Is it Too Late for the U.S. Economy?

The US government has gone along with shipping our system overseas -- because they know it was doomed to failure when the resources ran out.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - The American "Production-Consumption" profit generating machine has run its course. Americans have become saturated with worthless and often toxic products.

As they always do, the capitalists decided to move their efforts elsewhere. So the "Production-Consumption" machine has been moved to China and India, where a whole new world of businesses can be opened up.

The more Chinese that are working, the more consumers they have. For now, this can be done without unions, safety regulations, environmental protection legislation, etc - it's a capitalist's dream.

The oligarchs have abandoned the tired and spent-out Americans, with all the regulations that narrowed their profits. The furniture industry that provided many jobs in North Carolina has been shipped to China. The auto and appliance industries that made Michigan thrive have also been outsourced to China. Engineering and programming jobs have been shipped to India and elsewhere. Corporations like IBM have shipped their work overseas, and have closed most their plants, and the list goes on.

Americans have been abandoned and need not expect any return to the way of life they once knew. They will now have to turn their focus upon infrastructure and services.

Want to reduce unemployment? Re-establish the teacher/student ratio that once existed. Build a railroad system equal to what EU countries have had for decades. Provide free college education like EU countries and Canada have offered for decades. Get rid of the frustrating and time-consuming stupid automated answering systems and hire real people to answer the phones. Many other opportunities exist for reducing unemployment.

Americans should not feel bad that their "Production-Consumption" machine has been moved to China and India, for the earth's resources have been used and abused and the profit generating machine will soon die a miserable death.

The US government has gone along with shipping our system overseas - because they know it was doomed to failure when the resources ran out.

President George W. Bush made a move to try to gain control of the remaining oil, but failed. A Communist government is much more capable of handling the consequences, for their workers can easily be sent back to the farms they came from. They also have their Russian friends next door with huge supplies of resources, who might become customers for their products.

The end of oil and most other resources will bring about the end of life as we knew it, and there will be no return. Capitalism as we knew it will have run its course.

Ironically, this will be a blessing, for humans will be forced to return to a simpler way of life where energy is focused on family and friends rather than the accumulation of products.

Economists and financial analysts can debate all they want, but will not find any answers within the Production-Consumption model. The answer lies within the lifestyle and values we once shared.

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Wayne January 2, 2010 10:20 am (Pacific time)

Engle: Groups of people can sit and debate the ills of society all they want. In theory, they can even argue and come to agreement with one another. Except when it comes to politics and religion, such activities can be informative, educational and hopefully result in consensus among people, and even more hopefully, result in some action to change things. Given your concerns about many issues facing our country, I suggest you join me in writing to our congressmen and letting them know how you feel.

Earl Engle December 31, 2009 9:28 am (Pacific time)

Wayne should any president or political party take on the restructuring of the educational system? Isn't it better for state and local officals to deal with educating their students? These problems with education are primarily in specific locations, that's why I mentioned comparing different locations regarding funding and student test results. You are aware that the No Child Left Behind was a Ted Kennedy inspired program? Of course, how else is one going to determine how well students are doing without measuring their performances. We are losing so many kids now that it is becoming such a tragedy that no solutions will be possible. Look at the growing national drop out rate. We are watching the continuous growth of a permanent uneducated underclass that is common in most 3rd world countries. Expect dramatic increases in criminal behavior in the years to come. This is not the time to blame, it is the time to rebuild. Here in Oregon we have been sliding backwards since the 1970's, and now we have too many "chefs" messing up the "soup." There are so many Phd's out there who have no intellectual capabilities other than engaging in rhetorical gobblygook. Standards have been dropping for all degrees since the 70's and it parallels the same decline we see in our kids performances. They are easy to spot in their rhetorical gobblygook writings and their support of the status quo, which has failed. These are radicals who are bleeding us dry.

Wayne December 30, 2009 4:49 pm (Pacific time)

Engle: Sorry, I was under the impression that Bush and the Republicans were in charge for the past eight years, during which time Bush often bragged about how he was fixing our our education system.

Engle December 30, 2009 2:24 pm (Pacific time)

Wayne regarding your comments about the funding of our educational system, have you ever looked at different states (even different locations within states) and assessed the various performance scores in terms of funding and teacher-student ratio's? For example look at the funding in Washington DC (number 2 in the nation for highest funding for students, highest salaries for teachers and very low student/teacher ratio's. They are in last place when it comes to literally all test measurements. Then look at the state of Utah (there are many examples), they have practically just the opposite in everything from DC in terms of funding, but they score way above the median in their tests. The problem is not the funding, but the local leadership from the governor on down. When funding exceeds the inflation rate and the kids test results continue to slide, yeah the voter's become tired of this obvious failure and vote down tax increases, and rightly so. You should keep in mind that besides taxes on businesses, there are fees that continue to cut into profit margins. We simply have very poor leadership and then you have the unions who are more concerned about keeping jobs, not the service and competency that is required of those jobs. Here in Oregon we had excellent public schools and the kids were tops in the world in science and math, then we got the far left continuing to get power and now we have a dysfuntional system that can only ask for more money. Remove the unions and the radicals and use the educational templates from the 50/60's and we will see dramatic improvements. Don't believe the spin from the far left, just look at what their results have been. Talk is cheap, proof is in the pudding. Also watch how they always use distractions by blaming others rather than offering solutions that can be reviewed for their merit.

Wayne December 30, 2009 11:01 am (Pacific time)

Wayne responds: Education: Though no attempt to organize and control humans comes close to being perfect, the US education system was producing impressive results in terms of technical achievement, military power, and standard of living. However, it gradually became just another area of severe neglect, as corporate marketing efforts refocused our attention to the acquisition of products. Those of our congressmen who represent the corporate lobbyists preach against taxes, for this takes money away from their products--the sinful CEO salaries and bonuses. People complain about our schools and then repeatedly vote down any attempt to fund the schools. State school initiatives fail because we are convinced that paying taxes is bad. Just as with other deteriorating infrastructure, funds are somehow expected to magically appear. Then there was Bush. While preaching about how he was going to improve our education system, he cut continued to cut federal funding for our schools. The ratio of teachers to students in the US is perhaps the greatest threat to our education system. It is so bad that Oregon's governor proposed raising money for schools by hiring more highway patrols and handing out more tickets. It is similar to federal and state governments funding themselves by taxing cigarettes. There might be hope: Several years ago I read where the US government had people in Sweden studying their excellent education system. I am not aware of the results of their study, but assume it would not be popular because it would require funding. I feel that the worse problems with our education system are the open campuses and availability of drugs. Combine this with poor diets (eating at fast food and corner stores), soft drinks, cigarettes, and bullying and we have created a disaster. Moreover, one's impression might be that our young people have been abandoned by their parents and their government, whose energy and focus was redirected to the world of production and consumption. Solar energy and environment: Solar energy will no doubt reduce the consumption of oil and and coal, thus helping to clean up the environment, which will make the world a better place to live--in these terms. However, oil byproducts have many uses beside fueling automobiles, firing industrial furnaces, and producing plastics. Oil is used in the production of chemicals, solvents, fertilizers, weed killers, medications, etc. It is hard to imagine a world without oil. Wayne

Roger December 27, 2009 4:32 pm (Pacific time)

While it may be the end of the world as we know it, it will not become worse, but better, as we transition to solar energy, and our environment once again returns with clean pollution free skies, the battle of the future will remain the one against ignorance and extremist religions

Hank Ruark December 27, 2009 4:29 pm (Pacific time)

Friend Wayne" Unfortunately what's now happening is "the way of the world" --we can no more turn back economic development than we can the increasing needs for effective education. Yet competition from the now developing nations force us into new areas of creative development --surely the best answer for our economy even though "consumption" will be sure to continue. Here we have huge new dollar opportunities in greening the going economy by the creation of new energy and essential restructuring, refinement and remodeling of many of our main infrastructure facilities, with huge new opportunities in transport,both ground and air, and in multiple, massive areas of public service,social needs and changing aspects of our American lifestyle in many ways. Is it "too late" ? No, not by a long shot. You will be amazed and highly gratified with what's coming in the new century we are only beginning. BUT we MUST choose carefully and better than ever before. The era of empire-building is over, with subtle and very sophisticated demands for full global cooperation, if indeed we are to continue progress.

Patty December 27, 2009 12:08 pm (Pacific time)

This is a very thought provoking article and well written. There is much to think about it terms of global markets (after China and India there is all of Africa to be considered). With the depletion of markets and resources the capitalists will look to harness the market in clean water and arable land. One comment on the proponent of teaching basics. Teachers want to be able to actually teach. That is why we have to listen to what they have to say about class size and ability to teach. It is the worker on the ground who knows what they need in order to be able to do their job effectively and accomplish functional goals.

Engle December 27, 2009 10:07 am (Pacific time)

Sounds like the continued call for bigger and bigger government, without the needed private market system to pay for everything on the above wish list. In the area of education we need to get our younger generation back into basic learning skills rather than creating programs (like "Hip Hop appreciation courses" no kidding!) that just delays the inevitable failure for a large, and growing segment of our students, to be prepared for employment in our increasingly technical work environment. Looking at what Europe has is certainly not the model we want for America. Double-digit employment has been the norm in many european countries for decades. We are balkanizing at an ever increaing rate, not just by race, but also cultural values: norms, mores and folkways that create isolation rather than a blending towards mutual appreciation of differences. Time to use those educational templates that worked decades ago and remove the dead wood in our educational system. We expect our students to perform at certain standards, but we continue to lower the bar to accomodate the slackers and then fudge test results. Garbage in garbage out. We set firm standards for our teachers and remove those immediately and let the unions fight it out in court to prove their members are capable before they can reapply. Why would any teaching professional be worried about taking a competency exam that all other teachers also have to take?

Wayne December 27, 2009 9:41 am (Pacific time)

Daniel, Sorry about that. One would think I would know better--especially since I wrote this piece while visiting Canada. Right now I am in Aldergrove, BC with friends. Wayne

Daniel Johnson December 27, 2009 8:47 am (Pacific time)

Just one point: No free college (we call it university) education in Canada.

MikeTubbs December 27, 2009 4:21 am (Pacific time)

Wayne, You nailed it. In the end, Capitalism will have done to America, what Communism did to the Soviet Union.

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