There was a recent news story about the construction of a house made strictly from materials made in the USA. Every single product from nails to bathroom fixtures was a product produced here. The builder compiled a list of each product and their associated costs to forward to construction companies throughout this country. His best estimate showed that new construction comprised of only American produced products would result in the creation of over 200,000 new jobs.
I couldn't help but wonder when we decided that American labor, which once led the world in innovation, was suddenly no longer a desirable work force. One need to merely go online and search for something as arbitrary as American made sweaters to find how few goods are available with the Made in the USA label.
We have become a nation where the rewards of our consumption are reaped overseas and many of our citizens are barely making it from paycheck to paycheck.
It's difficult to understand why our nation allows corporations the luxury of selling their goods in this country while denying its citizens the opportunity to produce them for a livable wage. The American public has been duped into believing that the demands of organized labor are just too extreme to keep our jobs at home, but in order to live at home, in this country, we cannot afford to work for the wages paid in China or Indonesia or wherever else the production of our goods and services have gone. Indeed, for most American families the cost of living is what may no longer be the greatest nation in the world is now a hardship rather than a privilege.
We have paid and continue to pay the incredible high cost of premiums for our homes and cars and to provide health care for our families. The insurance companies who provide this protection consistently show staggering profits while Americans are struggling to put food on the table week to week. Our out of pocket co-payment and prescription costs are rising, while our government makes an effort to keep testing and services farther from the reaches of those that support it. To add insult to injury, the same companies that we continue to make richer are farming their customer support bases away from the United States, further denying us the opportunity to profit from the billions of dollars they make year to year.
Anyone who has worked in a medical office and has had to call customer service for claims or insurance verification knows what it is like to speak to someone who is virtually impossible to understand. My billing department used to pray each time that they dialed United Health Care, hoping to be connected to an American representative rather than someone in India who could neither be heard or understood. Does United Health Care insure citizens in Bombay? Highly doubtful! Why then should jobs for an American company be done on foreign soil? What incentives are we giving these giant profit making machines to keep jobs here? Further, what penalties are we imposing for those who take jobs out of the hands of our citizens while collecting their money? It's truly pathetic and even worse when the money that they claim to save by using foreign labor never seems to translate into lower costs for their goods and services!
In order for us to solve our current financial dilemma, we had better stop pandering to multi-billion dollar companies who take jobs from American hands. Who do they think they are fooling?
I couldn't help but wonder when we decided that American labor, which once led the world in innovation, was suddenly no longer a desirable work force. One need to merely go online and search for something as arbitrary as American made sweaters to find how few goods are available with the Made in the USA label.
We have become a nation where the rewards of our consumption are reaped overseas and many of our citizens are barely making it from paycheck to paycheck.
It's difficult to understand why our nation allows corporations the luxury of selling their goods in this country while denying its citizens the opportunity to produce them for a livable wage. The American public has been duped into believing that the demands of organized labor are just too extreme to keep our jobs at home, but in order to live at home, in this country, we cannot afford to work for the wages paid in China or Indonesia or wherever else the production of our goods and services have gone. Indeed, for most American families the cost of living is what may no longer be the greatest nation in the world is now a hardship rather than a privilege.
We have paid and continue to pay the incredible high cost of premiums for our homes and cars and to provide health care for our families. The insurance companies who provide this protection consistently show staggering profits while Americans are struggling to put food on the table week to week. Our out of pocket co-payment and prescription costs are rising, while our government makes an effort to keep testing and services farther from the reaches of those that support it. To add insult to injury, the same companies that we continue to make richer are farming their customer support bases away from the United States, further denying us the opportunity to profit from the billions of dollars they make year to year.
Anyone who has worked in a medical office and has had to call customer service for claims or insurance verification knows what it is like to speak to someone who is virtually impossible to understand. My billing department used to pray each time that they dialed United Health Care, hoping to be connected to an American representative rather than someone in India who could neither be heard or understood. Does United Health Care insure citizens in Bombay? Highly doubtful! Why then should jobs for an American company be done on foreign soil? What incentives are we giving these giant profit making machines to keep jobs here? Further, what penalties are we imposing for those who take jobs out of the hands of our citizens while collecting their money? It's truly pathetic and even worse when the money that they claim to save by using foreign labor never seems to translate into lower costs for their goods and services!
In order for us to solve our current financial dilemma, we had better stop pandering to multi-billion dollar companies who take jobs from American hands. Who do they think they are fooling?
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