The original purpose of this blog was to have a way of expressing to my kids what my beliefs are, what I've learned and other things that I hadn't expressed well or at all heretofore over the years. I didn't have confidence that the media and our educational institutions were teaching correct principles. Hearing the views and vacuous opinions of the young and other supposedly educated people who didn't seem to understand what our country was about, the history of civilizations, the systems that have failed and the principles & practices that have lifted humanity up, were what prompted the initial posts. I believe understanding these things will bless everyone's lives, including my family and make them so much richer in many ways. To me, in light of the current events, religion and politics are the same thing. The basic principles of our country's founding and the philosophies that should guide us as individuals are identical. I'll elaborate on these things in another post in the near future, lucky you!!.
I'm gonna get a little more personal and confessional here so please bear with me. Now that my offspring are all adults, out there following their own paths, I have a lingering regret that I don't feel confident that I have equipped them with all the 2nd-hand wisdom that I could have provided them with to face the crap-sandwich that life can be at times. This is why I'm the "Disappointed" Dad. My source of disappointment isn't in a feeling that my loved ones haven't lived up to my expectations, no, not at all, because, in spite of the disadvantages they have faced, by and large they collectively have done pretty damn good!! It's in the fact that my time of being a normal father in a normal home with a normal loving family was cut short. Being a parent is on-the-job-training, sometimes you screw-up, but there is usually time to correct the deficiencies, remedy the offenses and teach life's lessons.
I find it hard to believe, but who knows? Maybe a normal childhood life wouldn't have been the best for them, perhaps it was all meant to go that way. But with the disruption of our home, it all seemed sooooo wrong, so chaotic. They lost the daily contact and reaffirmation, a sense of peace, permanence and security that they should have had for the next several years. I sincerely apologize that that was the case.
Our parent-child relationships have evolved quite well as fellow adults and I value them as the closest of friends. I am honored that they also frequently seek my thoughts on things that are happening in their lives. Yet it was and occasionally has been disturbing to see them struggle with unfortunate events and trials in their lives that I'm convinced would have had a better outcome had they always had two parents, who held views that they respected and could rely on, readily available to guide them at the early stages of these challenges.
Some things can only be experienced firsthand and I can't protect them from most of what lies in their paths, but I believe some guiding principles that they could have relied on, some little voice they recognized as mine rattling around in their heads, giving them a hint on what to do, could have made a difference in the result and permanent consequences of some of their experiences. They have paid attention and have gotten some nuggets of wisdom from somewhere else. They've had several other people in their lives that have provided some guidance, but I think they have an innate compass within them to guide them. Perhaps their Maker was taking up the slack? I wonder if He ever felt the pangs of disappointment?
Leaving my kids with the burden of a legacy of divorce in our family is also "disappointing". I hope they value a marriage more than what they witnessed. I think they were cheated. Dad's don't like their kids being cheated.
The "Disappointed" theme has been haunting me for many years. It was named by the Attorney Ad-Litem who served as the mediator. The Mediation involved a big get-together around a big table and hashing out the terms of dissolving a marriage. Not fun. After that part of it all was finished and I was left sitting alone in the room, the lawyer came back in to give me copies of the agreement, she sat down next to me and said, "This is such an odd case. How do you feel about what is happening? I've been doing this for a long time. I can tell that you aren't mad, you're not sad or angry, maybe a little hurt, but seem like you are just the definition of ... um,.. Disappointed. Is that it"? I don't know what I answered. But that is how I've lived ever since and avoiding the chance of being disappointed by not ever investing in any expectation. It doesn't seem to have served me well, but that's what I'm left with. So now you know..........
I am profoundly proud of all of my children and am so grateful that they seem to be better equipped than most to choose suitable mates to raise their families with. Somewhere I have gotten and have internalized a definition of Love for another human being that I have had as far back as I can remember: When you Love someone, you believe that the world is a better place because they are in it. If you were ever faced with a situation where you would need to surrender your life so that the world could continue to be blessed by their remaining in it you would not hesitate to give it up. It takes a lot for me to feel that way about anyone, but I did the moment I knew that each of you were conceived.
I love R&B, funky rock music, Almond Joy, polynesian food and sushi. But I Love or Luv each of you and your kids.
Luv, Pa
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
This has been a tough year, a disappointing year...
I was reading about the run-up to the Great Depression, how things were dealt-with in prior recessions and depressions and what was done differently following the '29 episode, and thought "Geez, what was wrong with those people, don't they see what they were doing to themselves?". And as I watch WWII movies and documentaries, I'd say "Geez, what was wrong with those people, don't they see what they were doing to themselves?".
I figured "Hey, we are so much smarter than that now and mistakes are to be learned from and we'll never do THAT again". Well, I was wrong. Not just that we don't learn from our mistakes, but that many people knew we were screwing-up then and many see it now too.
There were many times that humanity could have gone terribly wrong at other times in our history and we were blessed with leaders that lead us out of trouble. Having leaders that are the right persons for the right times is such a crapshoot. It doesn't look like we've got much luck going for us with this crop of "leaders" we've put in charge. So, after we get through the meltdown that's coming, here is my idea about how we fund whatever is left.... The Simple, Fair & Flat Tax:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LJL7rBd_3o
I figured "Hey, we are so much smarter than that now and mistakes are to be learned from and we'll never do THAT again". Well, I was wrong. Not just that we don't learn from our mistakes, but that many people knew we were screwing-up then and many see it now too.
There were many times that humanity could have gone terribly wrong at other times in our history and we were blessed with leaders that lead us out of trouble. Having leaders that are the right persons for the right times is such a crapshoot. It doesn't look like we've got much luck going for us with this crop of "leaders" we've put in charge. So, after we get through the meltdown that's coming, here is my idea about how we fund whatever is left.... The Simple, Fair & Flat Tax:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LJL7rBd_3o
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Will there even be a November election?
Some of these kooks at Occupy Wall Street are saying that they plan on disrupting the 2012 elections.
Romney, Santorum, Gingrich or Paul? It may not even matter, if we go Greek and have violent protests this Summer and Fall, it is possible that the Federal Elections will be "indefinitely postponed", if not cancelled. I sure hope my intuition is wrong that this is a setup and was in the planning for a while already.
UPDATE: We had the elections with no major disruptions, in fact the huge protests that were planned for the Democrat and Republican Conventions flopped, both the weather and loss of enthusiasm for OWS quieted things down.
Romney, Santorum, Gingrich or Paul? It may not even matter, if we go Greek and have violent protests this Summer and Fall, it is possible that the Federal Elections will be "indefinitely postponed", if not cancelled. I sure hope my intuition is wrong that this is a setup and was in the planning for a while already.
UPDATE: We had the elections with no major disruptions, in fact the huge protests that were planned for the Democrat and Republican Conventions flopped, both the weather and loss of enthusiasm for OWS quieted things down.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Let's Change Our Money, Part One
Here are the denominations of currency that we need to use in the future:
The Nickel (5 cents)
The Quarter (25 cents)
A One Dollar Coin
A Three Dollar Coin
A Five Dollar Bill
A Twenty Dollar Bill
A One-Hundred-Dollar Bill
Thus signifying the discontinuance of the Penny & the Half-dollar Coins, also the One-dollar, Two-dollar, Ten-dollar and the Fifty-dollar Bills.
The cost to manufacture each penny is 1.7 cents and the value of the metal in the coin is more than a penny. Pennies are a hassle to deal with and the annual loss of productivity is estimated between $300 Million to One Billion Dollars.
Any fears that the "rounding of prices" to the nearest nickle would cause inflation have been found to be unfounded as rounding up has been accompanied by near equal incidences of rounding down.
In a time where we need to be efficient and not wasteful, we can let go of doing things the way we've always done them. And also as the way we pay for our purchases is evolving into more electronic transfers through debit-cards, credit cards and using our Smartphone to pay for things, we don't carry around as much cash.
The currency denominations I proposed are perfectly fine for most common usage and work well for making change. Most industrialized and top-tier countries have already made similar changes with a savings of billions of dollars in government expense and private sector productivity.
Part Two of "Let's Change Our Money" will deal with how we determine what the value of our money will be.
The Nickel (5 cents)
The Quarter (25 cents)
A One Dollar Coin
A Three Dollar Coin
A Five Dollar Bill
A Twenty Dollar Bill
A One-Hundred-Dollar Bill
Thus signifying the discontinuance of the Penny & the Half-dollar Coins, also the One-dollar, Two-dollar, Ten-dollar and the Fifty-dollar Bills.
The cost to manufacture each penny is 1.7 cents and the value of the metal in the coin is more than a penny. Pennies are a hassle to deal with and the annual loss of productivity is estimated between $300 Million to One Billion Dollars.
Any fears that the "rounding of prices" to the nearest nickle would cause inflation have been found to be unfounded as rounding up has been accompanied by near equal incidences of rounding down.
In a time where we need to be efficient and not wasteful, we can let go of doing things the way we've always done them. And also as the way we pay for our purchases is evolving into more electronic transfers through debit-cards, credit cards and using our Smartphone to pay for things, we don't carry around as much cash.
The currency denominations I proposed are perfectly fine for most common usage and work well for making change. Most industrialized and top-tier countries have already made similar changes with a savings of billions of dollars in government expense and private sector productivity.
Part Two of "Let's Change Our Money" will deal with how we determine what the value of our money will be.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Welcome to Libertaria 2020!
Occasionally I'm going to make new installments in a series posts that wil be my fictitious vision of an America that has reformed itself into the capitalist democratic republic that it was originally designed to be.
January 21, 2020:
Beginning today the Federal Income Tax is a flat 10% and all employers pay their employees the full gross amount of earnings, except for a while, less state taxes and employee installments to 401k's, et cetera. No Federal taxes are taken out of any kind. In time, as the States get on board and workers get used to the new system, the check given to the employee can be 100% of the gross wages earned.
What makes this possible is that the employee is regarded as a responsible adult who is capable of paying his own taxes and other obligations. Part of those obligations is to plan for their own health care needs and future plans regarding possible unemployment and eventual retirement.
This is how it works:
Let's say that the average hourly wage is $20/hour. Next month is February, which is exactly 4 weeks long, so this average worker who gets paid under the fully developed system will receive payment of $3,200 for the month. He would get a paystub that is the duplicate of the record that the employer sends to the IRS.
When the worker sits down at the kitchen table to deal with the monthly bills he will use a standard form that he will send to the IRS. On this form he will be able to make three deductions, one is a reduction of his taxable income of up to 10% of the gross for a contribution to his family HSA (Health Savings Account). That is $320 that is deposited into an approved fund that earns interest on any remaining balances. It can be used to pay premiums for a catastrophic heath care insurance plan which are very much less expensive than a regular health care insurance product. When individuals use HSA's they pay the individual medical bills themselves, they become administrators of their own funds and make sure there is no waste, fraud or unneccessary charges. He can use those funds to pay for the health care of anyone who is a blood relative and if he wants to donate some of that fund to an approved health care charity, that is allowable.
The second deduction he may make is, up to another 10% of his gross income which becomes untaxable, to his Retirement Portfolio. It should be diversified to include an IRA (Individual Retirement Account). There would be approved investments such as the familiar mutual funds and other financial devices, but also the ability to purchase Indexed Accounts that have guaranteed minimal returns with both an unemployment insurance and a life insurance component. These accounts can also be accessed for emergency situations. If a portion of the account is liquid it can be donated to an individual in the case of a financial emergency.
The third and final possible deduction is another 10% that can be donated to authorized charities. An authorized charity is one that contributes to filling the social welfare void since we are dismantling the welfare state.
The worker fills out the form that shows his gross pay, his health-care, retirement and charitable contributions, and writes out a check for 10% of what is left or $224 for his February 2020 federal taxes and mails it in.
Now the worker has taken on the responsibility of his own health care and he is in control. He along with hundreds of thousands, even millions, of other Americans are challenging their medical bills, they've taken the established insurance industry out of the loop and the catastrophic health insurance is there for the big unavoidably expensive events.
The workers retirement is also his own to plan and to manage. If his employer has a pension plan for his employees, as a way to attract and retain the best workers for his business, then that is a deferred taxation situation for the worker. Since the flat rate income tax is 10% it doesn't substantially matter if the tax is paid now or later. For the employer the expense of the pension is deductible now and helps him to be more profitable.
What also helps business is the reduction of HR expense and decreased accounting requirements. When overhead costs are decreased lower consumer prices can also be realized.
January 21, 2020:
Beginning today the Federal Income Tax is a flat 10% and all employers pay their employees the full gross amount of earnings, except for a while, less state taxes and employee installments to 401k's, et cetera. No Federal taxes are taken out of any kind. In time, as the States get on board and workers get used to the new system, the check given to the employee can be 100% of the gross wages earned.
What makes this possible is that the employee is regarded as a responsible adult who is capable of paying his own taxes and other obligations. Part of those obligations is to plan for their own health care needs and future plans regarding possible unemployment and eventual retirement.
This is how it works:
Let's say that the average hourly wage is $20/hour. Next month is February, which is exactly 4 weeks long, so this average worker who gets paid under the fully developed system will receive payment of $3,200 for the month. He would get a paystub that is the duplicate of the record that the employer sends to the IRS.
When the worker sits down at the kitchen table to deal with the monthly bills he will use a standard form that he will send to the IRS. On this form he will be able to make three deductions, one is a reduction of his taxable income of up to 10% of the gross for a contribution to his family HSA (Health Savings Account). That is $320 that is deposited into an approved fund that earns interest on any remaining balances. It can be used to pay premiums for a catastrophic heath care insurance plan which are very much less expensive than a regular health care insurance product. When individuals use HSA's they pay the individual medical bills themselves, they become administrators of their own funds and make sure there is no waste, fraud or unneccessary charges. He can use those funds to pay for the health care of anyone who is a blood relative and if he wants to donate some of that fund to an approved health care charity, that is allowable.
The second deduction he may make is, up to another 10% of his gross income which becomes untaxable, to his Retirement Portfolio. It should be diversified to include an IRA (Individual Retirement Account). There would be approved investments such as the familiar mutual funds and other financial devices, but also the ability to purchase Indexed Accounts that have guaranteed minimal returns with both an unemployment insurance and a life insurance component. These accounts can also be accessed for emergency situations. If a portion of the account is liquid it can be donated to an individual in the case of a financial emergency.
The third and final possible deduction is another 10% that can be donated to authorized charities. An authorized charity is one that contributes to filling the social welfare void since we are dismantling the welfare state.
The worker fills out the form that shows his gross pay, his health-care, retirement and charitable contributions, and writes out a check for 10% of what is left or $224 for his February 2020 federal taxes and mails it in.
Now the worker has taken on the responsibility of his own health care and he is in control. He along with hundreds of thousands, even millions, of other Americans are challenging their medical bills, they've taken the established insurance industry out of the loop and the catastrophic health insurance is there for the big unavoidably expensive events.
The workers retirement is also his own to plan and to manage. If his employer has a pension plan for his employees, as a way to attract and retain the best workers for his business, then that is a deferred taxation situation for the worker. Since the flat rate income tax is 10% it doesn't substantially matter if the tax is paid now or later. For the employer the expense of the pension is deductible now and helps him to be more profitable.
What also helps business is the reduction of HR expense and decreased accounting requirements. When overhead costs are decreased lower consumer prices can also be realized.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
What Will Stop the Tea Party Movement!
The answer to that question in one word: Intolerance.
First, let me describe what had to happen for the 2009/10 Tea Party Movement to be effective, also in one word: Tolerance.
If you believe some of the people we hear on the TV shows or write the news, you would think that those people who identify themselves as members of the Tea Party are mentally-challenged zombies who hate anyone who is different than them.
Who actually showed up at those rallies, challenged their politicians at town-hall meetings and did all that Grass-roots Activismy stuff? Mostly folks who had never been politically active before. Lots of retirees, blue-collar workers, mixed-in with professionals and regular folk. There were many different religions, creeds and sects represented. The masses were overwhelmingly white, but every race was represented. You had Independents, Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians all there and you couldn't tell which were which, unless you asked them.
What allowed this diverse amalgam of Americans to come together was the shock of seeing Big Government expand out of control in a few big leaps, instead of the gradual metastasis (that they were irritated by but became accustomed to) over many decades.
Organized Right-wingers couldn't have done this. No church, No political party, The Christian Coalition or the Moral Majority would have ever created the groundswell.
The reason why is: the Tea Party was not a Social Conservative movement. It was all about our country's fiscal irresponsibility and how we've strayed from the Constitutional restrains on government and how our economy sucks now, when it doesn't have to!
You didn't see many signs or hear much about Abortion, Gay Marriage, the War on Drugs, Don't Ask Don't Tell or any of the Social Issues. Those issues are what keeps constitution-loving people separated. If somebody wanted to design some tool to destroy our country they couldn't do better than the politicization of social issues. It's perfect for inflaming passions. It's radioactive to discuss in mixed company. Those who are personally touched by the issues come away with entirely different views and those views frequently turn 180 degrees in the same person as they continue to deal with them. Diabolically Genius!
The wisdom of those who engaged in organizing the many regional Tea Party groups, to leave the social issues out of it, is admirable and enlightened.
My fear is that the Social Conservatives are going to fracture the movement. They are easy to bait, it's like calling Marty McFly a "chicken", they can't help themselves. If the Progressives want to get their opponents to turn on each other they just play the Social Issue Card and the moralists jump to action, forgetting the Big Picture.
My view on all social issues is this: If your parenting skills, your family culture, your church, synagogue, mosque, whatever or wherever it is that teaches values to your children is such a failure and so dysfunctional that you feel that government needs to determine what is moral and right or wrong personal behavior,
I suggest you should straighten yourself out before you go looking to the heavy-hand of Big Brother to step in.
If everybody would just mind their own damn business and quit trying to control others, most of these social issues would quit being issues at all. The fallout and backlash to government imposed social moralizing is the source of most of our country's problems: Hundreds of thousands of drug-related crimes would never happen in the first place, abortions would become rare, you'd be able to enjoy a night of television without the writers shoving the gay agenda, the drugs-are-funny agenda, the pro-life agenda, the pro-choice agenda or whatever is the "hip & cool" subject of the season into every plot-line on every show.
You may notice that Steve and Gary have a different living arrangement than others on the street, but you know that they are not threatening you and your family, so you don't let it distract you from enjoying your own life. Ol' Joe can't keep a job due to his alcohol addiction, besides a private intervention, he's left unmolested, he's not breaking any laws, unless he's behind the wheel. But that seemingly functional dude around the corner got caught growing pot in his basement, do we really need to waste $100,000's on showing him the folly of his ways. No, leave him the hell alone.
Live & Let Live is such an easy concept, but the compulsion to control the personal choices of others is so strong that we will let it destroy our republic and hand it over to those that want even more control.
First, let me describe what had to happen for the 2009/10 Tea Party Movement to be effective, also in one word: Tolerance.
If you believe some of the people we hear on the TV shows or write the news, you would think that those people who identify themselves as members of the Tea Party are mentally-challenged zombies who hate anyone who is different than them.
Who actually showed up at those rallies, challenged their politicians at town-hall meetings and did all that Grass-roots Activismy stuff? Mostly folks who had never been politically active before. Lots of retirees, blue-collar workers, mixed-in with professionals and regular folk. There were many different religions, creeds and sects represented. The masses were overwhelmingly white, but every race was represented. You had Independents, Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians all there and you couldn't tell which were which, unless you asked them.
What allowed this diverse amalgam of Americans to come together was the shock of seeing Big Government expand out of control in a few big leaps, instead of the gradual metastasis (that they were irritated by but became accustomed to) over many decades.
Organized Right-wingers couldn't have done this. No church, No political party, The Christian Coalition or the Moral Majority would have ever created the groundswell.
The reason why is: the Tea Party was not a Social Conservative movement. It was all about our country's fiscal irresponsibility and how we've strayed from the Constitutional restrains on government and how our economy sucks now, when it doesn't have to!
You didn't see many signs or hear much about Abortion, Gay Marriage, the War on Drugs, Don't Ask Don't Tell or any of the Social Issues. Those issues are what keeps constitution-loving people separated. If somebody wanted to design some tool to destroy our country they couldn't do better than the politicization of social issues. It's perfect for inflaming passions. It's radioactive to discuss in mixed company. Those who are personally touched by the issues come away with entirely different views and those views frequently turn 180 degrees in the same person as they continue to deal with them. Diabolically Genius!
The wisdom of those who engaged in organizing the many regional Tea Party groups, to leave the social issues out of it, is admirable and enlightened.
My fear is that the Social Conservatives are going to fracture the movement. They are easy to bait, it's like calling Marty McFly a "chicken", they can't help themselves. If the Progressives want to get their opponents to turn on each other they just play the Social Issue Card and the moralists jump to action, forgetting the Big Picture.
My view on all social issues is this: If your parenting skills, your family culture, your church, synagogue, mosque, whatever or wherever it is that teaches values to your children is such a failure and so dysfunctional that you feel that government needs to determine what is moral and right or wrong personal behavior,
I suggest you should straighten yourself out before you go looking to the heavy-hand of Big Brother to step in.
If everybody would just mind their own damn business and quit trying to control others, most of these social issues would quit being issues at all. The fallout and backlash to government imposed social moralizing is the source of most of our country's problems: Hundreds of thousands of drug-related crimes would never happen in the first place, abortions would become rare, you'd be able to enjoy a night of television without the writers shoving the gay agenda, the drugs-are-funny agenda, the pro-life agenda, the pro-choice agenda or whatever is the "hip & cool" subject of the season into every plot-line on every show.
You may notice that Steve and Gary have a different living arrangement than others on the street, but you know that they are not threatening you and your family, so you don't let it distract you from enjoying your own life. Ol' Joe can't keep a job due to his alcohol addiction, besides a private intervention, he's left unmolested, he's not breaking any laws, unless he's behind the wheel. But that seemingly functional dude around the corner got caught growing pot in his basement, do we really need to waste $100,000's on showing him the folly of his ways. No, leave him the hell alone.
Live & Let Live is such an easy concept, but the compulsion to control the personal choices of others is so strong that we will let it destroy our republic and hand it over to those that want even more control.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
What If ...? I'm just askin'!
First let me set up the background for why I'm eventually going to ask the big "What If?" question:
In this era of Globalization it seems that everyone assumes that for any country to be prosperous they must be involved in international trade. Let's call that assumption #1.
The second assumption (let's call this part, #2a) is that there is a cap on the amount of the total wealth of all nations combined. Assumption #2b is that there must be a balance of trade between each trading partner, otherwise one party would deplete the wealth of others.
So, here's the the question:
What if, for some reason, tomorrow, there was no other country but us? As I ask this question, I'm using a laptop computer built of components manufactured in Asia. And eating a banana from a Central American country. I had pineapple on my pizza last night which I'm sure didn't come from Hawai'i (Go tour the Dole Plantation on O'ahu, then you'll see why I'm doubting).
We won WWII, because we could support our campaign abroad and, with shared sacrifice, maintain our families at home, while our enemies could not. The Soviet Union crumbled because their Cold War military expenses decimated their limited economy. Since we've become a country that is a net importer and have sent our manufacturing jobs elsewhere, I doubt we could repeat those successes again.
So, what if we played "pretend", a type of War Gaming. The scenario is: We are alone. Do we have the ability to make our own laptop computer, from elemental minerals, through engineering and manufacturing to provide the product to sell to Americans at a price that is affordable?
Can we grow our own bananas in our southern states, or Hawai'i, American Samoa, Guam, US Virgin Islands or any of our territories?
We send our scrap iron to China to be made into new products to be sent back over here, could we mine the minerals and manufacture steel from scratch again if we wanted to?
I'm sure the answer would be, that if we had to, we could supply everything we need to support our American Lifestyle. We don't now because everything would be too expensive in today's global economy. It's impossible to compete with imports where their expense to hire people to do the work is a fraction of our domestic labor costs.
If there were no global-economy would we just not resume making things because it would cost too much? (Hey, I want to eat bananas and pineapple, and this laptop isn't going to last forever.) Or would we look at why it costs too much and adjust whatever is out-of-wack?
Do we have to be exporting more widgets than we have domestic demand for to be a functioning economy or can our wealth just circulate amongst ourselves?
Does a capitalist economy have to constantly "grow" to function? And, if so, does that mean that some countries have to decline so that others can prosper?
I'm not advocating Protectionist measures, simply because I'm told the Smoot-Hawley Act helped cause the 1930's Depression and because everybody important says that protectionism is a bad thing. But shouldn't we take a look at what we're doing and see if there is a way to make sure that we can take care of ourselves, no matter what?
Are our assumptions valid?
Couldn't we pay the average American wage, (which is $20/hr.) to Americans to make our computers, flat-screen TV's, iPods, iPads, running shoes, jackets and just about everything else?
I'm just askin'.
In this era of Globalization it seems that everyone assumes that for any country to be prosperous they must be involved in international trade. Let's call that assumption #1.
The second assumption (let's call this part, #2a) is that there is a cap on the amount of the total wealth of all nations combined. Assumption #2b is that there must be a balance of trade between each trading partner, otherwise one party would deplete the wealth of others.
So, here's the the question:
What if, for some reason, tomorrow, there was no other country but us? As I ask this question, I'm using a laptop computer built of components manufactured in Asia. And eating a banana from a Central American country. I had pineapple on my pizza last night which I'm sure didn't come from Hawai'i (Go tour the Dole Plantation on O'ahu, then you'll see why I'm doubting).
We won WWII, because we could support our campaign abroad and, with shared sacrifice, maintain our families at home, while our enemies could not. The Soviet Union crumbled because their Cold War military expenses decimated their limited economy. Since we've become a country that is a net importer and have sent our manufacturing jobs elsewhere, I doubt we could repeat those successes again.
So, what if we played "pretend", a type of War Gaming. The scenario is: We are alone. Do we have the ability to make our own laptop computer, from elemental minerals, through engineering and manufacturing to provide the product to sell to Americans at a price that is affordable?
Can we grow our own bananas in our southern states, or Hawai'i, American Samoa, Guam, US Virgin Islands or any of our territories?
We send our scrap iron to China to be made into new products to be sent back over here, could we mine the minerals and manufacture steel from scratch again if we wanted to?
I'm sure the answer would be, that if we had to, we could supply everything we need to support our American Lifestyle. We don't now because everything would be too expensive in today's global economy. It's impossible to compete with imports where their expense to hire people to do the work is a fraction of our domestic labor costs.
If there were no global-economy would we just not resume making things because it would cost too much? (Hey, I want to eat bananas and pineapple, and this laptop isn't going to last forever.) Or would we look at why it costs too much and adjust whatever is out-of-wack?
Do we have to be exporting more widgets than we have domestic demand for to be a functioning economy or can our wealth just circulate amongst ourselves?
Does a capitalist economy have to constantly "grow" to function? And, if so, does that mean that some countries have to decline so that others can prosper?
I'm not advocating Protectionist measures, simply because I'm told the Smoot-Hawley Act helped cause the 1930's Depression and because everybody important says that protectionism is a bad thing. But shouldn't we take a look at what we're doing and see if there is a way to make sure that we can take care of ourselves, no matter what?
Are our assumptions valid?
Couldn't we pay the average American wage, (which is $20/hr.) to Americans to make our computers, flat-screen TV's, iPods, iPads, running shoes, jackets and just about everything else?
I'm just askin'.
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