Locked and loaded
Written by Don Burnard | | opinion@toledofreepress.comIn my Dec. 6 column, I was discussing the grave situation we find ourselves in, what with two unwinnable, and, as far as I’m concerned, unjustifiable wars, an economy in shambles, double-digit unemployment and a decade of stagnant wages. So far, as is generally the case with politicians, their first concern has been to look out for the persons and institutions that played a huge part in getting us into this position. They, after all, by dint of their wealth, virtually control the political process. Their answer always has been to cut wages and jobs in order to raise their obscene salaries and bonuses and to raise their bottom line so it looks to their shareholders like they are actually worth it. Where does this leave the middle class? As usual, begging for scraps.
We need to raise the living standards of the majority of the population. To do that, we need to raise their buying power. That, according to virtually every economist, is what drives our economy. It has been the pipedream of conservative economists that we should be a service economy, and ship all of our good paying manufacturing jobs to third world countries and basically give up our livelihoods so we can buy cheap Chinese toasters and such at Wal-Mart with our new hamburger flipper wages. Little thought is given to who will buy the houses, cars and other high-end items that should be driving our economy. The upper 1 percent can only buy so many items after all, and surely not enough to support the middle class that we built in this country after the Great Depression and WWII.
The cost of running two wars, which were kept off the economic books for the entire Bush administration (like they didn’t count as real spending) could have solved our education, health care and a large portion of our entitlement shortfalls. Instead, we’ve squandered nearly a trillion dollars and countless lives here and abroad on poorly planned and executed misadventures in the Middle East. They ignored the terrorism experts who tried to tell them that anti-terrorism is a police matter, not a military one.
So here we are. Most reputable economists say we are going to have to basically spend our way out of this recession. Obviously, we’ve learned (I hope) that we can’t do this by borrowing or taking out loans for things we can’t afford or even understand. The banks that we, the taxpayers, bailed out have to loosen up money to small businesses, which account for the majority of our economic engine, instead of sitting on it to prop up their bottom line and pay for their bonuses. Once the money loosens up, it will let these businesses start hiring again.
The second part of the equation is to raise, not lower, wages. We need to level the playing field, not lower our standards. We are the largest consumer economy in the world, and if we want to remain so, we have to have consumers who can afford to purchase things. All of the slick catchphrases the supposed experts have bandied about like free trade, global economy and supply and demand, and the magic of the marketplace, have proven to be the smoke and mirrors they have always been.
Consider this quote from the Feb. 11, 2008, issue of Business Week: “Many ordinary Americans have long been suspicious of free trade, seeing it as a destroyer of good-paying jobs. American economists, though, have told a different story … But something momentous is happening inside the church of free trade: Doubts are creeping in. We’re not talking wholesale repudiation of the theory. Economists are, however, noting that their ideas can’t explain the disturbing stagnation in income that much of the middle class is experiencing.” And this is months before the whole shebang blew up.
So where did the gains we made in productivity go? The Minneapolis Star Tribune on Feb. 3, 2008, noted: “In the past three years, according to an S&P study, most major U.S. companies spent more on stock buybacks than on capital expenses, dividends, or research and development. ‘You’ve had a condition where CFOs were using financial engineering to improve earnings,’ said Phil Dow, director of equity strategy at RBC Dain Rauscher.”
‘Fewer shares create the illusion of growth.” Yep. We were locked and loaded in the screw-up position. Stay tuned.
E-mail columnist Don Burnard at letters@toledofreepress.com.
What a load of fertilizer : And why do C.F.O.’s ,do what they ABSOLUTELY have to do to SURVIVE, in a world economy ? ( Think Champion Spark Plug,& etc. ) Because, AmeriKa, has the second highest corporate tax rate at 38 %, in the World !!! And then after that dollar of profit is taxed, the shareholders are then TAXED again, on what little remains! A double TAXATION on the exact same dollar…no mention of that at all, certainly by design to obfuscate . Instead of crybabying about the strategies to survive in an ever increasing competitive world market ! You’d think profit hating unionists, who support the radical liberal’s attempt to award amnesty to 25 million illegals, would be alot MORE CONCERNED about those 25 million illegals taking the jobs of American’s !!! But no , union officials have LONG AGO, sold out their members to the deranged left and don’t care at all about those members who aren’t working and not paying dues. As long as Donald and his cronies, recieves their paychecks, nonworking members who PAY no dues are just a past memory…not worth discussing…and best never mentioned at all. Exploited and extorted when they work…completely forgotten when they don’t. Ahhh, the union way, slaves had it better… ” I work hard for my money most every day….and late into the night , I throw it all away …and when the Sun goes down, you can bet… I’ll be trouble bound “…
This comment was posted on December 18th, 2009 at 11:45 amFrom “What a load of …” to “competitive world market” you’re pretty much saying what Don said: there needs to be equilibrium between the top and the bottom.
This comment was posted on December 19th, 2009 at 11:58 am“25 million illegals…” I guess if the first illegals (all of us who aren’t American Indian) would have handled things better we would be healthier?
“slave had it better” Really? Study what really happened to slaves. And “and late into the night, I throw it all away” has nothing to do with unions, but with ways we waste our money on personal pleasures and the trouble it gets us into.
Keep talking, Ty, you’ll get to the truth. At least you’re trying, I’ll give you that.
Maybe the answer is self control, and not questing after every nickel and dime.
“More government oversight? Capitalist, regulate thyself.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20091217/cm_csm/269463
This comment was posted on December 19th, 2009 at 12:43 pmMr Coon give us all a break please. Don as usual an excellent piece. Your thoughts are my thoughts an many are coming to this point-of-view. Recently I had a similar conversation on the WSPD morning show. I was given 10 minutes of ranting time to dispute of the usual wrong headed logic that has, as you so eloquently revealed, caused the economic slide of the Middle-class American. Tom Waniewski called in later to dispute my claim of a need for a living wage that would support small businesses of the area. I think this whole crowd of right wing fanatics have it all wrong. Is our country better of now with the results of right wing rule for the past 8 years? I think not!
This comment was posted on December 20th, 2009 at 9:21 pmOver 500 laid off journeymen in Local 8…and Mr Bernard has time to pen these articles?….
I wonder if he writes them from his desktop at the Hall….maybe someone should check to see if he is stealing wages from the union membership…
The democrats have been in charge of congress since 2006….remember how proud that Bush was a “lame duck” and they were FINALLY IN CHARGE??
Well I sure do…now they pretend like they STILL arent in charge and point fingers at he minority party…
Behold the sickness that is the liberal mind…”slaves had it better”…
FU Mr Bernard…
But at least slaves didnt have to pay union dues for the privilage of being unemployed for “the one” while supporting idiots in their union offices….
Dont quit your day job….oh that’s right…you dont have one….just sucking the teet of the membership and the international…
How’s that Home depot boycot going for ya?
Maybe you should send some SEIU thugs over…..the “purple people beaters” get things done brother…
This comment was posted on December 21st, 2009 at 1:19 pmFree trade would work much better if it weren’t for unions. Unions have ruined everything that they have touched. The American steel, auto, and airline industries have been destroyed by unions. Our public schools suffer because of teachers unions. There are a few things we could do to help American manufacturing. We need to slash the corporate income tax rate. Accountants have to build this outrageous tax into their pricing structure, which drives up the price of Amrican goods. All states should become “right to work” states. Texas, Virginia, and other “right to work” states have much lower unemployment than Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, and other big union states. We also need to eliminate the death tax, which will strongly encourage investment. Detroit is all the proof we need that democrats and unions have no idea how to run a government or an economy.
This comment was posted on December 21st, 2009 at 3:08 pmCouldn’t the problems that auto industry is facing, be a case of bad management?
What type of plan is it, to make virtually the same product under so many different name plates?
Appliance companies also use the same marketing scheme and end up competing with themselves for the same market share.
It was poor management of businesses that got us into part of the mess we are in now, well that and greed and unregulated trading that brought some of the oldest, and non union, companies in American history.
Maybe we could take a lesson from Chile?
Left of center government, turned the country around.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121701830
But, we are the super power in the room, for now.
This comment was posted on December 21st, 2009 at 5:04 pmDemocrats have run Toledo for ages and look at it!! A city with all this potential continues to lag behind. Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, and most other dying cities have been run exclusively run by democrats and union interests for decades. It clearly does not work. Toyota and Honda operate in America nad make a profit because they are non-union. Labor unions are China’s best friend because they force jobs out of America right into China’s lap. Toledoans need to open their eyes.
This comment was posted on December 21st, 2009 at 10:09 pmIt must be a very strange world that Gregory, Donald, and their ilk reside in. I , recognize nothing in it ! I mean really, who are THEY going to believe , us , or their own miserable lying eyes ?! They apparently do not see Little Detroit, as anything other than a petri-dish experiment of LIBERALISM gone horribly awry which, makes them hopelessly DELUSIONAL…BIG TIME ! They have ZERO concept of capitol formation. They have less than ZERO concept on the tremendous DRAG that unions, profligate taxes / regulations have done to AmeriKa’s industries!! And , they site some of the most unrealistic ,economic nonsense from some of the most incompetant jackasses who ever put word to paper ! The above insentient ZEROES, also cannot answer simple questions, failed to comprehend WHY, the complete economic COLLAPSE of the former U.S.S.R., occurred ,and , AND, they haven’t read recently thet even the CHINESE, the murderous CHINESE for GOD’S sake, are telling the ObaMao Demonrats that the WORLD cannot sustain AmeriKa’s SPENDING !!! Now , just how obtuse is Donald, Gregory, and their fellow travelers ? 100% – COMPLETELY BLOODY, SO !!!
This comment was posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 11:22 am“Wages in China”
“The average wage in urban areas in 2006 was 1,750 yuan a month, four times higher than the figure for 1995″
http://www.china-labour.org.hk/en/node/100206#part2
1750 Yaun equals 255.93 USD
Do, any of us, really believe, that we here in the U.S. can live on 255$ per month or even rationalize how this is a labor problem?
And we wonder why businesses flee to China, where 255$ +/- per month is the norm.
This comment was posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 6:30 pmOur labor rates will always be higher. That is why we need to make our tax structure the most attractive in the world. This means slashing the corporate income taxe rate and eliminating the estate tax. This also means that unions need to abandon pensions and have workers contribute to 401k’s. Workers also must contribute to their health care. This is the only way to restore American manufacturing. We can compete, but our tax policy and unions strongly encourage companies to move overseas. If you cannot see this, then you are blind. We have the highest GDP, so our corporate income taxe rate should be the lowest. Neither I nor any level headed conservative expects people to live on $255 per month. Look at cities and states that are run exclusively by liberals. They are in total chaos.
This comment was posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 10:30 pm“Workers also must contribute to their health care.”
Workers already are, aren’t they? Those that have health care provided by the employer, which is an out dated way of doing business, after all it is an expense to the employer.
Union membership has declined and continues to decline, which makes one wonder, when the beat of the drum will change.
Restore American manufacturing?
It’s cheaper overseas, where the labor cost less, the raw materials are cheaper there, cheaper to set up there, and sell the product, there, as opposed to making it here and shipping it, there.
Business is smarter than us, while we twist and spin, business is taking advantage of all the loopholes they can find to take business overseas.
Heck the auto companies set up shop over seas to manufacture and sell cars and trucks.
“This means slashing the corporate income taxe rate…” Register in Puerto Rico and pay no taxes on corporate income, like so many have already done and continue too.
Heck, why should an employer even contribute to a 401k? It’s the employees responsibility to save for the future and the employer is there to make a product and a dividend to the stock holders, or more in the bank for the privately held company.
It’s not political ideology. It the way or the world.
We cannot live on what other people are paid in other countries. People who work at Wal-Mart, some, are on Medicaid and Medicare, because of law wages and the cost of living.
Parroting the oft repeated lines does not take into account the reality of the situation.
As formerly, undeveloped countries, or those that have thousands of years of history on us, had risen and then fallen, only to rise again, China, we are not able to accept that we may not be number one, for too much longer.
This comment was posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 am