Caymen said:
When many in the auto industry got the 30 and out (not 25 and out) they did not make $30.00/hr. Of course, what do I know. It is not like my family was in the auto industry and knows what the contracts said.
That's it...throw out the baby with the bath water and toss in some sarcasm to boot. $30 or more, or less; 25 years, or 30...you know what my point was. But rather than discuss it you pull out the sarcasm card which implies you have no point to make.
Unemployment is high now because of the economy. Ever hear the saying "it's the economy stupid!"....well, that's the problem. Unemployment was bad in the 70s too, but we have had a boom or two since that time. Loss of manufacturing jobs has been going on for decades...well before the 70s. Loss of manufacturing jobs is NOT what is causing today's unemployment. Maybe it is contributing to it, but it is not causing it. People don't make cars, here or abroad, when people don't buy cars. People don't buy cars when they are worried for their job. People are worried for their job when companies are insolvent. Companies are insolvent when the economy is bad. The economy is bad for any number of complex reasons; the biggest one these days being "consumer confidence". Put in simplest terms, we are in a viscious cycle that we can't get seem to get out of. We can't tax, or spend, or regulate our way out of it, I am afraid (so seems to be the case given the past decade).
You keep talking about national security. That's broken record stuff. You seem to imply that we don't have, or can't build the war weapons we will need for the next major war. Do you have any PROOF of that? I'd like to see the studies.
The way I see it is that we no longer fight wars the same way we did in WWII, back when we had to out produce other countries in hulking, steel war machines. We have evolved past those days. Steel simply isn't as important to our national security in 2010 as it was 70 years ago. I'm not saying it is NOT important; I'm just saying not AS IMPORTANT, and certainly not needed in the quantities we saw in the 1940s.
Many will say it was brains, not brawn (or might, or machines) that ultimately won WWII. I am not trying to trivialize the sacrifices of our men on the ground...not at all. I'm just talking about how technology has continued to evolve how wars are fought, before then, during the end of WWII, and since.
I'm much more concerned that Johnny can't seem to get motivated to get an engineering degree than I am that Johnny can't get a factory job that allows his wife to stay home, squeeze out three kids, have a house in the burbs, two cars, and can retire well after 30 years. The lack of the former, IMHO, is hurting America more than the lack of the latter.
I'll grant that through your job you know more about the importance of steel and manufacturing to our country in time of war. But, still, I'm not an idiot. One thing I know is human nature. What I know about humans is that most complain about the things that affect them the most. In addition, most tend to "over-simplify" the common problems that affect us all. Most think there are easy solution to complex problems, and to make matters worse most spend a lot of time pursuing complex solutions to simple problems.
Case-in-point of a simple problem: Weight loss. Some feel that's a complex problem requiring complex solutions like fad diets and exercise equipment, etc. For health reasons I have lost 55 lbs since Feb. No fad diet. No exercise equipment. It was simple, actually. Eat less, eat healthier food, exercise more...it is that simple. I didn't have to pay anyone to figure it out. However, it would have been HARD to solve that problem if I didn't want to take responsibility for my situation.
Now, today, we have people that are under-employed. We have people that have lost their way of life because manufacturing jobs have left this country. A complex (non)solution would be to bitch, complain, expect the govt to solve the problem through regulation etc. A simple solution would be to do any of the following: a. move to where the jobs are; b. change jobs c. start your own manufacturing company.
These problems aren't complex. Personal situations are just that, personal. Rather than complain about things going down the tubes, maybe some individuals should simply jump out of the draining tub???
TJR
