LET'S TALK ABOUT "YOUR" JOBS

Nealz Nuze ^ | Wednesday, February 18, 2004 | Neal Boortz

[beaureguard]

Jobs .. and the economy. Those seem to be the issues that are driving many, if not most, of those who are supporting the Kerry candidacy.

First of all ... I'm going to repeat this simply because it makes the whiners so unbelievably angry. Listen up. They're not your jobs! The jobs belong to the employers .. not to you! You have job skills and, presumably, a willingness to work. Your task in a free economy is to get out there and find some employer with a job who needs your skills ... and strike a deal.

If you do not have the particular set of job skills that an employer needs, of if you have priced your labor out of the marketplace, guess what? It's not the employer's fault. The fault lies with you. Either develop a new set of job skills that are actually in demand, or adjust your pricing. The employer knows what he's looking for you. If you're not it .. it's your problem, not his.

Now ... you say you're going to vote for a Democrat this year because of jobs? You mean to tell me that you're going to vote against George Bush this year because you don't have a set of job skills that are in demand in our free marketplace? Yeah .. that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Tell me. Just what do you want the president to do? You information technology people out there .. just what are you demanding? Do you want companies to stop outsourcing IT jobs to India? OK ... tell me how to do that. These companies aren't shipping parts overseas and completed products back. All they do is ship information overseas by phone lines or the Internet. Then that information is modified and shipped back the same way. What do you want the government .. the president to do? Do you want some federal law that prohibits companies from transmitting information overseas by the Internet, having that information transformed or modified, and then shipped back? And tell me just how do you enforce that law? Does that law then apply to you also if you seek information from a company that is located overseas, thus depriving a domestic company of your business?

Ditto for manufacturing. I've already told you the story about the California company that makes computer mouses. (computer mice?) This company ships the components to China. The mouse is assembled in China and shipped back, then sold for around $40. Why? Because the assembly is cheaper in China than it would be in the US. So, you say you want the president to force this company to have that mouse assembled in the US? Fine .. then the price for the mouse goes up to about $70 a pop and sales drop. As the sales drop the jobs of the people in this country who manufacture the components for that mouse go away. Then the 100 marketing jobs this company supports in California also go away. You see, perhaps you can succeed in forcing this company to assemble these mouses in the US, but there just isn't any way you can force the American consumer to pay 80% more for the "made in America" version.

As Bruce Bartlett says in an article listed in my reading assignments, "No nation has ever gotten rich by forcing its citizens to pay more for domestic goods and services that could have been procured more cheaply abroad."

What we are seeing here is a demonstration of the "government owes me" mentality of far too many Americans. Every time you arrive at a speed bump in your life's journey you start screaming to the government for help. Sure, the speed bump is going to slow you down a bit ... but just keep moving forward and things inevitably pick up speed again. Americans are becoming helpless whiners. The more helpless you are, and the more you whine, the more likely it is you're going to vote for a Democrat. Democrats specialize in stroking the malcontent.

Congratulations, whiners. At a time when America if fighting World War IV, the war against Islamic terrorism ... you're going to vote for a candidate who wants to treat terrorism as a freaking law enforcement problem because you've made some pitiful jobs choices. Pitiful.

[Walkin Man]

FINE, let the President and the Republican party run on a platform of "Billions for CEO's, Crumbs and Economic Ruin for the Rest" and see how far they get.

The Rats have already picked up this ball and are running with it while Mr Bush has said through his economic adviser that getting rid of high-paying American jobs is a good thing. Mr Bush has also said through his illegal Mexican amnesty bill that getting rid of low-paying American jobs is a good thing as well!

That about covers it all, eh?

We will see how well this plays out in the fall.

[MissAmericanPie]

Then move to Mexico or India if your so lacking in concern for your nation that you would engage in piracy.

[Walkin Man]

If the shoe fits, wear it.

[Axenolith]

That sentence distills the present problem down to its essence: American workers are unwilling to adjust the price of their labor to third world levels and suffer the hit in standard of living that this would bring about. This, however, is what Bush and the corporations would like to see happen.

You come close to hitting the nail on the head here. If we weren't saddled with the responsibility to support a host of handouts across the board (personal and corporate welfare, unfunded mandates, etc...), we'd be able to take the paycheck hit and continue to enjoy the standard of living while being more competitive with the low cost countries.

Since we have this enormous handout system the only way to keep it running is to inflate the currency and deficit spend. The side effect of this is to enslave us to the resultant artificially inflated asset values (like real estate). It won't get better until it shakes out and the Feds do a LOT of cutting on the handout side and I'm not going to hold my breath for that...

[StatesEnemy]

These free traitor fools just don't get it.

[OXENinFLA]

bump!

[Leatherneck_MT]

Personally I would rather see Taxes on businesses cut Drastically (80 to 90 percent)

I would also like to see Government get the hell out of the lives of businesses so that they can do what they need to do to make money instead of wasting time and money on bullshit regulations. Also get rid of that idiotic Minimum Wage law.

Then maybe our jobs would stay here instead of being shipped overseas.

[Outsourcing=Competition]

Jobs flourish here because we're prising open markets.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

I think he normally does vote Libertarin, but he seems to feel very strongly about WWIV( War on Terrorist)

[Outsourcing=Competition]

We have not yet begun tosee what a disasterous mistake outsourcing is. That she-dog who threatened to put confidential patient information online unless she was given a $10,000 bribe?

I've seen the same thing threatened here in the US. If those countries want our business they must and have put in the laws to protect confidentiality. If they haven't then they are stupid and will lose out on all the business.

[reformedliberal]

The munitions plant in my area is working 24/7 and has since 9/11.

Several small manufacturers (in the $1M-$3M gross range)near me supply items to the military.

Back in the 90s, an LEO/EMT friend of my brother started a manufacturing business that had, as its first client, the US military. Not sure if they are still doing that or not, but to me, the point is that they tried. Their financing came from several private individuals who saw it as a good investment,

I even know a small business in the NYC/NJ area that does marketing and promotion that won an Army contract to set up and run various recruiting programs.

I thought I read that the military actually will not outsource sensitive defense contracts? Maybe I missed that they actually do?

[MEG33]

That statement about outsourcing was taken out of context..I saw the whole quote and only a democrat would say what you said..

The Republicans are not running on the platform you describe and you know it.You are a drama queen after all..and a democrat one at that.

[MrB]

The alternative is to further abandon the principles of the founders embodied in the Constitution - as GW has been doing with his domestic social(ist) programs.

[Axenolith]

What law of economics is that?! Is that law only in operation on the North American continent? You're talking zero sum here, if the Americans were paid this hypothetical equilibrium wage you'd have to put a 50+% tariff on things like Korean cars and they'd be back to square one forking out $25,000 for a cracker box car (among other things) on their $60,000 "equilibrium wage".

Of course, prices on goods would rise commensurately here, but we could fix that with "wage and price controls" right?

[Consort]

Do government jobs belong to taxpayers?

[Orangedog]

American IT workers may have been the best...But they are not willing to live on $10,000-20,000 a year. And even if they were willing to do so, how can they,in virtually any part of the USA?

People working or training for the health care industry are about to get the IT treatment. Just look at radiologists and transcriptionists. Nursing is being teed-up first for "guest workers" to come in at half the pay.

[wilmington2]

The answer is to become a lawyer like Senator Edwards. Then you can trump up some charges for a whiner to make against an employer, win in the corrupt court system, or get a settlement, rip off 33%, buy a new house and car, live well and say what you are doing is to help the wronged.This type job can't be exported.

[hchutch]

Why don't YOU move to a place where shakedowns and extortion are legal? Becuase as far as I am concerned, that is what a LOT of these folks complaining about outsourcing are doing.

I'm sorry if I refuse to be extorted by ANYONE, I don't give a damn if it's Lou Dobbs or Jesse Jackson doing it. If refusing to give in to a shakedown is piracy, then so be it.

[MrB]

I'd just like to comment that it's good to see some 'Rats on Freerepublic.

I left for a while because there were no voices of dissent to argue with - the real fun of boards like this.

Welcome folks like Walkin Man...

[Dead Corpse]

I agree. I'm suprised it took this long for someone to state just that point. However, while you are handing out carrots to business, you need to swing the stick a bit harder as well. There ARE some bad eggs out there (Enron, Global Crossing) that need to be gotten rid of. Make it so that malfeasance by management, like WalMart being fined for hiring illegals, has a PERSONAL cost instead of an easily paid corporate write-off. Hold CEO's directly accountable for damages done via fraud or shady business practices.

Between the deregulation of all the Bravo Sierra tax crap, the removal of burdensome regulations, and the heavier hand of laws writen to punish REAL damamge, we could really get this economy cooking again before we lose our top spot as the Big Dog in the global economy.