Let me preface this article with a few qualifications. I am not an economist and don’t pretend to be one. The following is also major oversimplification of the problems we face today. What’s written here is not meant to inflame you. You are expected to think.
With all the recent talk about outsourcing, trade deficits and unemployment (or under-employment), you’d wonder if folks were really thinking about solutions to the problem. Human nature seems to always include certain amounts of complaining or whining for at least as long as it takes to find something else that hurts just as bad or worse.
Some persons tend to attack a leader (or two) for their immigration or economic policy decisions but rarely do many of us look a little closer to home for the real source of America’s economic woes. This attack strategy might satisfy political agendas for some of us, but do personal attacks do anything to resolve the real problem? Poor Democrats are likely to be just as unhappy as poor Republicans (except that poor Democrats think that the government should resolve their problems for them). For all the poor offended liberals out there, that was a joke. ;-)~ Seriously now, the answer isn’t just to blame all the world’s problems on George W. Bush or Alan Greenspan.
Imagine two steady streams, one that includes airplanes, overseas freight containers and boat- (or car) loads full of refugees or foreign goods (or illegal drugs) destined for American cities. The second stream is made up of American currency, technologies or jobs. Both of these flows work towards America’s disadvantage. Add to that the imports of natural resources like oil from the Middle East, so that we can pollute our lands. Yes, sometimes the tides change but more often than not the flow is in one direction (from supply to demand).
Now some Arabs (or radical Muslims) are “offended” when we try to keep the peace or maintain economic stability in the Middle East by deposing an occasional tyrant or oppressive government. Think of it this way, Americans actually pay the Arabs for oil so that we can trash our own backyards and air with petroleum products and so that we can fight their wars for them. Or in case no one noticed, our dependency on foreign petroleum is what motivated us to do the things that inflamed some groups to resort to terrorist attacks on the US. Doesn’t this kind of observation make you want to think twice about leaving your car to idle in the parking lot while you duck into a store to purchase a gallon of milk? How much is all this oil really costing us? Turn your thermostat down now!
Consider how much oil is used for transporting these endless supplies of consumables that other nations are dumping on American consumers while we shut down domestic textile mills, electronics factories and manufacturing plants. It’s foreign oil in those vehicles (trains, planes, boats and automobiles) that fuels the seeds of our economic demise. Is it time to start thinking about using alternative fuels anyone? How about some conservation (transportation reduction?) strategies too?
Add up all the ways that we spend money on foreign products and you begin to understand how and why many of your hard earned American dollars are leaving the country. Our economy is leaking currency (and jobs) like a sieve.
Enough moaning. What should Americans do about such things?
How about take advantage of the information age and the benefits of new technologies (or the Internet)? If your job doesn’t require you to be at a workstation assembling widgets, flipping burgers or digging ditches and it can be performed online, work at home. Use broadband and the telephone when you can. Don’t burn fuel making two extra trips around the parking lot so that you walk 30 feet less to the door. Enjoy the exercise. Buy your next home closer to where you work!
Buy American products when you can. If you don’t know the country of origin of the products you purchase, remind your retailer that these things are important to you. Don’t forget to take your business to merchants who know the difference between domestically produced products and foreign made goods (and label their inventories accordingly). This doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t purchase foreign made products at all, but that you should consider these things in the price that you pay for every product. Buy quality! Obviously real beer lovers wouldn't consider purchasing a pint of Guinness Irish Stout brewed in New York City. Smart buyers understand that good stuff breaks less often and costs you less in the long run. That could ultimately mean less trash in the landfill and fewer trips to the store for replacement products or exchanges.
Don’t employ illegal aliens or persons who are working “off the grid”. Unemployment taxes and social security don’t work unless everyone pays their "fair share" or builds up some equity in the system. Freeloaders should not be encouraged to enter or apply for work in America. This doesn’t mean that we need to turn away every close relative of an “anchor child” because of his or her country of origin, but what is it about an “illegal” immigration status that employers don’t understand? Americans need to observe a “don’t feed the bears” kind of policy with regards to illegal immigrants. This will save the border patrol a lot of work. This is not just a "border control problem". If you really want to prevent illegal immigration you have to remove the motivators (American jobs, American currency and American entitlements) for those that might benefit from such things. Building walls on our borders or employing more border patrol agents doesn’t add to the GNP either. Deport these illegal persons (poor and quickly) or tax them out, so that their equity in the system can reach the same levels as citizens (before they empty the treasury).
Don’t buy illegal drugs. These (illegal) purchases only encourage more illegal immigration. Drug purchases add to trade deficits. Drug abuse puts more Americans in prison when they are reduced to stealing or other criminal activities to support their habits. Persons who are addicted to illegal drugs cause harm to them-selves and are often unemployable. This harm that drug addicts do to themselves also affects others. Prison inmates cost taxpayers big money and represent a drag on the GNP. This says nothing about what the costs are when your neighbors kid gets high and kills a police officer, a teacher or another student (by accident?).
If you can’t get work in a position you are trained for (surplussed, oursourced or fired), work at something else (retool or educate yourself?). Under-employment is still better than unemployment. Under-employed persons don’t have time to engage in crime or bad habits. Circulation (networking) inside the workforce can result in future employment connections and better jobs.
Yes, some of these suggestions will also involve some hard decisions by our leadership or a new strategy (or two). This doesn’t exempt "average Americans" from some personal responsibility. Use your money wisely. God forbid, we consider becoming more efficient consumers. Don’t make unnecessary purchases (i.e. illegal drugs) that will result in long-term costs to the economy or your reputation as a good employee. Purchase domestic products where you can and where this makes sense for you. The blame for any downturn in the American economy begins at home. We (consumers, employers and bureaucrats) need to think more carefully in terms of how our purchases will fund the entitlements or economic infrastructure we count on. Otherwise the flows of oil, illegal drugs, or illegal labor will always be against our best interests, and the flows of currency and jobs will most likely remain outbound.
Purchase American.com
http://www.purchaseamerican.com/links.htm
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
http://www.opec.org/
Center for Immigration Studies
http://www.cis.org/
Center Paper 23: The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget, by Steven A. Camarota, August 2004
Crime & the Illegal Alien: The Fallout from Crippled Immigration Enforcement,by Heather Mac Donald Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder, June 2004
A Jobless Recovery? Immigrant Gains and Native Losses, by Steven A. CamarotaCenter for Immigration Studies Backgrounder, October 2004
The White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/index.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/employment.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/internationaltrade/
