So, How’s that Global Economy Working Out for You?

Remember when all we had to worry about was our own floods and tornados? Our own labor strikes? When we only had to worry about ourselves and our economic disruptions were short-lived? Households only needed one breadwinner. We had 2.4 children and Mom, dressed up in pumps and pearls cheerfully did the chores while waiting for Dad to come home.

Ahh, those were the days.

Today, we’re so much more modern, so hip, so in tune with the rest of the world. We’re part of this wonderful new global economy where diverse cultures all share the American Dream of freedom and individual responsibility and everyone’s on the same page in a brave new world of economic freedom. No one ever takes a siesta or pauses for afternoon tea. We are the world! And the world is us. Do you feel like a global citizen yet? I know I do. We’re so much better off now that we’re all Worldians that we can barely contain our glee. A glorious new day has dawned.

And if you believe any of that, I’ve got some property to sell you, just as soon as the tide goes out. Or maybe a nice bridge.

Well boys and girls, it’s time for a healthy dose of something we used to call “reality.” As we’re seeing and feeling in our wallets, we’re much more susceptible to events far away from our shores. As we’ve become more interdependent on others in the Glorious New World Order, we’re seeing prices rise due to circumstances over which we have no control. We can’t avoid natural disasters like the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but there was a time not so long ago when we were somewhat insulated from the economic effects of them. Now we have American automotive plants idled as the result of the disruption in the supply of parts from Japan.

If you’ve filled up your gas tank recently, you’ve no doubt noticed the effects of the political upheaval in the Middle East. Gas prices are on the rise and threatening an already fragile recovery at the very time when we don’t need it.

Now ask yourself why we should suffer for any of that when we don’t have to.

Back when I was in the manufacturing field, it was common practice to subcontract work to an outside vendor. Most of the time, it was necessary to meet a customer’s deadline, or to make a part that was outside the scope of the work we normally did. The price was generally cheaper, but the tradeoff was an occasional reduction in quality. While this tends to work out well for local shops, it doesn’t work well on a large scale.

Ironically, while outsourcing on a large scale has resulted in cheap consumer goods, those on the receiving end find themselves unable to afford those goods, since it was their job that was eliminated in favor of cheap foreign labor and less restrictive regulations.

Sure, TV’s are cheaper, but if you don’t have a job, those prices can be low all day long and it won’t do you any good. The president of the New York Federal Reserve found this out last week in Queens when he addressed a crowd to point out how the Fed sees the economy. He pointed out the price and features of a new iPad 2. What he heard in response was, “I can’t eat an iPad” and "When was the last time, sir, that you went grocery shopping?" There’s that reality thingy again.

The solution to our economic woes is plainly apparent to the country. What we need is a renewed emphasis on American jobs and a decreasing emphasis on global trade as the cure-all. Washington must get itself out of the way of business, stop trying to engineer our society into some sort of green utopia and start promoting the natural, organic growth of the economy. Capitalism works best when it’s left alone to flourish and create wealth. The current regulatory climate is stifling the best thing to happen to mankind in its history. If we’re not careful, we’re going to wake up one day soon not with our current 17% unemployment, but 30% or more.

This seems to be the plan, if you listen to the pointy-heads that got us into this mess. They all predict that the unemployment rate will remain at or above 9%, and that we’ll all have to get used to this new normal. As long as we have this administration in power, we will. Watch this clip of Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz (D-FL) and Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) explaining how using our own national resources is “a problem, not a solution” to adding jobs to our ailing economy.


(h/t Gateway Pundit)

Did any of that make sense at all? Uh, Deb, we’ve tried things your way. What have we gotten out of it? Sky-high gas and food prices, record high unemployment, debt and poverty levels for starters. Yet this is what passes for “progressive thought” in Washington: a glaring lack of clear, concise, common sense solutions to our problems. We should begin to exploit our national resources and concentrate on American jobs. These two clearly don’t know or don’t understand what it takes to get the economy turned around. In either case, they’re unqualified to hold office and their words prove it.

What we need is a new crop of legislators and we began to install them last November. Only a swing to the political right will stop the continued erosion of our dollar and the reduction in our standard of living. Only true fiscal conservatives need apply. The Obama administration is on a planned collision course with a national disaster that need not take place. I hope that we can survive the next two years of this train wreck that’s starting to make me long for the Carter years (and I was there).

Let’s start concentrating on creating American jobs and start shrinking from this global economy and its disruptions.

It is a clear failure.

That little voice you hear is your wallet telling you the same thing.