A nation of whiners
Before you get too mad at me, the 'nation of whiners' comment was actually former Texas Senator Phil Gramm's comment to describe the American people's anxiety over the economy. Problem was that Gramm was serving as one of Senator John McCain's economic advisers during the just ended presidential campaign.
While I don't agree with Gramm's assessment, I do unfortunately, think that it's not as ridiculous as it would appear.
Unless you've been living with your head in your ass (again, not as ridiculous as it would appear), you know that the economy in the US and abroad is in the proverbial toilet. I've been through several economic toilets before, but the magnitude of this one surprises even me. Personally, I never thought GM, Mervyns, Sharper Image, and Polaroid would all file for bankruptcy. I never thought that so many banks would fail and the biggest economy in the world could be brought en masse to a screeching half by a couple of bad mortgages.
Anyway, as in any downturn, it seems like there are more people looking for work than there is work to be had. Very few people are getting hired. Those who do find that the wages and benefits (if any) are meager. And that brings me to my point:
Jobs don't just create themselves. Wishing and hoping for a job won't make one appear. Jobs exist because someone had an idea, didn't let go of that idea, sought out the resources to make that idea into something, worked hard at it, and (most likely) built a company out of it -- a company that employs people.
It's times like this that I think of news stories I read about how in the Midwest and the South there are routinely 10 to 50 people applying for every job opening. (When Kia opened its car plant in Georgia a few years back, I believe they had 40 people applying for every opening.) How governments bend over backwards to offer tax breaks and free resources to just get companies to locate factories or offices in their area. Do I think people like working 2 jobs, commuting 2 hours a day to go to work, or living away from their families for weeks or months at a time? Not even. They do it because they need money and, unless you're going to commit a fraud on Wall Street, the only way to do that is to get a job.
Society clearly needs jobs then. Instead of just hoping that times will somehow magically get better or railing about how globalization is to blame or how the government should give us a bail out, why don't we as a people buckle down and put our heads together to create some new jobs? Encourage an entreprenuer, patronize a small business, volunteer your expertise to make an existing small business leaner and more efficient. That's hpw we'll help ourselves and make tomorrow better.
I'm a pessimist about most things, which is somewhat of a downer, but the upside is that I'm very rarely caught unprepared. I see lots of people these days just hoping that if they hang on long enough, times will somehow get better automatically. To those people, I have one thing to say: get a life. Hope is not and never will be a course of action. Things improve as a result of hard work and diligence. Right now, I don't see any potential engines that will pull the global economy out of its malaise the same way automotive manufacturing did or the Internet did. There just isn't anything out there. The only thing that people seem to consistently say is that clean technology (solar, wind power, etc.) will drive tomorrow's prosperity.
I don't necessarily disagree with that, but I don't think its going to be anywhere near the panacea people expect it to be. But that'll be for tomorrow to explain.
While I don't agree with Gramm's assessment, I do unfortunately, think that it's not as ridiculous as it would appear.
Unless you've been living with your head in your ass (again, not as ridiculous as it would appear), you know that the economy in the US and abroad is in the proverbial toilet. I've been through several economic toilets before, but the magnitude of this one surprises even me. Personally, I never thought GM, Mervyns, Sharper Image, and Polaroid would all file for bankruptcy. I never thought that so many banks would fail and the biggest economy in the world could be brought en masse to a screeching half by a couple of bad mortgages.
Anyway, as in any downturn, it seems like there are more people looking for work than there is work to be had. Very few people are getting hired. Those who do find that the wages and benefits (if any) are meager. And that brings me to my point:
Jobs don't just create themselves. Wishing and hoping for a job won't make one appear. Jobs exist because someone had an idea, didn't let go of that idea, sought out the resources to make that idea into something, worked hard at it, and (most likely) built a company out of it -- a company that employs people.
It's times like this that I think of news stories I read about how in the Midwest and the South there are routinely 10 to 50 people applying for every job opening. (When Kia opened its car plant in Georgia a few years back, I believe they had 40 people applying for every opening.) How governments bend over backwards to offer tax breaks and free resources to just get companies to locate factories or offices in their area. Do I think people like working 2 jobs, commuting 2 hours a day to go to work, or living away from their families for weeks or months at a time? Not even. They do it because they need money and, unless you're going to commit a fraud on Wall Street, the only way to do that is to get a job.
Society clearly needs jobs then. Instead of just hoping that times will somehow magically get better or railing about how globalization is to blame or how the government should give us a bail out, why don't we as a people buckle down and put our heads together to create some new jobs? Encourage an entreprenuer, patronize a small business, volunteer your expertise to make an existing small business leaner and more efficient. That's hpw we'll help ourselves and make tomorrow better.
I'm a pessimist about most things, which is somewhat of a downer, but the upside is that I'm very rarely caught unprepared. I see lots of people these days just hoping that if they hang on long enough, times will somehow get better automatically. To those people, I have one thing to say: get a life. Hope is not and never will be a course of action. Things improve as a result of hard work and diligence. Right now, I don't see any potential engines that will pull the global economy out of its malaise the same way automotive manufacturing did or the Internet did. There just isn't anything out there. The only thing that people seem to consistently say is that clean technology (solar, wind power, etc.) will drive tomorrow's prosperity.
I don't necessarily disagree with that, but I don't think its going to be anywhere near the panacea people expect it to be. But that'll be for tomorrow to explain.
posted by Andy!! at 3:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home