Great article about boys and men

[Lynn]

... in response to DanM, the Matrix must have you......., posted by Lynn on May 26, 2003

.

[stefang]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: weak dollar has its charms, posted by DanM on May 20, 2003

The problem in America right now is the greed of top mgmt. Look at executive wages they are almost 400 times the average wage of the workers. They close plants in the US send the manufacturing overseas and bring back the product at the same price even though they make big savings in labor, they actually shift the savings to their pockets. This was one of Adam Smith's worries of Capitalism. Even Smith believed in fair wages since you need to have consumers who can afford the products you make.
Now their are world economists saying the same thing and actually calling for the third world countries to unionize to raise their standard of living so they can become consumers instead of slaves for multinationals.

Truthfully I believe we will see a global crash coming in the near future. We could avoid this by having a government retraining program and national healthcare. The retraining could be paid by a small excise tax on incoming goods. Free trade should never totally exist you should collect some taxes, so if jobs leave then the incoming tax will provide the money for retraining. I believe in  national healthcare. There are many people who would like to start businesses right now but can't since they can't afford to lose a medical plan if they have a family. With national healthcare I could quit work and try to develop a business knowing that my family is at least covered in an emergency. We can afford national healthcare get rid of VA, medicare, medicaid, etc.. I don't believe we should cover everything. No plastic surgery unless a burn victim. If your 80 years old and you need a liver and heart the national plan should not pay if you want extra coverage then you would have to get it yourself. A lot of businesses would like to see this and they may not move jobs overseas since it would cost less with a national plan. Most major corporations would see a decline in the amount they pay. Remember we already have 40% of Americans with no healthcare.  That means the other 60% are picking up the difference let alone all the illegal immigrants getting free care.

[DanM]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: weak dollar has its char..., posted by stefang on May 20, 2003

If the definition of corporate greed is a desire to generate as much profit as possible and maximize return on investment, then you are correct. Corporations are greedy. Let be honest, however, about who is greedy here. Its not just the Jack Welch's of the world who are greedy. Its every stockholder and every mutual fund owner who is just as greedy. Anyone who gets upset when their 401K shrinks instead of grow is just as guilty as the big, bad corporate CEOs. The "greedy" wall street investor is the one who creates and environment for corporate officers to do everything they do. In short, you, me and every other investor are the source of the behavior you dislike so much.

Business is about profit. Yes its wonderful to talk about fair wages and to characterize unskilled labor as some sort of Gary Cooper type quiet hero, but that does not mean its economically viable in the 21st century to pay someone even low scale US wages for assembly and more simple manufacturing jobs.

These corporations can make it somewhere else with cheaper labor and still save a very big bundle when the tack on shipping costs. The company makes more money. The stock price goes up. Shareholders are happy and the corporate officers are then rewarded by grateful shareholders.

It makes a lot more sense to be pragmatic and talk about how we can actually help people in need than to talk about pie in the sky changes that are never going to happen anyway. Like lowering the value of the dollar or forcing companies to keep jobs in this country. Yes retraining for more viable jobs is a great starting point, but we also have to stop the bleeding. Our society produces way to many unfocused and ignorant people for its own good. If Playstation was a viable job skill, then we would have absolutely no worries. Unfortunately the day when playstation will put us over the top has not come yet. Bottom line is that we need to educate our young people better and channel them into more productive job fields. It needs to be a strategic deeicison made at the federal level or it just won't work.

As for the national healthcare idea, I agree with you to a point. I would love to see everyone get good, reliable healthcare. No one with a heart could say anything else. Unfortunately, someone would have to pay for the tremendous outlay of cash that would be needed. Who do you think will pay it? Most likely it will be a government mandated burden imposed on employers. Yes you heard it right. Universal health coverage will most likely be paid for by business via a government mandate. Unfortunately, this will only speed up the flight of manufacturing and assembly job to other countries because it will increase the employee cost here.

I don't really see a global meltdown of the economy, but who knows. Could you tell us a little more about the reasons for your statement regarding a global crash?