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Won't Get Fooled Again?

By Gloria Diaz

Check out Gloria's Blog — Edge of Gloria!

Fort Wayne Reader

2012-02-02


Because I have a new schedule which I am very happy with, I'm able to watch more television. So I caught the recent Standing Ovation Address (oh, sorry, I meant State of the Union Address) and it made me wish there wasn't a studio audience, so to speak.

The applause got a little annoying. Sure, it sounds good, but it made me think about what the President is up against. Concerning jobs, it's all well and good to bring manufacturing back to the United States, but I doubt it will happen. A quick check on Bloomberg Businessweek showed the average wage for a Chinese factory worker is 64 cents an hour. In contrast, the average wage of an American factory worker was $21.11 an hour. Anti-union types will complain it's the unions pumping up that salary, but the last time I worked in a factory, I was getting $7.90 an hour. It's not $21, an hour, but it's not 64 cents an hour, either. The article admitted the 64 cents an hour was an estimate, since reliable statistics from China are hard to find. (Imagine that.)

Part of the problem is that Americans are addicted to cheap. The cheaper the better, although it doesn't seem to sink in that replacing something every year costs more than spending enough money on a quality product in the first place. And if you have kids, and both of them each want a soccer ball, you're probably going to buy them two $10 soccer balls, instead of spending $30 for an American-made one, or $60 for two.

So if American manufacturing companies are looking for cheap labor, they aren't going to stay in the United States. If they can open up a factory elsewhere, and pay the workers a fraction of what they would pay in wages here, I can understand why they would leave. That doesn't mean it's right, but it happens.

Education is important, but I think we can all agree taking out $100,000 in student loans to major in philosophy is incredibly stupid. Instead of sprinting off to college when kids turn 18, perhaps they could work at whatever job they could find, live at home, save as much as possible, THEN go to college. What looks better to an empty nester? A 22 year old who returns back from Overpriced U. with $60K in student loans and no job prospects, or a 22 year old who has lived at home, worked since graduating high school, saved a majority of that money, invested it wisely, and now has a nest egg of $10K-$20K to move out and go to school part time?

I admire small businesses, but opening up a pancake house across from IHOP wasn't a good idea. I mean, even I know that. But who was the genius who loaned the small business failure the money? I hope it was a private loan.

We can't be truly independent if we still depend on foreign oil. You can make fun of the Middle East all you want, but if you insist on driving a 10 mile to the gallon vehicle, basically you are the bitch of the Middle Eastern people you despise. Your huge truck makes up for the fact that you have a small penis, but you also look ridiculous spewing racial slurs at the people who are fueling your Navigator. If we can create our own energy, we can flip the bird to the rest of the world. Until then, we are dependent on others for fuel. Sad but true.

I haven't watched the GOP stuff, but what I'm hearing doesn't sound good. There isn't one of them that I would feel comfortable with as the Republican presidential candidate. To me, all of them are severely flawed, hypocritical, or downright scary.

But does it really matter? I think both parties are in bed with big business and Wall Street and it isn't about the people, if it ever was. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

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