It is a sad fact that the United States is no longer creating many jobs in the manufacturing sector. American workers are not willing to work for $200 per month, which is about what Chinese workers are paid. While our factories are equipped with safety features to protect workers and pollution controls to protect the environment and our health, Chinese factories are not burdened with those costs.
As luck would have it, there are a few areas in America where manufacturing is booming, however. Take for instance, the blossoming industry of manufacturing hysteria regarding issues that have been simmering, but ignored, up until the moment Obama was sworn in.
First, let”s consider the suddenly crushing issue of illegal immigrants, a long-term problem never dealt with as it has been a back burner issue. During the time that the Republicans controlled all three branches, not a single bill went to the president”s desk for his signature. Senators Kennedy and McCain actually crafted a bill dealing with this, but Congress let it die since those who benefit most by taking advantage of cheap labor, mainly big corporations and the wealthy who employ housekeepers and gardeners, preferred to maintain the status quo. Senator McCain withdrew support of the bill he co-authored.
Now that Obama is president however, immigration has become an urgent issue, to hear the story told by FOX and its Tea Party, it”s all Obama”s fault. Why he”s had nearly a year-and-half in office, why hasn”t he been able to protect our borders and deport 12 million people? If the Republicans were in charge (again), this surely would have been dealt with by now.
Oil has finally stopped spewing into the Gulf after 85 days. The machine to manufacture blame has been working overtime so that clearly this too is now all Obama”s fault. Why if those awesome Republicans were in power (again) this would have never been allowed to happen and if it did they would have, without a doubt, been able to use their smaller government to stop the leak in the wink of an eye. Pay no attention to the fact that those who had the responsibility to oversee the construction of this well were Bush appointees. Chris Oynes played a central role in an offshore leasing foul-up that cost taxpayers an estimated $10 billion in lost revenue. The Interior Department”s inspector general called the matter “a jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic bungling.” Despite that, the agency”s then-director promoted Oynes in 2007 to associate director for the offshore program, hmmm.
The elephant in the room is, of course, the deficit. As Cheney famously said “Deficits don”t matter, Reagan proved that!” But that was, of course, when they were in power. Before screaming “You lie!” here”s a link http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A26402-2004Jun8?language. The day Obama was sworn in those very same deficits became the focal point of our looming destruction. Obama ran up a $14 trillion deficit while being sworn in according to right wing media. No matter that more than 90 percent of the deficit that existed on his first day in office had been accumulated during the terms of Reagan and both Bushes. No, this debt is all Obama”s fault, so while it”s fine to give $2 trillion in unfunded tax breaks to the wealthiest 2 percent, we certainly can”t afford to waste money giving extended unemployment benefits to those who struggle to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table for their kids. Many of those wealthy folks are being forced to use last year”s yacht for heaven”s sake! This brings new meaning to the old joke about, “compassionate conservatives.”
All this manufacturing has created few jobs, mostly on FOX and the other corporate owned me too media. Beck, Coulter, Malkin, Matlin, O”Reilly and Rush, already star in a twisted universe, are taking it to the bank but not many “real” Americans are employed by this booming industry. FOX/Breitbart just lost all credibility, not that they had any, when they edited the truth out of their hitpiece on USDA official Shirley Sherrod, making her appear to be a racist, the opposite of the truth, revealed when the entire speech was shown. ACORN redux. Wouldn”t it be great if this group could actually contribute something positive to our nation instead of manufactured phoney hysteria?
Lowell Grant is a weekly columnist for the Record-Bee. E-mail him at c21vintage@aol.com.
