Whatever you want to call it. As some of you know, I’m at a crossroads of my professional livelihood. In a few days I find out if I have a job or not. My beautiful wife tells me to blog my feelings about it, but in a lighthearted way. Sorry babe. It’s difficult to put a humorous spin on this. (And I am so sorry about being crabby lately). When old friends and even immediate family members have already been affected by this economy, there really is no way to put a positive spin on this dilemma. In my case, I watch a multi-billion dollar company toss their hard-working, faithful employees aside while making a quick buck on some Hindi in India or in the Phillipines doing the job for $10 an hour. It’s not racist, it’s the truth. I don’t mind losing my job to someone who is a better worker than me. I DO mind when the only reason he/she takes my job is because they make less money than me and don’t know shit. It’s a bitch, but it’s the hard truth in big companies these days. If they spin it in another way, they are full of crap. They just want to fatten their wallets.
So, anyway, enough of my rant. What do we do? As a country? In my opinion, this “stimulus” money is really nothing to you and me. Will it really trickle down and help the average Joe? I doubt it. It’ll just be absorbed by upper management to maintain their status quo (bonuses, paid retreats, limo service, private planes, etc.). I ain’t no econ expert, nor tend to pretend to be (although I will try to spend a night at a Holiday Inn Express to see if it helps). But I believe an entire revamp of economic philosophy and procedures needs to be slapped into Obama’s and the Congress’ face. This country is in dire straits. Our technical, medical, manufacturing skills/fields are being “plundered” by countries such as India and China. When Wal-Mart (remember when they ran adds that they were proud to sell US made products?) decides to sell Bratz dolls made for $10 in China versus selling the same dolls made in the US for $35, that tells you something. Of course they are going to sell the Chinese-made product, the profit on the mark-up is a no-brainer. Now transfer that example to the Information Technology profession, Medical profession, Manufacturing profession, etc…….Now you know why we are in this sinking boat. I know that is one of many problems, but it’s the example that affects me the most. Something has to happen besides this “stimulus package” (sounds like an adult toy if you ask me), and it needs to happen soon or this country will implode even further. Since the 80’s, US companies traded it’s physical resources for “fake” resources (mortgage based securities, internet driven sales, junk bonds, offshoring etc.) in order to inflate their bottom line and Wall Street. No one thought it would burst this soon. But it has. This great country will just be a retail and service industry.
So what to do? I don’t know, but I have dozens of ideas running in my head. Do they make sense? Will they even be heard by Congress? Or even the President? Will it even make a difference? By the time someone tries to make a difference, it’ll probably be too late anyway.
