Achievements

Over these last weeks I've been thinking alot about the unemployment rate and how the "bad economy" is the base and cause of 6-10% unemployment rates (depending on where you live it may be quite higher).

So, I decided to "blog" about what I really think and what it means to these United States.

If you read my blog regularly, then you know my mother came to the U.S. at age 16, legally, from Northern Ireland. She came with a sixth grade european education, which means she could read well, write well and do her own taxes. She worked outside the home as a housekeeper for the CEO of Wawa Dairy in Wawa, Pennsylvania just outside Phily. When she and my dad came "home" to Virginia she was able to stay home, but worked every year at Christmas at JJ Newberry 5 and Dime. My daddy had about a third grade education. He could not read really well, but well enough to get by and worked for an oil heat and burner service. Dirty job, but it paid the bills and allowed Mom to stay home with me. Both my grandparents, born in the 1800s were literate. I don't know what grade they went to, but they could both read well and write well. My fathers sister finished high school and went on to work at the State Department in Washington and retired from there. My grandfather kept the books for the farm, so I guess he could do math as well. My brother quit school before graduation. I'm not sure why, as he was 13 years older than I, but he still became a Police Officer and was plenty literate. He retired from the local Sheriff's Department. So, in all ways the generations of my family were solid middle class successful people. Never out of work, never hungry, never on the welfare rolls. I could go on and on, but you get the idea... Even in the worst recessions our family and all those in our neighborhood kept their homes, kept their jobs, or quickly got another and never dreamed of accepting welfare. Even the poorest among us worked for a living doing something and could make enough to live.

Fast forward. I graduated from high school and finished two years of Community College. I am literate and relatively intelligent. Never had a problem getting a job, though I've not worked full time outside the home since 1993. Since then I've worked some part time, but by and large have been a SAM like my own mother was. Of our children only one does not have a college education, but even he went into the army for six years and came out with a great skill and he has a good job with the Federal Government. But, we can see the clouds gathering and it's not a pretty picture.

Until recently, in my generation and my fathers generation and my grandfathers generation if you wanted to work at the same place from age 18 - 65 you could. There was little chance of lay off if you kept your nose clean, showed up on time and did your work. The three generations of which I speak were at the height of the Industrialization of the United States. But, I saw in the late 90s that more and more American Companies were outsourcing their customer service positions out of the country. In the mid-90's General Electric outsourced some of their incandescent lighting manufacturing to Hungary because it was cheaper to ship all the raw materials there, manufacture there and ship them back here for sale. The writing was on the wall then! Jobs were being outsourced for a variety of reasons, (which are a whole 'nother blog in themselves) and the government was supporting this export of jobs from AMERICAN companies.

What we are suffering today is the end result of this. Our oldest daughter worked for 12 years in an industry that is still very profitable in our current economic situation. She even worked at home, so there was no office overhead for the company. She did her work well, she met the goals, had a college education. She was the "perfect candidate" to keep her job... except she lived here. Her job was outsourced to another country even though the corporate headquarters are still here in the U.S. She's not been able to find a job in the professional sector where she was. Instead she is in the retail industry.. working nights and weekends at the local mall trying to keep her home.

A Ford dealership went under in the same place. Two women lost their long standing jobs. Both women in the late 50s. No chance of EVER finding professional, secretarial work in this economy. One is working in a drug store and one is babysitting. During a time in their lives when they should be winding down and not worrying about tomorrow, here they are without hope. The expertise of their long experience has no value in the current workplace. The few jobs are given out to the youngest, college educated women who cost less to "keep".

What about the young man or woman who doesn't go to college? Well, in the last generation he/she could go to work at the ground level and work their way up based on their experience, intelligence and the like. Or they could work the "widget" line until retirement. There was a job for anyone who was willing to work and learn the line. Manufacturing jobs were good jobs for those hard workers willing to work. WERE because those manufacturing jobs aren't here anymore. They are in China, Japan, Germany and Russia. In fact, China wants to be able to claim the #1 position by 2020. At our current rate, this will be no problem. None. It is a fact that the U.S. still holds the top position for manufacturing because of companies like Philip Morris, Kellogg's, oil production companies and the corn industry, but China is quickly taking us over and the rest are not far behind.

Somehow we must, as a nation, redirect our efforts in job development. Every country must provide jobs to all sectors of its society. Some workers will never be totally literate. Some workers will never obtain a college education. Some workers will be older than 35. With Social Security in the mess it's in, some workers will need to be near 70 before they can even think of retiring if they can retire at all! Somehow we must provide good, honest jobs of integrity for these men and women of America. We must not destroy them, by providing them with the idea of entitlement and being on the welfare rolls! We must raise the self esteem of the individual as a productive member of society. If we don't, we can be sure no other country will and we can be doubly sure that our status as a nation will quickly die if we don't do something!

Happy trails....