It was fun watching the last presidential campaign where Obama was blaming Romney for the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries. While the unions were getting people all riled up about losing jobs they and pretty much everyone else was missing the point.
Most of those jobs that the economy has lost ain’t coming back.
And it has nothing to do with the jobs going to India, China, Viet Nam, or Mexico. It has nothing to do with cities and states cutting back. It has everything to do with how the economy has changed. These missing jobs are gone and gone forever.
Allow me to explain with a little story….
There was a time when people got their music from CD’s. When you bought a CD you employed the person who made the CD, who made the case, the printer, the person who made the paper and ink, the person who made the cardboard box to ship the CD’s, the truck driver,warehouseman,record store clerk,and more. When you download your music these people will never get their jobs back.
I met a courier a year ago who told me he was making over 60K in the 80′s and 90′s. He is lucky if he makes 25K now. All the legal briefs, pictures, and other documents he used to deliver are now sent with the touch of a computer key.
Don’t even get me started on how many other jobs have been lost in the newspaper industry, video tape rental industry, travel agency business and more. These were for the most part decent paying jobs that people with minimal education could do and support their families. These jobs aren’t coming back.
So you can argue for your jobs bill which is not much more than government busy work, or you can say the jobs aren’t there because the taxes are too high, but you are missing the point.
Until we can find new jobs for people with basic skills. Jobs to replace all the jobs that have vanished in thin air, the job picture isn’t going to get much better.
We need new industries. New ideas. New Entrepreneurs. And all we get from either side is tired old rhetoric.
Personally I think a start in the right direction would be to allow the Trans-Canadian pipeline. By building the pipeline and investing in more domestic oil production we will be opening up numerous jobs for decent paying construction and manual labor workers. Replacing jobs that have vanished in thin air.
We may never get the nationwide unemployment down to the 3-4% level ever again, but I know that if we don’t stop looking at the jobs picture through the old prism and start looking at it in a new way we will never solve the problem at all.
Recent Comments