What follows is something that I have given a great deal of thought to over many years. I believe these are basic, basic issues that our society simply does not want to come to grips with.
I'll start by saying that I see the issues as circular in nature and it is difficult to see how the circle can be broken.
- Americans cry out 'buy American products only'. Of course we all want to "support" American products because that employees Americans.
- We all cry out that we want "raises" in pay, that we want more money. We all keep striving to make more money. Again, all well and good.
- Increases in wages, of course, means that in order for businesses to continue to be profitable; businesses have to increase the cost of their goods and/or services.
Therefore in order for workers to continue to increase their wages, the cost of purchasing goods & services continually rises. Now let's look at the next part of the circle:
- Americans go shopping and cry out 'everything costs too much'. So.....what do they do?
- They go to WalMart. WalMart does two basic things to keep their prices low. They use their size as leverage to buy at the lowest possible cost to them and they buy a large amount of their products from China. Woooooooooooo. China has the worlds 2nd largest economy (the U.S. economy is still # 1........USA, USA, USA). I do not believe that anyone will disagree that the very people who want jobs, money and American goods to be purchased are all going to WalMart....... a lot!
So, let's review. Americans want high wages and jobs. Americans want low prices. How's that working out? This is where it is difficult to find a place to break the circle. I will tell you this, this is not an issue that will be solved by our government, tariffs or economists. This is an issue that will only be resolved by Americans backing off of there sense of entitlement. This does not mean giving up all of our fun stuff. It does mean making choices because we can't have "everything all the time".
I am not here to preach or place myself on a pedestal. Having said that, I do want to share my life style. I do not have a dishwasher. I do not have central air conditioning, In the summer, we barely use our window AC units, we use fans (we are north of Philadelphia.....it gets hot & humid). We keep lights off, except when needed. We only use the clothes dryer for about two to three months during the year, otherwise we hang our laundry outside on a clothes line to dry. I wash plastic bags & re-use them until they get a hole. I shovel snow with a shovel. We buy 95% of our clothes at the Salvation Army. We do have lap top computers, smart phones, cable TV, one television and used cars. We live in a twin with a postage stamp back yard. We have a hodge podge of old furniture, but the house is clean. I make approx $40k per year, but with OT it's about 50k (if some of my co-workers are reading this, I'm sorry, but the picture is important to the story). My life is comfortable and i do not want.
Lastly, I am not ignorant to the fact that consumerism drives the economy and what I am suggesting will cause the economy to shrink, to go into recession. There is no perfect solution.
Stay tuned. Tomorrow's subject, taxes.
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