http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2011/01/03/opinion/doc4d21f5c3bba5f681210548.txt2011 is upon us. After debating resolutions for myself, I began to wonder what ONE resolution would serve Americans best. After much thought, it occurred to me — if we were to return industry to America, the rest of our dilemmas might fall into place.
Since 2000, The United States has lost millions of factory jobs, customer service jobs and information technology jobs. These jobs were shipped to companies in countries who paid their workers less, offered no benefits, and did little to protect their workers (including the employment of children). In exchange, the company heads were able to keep more money, while our average national salaries decreased.
Fourty years ago, a factory job was a way for a citizen who lacked a college education to support his/her family, buy a home and save a little for their retirement. Those who went to college were able to make a little more money, have a little nicer house and save a little more. Company CEOs generally made 40 times the salary of their average worker, had nicer houses and saved more. Hard work was rewarded to people from all walks of life. That has all changed with NAFTA, CAFTA and offshoring.
Corporations have discovered there is a buck to be made by shipping jobs overseas. They have also discovered that it is to their benefit to invest their profits in the Cayman Islands and other foreign countries instead of the United States to avoid taxes.
As a result, CEOs have seen their salaries inflate to 400 times that of their employees.
While the richest Americans have accumulated more wealth, the rest of the nation have seen their incomes and benefits shrink. More Americans have become unemployed, underemployed and uninsured. Our sons and daughters go off to perpetual wars because there are no jobs for them at home — and those wars are frequently promoted by companies who make money by supplying the war machine. We can’t buy American-made products anymore because America doesn’t make them. Working families can’t afford to educate their children without plunging into a sea of debt. There’s no guarantee that a college education is worth the time and effort, because even jobs requiring a college education have been exported as well.
I hope the new Congress will examine this closely and work diligently to reduce importation practices and tax shelter favoritism. I hope Congress focuses on American manufacturing. It will require commitment from Americans to favor American-made products and a commitment from our government to reward companies who work diligently to keep their jobs in America. We will need to review our manufacturing needs and encourage research and development into new areas that will benefit our nation for generations to come.
This will be a start on the road to recovery in our country. I hope our elected officials agree.
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