I am tired of people who keep bad-mouthing American business without accepting some of the blame that has enabled the behavior they are damning.
Over the decades the U.S. has done pretty well within the free-market system; some other countries have found the hard way that some of the socialistic-tending systems have not. Our system has fed off the greed of the consumer who wants great value for little cost.
Businesses do not exist for fun, they exist to make money for those who own them. Businessmen are expected to produce wanted items at the lowest cost they can realize otherwise they would be irresponsible. And they have to compete with a lot of other companies that are trying to do the same thing, but often working with a different set of rules.
Sometimes a country uses subsidies and/or tariffs to even the game, but because of our prosperity, usually it is an overseas firm that can supply the equal of American products at a lower price to the consumer, which is exactly what the American consumer wants ? value at the lowest possible price. Greed personified, as they simply are not loyal/patriotic to buy the same thing, made in America, for 10 or so percent more, even though they could and should for the sake of the country”s economy. Because they don”t and U.S. business has to keep competitive as best it can, jobs and fully-made subassemblies are shifted to low-cost overseas sources. And guess what happens to U.S. employment? Been happening since the 1960s.
Another consideration with unemployment has to do with skill and competency. Unless the industry has unions or other labor organizations that are more interested in seniority and job security than in productivity, layoffs and firings are based on skill and competency, which includes appearance, dress, attitude, and the perceptions of those they deal with, not just work alone, on the job, which means those who become the first to be unemployed are also the least likely to be hired or rehired. An additional problem for potential employees is that business is constantly searching for ways to cut costs and labor costs are usually the easiest to achieve. As business improves it is usually much more efficient and less costly to pay overtime than it is to go through the hiring and training process. Many “old” jobs simply will never return as electromechanical devices or the occasional overseas worker) are developed to replace them at lower cost. One more time ? because American buyers don”t put their money where their mouth is. What they want is cheap.
When I went to university, the average unemployment was 7 percent and people then were very much more work-adaptable . Nowadays technology is such that very few “trained” people can move to other jobs without serious cross training, although it is true that some actually know what things like shovels, wrenches and hammers look like even today.
We are up in arms that unemployment is close to 10 percent. Mostly because we got used to much lower, and perhaps unrealistic, rates. A great dilemma is that private industry simply cannot eliminate much unemployment by itself.
Socialist or not, the government has to help through payroll guarantees, direct government action (as WPA or CCC), or paying those unemployed, not to work ? welfare. One thing I am sure of is that among all of the rights we all have, there is no right to employment, just like there is no right to drive.
Guthrie “Guff” Worth is a retired resident of Lakeport.
