If you got Mitt Romney out of the spotlight and speaking candidly about Bain Capital’s (his company) leverage takeover of businesses, here is what he would say: "If a company is sick, sometimes the best thing for it is to cut jobs, lay people off." Similarly, if you asked him what would be healthy for a country that has an economy and economic boom built up on irrational speculation – whether on real estate, dot-com businesses, or Tulips (that naturally bust) – he would have to admit that during the bust of such an economic cycle, there naturally, and healthily, must be job losses and rising unemployment.
However, here’s also the irrefutable truth: We could have little to zero unemployment if our captains of industry wanted it. All they would have to do (research David Siegel and his "dream home" and high rise in Las Vegas) is to relinquish the gains they achieved during the economic boom, put that money to work back in the economy, and structure their workforce to be inclusive instead of exclusive.
People think that full employment must be based on specific types of jobs and that if those jobs aren't around, unemployment is the consequence – whether it’s oil jobs (the claim of conservatives), keystone pipeline jobs (also the claim of conservatives), whale blubber jobs, bird guano jobs, wagon train jobs, steam engine jobs, house carriage jobs, candle-making jobs, crucifix-making jobs, mastodon-hunting jobs, etc. Jobs are not, and never have been, the issue. What is an issue is whether it is the collective will of a people to have full employment.
There is a group/culture of people that has traditionally had greater employment rates, regardless of the times, than other cultures and groups. Why? Some would whine and claim that this is due to negative forces, which would be false. The reason for their high employment rate is their ingenuity, collective will, belief, attitude, and culture of education that makes the difference.
We have high unemployment because America's industry collectively wants it this way. It has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the government, except in one instance. The captains of industry simply do not want to allow access to healthcare to all Americans. This is not because it is an unachievable goal, but because they wrongly think that the economic pie cannot be so divided without diminishing their standard of living and pleasure from that same pie. However, this is only a small part of the problem. The predominating reason is simply that it is what they want. Like Mitt Romney, they believe that when a company or country is sick, layoffs and unemployment is the best medicine.
Loren M. Lambert © October 30, 2012
However, here’s also the irrefutable truth: We could have little to zero unemployment if our captains of industry wanted it. All they would have to do (research David Siegel and his "dream home" and high rise in Las Vegas) is to relinquish the gains they achieved during the economic boom, put that money to work back in the economy, and structure their workforce to be inclusive instead of exclusive.
People think that full employment must be based on specific types of jobs and that if those jobs aren't around, unemployment is the consequence – whether it’s oil jobs (the claim of conservatives), keystone pipeline jobs (also the claim of conservatives), whale blubber jobs, bird guano jobs, wagon train jobs, steam engine jobs, house carriage jobs, candle-making jobs, crucifix-making jobs, mastodon-hunting jobs, etc. Jobs are not, and never have been, the issue. What is an issue is whether it is the collective will of a people to have full employment.
There is a group/culture of people that has traditionally had greater employment rates, regardless of the times, than other cultures and groups. Why? Some would whine and claim that this is due to negative forces, which would be false. The reason for their high employment rate is their ingenuity, collective will, belief, attitude, and culture of education that makes the difference.
We have high unemployment because America's industry collectively wants it this way. It has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the government, except in one instance. The captains of industry simply do not want to allow access to healthcare to all Americans. This is not because it is an unachievable goal, but because they wrongly think that the economic pie cannot be so divided without diminishing their standard of living and pleasure from that same pie. However, this is only a small part of the problem. The predominating reason is simply that it is what they want. Like Mitt Romney, they believe that when a company or country is sick, layoffs and unemployment is the best medicine.
Loren M. Lambert © October 30, 2012
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