There is an old saying "You are either part of the problem or part of the solution" and lately I've been feeling like part of the problem.
It's so easy for people to criticize others, hindsight is 20/20. I used to post on the Yahoo Message Boards with this mental midget that called himself "Juicy" (don't ask). He was an import of Mexican descent and all he would do is run down this country, our politics, our history, and our traditions. I used to tell him that any moron can find fault, but it takes someone with more brains than God gave a gnat to offer solutions and since I like to think I fall into the latter category I'll share a few here today.
The Economy:
It's about jobs people. Jobs and livable wages. And this is not going to set well with many but our recovery starts with dealing with the illegal immigrant situation. We need to stop thinking we are powerful enough and large enough to take care of the worlds problems. We need to enforce the laws that are on the books, gather up those that chose to take the back door into this country, and send them back home.
See it's like I posted in an Editorial in the Detroit News yesterday; Our Governor Granholm says the stimulus package will create 25,000 road construction jobs but that wont benefit our economy here in Michigan. Why? Because the same 6 General Contractors get all of the road contracts, they have their people in place, and they would have worked these people this year anyway, regardless of the stimulus bill, because there is always Federal Money for road construction. So no laid off auto worker, or other worker is going to get a job because of this money because they have their workers. Plus if you look at the concrete finishers 95% are here, legally, from Mexico but they only work here in the summer and go home in the fall. And guess what they'll take with them? Yep, all that "stimulus" money they earned.
So you see if we are going to provide jobs for Americans, we first need to become a little more isolationist. There are 11 million illegals in this country, and let's assume 50% of them have jobs, ok? That's 5.5 million new jobs available to workers who live here and pay taxes here. And please don't play the " They work the jobs Americans won't work" card because when you have no job, and you're losing your house, and you can't feed your family, there is no such thing as a job an American won't do.
Canada for years had a "Canadians First" rule and they may still have it today. Before you could have a job in Canada or purchase land, you had to prove no Canadian wanted that job or land before you could have it. Good luck with that!
So first things first, we need to get back to work.
Real Estate:
This one is easy! Assuming we put our citizens back to work money will start to flow again. But that alone will not fix the real estate market and neither will any of the actions the government is now proposing. We need to allow the laws of "supply and demand" fix the market by bringing it back into balance. The only way the government is going to accomplish that is to buy up a large majority of the "foreclosed" homes available and remove them from the market. Why does anyone want to buy my house for $280k when they can buy the foreclosed version for $140k? They don't and they don't have too until that $140k house is no longer available.
Instead of wasting money on "pork" the government needs to buy up foreclosed homes and remove them from the market until the housing prices begin to stabilize. And even then they can only allow a few of those foreclosed homes back into the market in a manner that it won't send it spiraling downward again. Nobody is going to invest in something that may lose 40% of it's value in the next year regardless of how cheap mortgage money is or how easy it is to get.
If we want to kill two bird with one stone have the government buy up foreclosed homes and rent them out to people in need. That way they provide needed housing and help restore the market.
Wall Street:
Invest people! This is what I was taking about before when I said you have to own it! First things first, we are going nowhere! When this roller coaster ride is over we will still all live in the United States of America, and we will have to invest in her!
Sure we've all taken a hit. Hell my 401k lost 39% last year and if you add that to my home devaluation my grand daughter will be in college by the time I can retire. But we can sit here and whine or we can be part of the solution.
The bigger the risks, the higher the rewards, as the saying goes. Now, you can invest your money in savings accounts that pay 3.5% interest, or you go look at the market for "low risk" bargains. Did you know that "Lear Inc" is a major supplier to the auto industry? Did you know that besides the Big-3 they also supply Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Saab, Peugeot and other European auto makers? Did you know their stock was trading at $23.85 just 10 months ago? Do you know what it closed for yesterday? $.58 cents! That means you could own 100 shares of this company for $58, which is less than you spend for a dinner and a movie. And if it survives and returns to its previous level it will be worth $2,385. Not a bad profit!
Dana Corp closed yesterday at $.62 cents, Select Comfort (the sleep number bed) closed at $.26 cents a share. Ford closed under $1.66 and they haven't asked for a dime. Citigroup was below $4.00 a share the other day. Now is there risk involved, sure there is. Will all of these companies survive? No, but then you have to use a little common sense.
The government alone cannot do it all and honestly, you don't want it to. You want to control thing not have things control you and the only way to do that is get involved.
The Auto Industry:
Whether you want to admit it or not the United States needs a domestic auto industry. We not only need a domestic auto industry, we need a viable manufacturing industry including steel, electronics and textiles. Any of you white collar tree huggers that think we don't better check yourselves at the door because it was the manufacturing segment of our society that made this country, and you, what you are today.
Now can we be proactive, sure! Buy a domestic car or one that is mostly manufactured here. But this is where the government needs to step up to the plate and LEAD. We need incentives to by domestic products, we need trade agreements that are fair and enforceable, we need a level playing field for all manufacturing. If the government is going to push us into a "global" economy then they better start making sure we get rid of the old rules that were in place when we were a "domestic" economy.
Did you know the NAAS Car of the Year is a KIA? It's made in Korea and it really is a nice car. Did you also know our trade agreement with them allowed them to export 700,000 car here to the United States but limited our manufacturers to export 8,700 cars to their country? Why you ask? To protect their auto industry. If you want to quit giving handouts to the Big-3 it's a simple solution, make everyone play by the same rules.
The government also needs to provide incentives to bring manufacturing back to this country. Why do they have to do it? Because it was their laws and taxes that drove it away. It sure as hell wasn't the American worker. You look at the quality of the crap being produced in China and Japan and tell me it's as good as what we made here. Will that toaster in your kitchen be here 40 years from now? I doubt it! But when GE built them here they were passed down as family heirlooms. Go to your local flea market and take a look. The other day I called my Mortgage company, Citimortgage, (who happened to get the largest slice of the wall street bailout money) and talk to "Bob" from customer service. Funny thing is "Bob" sounded more like Raja. I wonder who "Bob" gets when he calls customer service? This is a classic example of an American job exported with our government subsidizing it. We need to makes some changes.
Politics:
It is time for a change and President Obama needs to live up to his potential, and his promises. The Republicrats and the Democans need to stop with the partisan politics and start to do the job they are paid to do; Represent the best interest of the American people.
We need to eliminate special interests from Washington, we need to assess severe punishment for "white collar" crimes. This is a nation of laws but it's time we became a nation of equal laws.
Race Relations:
Now anyone that knows me, knows I don't have a bigoted bone in my body. I walked away from a $60k a year job in 1991 rather than fire a man because of the color of his skin. And I'm only bringing this topic up because our new Attorney General, Eric Holder, who happens to be black made the statement that we are a "nation of cowards" on the matter of race.
I say; Mr. Attorney General I totally agree and the largest concentration of cowards (by your definition) is the black community. In my lifetime I have seen the black community label themselves Afro-Americans, Blacks, People of Color, African-American, Brothers and Sisters, but not once have I seen them say they are just Americans. If you want to be treated like everyone else it begins with blending in. I haven't met a whole lot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, French-Americans, Anglo-Americans, Polish-Americans or Belgium-Americans. Now that's not to say that people from these diverse heritages aren't here and aren't proud of where they came from, because we are. But the minute we stepped foot in the country we became Americans.
In my life I have yet to see the White Miss America Contest, NAAWP, White Congressional Caucus, The White Ministers Conference, nor have I seen any affirmative action programs promoting white men, even though by shear numbers we are the largest minority in society today. And let's be real if any of these names ever came up there would be hell to pay!
As I said in a post made right after President Obama was elected, be proud but be aware. No longer can you keep playing the race card when it took the majority of white voters to elect a Bi-Racial President. No longer do you have the build in excuse of oppression because it isn't pervasive enough to hold you down, if you don't want to be.
It's time for the Afro-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Asian-Americans, and any other version of a hyphenated American to start being just plain old Americans. Then the problem will be fixed!
In my mind racial differences should mean nothing in the 21st century. We are all people and the last thing we need is a politician stirring a simmer pot. And if you took this as being racist, shame on you!
Those are my suggestions...what are yours?
