The Florida Economy and Presidential Politics
I say recently deceased because there's very little wear on the businesses. While I was standing there trying to photograph Kounty Kitchen Restaurant a relative of the former owner drove up in his truck to ask if I was interested in buying the business. When I told him "No" he grew a bit disappointed, said goodbye, and drove on. This is indicative of what I continue to see, small businesses all over that are being shuttered, one by slow steady one, while both political parties continue to dither over a solution. I find the unemployment statistic of "only" 7.8% to be something close to obscene. No, I don't believe the numbers were manipulated by the president. Yes, I do find 7.8% just as depressing as any of the prior numbers at 8% or higher. We've been living this sluggish employment nightmare for more than four years. Everyone with major power (political and/or financial) is to blame for the cause as well as the continuation.
I find it particularly noteworthy that "Neutron"Jack Welch, former plundering CEO of General Electric, who under his stewardship ruthlessly laid off over 100,000 employees, pursuing profitability at any cost including the elimination of G.E.'s business ethics, accused the administration of fixing the jobs number so President Obama would look good. Ignoring the fact that Governor Romney continued to lie by omission during the first debate (as well as not really knowing his own platforms plans), and noting that President Obama lied by exaggeration and distortion, I find it incredibly sad that both sides proxies are fighting like junkyard dogs over such a lousy employment statistic. Not only is it still too high, but the jobs that have been found are of lower quality than all those that have been lost.
Technically I'm a register Democrat, having walked away in disgust from the Republican party over the rampant abuses in the Reagan administration. Since 2000 I'm essentially an independent. No president elected since 2000 has helped this country. If you consider the abuses that were allowed to occur before the 2000s that let to the Internet bubble, no president elected since 1980 has truly helped this country. As an adult the idea of cutting and running because I don't like either candidate and their party is something I can't stomach, but having written that I have absolutely what I should do, either individually or as part of a group, to help really solve our nation's problems. No nation on this planet is any better and too many are far worse.
Historical Quote
"The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection."Footnotes
George Washington, 1796
[1] Officials reject conspiracies on unemployment rate http://news.yahoo.com/officials-reject-conspiracies-unemployment-rate-070150404--finance.html
[2] Context lacking in some debate attacks by President Obama, Mitt Romney http://articles.boston.com/2012-10-04/political-intelligence/34252859_1_mitt-romney-representative-paul-ryan-work-on-health-reform
[3] Romney Health Care Debate Claim Gets Corrected By His Own Staff http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/06/162404662/romney-health-care-debate-claim-gets-corrected-by-his-own-staff
[4] At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric, and the Pursuit of Profit http://www.amazon.com/At-Any-Cost-General-Electric/dp/0375705678
Maybe sometime in the future those in power (financial and political) will learn that the unemployed and the minimum-wages-worker dont have the money to buy anything. Robots or sweat-laborer ona another continent dont make for good consumers. But money tends to flow uphill and manure will run downhill, thats the preferred way.
ReplyDelete"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible."
DeleteHenry Ford
Henry Ford said this (and so much more) because he realized how vital it was to sell his early autos to as wide an audience as possible, including and especially his own employees. All of this he spoke of over 100 years ago, at the start of the 20th century. It's a lesson already learned in the past that so many want to forget.