COLUMN Holland, MI - Are you an American employee? If so, today's column will likely offend you. If you'd rather not be offended, read no further. If you continue and then complain, I'm sorry, but that simply proves you're, well, stupid. But then again, stupidity plays a large role in today's topic. Still reading? OK. You've had fair warning. So you're an American employee. Maybe you make car parts. Maybe you're an engineer or designer. Maybe you're an accountant, store clerk or tradesman. Whatever you do, you're probably stupid or lazy. Yes, I wrote it, and I mean it. You are either stupid or lazy. Maybe both. Now, I'm not referring to your work ethic or job performance. No, most of you are competent and devoted to your profession or vocation. I'm addressing the way you view economics and employment. I'm challenging your gumption to advocate for yourself and your fellow Americans. Here's what I mean. Remember the Reagan standard? Are you better off today than you were a decade ago? Two decades? Three? Unless you make more than $380,000 a year, the answer is no. In fact, your standard of living over the last quarter century has actually decreased while millionaires have added 30 percent to their net wealth. Why? Two reasons. First, hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs went overseas while the politicians you elected did nothing to stop them. Yet you continue to elect leaders who offer nothing but tax cuts, as if that would stem the flow of disappearing jobs. Did you demand your leaders address America's trade imbalance or continuous outsourcing of jobs? Did you demand your leaders require foreign countries to buy a dollar's worth of American goods for every dollar of goods they sell here? No and no. You didn't bother. You simply crossed your fingers and prayed, “I hope my job's not next.†You made concessions to your employer and hoped that would stem the exodus of jobs, or at least yours. How'd that work for you? Second, you bought into the myth that unions are the cause of America's demise. You didn't bother to learn America became a world power when union membership was at its peak. You didn't bother to learn America became the envy of the world while 1 of every 3 Americans was a union member. So, how are things going for you? How do your benefits compare to a quarter century ago? Are you paying a higher or lower percentage of your income for health insurance? Does your company offer a pension plan, or do you now fund your own 401(k)? Maybe you're thinking, “I'm not a union worker, so this doesn't affect me.†Stop being stupid. Union benefits provide a standard other companies have to match, or at least come close to. When those benefits are cut, yours are, too. Or do you think you operate in your own little employment vacuum? To make matters worse, you're again being played for a chump. The same puppets who did nothing while your standard of living decreased are now using the oldest gimmick in the book - jealousy - to continue their assault on American workers. Rather than protect Americans' jobs, they deflect your attention through jealousy. “Cut the pay of government workers,†they cry. “Increase their health premiums. Decrease their pensions. Break their unions. After all, you've suffered so they should suffer too.†And in your misery, you buy their argument while more jobs head oversees. Pretty stupid, eh? If their antics weren't so pathetic, if the consequences weren't so dire, if they didn't prey on your stupidity, and if you didn't buy into their convoluted reasoning, this whole situation would be laughable. But of course it's not. I warned you I'd likely offend you, and I suspect I did. But once you overcome your anger, consider my analysis. Then, either wise up and do something about it, or resign yourself to a lower standard of living for the next decade.
worry about your shit hole...my family is doing great and so are all the people i know and graduated with. My jobs going nowhere and I make what Im worth. BUT TO PUT IT SIMPLE FOR YOU... YOU HAVE NO OPINION, NOT ONE THAT MATTERS ANYHOW. MOVE TO AMERICA BEFORE YOU TRY TO ACT SMART. gotta run, the #1 economy in the world doesnt run itself
Jobs went overseas because of self-entitled pricks like the author, not because we didn't punish companies for choosing a better labor market, lol. He's probably of the same ilk as those who say the debt went up because of under-taxation rather than over-spending. Horrible article, stupid author. "It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance." -Rothbard
even worse, you claim to be american yet... you are a union worker. Did you fail your test today? did you mom or dad lose their job and you had to move? Whats wrong man, no college offers? sucks man. I think youll feel better reading some economy textbooks. Stay up, keep on spreading stupidity...hey, it worked for your family
Are you referring to unions that demanded pension plans, health benefits, etc.? It's clear that those things create a large financial burden for corporations that employ unionized workers, but even assuming those benefits weren't in place don't you think that the labor market in South Asia, for example, would still be so much more appealing? If wages were brought down to what manufacturing workers in China or India are willing to accept, no way a person could live on that in the US. I have to believe you've got something more extensive in mind...
Yeah im guessing only having to pay workers in the third world pennies on the dollars had nothing to do with it...oh and no protections...no hope of a future....
I have some questions that I wish I could ask the author, if anyone could help me out: - The article doesn't address the issue of machines replacing human workers in many unionized skilled-labor jobs. How much of an effect did the advent of robotics have on the situation, and what (if anything) could voters/elected officials have done about it? - In light of the fact that machines can do the same work as many unionized workers without the need for pay, pension, or benefits, how would you propose the few remaining American manufacturers compete with overseas factories who can produce the same products cheaper by using machines or non-unionized labor? - If goods manufactured by Americans working for decent pay cost more for consumers, wouldn't reducing our reliance on cheap imported goods lower the standard of living by increasing the cost of living? (i.e. wouldn't shoes be more expensive if they weren't made by slaves in Southeast Asia, making them harder for the middle/working class to afford?) - You blame the American government and voters, but is the plight of the working man purely an American phenomenon, or are workers experiencing similar difficulties in other parts of the world? (these aren't sarcastic or rhetorical, I don't know anything about economics and don't feel like looking up the answers)
Nope, I'm referring to the American worker in general. Unions have a big part to do with it, but so do labor laws like minimum wage or the entitlement system, regulations, etc. Our workers are spoiled and they don't have the proper incentives to compete. I think we are living beyond our means and think we can easily lower the costs of doing business in this country without becoming slave laborers. No way can we compete only on wages though. Who is the one complaining about sweatshops, is it the foreign workers themselves or is it our own union propagandists? "Sweatshops" have done more for improving their quality of life than anything has in history. They are an honest way out of poverty for struggling third world nations. Sweatshops have given billions of people a future outside of an even worse existence. This sob story that they have "no protections" and "no hope of a future" is so wrong and self-centered. You are the typical spoiled American.
That's not common sense..that's backwards ass thinking if you ask me... I rather praise that man with such glory for getting every thing right for once.
this thread's author and the coat tail rider who thinks he "couldnt have said it any better" goes to show the standard of what is being spread to our youth by the idiot socialist professors infecting the colleges in America... Im glad law school showed me how to really think for myself and to question EVERYTHING my idiot undergrad professors dribbled out of their infected mouths. This shit is spreading to the weak youth of today, mother fuckers think they are owed every God damned thing under the son without putting in the time/school/work for it, and then want to blame the best country with the best chances to make something of their shit life. Fuck em, let em bitch and moan and sound like the broke dick losers that they are. Hope all that bitchin and moanin keeps them feeling better about not pulling their own weight. Does this country owe you little whinny brats anything? REALLY, get off you ass and get it yourself..."If you dont make money in America, your a fucking idiot"...
Okay, now I want to hunt you down, stab you with a fork and piss on your dead face. "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." It's not so much that I disagree with his premise but rather that I couldn't stand the way he went about delivering it.
ur sig says all i need to know about you... you have comedians as your political advisors. screw socialist scum