Category: Social Behavior

This Country Needs a Manufacturing Base

There is not a country in the world that has thrived without an agricultural, mining or manufacturing base.  Today those nations include China, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Russia, and Iran, Brazil, and Canada.  The United States is part of that group too but this nation has seen a significant decline in its manufacturing.  Charlie Gibson on ABC News was reporting from Racine, Wisconsin when he pointed out that the town has always been a manufacturing town.  The problem is that the United States has been shedding manufacturing jobs for many years.

 

If you look at the GDP over the years going back to 1967 you find that manufacturing as a percentage of the total has continuously declined.  In that year manufacturing was 25.2% of GDP.  By 1987 manufacturing had declined to 17.1 %. That was not the end of the decline as it was down to less than 12% in 2005.

 

When I was in college in the early 1960s there were 30 million people in labor unions.  Today the number has declined to 15 million.  The reason is the shedding of manufacturing jobs.

 

Automobile manufacturing has been one of the industries that personifies American manufacturing know how.  The problem is that the Japanese, the Germans, and others have taken the lead from the American companies.  It’s no wonder.  The auto manufacturers in those countries have delivered cars with better quality and higher gasoline efficiency.  General Motors share of the U.S. market in 1954 was 54% and imports were play things for the rich.  The VW would not arrive in significant numbers until 1955.  We all know what happened next.  Japan developed superior quality control and that made the names Honda and Toyota synonymous with the word quality.  I remember asking an employee of mine in 1983, after he had completed his assignment, “Is that Toyota quality?”   

 

Unless the United States returns to its manufacturing roots and does it better than the rest our nation is in for a very difficult 21st century.   

 

John McCain – Accept The Will Of The People

John McCain is a decent man.  He his campaign themes have been “service” and “country first.”  Both of those themes are excellent.  Unfortunately Mr. McCain’s campaign rhetoric has become so incendiary that it has induced supporters at his rallies to call Barack Obama a “traitor,” “terrorist,” and a “liar.”

 

I noticed on a clip on Chris Matthews show that the yelling from the audience caused John McCain to grimace.  He clearly realizes that he needs to tamp down the anger his rallies have inspired.  The entire character assassination campaign methodology is becoming so toxic that it could lead mob violence and perhaps a real assassination attempt.

       

This is not what American election campaigns should be about.  John McCain needs to shut down the character assassination campaign immediately. He needs to focus his campaign on the issues that concern Americans like the economy, energy, infrastructure rebuilding, health insurance, etc.  If that means losing the election he should accept the will of the people.

Think about it…

Let me see if I have this straight…..

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re ‘exotic, different.’

* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you’re a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you’re very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don’t represent America’s.

* If you’re husband is nicknamed ‘First Dude’, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

Who Is In Charge?

If ever there was a case of ineffective government it is the AIG scandal.  After bailing out that company with $85 billion the government had to provide another $37.8 billion loan.  To add insult to injury AIG held a $400,000 party at a very expensive California hotel resort.  Oh well it’s just to motivate the sales people so it’s OK.  It has been reported that another party of the same size will occur next week.

 

Our Congress has authorized $700 billion to be spent on a “recovery plan” which really is a bail out of our financial markets.  Where will all that money go?  Well it won’t be to the taxpayers and it won’t be to the homeowners with loans they can’t afford.  We the people have had a gun held to our heads.  They tell us if we don’t support this insane plan it will impact our savings, our banks, and we might lose our jobs.

 

The election is just 27 days away and neither Barack Obama nor John McCain has offered a coherent plan to resolve our economic problems.  Barack Obama was on ABC’s Nightly News and told Charlie Gibson that he would give us the confidence to succeed just as FDR did.  The difference is that FDR offered specifics in the form of real action.  Obama simply said we will try different things until we find the ones that work.  Wow! How inspiring!

Down and Dirty

Here in Los Angeles County there is one open supervisory district position.  The replacement will be for the retiring Yvonne Braithwaite-Burke.  She is 76 years old.  The runoff election is between the former LAPD police chief, Bernard Parks and state assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas.  It appears that the race is close although I suspect that Mr. Ridley-Thomas is in the lead. Now that the election is just a month away the name calling has become very loud.  The innuendo is astonishing. Along with the shouting have come the law suites.  Each side claims the other is a scoundrel.

 

There is no difference between the race for supervisor and the race for president in terms of determination to win.  When a candidate realizes he/she is behind and reasonable campaigning has failed to sway the voters you then turn to name calling and outrageous accusations.  That is the condition of the presidential campaign now and is likely to stay that way for the rest of the campaign season.

 

Current poll information         

RealClearPolitics: Obama at 264, McCain at 163, Toss Up at 111

CNN Election Center: Obama at 250, McCain at 189, Toss Up at 99

 

I can understand the McCain/Palin frustration when they see the polling results.  ABC Television gave a very strong lead to Obama/Biden.  Here are two sets of polling results on the internet.  John McCain’s staff is looking for a way to reduce the Obama lead.  Have they found it in the character and patriotism question?  I hope not.  McCain seems to have deteriorated into back alley fighting.  If he wins he will face a very uncooperative congress.

When You Are Losing Just Start Name Calling

There are many things that can change the direction of this presidential election.  Certainly this past two weeks has been a game changer because of economics and the stock market.  There might be another economic event or another war related event.  As examples: What would happen if the stock market dropped by 25%?  Another concern is the possibility of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites.  These events could significantly impact the outcome of the November election.  What we do not need is mud slinging.

 

That seems to be the new behavior of Governor Sarah Palin.  Reported on CNN and by the Associated Press is an accusation that Democrat Barack Obama of “palling around with terrorists.”  Is this the way John McCain hopes to win the presidency?

 

I can only hope that the American people will see through this disgusting practice.  The problem is, most pundits say, that it works.  The “swift boaters” and other groups will be making the effort to support John McCain by any means.

 

Barack Obama does not appear to be the type to resort to name calling. However he is from Chicago.  That is a city of tough politics.  Will he resort to mud slinging too?  I hope not.

May the best man win.

Canadians Love Us Americans!

I was born in Canada and still have many relatives there.  Canadians do deride Americans on a variety of subjects from the attitude that we are self centered to our fixations on movie stars and celebrities to the media attention on everything American.  Many Canadians blame American behavior on American schools.

 

Actually Canadians do love Americans despite their jealousy.  To prove it just look at this article from Toronto.  The Palin-Biden debate will be on television at the same time as Canada‘s top five political leaders will face off in an election debate on Thursday.  It is predicted that more Canadians will be watching the American vice presidential debate than watching their own political leaders.  Many Americans television stations and programs are broadcast into Canada because Canadians like them.  Then again I love that Canadian comic strip “For Better or Worse.”  It seem so American.  Are those characters transplants?  Hmmm.

 

The truth is Canadians have it all wrong.  Americans are envious of Canada because it thrives without the need to be number one in everything.  Wait a minute, who is number one?  Is it the United States or Canada?

Semantic Revision or Lipstick on a Pig

CNN, NBC, ABC, etc. have reported that congressional leaders are not calling the bailout a “bailout” anymore.  It gives the wrong impression, so Nancy Pelosi calls it a “buy-in.”  This semantic revision does not change the facts.  Does our Congress believe Americans are stupid?

 

This from a Los Angeles Times blog.

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, evidently with a straight face: “This is not about a bailout of Wall Street. It’s a buy-in so we can turn our economy around” and protect the assets of ordinary Americans. Well, now I feel so much better about it. I’m buying in! I’m getting a piece of financial products that are so worthless that there’s no market for them.”

 

Watching Larry King on CNN I heard Ben Stein, a strong conservative economist, say that the government should be giving aid to home owners not to Wall Street bankers.  Paul Krugman, a strong liberal economist, agreed.

 

Why is Congress so determined to bail out Wall Street?  Neither the presidential candidates nor any other elected officials have provided a reasonable explanation.  This lack of clarity is the reason that so many people do not participate in the voting process.  Where is the “straight talk express” and where is “change you can believe in?”  The lipstick doesn’t work.

90210 Is Not What It Used To Be

The truth is that everyone is feeling the effect of this recession.  Home price are really taking a beating in Los Angeles.  Beverly Hills 90210 prices fell an average of 19.1%.  The average selling price was over $2.6 million.  My zip code is down more than 40%.  My source for these devastating numbers is DataQuick News/Los Angeles Times.

 

Neither the drop in home prices nor the impending recession stopped Neiman Marcus from opening a new store in the Westfield Topanga Shopping Center this month.  My wife and I walked through the store on opening day.  Shoppers were dressed as if going to a very fancy party or perhaps the Oscars or Emmys.  Well, that’s Los Angeles. The glitz is everywhere. 

 

For those of us not earning a few thousand dollars an hour we will have to tear up those credit cards and pay off the bills.  The party is over.   

The Difference Between Strategy and Tactics

John McCain and Barak Obama argued about the differences in their first debate.  The argument drove me to the dictionary even as the debate continued. Wisegeek.com has a complete write up on the topic.  The answer according to this web site?

 

Essentially, strategy is the thinking aspect of planning a change, organizing something, or planning a war. Strategy lays out the goals that need to be accomplished and the ideas for achieving those goals. Strategy can be complex multi-layered plans for accomplishing objectives and may give consideration to tactics.

 

Tactics are the meat and bread of the strategy. They are the “doing” aspect that follows the planning. Tactics refer specifically to action. In the strategy phase of a plan, the thinkers decide how to achieve their goals. In other words they think about how people will act, i.e., tactics. They decide on what tactics will be employed to fulfill the strategy.

I believe the surge was a tactic not a strategy.  The strategy was the plan to take control of Iraq in an effort to reduce terrorism.  I have posted the question on the wisegeek web site.

Wisegeek response:

“I’d have to say the surge was a tactic, which is what Senator Obama stated.He also talked about looking at the larger “strategic” issues of planning in Afghanistan. Some strategy would necessarily look to tactics. However he demonstrated clear understanding of the differences, which Senator McCain appeared not to. It’s funny how you write a piece a few years ago, and then it becomes relevant again! thanks for your comments!
PS You can find the first 2008 presidential debate full transcript online too, which can prove helpful in fact checking.”