As government data revealed that 651,000 more jobs disappeared in February, a sense took hold that growing joblessness may reflect a wrenching restructuring of the American economy.
The unemployment rate surged to 8.1 percent, from 7.6 percent in January, its highest level in a quarter-century. In key industries ”” manufacturing, financial services and retail ”” layoffs have accelerated so quickly in recent months as to suggest that many companies are abandoning whole areas of business.
“These jobs aren’t coming back,” said John E. Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia in Charlotte, N.C. “A lot of production either isn’t going to happen at all, or it’s going to happen somewhere other than the United States. There are going to be fewer stores, fewer factories, fewer financial services operations. Firms are making strategic decisions that they don’t want to be in their businesses.”
The united States is on a path to a working society of fry-o-lator operators and grill cooks, who will supply the rest of us with double cheeseburgers and fries, which we will pay for with fiat money printed by the presses of the Fed, operating at 7 day-a-week, 24 hour shifts.
Does anyone have a handle at all on where we went wrong, a few decades ago? Who was it who said: “A democracy will last only until the people discover they can vote themselves money from the treasury?”
#1 – jkc1945 – that was Benjamin Franklin – “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
Thank you, Branford, for providing the author of it, and also for taking my paraphrase and making it a real quotation. I was close, though – – and I had the basic idea.
You’re welcome – that’s actually one of my favorite quotes!
It has passed my mind more than once that the de-inustrialization of the United States over the past thirty years has had an effective on our industrial capacity similar to the Allies destruction of Germay’s and Japan’s industrustrial capabilities and capacities during World War Two.
A result of that destruction was the re-growth of both the West German and then Japanese industrial strengths that provided both cost and quality in their industrial products that placed the United States in an inferior position competitively.
Now we, the United States, are in a position where our industrial capacities no longer need band-aids since they are largely no longer there.
Instead, we should realize that we are ready for re-establishment and re-growth that emphasizes the use of technology to reduce labor costs, maintain high quality, provide much improved products to the consumer, reduce raw material and enegy costs and reduce negative environmental effects while competively providing the best product at the best cost in the world market place.
This can and should return our economy to a strong competitive position in the world.
#5 AnglicanFirst – And why would U.S. companies invest here when they are looking at higher corporate taxes and new laws that enable “check the box” unionization of their workforces? I think we all need to read or reread Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom” because that’s where we are heading.
Reply to #6.
Daniel, you are correct.
Demanding a public versus a private vote is unAmerican and only serves those who wish to intimidate voters.
Given that American workers are given poor educations and corporations are stuck with paying for health care, plenty of industries prefer to keep their jobs in Europe.
John, that’s fascinating. When did China join the EU?
My wife’s company is one of the firms exiting lines of business, and she’s in a position to see their cost analyses. They moved one product from middle Georgia to Mexico, and the per unit cost was STILL too high to compete with China. The Chinese willingness to sacrifice their enviroment combined with slave-level wages was unbeatable. They can only afford to compete in high-end products where the abysmal Chinese quality control (they’ve stopped sourcing anything from China due to the problems) combined with greater margins gives them a decent chance.
John (#8) – the jobs and the manufacturing have gone to China, not Europe – haven’t you noticed? If Chinese workers ever demand what American labor had achieved before the crash, things would equalize a bit. As it is, it’s impossible for the U.S. or Europe to compete.
And if Americans are poorly educated – and they are – I’d say it’s because no one much has had any burning ambition for them to be otherwise.