[Dat Mon]

YOU SAID...."They'd rather spend time with the kid and the wife. What they want is a job that they can perform reasonably well in exchange for a "fair" salary or wage.
Unfortunately, that seems to be ending."

What you are commenting on is a fact of life...the reality of not only the human species...but everything in nature.

Everything we can measure, falls somewhere along what mathematicians call a normal or Gaussian distribution curve...the infamous "Bell Curve".

The fact that this curve is Gaussian is a result of a mathematical theorem called the Central Limit Theorem...which states that a statistical measure of an aggregate or collection of variables which are randomly distributed, when taken together, assuming they are independent of each other, tends to follow a normal curve, even if their individual distributions are not Gaussian.

Which leads to dat mons corollary...in a free society...with ALL government interactions removed...either pro or con...the salaries of people would also follow a normal curve. Good economic policy would therefore be that which allows wealth to be created for all income levels in a way which raises the mean of the curve...this is another way of restating "Trickle Down" economics.

Now I'm sure many realize that the area to the left of the mean income level has been distorted by numerous government social entitlement programs. Im not opposed to government assistance for those who have been on the receiving end of lifes unfortunate situations..disabilities for one. We have advanced as a society beyond the times of Charles Dickens.

We also owe our Veterans a huge debt...this is outside normal economic policy IMO.

It is my contention, however, that the area to the RIGHT of the mean of the income curve is also being distorted...significantly...by a whole host of government programs, the monstrous tax and regulatory codes for one, and other government lobbyist efforts for another.

Guest labor and immigration non-enforcement is yet another... all of these policies act to reinforce certain occupations and income levels, at the expense of other levels. This is why you will not find the actual income distribution curves discussed in economics papers...they are much too reveling of what is really going on.

Do you think it is an accident that Teresa Heinz Kerry pays less, percentage wise, as income tax than you or I do?

It is my contention that the Social Darwinism we see being advocated is actually selected groups and individuals using the federal and state governments to enrich themselves, at the expense of other groups.

Conservatives who favor unlimited guest workers, must eventually confront the reality, than in a society which allows wholesale replacement of higher paying jobs with equivalent non-free market negotiated lower paying H1b or guest worker jobs, is setting up a system whereby the only protected jobs are:

Entertainment related jobs

Jobs which require individual high levels of creativity, expression, talent, and a recognized name recognition. Talent falls along the same bell curve...these jobs are by definition limited.

Government jobs

Jobs which are required by, and involve daily interaction with a government entity..ie legal and law enforcement for example.

Union or trade regulated jobs

The net result of all this, is unfortunately...MORE GOVERNMENT and socialism...not less.

Its a self reinforcing system..what engineers like to call POSITIVE FEEDBACK.

[durasell]

Don't know what to tell you, you're probably right. Adam Smith used the phrase "nation of shopkeepers" to describe the exchange of talent and time for money. We're now a "world of shopkeepers." The competition is not just down the street or across the country, but on the other side of the globe.

But what is the role of government in this? Do we "apply" government power domestically to smooth the humps and bumps of a global economy or do we apply it on the international front to isolate ourselves via tariffs etc.?

If I was smart enough to figure this out, I'd be a rich guy.

[investigateworld]

Good posts. Surprised nobody went postal on you ;^)