This Ain't Working...

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: “Census figures show the richest 20 percent of Americans earn more than half the income. The middle of the income scale earned less than 15 percent, a record low. The bottom 20 percent of workers have a record low share as well, barely topping three percent. It's best to be at the very top, where the top 10 percent controls more than two-thirds of the country's wealth.

Labor Department consumption data show living standards rising for the wealthiest, stagnant or falling for everyone else. Meanwhile, the gender gap has narrowed, not because women's pay is rising, but because men's earnings are falling.”

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: “Buffalo, New York lost 1,800 jobs in the private sector in the past year. Leading those losses; manufacturing jobs. Since 1990, the numbers of jobs in manufacturing have been cut by one third. While that pain is particularly sharp for Buffalo, it is not Buffalo's alone.

Nationally, we lost 3.6 million manufacturing jobs since 1990, a drop of more than 20 percent. U.S. manufacturing simply can't compete with the flood of cheaper imports, so job opportunities that could have been created for American workers have gone to other countries.”

Source: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/07/ldt.02.html

OK, here is where we apply a little common sense to politics (yeah, I'm a dreamer). We all need to write our congressmen and let them know that the current state of the American job market is unacceptable. There are four major factors to this particular problem: Illegal immigration, NAFTA and CAFTA, and outsourcing.

Illegal immigration must be addressed. The security issues aside, the economic effects can and will be devastating to the American economy. I see young men everyday who are willing to sign up for service and go to Iraq just so they can get a steady paycheck. There are two food processing plants here in my hometown that collectively employ over 1,600 workers, both of which are employing an estimated 80% illegal immigrants. That means that 1,260 out of 1,600 jobs are filled by people who are not citizens of this country. There have been no ICE or INS raids here yet.

NAFTA, North American Free Trade Agreement, is a treaty with Mexico that allows for less restricted shipping and commerce, and also allows American companies to open manufacturing plants in Mexico. The average manufacturing wage in the US is between $12 and $15 an hour. The average manufacturing wage in Mexico is 42 cents per hour. (I wonder who had that bright idea)

CAFTA, Central American Free Trade Agreement, allows for the same things in Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, etc. This is where the majority of manufacturing jobs have moved to in the last three years.

Outsourcing is simply moving service related jobs to foreign countries. Telemarketers, Customer service, and many other telephone and technical manufacturing jobs can now be moved to India, The Dominican Republic, and pretty much anywhere that Corporate America wants.

Do you, as an American, get the sense that someone is very concerned about you?(besides me)

All we have to do is raise hell. We don't have to agree about gay rights or abortion or the speed limit. All we have to do is get together on this one topic. Write your congressman and tell him/her that we want our jobs back. Call your governor and ask him what he is doing to fix this. Call your mayor and see what he/she is doing to bring new jobs to your community.

There is no sense in creating all these new small business incentive programs. We are just reinventing the wheel. The government signed off on some bad stuff. We need to let them know that we disapprove and tell them to correct it. So what if Mexico and Central America stay impoverished? They weren't making anybody rich at 42 cents an hour, I can assure you. These treaties aren't about helping the people of Mexico and CA any more than they are about helping you or me.

We need to toss a Bullshit Flag on this one. (you see, its like a flag on the play in football...oh, forget it)

This is America. This ain't some third world dictatorship where we just have to sit on our hands while injustice occurs all around us. We have the right, and I believe the outright duty, to fix this garbage without waiting around to see how bad it can get.