I live on Long Island. When I was a child Long Island was a hot bed of manufacturing activity centered around the aerospace industry. In fact, Long Island was once known as the Cradle of Aviation. Every kid wanted to grow up to work for Grumman or Fairchild Republic. Now every young person I meet is thinking of becoming a nurse, and x-ray tech, physicians asst, etc...or a cop or a teacher.
Although admirable careers all, not one of them creates a tradable good or long-term wealth for the economy. One has to ask though, how long is this shell economy going to last? What happens when all the old people die off and there is no longer a need for all these medical professionals? What is going to happen to the tax base to support all those teachers and cops? One need not be a rocket scientist to recognize that an economy based on medical services and government jobs, with a shrinking tax base cannot survive very long.
We are in trouble folks, and if we do not start righting the Good Ship America now, every man, woman and child in this country is going to be in a heap of trouble. While our elites sold us on the wonders of free trade and the global economy we sat idly by and watched as one job after another was shipped overseas, reveling in the cheap wares on the store shelves and the endless supply of easy credit. Year after year, hundreds of billions of dollars have left this country for good, and now we no longer have the means to get it back because the only industries we have left in this country DO NOT create tradable goods. Every day this nation gets poorer and we are becoming helpless to do anything about it. It is time to stop blaming the politicians and do something about it, for if we don't, we will only have ourselves to blame for losing our country.
Here are a few thoughts that you can do to get the ball rolling:
1. Contact your local representatives religiously. Demand that they make better choices...I know, I know, they haven't listened yet, but you just never know.
2. Contact companies that make the products you buy and let them know that you are not happy that your Chips Ahoy are now made in Mexico!
3. Become an educated consumer. There are still plenty of things made in the USA, and these companies need our support. Look at the packages and compare. You will usually find that American-made products are not much more expensive than foreign-made products -- are sometimes cheaper -- and are usually of better quality.
4. Spread the word to your friends and family that they need to get active in supporting the American economy.
5. Shop local merchants whenever possible.
6. Complain to your supermarket that you do not appreciate that their store-brand juices have "Concentrate made in China" in barely discernible lettering on the package. Let them know that you will spread the word to friends and family that they are pushing poison on us. Force them to change.
7. No matter how good the deal is, do not purchase a product by an American company that is a major player in outsourcing.
8. Demand that the FDA start clamping down on toxic imported food. Let friends and family know that 80% of the seafood they buy is imported, often from facilities with less than stellar sanitary standards. Furthermore, stop buying your seafood from chains and supermarkets and start shopping locally if you can.
With just a little bit of effort, we can start turning back the tide. The government and big business has gotten comfortable with an American public that has become lazy, hooked on TV entertainment and electronic gadgets and thereby insulated from the selling-out of our nation.
So let's get real. We've been the ones fiddling as Rome burned. The time to act is now. The people in charge will have no choice but to change in a positive manner once we become involved in determining our collective future as opposed to outsourcing it to the elites.
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