to get up from.
Innovation is what has made our country strong, innovation is what we're all about, it's why we've been a world leader, and it's being taken away each and every day, we are becoming a 2nd. class society and a banana republic of a country.
Politicians talk on Capital Hill, industrial leaders talk in the board rooms of America, the Pentagon maps out war encounters and the C.I.A. conceives new enhanced ways to bring foreign countries in line with our hopes, desires and our needs.
There is a small group out there, a well heeled minority ready, willing and sadly able to get their message across to the American public. I'm not talking about some silly conspiracy like a Mel Gibson movie, no, this is real, and if people got their collective heads out of where they sit, it would be easy to see.
With so many corporations moving overseas, how long do you figure it's going to take them to wise up to the fact that they don't need the classes of people in the United States. With the world as the market place, exactly how important is one consumer group to these elite people?
Make no mistake my friend, we are in trouble here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we have only begun to struggle. It's not Democrat or Republican, most of them are already controlled by.....lobbyists, or don't you believe in them. They are a slick lot, doing the bidding of the few so that they can control the masses.
It's going to be a mighty struggle, are we up to the task, can we band together and fight the good fight? I sure as hell hope so, I don't want my Tru-T.V. taken away in my twilight years.
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