"Unfortunately, the unions screwed that up for you. Why SHOULD anyone pay 5 times the amount of money for an "American made" Lathe?"
Here is the ultimate simplistic answer to difficult economic questions. The unions made the employer pay those high salaries...(gun to the head, I guess). Those high middle class salaries allowed the workers to buy homes, buy cars, raise their kids, pay for their college educations so they, the kids, could become more than their parents were. That, Pro...was always the American dream. The generation following would have a better life than the generation now.
But the Unions somehow have derailed the American Dream and shipped the jobs to China? A lot of non-union jobs in the manufacturing, service and professional sectors are going there too. The middle class is getting squeezed in a very dangerous, destabalizing way. We are giving our jobs, and because of TERRIBLE fiscal policy, our debt to the Chinese (and others)...and we seem perfectly satisfied to not only sell them the gun factory, but teach them how to build the gun, load it for them and then point it at our own heads!
Now, the older retired folks on some of these boards, those who have already gotten "theirs" complain about high taxex and illegal immigrants. They moan about costs of medical care and pension security. The idea that we could, as a society, make aggresive tax and policy decisions to protect our economic base within this country don't seem to click. The idea that our current policy incents companies to leave our shores doesn't bother them...
Well it bothers me.
You can blame "the unions" but remember what had a large hand in developing the American middle class, the economic envy of the world. That middle class is in as much danger now of disappearing as are the unions...and when China comes calling down the road with the IOU and serves it on us, we better be sure we can pay for it....but if we have to rely on the middle class to bail us out, forget it. They won't be able to afford to buy enough of the Chinese products.
But you have yours, so don't worry. Just blame the unions. |
