Aren’t we feeding the dragon that is burning us? I suppose
this is an odd way to put it, but I think it’s true.
Unemployment is ruining our country. Our citizens are out of
work, they are losing their homes, cars and many their health.
The facts are — they are losing.
Some
citizens can share the blame for losing. I know of a man
of the house who lost his job and is about to lose his home — a
beautiful residence on the lake. He won’t look for
work because the last few offers he received paid less than
the
job he lost. As I listen to other examples this seems to
be a common condition.
Families
are losing everything they have, but in some cases, the wage
earner of the house refuses to accept a lesser pay
than they believe they are entitled to. I’m sure there
are situations that are the opposite of what I’ve
described. All you have to do is look around. You can spot
workers who
have lost higher paying jobs working in fast food restaurants
or doing odd jobs. I even spotted one as a greeter at a
department store. We should all admire these people because
they are
working. They are doing the best they can to survive and
save their
families.
As
I see it, we have caused the unemployment problem ourselves.
We developed automation and built machines that replace
multiple employees, thus causing many jobs to disappear.
Not just
in automotive and manufacturing; dairy farms with hundreds
of
heads of cattle are being processed with just a very
few people. In the auto industry, it takes less than half
the
numbers of
employees to keep an assembly line running in today’s
factories versus years past, yet the lines are producing
more products.
We
also contribute to the problem through our system of unemployment
benefits. I would like to suggest if
a person
has lost their
job and accepted a lesser paying job, they receive
financial assistance. I think they deserve a greater amount
of
aid than the person who stays home waiting for someone
to pay
them equal
to what they made in the past — while their world
falls apart.
People
who expect unemployment benefits to be continued endlessly
are contributing to the troubles being experienced.
If they
are not working, they are not increasing the coffers
of the unemployment accounts — so where is
the money to come from?
As
everyone is aware, this subject has been a hot political
debate and just this week finally resolved.
No one
wanted to take the bull by the horns and say “help these people,” especially
those who are helping themselves by taking part-time
jobs. Politicians much prefer blaming the opposite
party for
problems our country encounters.
Wouldn’t
it be great if we could have unity in our government? It
surely would help. Maybe
they could
all
get together at
a Tea Party.
I
believe greed has also entered the equation. I’d like
to suggest as we listen to proposals put forth in political
campaign ads, we seek out those who offer realistic ideas to
get our country back to work. Ideas that include raising taxes
are wrong — this would only put a greater
burden on those who are working. We must find
a fair way
to help those
who
are willing to help themselves.
We
need to stand up and slay the lazy dragon and demonstrate
our country’s unity — prove we can all survive
together. I’ve taken a cut in pay from many of my publishers
I write for, but I’m still working. I hope my pay cuts
may have given one more employee a chance to keep his or her
job or one more employee to find a little work, even if it
doesn’t pay what they made before.
Author’s
Note:
Mistakes are common in the media but happily
those made in print can be corrected. Please
accept a
correction from my
last column, “Are We Nuts?” Iowa (a state with
no borders) was a state referred to as one of those in support
of Arizona’s tough immigration laws. Somehow Idaho (a
state with a Canadian border) was inserted in the text. Since
the column bears my name, I’ll apologize for the error — and
now I’m up to two for the year!