Generating jobs - Make it in America
Getting the unemployed re-employed is not just about putting people to work. There are 3 million jobs in this country that remain unfilled, while more than 6 million Americans (about 45% of the unemployed) have been out of work for more than a year. There is a sharp disconnect between the skills employers need and what unemployed workers have to offer. Central to the problem is that manufacturing has eroded, costing millions of jobs.
In a new (January 2011) book, ‘Make It in America’, Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical, says that for decades US businesses relied blindly on market forces and free trade to boost their economy, while sending jobs overseas because it fattened corporate profits. Meanwhile, many other countries were providing large subsidies for foreign manufacturers, while investing in their own infrastructure, education and workforce training.
As US multinationals moved factories abroad, they moved research and engineering centres too, to keep them close to assembly lines and because of enticing foreign government incentives. The blind, short-term profit-motive reduced American competitiveness and longer-term global leadership.
Liveris makes a key point: The US is not losing ground because of low wages in other countries. American high productivity makes up for much of that. The problem is that other countries are attracting US companies with generous incentives and tax breaks. The US needs to match those, with incentives, such as reducing taxes for manufacturers and making the R&D tax credits permanent. This must be strengthened by partnership between government and business to provide long term incentives and opportunities to increase innovation in the manufacturing sector.
What is needed is new job creation with manufacturing of innovative high-tech, high-value, high-margin, non-commodity items. By encouraging national manufacturing strategies that focus on the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future, and encouraging exports, we can improve American competitiveness. By focusing on improving our nation’s education system, we will continue to develop a skilled workforce ready for the increased demand.
Anti-establishment protests have a groundswell not seen since the 1960s
This poem was written on 15 October, 2011 while the ‘Occupy wall Street’ movement was about a month old, and still growing. Many are confused with the message. This poem may help to explain. Please feel free to copy and distribute.
The Ballad: Occupy Wall Street
In mid-September, started out slow
Thousands of jobless, with nowhere to go
Gathered to protest, their rights to proclaim
Occupied Wall Street; so that was their name
Chorus:
The System is rotten
The People forgotten
They shouted that banks, who’d created the mess
Got bail-outs and bonuses, with public largesse
The big banks conspired, they made it fail
The bankers got off, not one went to jail
Ours is Democracy, majority rules
Yet 1% make the rest of us fools
99% squeezed, we have less and less
Poverty’s spreading with widespread distress
Folks flooded Manhattan, crowds started to grow
With Media coverage beginning to show
The movement was spreading all through the land
In hundreds of cities, they’re taking a stand
Politicians called it a mob, but soon
Counting the numbers, they changed their tune
The wind’s blowing strong for the coming election
Grass Roots reform from another direction
Our credit rating was under the gun
Party-line politics got nothing done
Congress must act without partisan fights
WE are the People – WE know our rights
Joblessness everywhere, 1 in 10 unemployed
Political deadlock has our system destroyed
Just one demand, one thing on all dockets
Keep Big Money out of political pockets
More jobs and fair taxes is what we demand
That’s what WE want, our line in the sand
Our numbers are doubling, worldwide every day
And who’ll make this stop? We won’t go away.
Chorus
Jim Pinto is an industry analyst and commentator, writer, technology futurist and angel investor. His popular e-mail newsletter, JimPinto.com eNews, is widely read (with direct circulation of about 7000 and web-readership of two to three times that number). His areas of interest are technology futures, marketing and business strategies for a fast-changing environment, and industrial automation with a slant towards technology trends.
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