ONCE AGAIN, A CONSERVATIVE GETS IT ALL WRONG

….Another closed US Factory

 

Another false blaming for today’s economy.

 

I was waiting for the Republicans to start blaming the president for a number of issues, but I didn’t expect it to be the less than 5% unemployment and an economic growth rate of 2%.

 

Most of the reputable economists have agreed that the country has lost the traditional jobs of those in the 1950’s to 1970’s.  That loss was because the demands of today’s employees are much different than when all one needed for a job was a high school diploma.  It is true that those traditional jobs have gone to countries with lower wages, while most good paying US jobs now require additional levels of education.

 

A conservative writer for the Washington Post, Mr. Ed Rogers, is now blaming President Obama for America’s “sick economy” because the president: “Abandoned its most faithful voters, blue-collar white Americans, who faced economic pain and uncertainty over the past decade as the party’s donors, lawmakers and lobbyists prospered.”

 

First, Mr. Rogers wants us to just forget that today’s economy with a 2% growth rate is much better than most other industrialized nations.  And the real reason for not having its previous 4% growth rate is that the nation is today dealing with “globalization”.

 

Globalization in the markets today means that countries cannot live without depending on more than just their own nation.  When the US regularly had a growth rate of 4%, that was when those American high school graduates were working with wages that supported a growing middle class.  That’s not the situation today.  Due to automation and factories moving where the wages are lower, those American high-school graduate jobs have disappeared. 

 

The Wall Street Journal has stated that over 50,000 factories have left the US over the past 30 years.  Today, it is estimated that 23% of male Americans of prime working age are unemployed.  This is all because the jobs they are currently qualified for are no longer available, and unless Americans are willing to work for less or they become re-educated, they will stay as unemployed. 

 

In addition, of those factories that are still here, due to massive automation, most only require 25% or less of their previous employees.

 

Sorry Mr. Rogers, that’s not the president’s fault.

 

Also, let’s look at the fact that those of us that went to college in the 1960’s and 70’s, we paid next to nothing for that higher education.  Today, as a college student, they have to sign up for $20K to $50K or more for their college loans.  (This is an issue that most industrialized nations do not have.) 

 

I don’t disagree with Mr. Rogers that the current economy, plus the addition of terrorist threats, this is what created a demand for someone like a Donald Trump.  With the lies that Trump continues to offer without being challenged, falsely saying that he will fix all the nation’s problems, yes, desperate people will believe all of Trump’s false rhetoric.

 

Rogers says that to get a robust national economy, the direction must first come from the White House. 

 

I also agree that is probably a valid statement.  The direction must start at the top, and then the other parts of the government need to join in the parade.  But when you have a legislation where the Republican leadership, on day-one of the president’s first term, they all agreed that they would not support any programs that the president offered.  That's not a program for success, and it hasn’t been.

 

It’s actually amazing that the US economy is in as good of a shape as it is today, despite what the GOP has attempted to do to this administration’s efforts.

 

Per Mr. Rogers, “If employment is so good and the economy is so strong, why is it that about 19 million more people are on food stamps today than when Obama took office? Doesn’t that fact speak for itself?”

 

Actually, yes….and no.

 

The federal minimum wage hasn’t been increased for a number of years, while the cost of living has continued to increase. Labor's wages have been stagnant for over 30 years and many US factories have continued to automate, or  they have left the  country.  Based on all the economists, if the current administration had not saved the auto industry and stopped the monthly loss of jobs after the president took office, there would be many more that 19 million on food stamps.

 

And remember, many of those on food stamps have full-time jobs, but still qualify for food stamps due to their low wages.

 

Mr. Rogers ends the article with, “The worst is yet to come.”

 

I agree that with a president like a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz, the worst will be yet to come, and it will be much, much worse.

 

Until the nation’s work force has been educated to deal with the new truth about what it takes to get a good, middle class job.  Until the free American education requirement includes higher or specialized education, the middle class will continue to shrink and the top 1% will continue to absorb the nation’s wealth.

 

A growing American middle class, like that after WWII, will probably not happen again.  At least, not in our life time.  Middle class jobs will not materialize unless major changes are made to the American work force and in the overall American educational system.

 

It is as simple, or as hard, as that.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016