Posted by Tina
Economically speaking America is practically on life support. The media has been talking it up, even bragging about the good news, 3.2% growth in the final quarter last year. Unfortunately the numbers have since been…wait for it…”revised down”. Aren’t they always with this administration? The very bad news is that the average for the entire year was 1/9%, an abysmal number after almost five and a half years of progressive Democrat management…7.5 if you count the two years Democrats controlled Congress under Bush.
In order to get American back to work again we need growth at 4% or higher. That would generate the 350,000 or more jobs monthly that would begin to turn things around. It will happen only and if the federal government decides to set America’s job producers free.
Source: Donald Lambro, Washington Times
Well, the city council is going waste their time and our money with that bag ban tomorrow.
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_25453781/chico-city-council-tackle-social-hosting-plastic-bag
Bob, there is no question that our politicians are bribed and told to pass a lot of junk legislation that favors a certain special interest. This has been going on for decades and both sides are guilty, but the democrats seemed to have turned this into a blatant culture of corruption. Nobody likes them taking payoffs, the question is how do we stop it?
We’ve tried speaking out, we’ve tried suing, we’ve tried petitioning, we’ve tried the vote…but they always find a way to crush any sort of reform. And Sacramento is not interested in proposing any of their own reform, far from it! They like their goose that lays golden eggs, they want to keep the corruption going. So I ask you…what do we do?
You didn’t see Dan Logue proposing any reform did you? And you won’t see Gallager proposing any either if he gets in. No elected State politicians wants anything to do with campaign finance reform…it’s the 3rd rail of politics.
And what’s really stupid about the city council wasting time and money on this is that it looks like the nannycrats…er…sory I mean Demoncrats in Sucrmaento are going to pass a law doing the same thing.
Here’s why there will never be real pension reform. The politicians are bought and paid for by the public employees unions in Collifornia (as Ahnode calls it). The same is true of our city council.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/31/6280805/dan-walters-public-pension-reform.html
I do not understand how anyone can not realize our jobs are being sent overseas. I have an easier time finding stuff made in Canada than the USA. I find this sad.
Yes the Politicians work for whoever donates to their campaigns and they want something for that money. Everyone talks about jobs but I think it would be a good idea for everyone to go on a mock job search to see what is out there.
My son gave me the challenge and I took him up on it. He has a masters degree so I took his credentials (which are very good) and went on the hunt. I did finally get a few offers but they were dismal.
I however am going to find candidates who are not in it for their own profit and power gain and support them win or loose.
What jobs do we really offer in this country? What do we manufacture? It saddens me that we gave away our manufacturing sector, patents, and security for the future.
Vietnam seems to be the next 3rd world country we are going to build up with our jobs. I propose to you why is this not an issue?
I see everyone complaining but not doing anything about the Politicians.
Thomas you raise concerns that have been a growing problem for decades. The question is what are the causes behind the problems. Our jobs going overseas can be attributed to many causes that are explained generally by the rising cost of production. Higher materials cost, higher wage costs, at times higher energy costs, and higher tax and regulation costs have all contributed. The attraction to other countries is simply a natural response and means to lowering cost of doing business.
The failing K-12 educational system in America, the push for higher education, including lowering the standards for admission, and a decline in promotion and support for vocational education have added to the problem. There are manufacturers that say they have good paying jobs but cannot find American workers that are trainable. many can’t read and/or have terrible attitudes. they don’t show up on time or at all…they don’t follow instructions.
Some of this loss of opportunity is just a sign of the times. Quite a bit of it has been driven by our own social/political agenda.
As emerging economies rise to become more comparable to ours much of this will change. In the mean time we need to streamline and tune up what we can here at home so that companies and workers can compete in the world.
There are several changes that would help this situation immediately:
1. Streamlining regulations so that the guardrails are in tact but the complexity, and therefore the high cost of compliance, is removed. The newest environmental regulation are particularly onerous and costly. The regs we already had in place were sufficient and working. Given what we have learned about exaggerated and faulty environmental evidence and science the new regulations don’t give a return that is worth the cost in terms of jobs and the economy. The new regulations have caused energy prices to spike and remain high unnecessarily. This has caused higher production and distribution costs for every single business. It has meant that every citizens disposable income has been squeezed…our buying power is blunted. That helps to create a death spiral for individuals and an economy that bumps along the bottom.
Other regulations in banking and housing are having similar effects in the lending and housing markets.
2. Open public lands for drilling and allow refineries to be built. Build the Keystone Pipeline.
3. Change the tax structure, eliminate loop holes to lower compliance costs and lower tax rates to make our nation more competitive globally. This will lure companies back to American shores, open up job opportunities, and inspire new business.
Our government needs to step back. In it’s fervor to control (So as to make things better) it has badly gummed up the works.
As for doing something about the politicians the beauty of our system is that it is difficult to make changes…it’s also the frustration of our system. I submit that unless we complain and continue to complain loudly there will be no hope that things will get better. I used the word “complain” because you did but in reality there is much more than complaining going on. Many of us are doing whatever we can think of to wake the citizens of this country out of their sense of entitlement and apathy. We seek information and we share it as best we can. We look for evidence of policies that work and those that don’t and we attempt to make people more aware of them. It’s a difficult job and often thankless but it is also necessary and in truth the responsibility of every citizen.
Politicians are people and citizens too. Some are corrupted beyond help…most are just caught in the current realities and paradigms that we have created through indifference, delusion, apathy, error, and neglect of our responsibilities and obligations. Lowered morality standards have also contributed greatly.
The good news is that there are a lot of good Americans who love our nation and our Constitution and who have the energy and will to restore what we have lost. Can we get the support we need from the electorate to get it done? Your guess is as good as mine. I sure hope so.