To start off, I’m not an economist, nor have I ever claimed to be one. Right now in our history we are at a crossroad. There are people out there that will tell you the model our economy has been running on for the last thirty years or so is just fine…I call Bullshit! Whatever you want to call it, be it trickle-down, supply-side, voodoo or the ever popular reaganomics, they are all the same thing. Giving to the wealthy, be it through tax breaks or incentives, allowing outsourcing, and deregulation to just name a few. The theory is that with all this extra or freed up capital wealthy individuals or businesses would reinvest by creating more jobs and opportunity. This has been proven time and time again that it just doesn’t work. As my father used to say, “Trickle-down economics doesn’t trickle down to us.” What most people don’t realize is that one of the ways the rich stay rich is by being incredibly cheap and stingy. So, if they get a huge tax break do you really think they’re going to put it into a business? In most cases, no.
There is also another economic policy that has been practiced in this country traditionally known as “Laissez-faire”, which translates into “Let it be”. Meaning, let industry be free from government intervention of any kind. This is a “Hands-Off” system that has failed time and time again, most recently in 2008 with our economic meltdown, which we are still feeling today…at least I know I am. We can not trust that industry will do the right thing, ethics in business is dead. It is up to the american people and our government to become the stewards of our economy through regulation. Because, if it was up to “Big Business” we’d all be in chains, working 16 hour shifts, for pennies a day.
Now, there is another way of thinking, I’m not exactly sure what it is classified as, but I like to call it “common sense.” Think of a house, for a house to be able to stand the test of time there must be a strong foundation, if you build your house on the sand, it will surely sink and fall. Our economy is like a house, the working class is its foundation, if you have a poorly treated and meagerly paid working class it is just like building your house on sand…the economy will sink and fall. If you look back in history, our economy is strongest when the working class has strong Union representation. When people make a higher wage they are more likely to buy back into our economy, meaning spend money on goods and services, hence creating a stronger economy. And the rich will still make lots and lots of money…
There are other factors to consider as well, our manufacturing sector has been decimated by the hands-off policies and free trade agreements of the past. 2.4 million jobs lost to China since the year 2000, that is unacceptable. And some of it has to do with China lowering the worth of its currency, which makes our American goods very expensive and Chinese goods very cheap. Our government has been trying to convince the Chinese to stop this practice to make things fair again. I doubt China will change the way it does business. What may have to happen for things to balance out is the government should impose heavy tariffs on Chinese imports to equalize the pricing with american goods. There by making it a level playing field for American manufacturers to compete in the market. This could quite possibly create a boom for the american manufacturing industry, and we may get many of our jobs back that we lost.
Some people take the loss of our manufacturing sector way too lightly. There are the obvious effects of hurting working families and local economies. But, there is another very damaging effect of losing manufacturing in this country. Our country is becoming a nation of consumers, we buy this, we buy that…but what do we make? If we are ever caught in an economic blockade or embargo, we would be, for lack of a better term…SCREWED.
So, we’re at a crossroad in our economic history. Do we keep running things as we have been, or do we choose to create something better for those we leave behind?
