Re(suscitate)cession.
Jumping blindly into the topic, with little (Ahem, no) research behind me, I find that there's only one real way to end the recession we're currently slumming through as Americans. Keep in mind I've not looked into this at all and my only references are the song currently on the radio (A Cowboy Mouth song about some chick's stomach) and the Disaronno & Coke I'm sipping, so I may have my facts wrong (in which case I'll "improvise" by "pulling numbers out of my ass"). That aside, every where I look and everyone I talk to either has a shitty, low-paying job, or a non-existent, even lower-paying job and a hefty stack of bills to pay (stupid landlords and their rules, right?). Of course there's always the whole "Mexicans are stealing our jobs argument," but up until I see the teenager that lives next door to me selling oranges on the freeway or heading to a chicken plant for a 12 hour night shift, I find that point fucking moot. Everyone needs a job, everyone's asking for a job, but the companies are all on the same "We Don't Have Any Jobs" page. That said...
The key to my argument is a flash term that's not been thrown around much lately, but was pretty popular a few years ago. That term being "outsourcing." After a quick trip to Google (How's that for research?), it seems as though 76% of major American companies outsource some of their labor into foreign markets. That seems like a lot. That's like if you have four Samoas (the cookies, not the islands) but you keep 3 of them in India. I'm not very business-oriented, but that's pretty stupid of you. Anyways, two years ago I'd of said that we should offer these companies tax incentives to bring the jobs back, but here in the now where we're all scrambling for our shattered futures and watching banks bleed & die, I'd say we need a new tactic and start offering penalties if they don't. I have no idea as to what the penalties should be, that's more Kiefer Sutherland's thing. I certainly realize this will cause other nations to suffer, but the way I see it you stop your house from burning to the ground before you save your neighbor's cat.
I haven't a clue how many jobs this would "create," but it seems feasible that it'd feed at least a few mouths and buy a couple Ipods.
Am I wrong?
posted by Eric at Friday, March 06, 2009
3 Comments:
Fag.
Ahem, uber-fag.
Well, what you're talking about it protectionism. Which, always ends badly in a global market.
There isn't one "cure all" to the American economy. But, one thing that ISN'T going to work is pumping more money into it. You need only to look at Nigeria to see our future along that path.
What really needs to happen is deflation in the housing market. Cheap loans caused runaway housing prices, and cheaper loans aren't going to correct that.
Also, banks need to fail. Many American's wealth is built on the movement and manipulation of money that doesn't produce a tangible product or service. Those that don't do that safely need to go away.
Last, it has been said that one of the biggest problems with America today is a failure of basic scientific literacy. When only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun, how are you supposed to rely on them to understand the dangers of a complex variable rate loan. We need bring up the level of education, and that's best done without Federal Government help.
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