An out cry for change and only this govt can make a difference. bec we have a smart and sensible president. We need a smart & intelligible leader to change this course, who but you Mr.President Obama?
Social security: I often wondered in the two decades I have worked & contributed to this plan called "Social Security", If we call our selves capitalist why are we in a govt prog to save for our future. I can understand a 401k, pension, provident fund etc. but why Social Security, sounds so Russian. The govt is in no better position than any other investor who has lost money in the stock market, bonds etc. Like any other citizen who is in deep waters with their investments, so is the govt today. The trouble has been brewing for quite some years. Perhaps Social Security money has been used for war... Well the glitter of the up market is done with, the invested money ....gone. The Social Security system was truly created for one to invest and to realize its benefits in ones retirement. As time went by Social Security money was being paid by one and was being realized by senior retires, bec their money was spent by the govt. Today my question is why should we invest Social Security money knowing for sure we are not going to see any in another 10yrs. not 2037, I feel this money will be depleted by 2016, at the rate at which we are spending. It wasn't in Economic Times but Vanity Fair had published awareness figures like $14 billion per month spent on Iraq war & $5 Trillion was our deficit in the year 2007. That was an alarm we should have woken up to.Today our deficit is growing $9.6 trillion and ticking.
The govt is making small changes with hope the economy will turn around. It may well turn around, but not too long and too strong. We have to stop the unemployment rate from increasing and work towards creating long term permanent employment. This is only the result of what actions we took for an easy way out to make money, by shipping out our manufacturing to China & other countries, 20 yrs back. Then slowly many sectors were being totally outsourced: Petroleum, steel, technical services, our admin call centers, research, development, technology, production of agriculture,storage of vital information,even our pay roll, automobile we drive, furniture we sit on, clothes we wear, to the souvenirs of this country we treasure and the food we eat. 20 years later,today the result a whole generation is hurt, financially and educationally, A rich country, today much depleted of everything only because of our unwise decisions & reckless spending.20 yrs back no one realized the impact all that would have on a generation of American kids & us today.
The recession we are facing is only the preliminary impact we are experiencing today. How did one think we can have employment & education here and it will survive, if we are paying overseas for all our goods and services. We were for the past decade, surviving on other countries excess dollar invested in this country & merely trading foreign goods, strengthening others economy. The inevitable happened, no circulation of healthy dollar with in the country which led for the longest time to the weakest dollar and the greed artificially elevated inflation. The result economic and fiscal implosion. I am reminded & forced to compare of the first Krakatau's Prelude the largest eruptions in historic times. A mere warning, the real stupendous paroxysmal eruption, a series of cataclysmic explosions happened few months later, it collapsed the island beneath the sea.Just the same the biggest economic explosion is yet to come if we do not change our course or ways, if not it will spell devastation.
Suggestions :
1)Social Security: Effective 2010 Jan 1st, discontinue the prog of Social Security, if you have the interest of the future American generation at heart.a)People who have paid into the prog so far see if it can be paid in some small way, with the premium put away, a plan similar to pension.b)The govt should not touch the money for war or any other govt purpose.c)The prog should be discontinued if the govt can not find a way to do justice to serve the people. Why have a prog which is going to be a failure.
2) Cut budgets on war: If the federal is spending 60cents to a $1, we need to wake up. This country is spending beyond its limits. Osama Bin Laden is one man, has he drained the treasury of this huge and the most powerful country on earth. Is he successful or are we not doing the right thing? The republicans sold Ice cubes to the Eskimos, made Americans believe there was weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for 2 terms. At what cost did we terminate Saddam? I thought the target was Osama. Are the Democrats unable to sell a Ulu to the Eskimos?History does repeat itself, In 1960, did France not demand for payment of its debt in gold rather than its dollar.( when America had unwisely printed money for the Vietnam war & to fund its social prog's) 40yrs later we have not learned our lesson a wrong war in Iraq and a drained economy with weak dollar. Lets not drag it to Afghanistan. Send a special force to finish him(Osama). No need for a war , we do not have the resources, that's a fact.
3)Employment: We have to bring our jobs back to this country. Until then there is no moksha for USA. The CARS for clunkers is a great prog. but a very short term plan. Let us have effective 5years & 10 years plans.a) Bring back manufacturing to this country (composition by sector-Industries GDP is 19.6% 2008est), give incentives for manufactures in this country.We are aware dept. of commerce is putting tariff on smaller industries on various products, not sufficient lets focus on the largest Industry a $500Billion Automobile Industry.Lets reestablish & revive the American automobile brand & production Industry.b)Foreign car companies can export parts and raw materials to USA- but not fully completed cars. Why should we have a Japanese made cars "Toyota" leading in car sales in this country, whose economy are we pampering? why are we proud of it? It's time we begin assembly lines not only for American made cars but also foreign brand cars. Cost of foreign cars will also rise due to domestic productions, The money is in circulation within the country, creation of jobs which will reduce the unemployment growth and this will increase the purchase of power of individuals. c)America has to wake up to support local industries and manufacturing units so any automobile imported in finished product form, the tax imposed is heavy and costly-make it 380% now people will have to buy local cars & the money will be in circulation with in the country.
4)Vital Jobs: Bring back research & development & call centers back, that's our only salvation. Our countries unemployment rate is 9.7% and the fact is 17.8% are below poverty level (54.2million people)(Source:US bureau of labor statistics), Creation of jobs, a way to stabilize & retain a well balanced & sound economy. It will take time to grow but the next generation will be thankful for the change of our actions.
5)Technology:
a)Minimum wage is not an issue here esp in IT industry, because an average employee in an information technology industry makes $50k to $60k if employed in this country, be it an American resident or an individual from another country with work permit and when outsourced from other countries its about $20k to $30k.
b)The next question arises, what %age of computer lit people are available in this country. Well my question is what %age of computer lit are unemployed in this country. Well We got to give first preference to Citizens & Permanent Residents, this will certainly reduce in the incoming employees on work permit.
c)Tax, out sourcing of IT Industry after all IT is a great %age of the service industry which is 79.2% (2008est GDP). The treasury department could find a huge gold mine considering IT industry represents a higher %age of the service industry segment.
6)Money: Track American money invested in other tax heaven countries & bust them, Good job on the UBS Zurich based, Swiss bank. Well that was possible because they made the mistake of opening their banks on the US soil(UBS Bank USA) . Way to go Mr.President. I think its time to put sanctions on tax haven countries, who are helping people launder money & avoid taxes, countries such as Switzerland.
7)Education:Shutting schools & reducing budget on education, Increasing school tuition is not the way to go. we are just making our next mistake which is going to reflect 20yrs from now. In October 2000, some 3.8 million young adults were not enrolled in a high school program and had not completed high school. These youths accounted for 10.9 percent of the 34.6 million, 16- through 24-year-olds in the United States in 2000. This is the status drop out rates over the last decade, between 347,000 and 544,000 10th- through 12th-grade students left school each year without successfully completing a high school program. In the year 2008 it was 1.2 million.
If the United States‘s likely dropouts from the Class of 2006 had graduated, the nation could have saved more than $17 billion in Medicaid and expenditures for uninsured health care over the course of those young people‘s lifetimes.
Increasing the graduation rate and college matriculation of male students in the United States by just 5 percent could lead to combined savings and revenue of almost $8 billion each year by reducing crime-related costs.(Source:National Center for Education Statistics (NCES))
The country has not seen a straight forward, honest & sincere President as you, since Abraham Lincoln. Mr.Clinton was a true gift to this country, We need more than one good President.Time for some real action, Change is powerful, more so if its for the better.The real solid growth in any economy is manufacturing, it is the life line of any country. Let us not worry about high cost of labor in this country, when you make the other alternative of import difficult by raising taxes then automatically our cost is of no issue. It is time to be self sufficient and reliable on our selves. I would love to see good ole "Made in USA"!
Call Centers - India
During the Presidential campaign we heard numerous politicians expounding on their concepts on ways to retrain our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and fellow Americans workers who saw their jobs outsourced overseas.
Finally we have one brave Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania with a workable plan to introduce a new law that aims to pay community colleges nationwide $1,000 per student to retrain laid-off workers, which Casey says would come from existing funds already allocated to job retraining in the department’s budget.
In an article authored by Anne Fisher of TIME, entitled: “Tuition Help for the Unemployed Gains Traction” the following excerpts regarding Senator Casey’s pending bill:
His inspiration for the bill: Pennsylvania’s community colleges, 10 of which have enrolled 1,062 unemployed workers in free training programs this semester, at a total cost to the schools of $741,788. “They shouldn’t have to foot the bill alone,” Casey says. “My bill will encourage other community colleges across the U.S. to do the same thing.” Senate Democrats are working to build bipartisan support for the bill and expect to move it forward in the coming months. (See TIME’s special report on paying for college.)A few states already have a head start. California, whose 11.2% March unemployment rate is the state’s highest since 1941, is rushing to funnel $415 million in federal stimulus money to 49 job-retraining centers. Most of the training will be designed to qualify people for jobs in infrastructure construction, health care and green industries like waste recycling and wind-farm technology. In Texas, legislators will vote next month on a final version of a 2010-11 budget, already passed by the state senate, that boosts spending on higher education by $1.5 billion. That figure includes $500 million in federal stimulus funding for workforce retraining and a $134 million state-funded increase in financial aid for students.Michigan, whose 12.6% jobless rate is the highest in the U.S., with still more auto-plant closings coming soon, launched its “No Worker Left Behind” program in August 2007. So far the state has footed the bill — up to $10,000 per displaced worker — for 61,434 unemployed Michiganders to learn the math, technology and science skills they need to embark on new careers at companies like Hemlock Semiconductor, Dow Chemical and Dow Corning, which are investing and hiring there. Also in demand: the program’s newly trained nursing assistants, physical therapists and health-care technicians.
His inspiration for the bill: Pennsylvania’s community colleges, 10 of which have enrolled 1,062 unemployed workers in free training programs this semester, at a total cost to the schools of $741,788. “They shouldn’t have to foot the bill alone,” Casey says. “My bill will encourage other community colleges across the U.S. to do the same thing.” Senate Democrats are working to build bipartisan support for the bill and expect to move it forward in the coming months. (See TIME’s special report on paying for college.)
A few states already have a head start. California, whose 11.2% March unemployment rate is the state’s highest since 1941, is rushing to funnel $415 million in federal stimulus money to 49 job-retraining centers. Most of the training will be designed to qualify people for jobs in infrastructure construction, health care and green industries like waste recycling and wind-farm technology. In Texas, legislators will vote next month on a final version of a 2010-11 budget, already passed by the state senate, that boosts spending on higher education by $1.5 billion. That figure includes $500 million in federal stimulus funding for workforce retraining and a $134 million state-funded increase in financial aid for students.
Michigan, whose 12.6% jobless rate is the highest in the U.S., with still more auto-plant closings coming soon, launched its “No Worker Left Behind” program in August 2007. So far the state has footed the bill — up to $10,000 per displaced worker — for 61,434 unemployed Michiganders to learn the math, technology and science skills they need to embark on new careers at companies like Hemlock Semiconductor, Dow Chemical and Dow Corning, which are investing and hiring there. Also in demand: the program’s newly trained nursing assistants, physical therapists and health-care technicians.
Hopefully Senator Casey’s proposed legislation will quickly be approved, in congress, since it won’t be long before our long awaited veterans will finally be returning home and will be in direr need of employment.
The following video concerning outsourcing is a revolutionary twist on outsourcing. American workers have themselves gotten into the act of sending their jobs overseas. For example; there are tasks, such as proof reading that could be accomplished overseas as well as it could be done in the office back in the states, thus allowing more time, useful energy and increased productivity to be devoted to other, more important tasks. Give the video a watch it’s interesting.
More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas
Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:
My husband is IMing me from his office at his tech job in NYC for a hedgefund. They just put a box outside his cube. I have a 4 year old daughter and I'm just hoping we'll be able to hold onto this house. I hope we can find a rental that will take two cats and a dog.
All the tech jobs are getting outsourced at an alarming rate. You NEED to put a plug in all of these US jobs going to other countries. They are so blatant about it.
Look at the ad someone on the tech boards found: A job ad that said "only whites need apply" would clearly be discriminatory. So why is this ad - posted on linkedin - legal?
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People who are willing to relocate to India once the task/assignment isover as per the duration(1- 2yrs). I m looking out for people in the following skills:
1. Siebel Lead/ PM Exp 6- 10 Yrs Loc: Santa Clara CA Vast hands on experience in Siebel and eConfigurator Must have lead a team minimum 10 or more
2. DBA Exp 5- 7 Yrs Loc: Sunnyvale CA Oracle 10G DBA (5+ Years), PL-SQL, Shell Scripting, Datastage (Nice to have), Leadership and Coordination
3. DW ETL Admin Exp 5- 7 Yrs Loc: Sunnyvale CA Datastage (4+ years) with Admin Experience, Oracle 10G, PL-SQL, Shell Scripting, Leadership and Coordination
4. Application Service Lead Exp 5- 7 Yrs Loc: Sunnyvale CA Datastage V8 (3+ years), Oracle 10G, PL-SQL, Shell Scripting,Analytical & Problem Solving Skills, OBI EE (nice to have),Leadership and Coordination
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6. Sr QA Analyst Exp 5- 7 Yrs Loc: Sunnyvale CA Oracle/PL-SQL, DW-BI fundamentals, Understanding of SDLC, Defect and Test Lifecycle, Should have domain expertise in finance area Hence, if you fit in the bill & have the relevant credentials,kindly share your updated profile. Alternately, you can refer yourfriends or colleagues for the same Thanks & Regards Amit Sharma amitsharma@focusonit.com
We need to get our jobs back to the U.S.A this is the only way to help our declining economy. Putting people back to work will save us money in the long run. Our deficit will decrease, the dollar value will also increase. Bring back our Tech jobs and do not bring people with L1 visas. Hired people that qualify for those jobs.
I'm fortunate, in a way that I've done alot of different jobs, so I can say I'm flexible when it comes to employment options. But I've got to tell you, even I cannot find a job. Now I'm self employed, and I have to tell you that I am barely making any difference in our household income. And I'm "doing" 3 jobs.
I lost my "career" job in 2002. About 6 months after 9/11...and 6 months in a new home. Thankfully we did not buy "all the house" that the mortgage company told us we could, we bought what we could afford on one salary.
I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. One sister is working part-time (15 hours a week) at a grocery store. They don't employ anyone full time except management. The other sister has been told that her job will be gone in less than a year because they are "outsourcing" their R&D jobs. One brother received his layoff notice last week..2/3 of his company got them, and the other brother? His company came to his group this week and asked for Volunteers before Friday's layoff notices come out. 5 siblings...all losing their jobs...
How about cancelling the "outsourcing" contracts? All the Imported workers get sent home, so AMERICANS can keep their jobs. I think that should have been one of the first steps...Rather than laying off your AMERICAN workers, and bringing in FOREIGNERS on VISAS to do our jobs. There is no way that they are cheaper. We are willing to make concessions to keep our jobs. ARE THE COMPANIES READY TO MAKE CONCESSIONS?
Ok, that's my rant for today...
Everyone has developed there own sure-fired economic stimulus package, even the ordinary man on the street, all with some degree of merit, with only a few good enough to be considered of ever beginning to work. We have some countrymen say, “No stimulus package at all” basically let the banks, home owners, auto workers (plus the auto companies) along with the state and city governments – “go broke”; meaning America starts over with a new economic system.
Others support the GOP package of reduced taxes and/or federal check in the mail, while the Administration and DNC support a “job stimulus package” with “checks” in the mail; from there every politician and hopeful presidential candidate for 1212 has their conceived answer to our economic burden.
I’ve heard a lot from my own friends and family, again, some sound good, and others come from people who would have a difficult time balancing a “check book.” Of course, I’m no exception; I have my own, which of course I feel has merit!
Here’s the Stimulus Package we should consider!
My package would require about the same amount of money (900 billion) as President Obama’s, since I feel a job creation package is needed for our highways, schools, linking of the health care via the Internet and energy independence. The aforementioned job creation would also benefit our returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Proponents feel there is no way of knowing if this aforementioned package is going to work or not, which I agree – who dose know? But, every package I‘ve heard of only encompasses our immediate economic concern along by updating past problems that should have been addressed years ago; what about today’s additional concerns that require attention, such as:
Basically stating my stimulus package is simple English, it would be almost identical to President Obama’s with the exception of “Raising the Minimum Wage to $8.00 an Hour.”
Revise Immigration Laws
America’s become fat and Lazy! We allow illegal immigrates across our borders to take jobs we don’t want because the pay is to low and the work to hard; also we provide employment visas to foreign educated individuals in the eastern hemisphere to come and take jobs away from our own recently graduated college graduates. Our Fortune 500 companies must stop this practice of hiring lower priced labor (in both outlined example) to replace the American laborer.
Our Immigration laws need to be revised, of course, but again here’s an issue congress has avoided. In essence let’s make it more difficult for illegal immigrates to work in our country, but let’s make it worthwhile for American wide bottoms to stop living on welfare if that’s how they’re surviving, and get back to work or in many cases start working for the first time in their dismal lives.
The revising of laws pertaining to foreign student work visas would also aid our college students by allowing them the opportunity to pay back their tuition loans, hence a side benefit of aiding the banking community by decreasing the number of student delinquent loans.
Halt Outsourcing American jobs
Again, I have to call upon our Fortune 500 companies to use prudence and suffer somewhat higher taxes for shipping our jobs overseas where, as I see it, the American citizens and government receives very little as far as a reduced price of goods exported back into the US. These corporations, I believe, who subscribe to the notion of shipping our jobs abroad receive a very profitable bottom line in their profit and lose balance sheets while we receive increased taxes to pay for State Unemployment Compensation for those whose livelihood is overseas.
One aspect of the outsourcing issue, which remains unclear and introduced during the Clinton Administration is the “North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).” What remains unclear is most of the top ten Fortune 500 companies have smaller sized facilities in both Mexico and Canada than they do in Asia – why? For me, I feel NAFTA was a smoke screen so the GM’s, Fords, Motorolas and the like could obtain certain loopholes in our government’s taxing structure knowing all along they were going to Asia.
Enough, I’ve made my point, bring our jobs home!
Limit exporting our technology
In many ways this goes hand-in-hand with outsourcing with the difference being, by selling foreign countries or allowing foreign countries to develop and manufacture products sold back into the United States, which in mostly all cases generates a sizable profit for the in the US company while giving the foreign country the ability to use the sold technology for other purposes that usually turn out to hurt our economy (trade imbalance).
In a self authored posting earlier, entitled: “We’re Going to be Trading Microchips for Toasters”, describing how our American steel industry, TV manufacturing and Intergraded microchip foundries have been exported and how we have came to suffer from our exporting these specialized technologies, please consider giving this rendered posting a read.
In other words let’s get back to “Made in America by Americans.”
Increasing the dollar acceleration into the economy
As you can certainly ascertain by now I’m not an economist, but I try to follow what stimulus packages are being presented and attempt to play the devil’s advocate on each of them. They all have one item in common, which is; “get the American public spending again”, which I agree with, but disagree with how this should be accomplished.
President Obama wants to place $1,000 into the hands of the lower middle class, as I understand it, which is, to my way of thinking is to short sighted. I feel most Americans will take the one thousand and use it to pay off credit cards or back mortgage payments. This means the money goes directly back to the banks that created the economic problem in the first place.
If the minimum wage was increased to $8.00 an hour, more people would benefit from the increased salary and it would go directly to the people who probably need it most. This would also be an incentive for people start back to work and remove themselves from the welfare list(s).
The big benefit, the low wage earners would spend their increased salary quicker while spreading it out over a number places, instead of giving it all back to our failed banking system.
Decreasing our foreign trade imbalance
We as a nation have to get back to exporting more than we import, since I feel this has caused us, both as a country and has citizens to spend more than we make, thus generating and adding to the massive trade imbalance we have.
With all the economic problems we have accumulated this could be the most serious and most difficult to solve, since we have to completely retool the way we think and manufacture goods and perform services. We can’t be beaten when it comes to innovation, but bad when it comes to implementing it; meaning making our products affordable, reproducible and our biggest problem with a higher degree of quality.
What ever country, America’s products are exported to, we end up paying an extremely high tariff tax, while we allow foreign products to enter the US with a modest tariff tax – Why? Furthermore, our products are usually copied and bootlegged without hardly any repercussions from us regarding our trading partners. This is true for clothing, software, DVD movies and of course music.
The trade imbalance must be shifted into our favor and then tightly controlled if we are ever to become the nation we once were back in the 50’s to 80’s.
Affordable Health Care
Even if President Obama’s Economic Stimulus package is passed by the Senate; how many Americans would be able to afford it?
Increasing the minimum wage would be the answer for many; this couple with the recent passage of the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act” would assure must Americans would be covered with medical insurance protection.
Summary
Should congress pass President Obama’s Stimulus package and the minimum wage be increased to a minimum of $8.00 per hour, the price of doing business in America would increase dramatically, along with the costs of consumer goods and services, but it would put more Americans back to work and off welfare.
This would also increase the standard of living for many, which we have seen America’s middle and lower classes living standard decay over the past twenty years. This can be witnessed by the number of homeless individuals filling our inner cities and our increased prison population (one out a hundred Americans currently serving time in prison).
Just increasing of the minimum wage is not enough and will not work by itself; we must revise and author new laws pertaining to immigration, outsourcing and flow of technology from our shores. Again, I echo we must return to the proverbial “Made in America by Americans.”
It is my very strong feeling; increasing the minimum wage will hurt many in business while helping our most needed citizenry segment within our society of troubled Americans, kick start the economy back on track as a strong economically sound nation.
I’m a firm believer that protectionism is not the answer, at this time in the world’s economy situation; however it is also my strictest of belief’s America as given away far too much of its technology to other countries, which in some cases as used it against us.We have seen what Japan and Korea as done with our cars, TV’s Microchips (RAM chips especially) and steel. No, in honesty both countries were developing these industries within their own country, but we provided them some of the needed know-how to get them off the ground.Today we wonder where all of our jobs have gone (out sourcing), consider re-reading the aforementioned paragraph and contemplate what the answer could possibly be?Now China has decided it needs to shift gears from being an exporter of inexpensive, commercial products to more a higher level of manufactured goods requiring advanced technology.
Imagine this Scenario
1. AFRICA With its Many small countries, Imagine if these People had money in their Hands now.
2. It is a Huge Market, Unexplored
What is their Positive outlook
1. SUN is the number one resource in AFRICA
2. Exploit it, Construct Solar Power Plants, Geo Thermal Power Plants
3. Supply Energy to Europe
What are their Negative outlook
1. Rebel Armies
2. Give them Jobs, Cease fire with them
It is a history an immigrant has made to white house. American is multicultural country black, white, African, Asian , Hindus, Muslims and Christians live together happily and it is a land of opportunity. Martin Luther king the civil rights activist who has fight for the rights of black may be happiest person if he would have lived. From nothing, a black leader Barack Husain Obama has become the president of United States of America, born to Kenyan Father and American mother. People of America want change, did not bother about the cultural issues and want to live happily with dignity. With recession gripping up, many banks are declared bankruptcy, energy crisis, climate change, three trillion dollar Iraq war, people fear to lose house in subprime crisis, with these problems every American wants a change. American wants happy living and show the world that American are not against any race and religion. They want peace and happiness and good living. A virtual unknown until his stirring keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention, the President-elect’s meteoric rise to the White House has personal style, a gift for stirring oratory and a commanding ability to deploy new technology to raise funds and organize supporters "Americans have sent a message to the world," Barack Obama, the man who would be the United States' first African American president, "If there is anyone out there that still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible... who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." He said it was the answer told "by lines that stretched around schools and churches..." as they waited for hours to vote. It was the answer, he said, spoken by the young and old, rich and poor, Hispanics and Asians, Democrats and Republicans” With the United States having its first African-American President in Barack Hussain Obama and the Democrats got full control the Senate and the Congress. Ever one in the world seeing towards USA for change and in India the group of techies from Bangalore have collected money for funding the election in USA they formed an association Barack Obama association. In Coimbatore people have conducted “homa and puja” and have shown the birth chart of Barack Obama to astrologers, and they were sure of his victory and this happened. Obama has taken donations even two dollar and five dollars from the individuals and has funded election expenditure, there is a transparency in election funding. What are the challenges to new president? •His first task is to revive economy of USA, economy is in a grip of recession •Subprime crisis, every American wants a shelter and the prices housing sector should not fall any t more. •The greatest three trillion war with Iraq, which is the tax payer money America has spent on Iraq war. Withdrawing of troops from Iraq. •Energy crisis, USA is biggest consumer of energy and it has not signed Kyoto Protocol,(Climate Change) many American wants that USA should go to green technology and save the energy and sign the Kyoto protocol. •Control of terrorism is one more problem the new president may face. •Tackling of unemployment problem and out sourcing is some more big issues.
India has to learn lot of lessons from US election •We have to see Americans who have elected an immigrant and half Muslim to the white house, Indian are not tolerating the fellow Indians the recent Maharashtra riots is example. •The funding of elections is transparent in USA, the election expenditure is audited, where as in India the election expenditure is all unaccounted money there is no proper records maintained. •American election campaign is transparent, Obama has used internet, text messages, Utube, and media. Indian election campaign is not transparent. •Obama is nothing four years back, today he is a President of USA, which shows even a new person, can become USA president which is not possible inIndia.
When Mr. Obama becomes President, (and he will) will he do something about the outsourcing that has destroyed our economy? People in India, China, and Japan are getting the jobs that we as Americans so desperately need. Customer service, manufacturing, and textiles are all gone from this country and the major companies are being bailed out with our tax money while we are facing foreclosure. The fines on companies who send business overseas should be double the money they would make. Maybe then they will bring those jobs back to the states where we buy these products.
Illegals can get Medicare and Medicaid, but if you're a citizen of the US, with a seizure disorder and Fibromyalgia, you're out of luck. (Trust me - I know). Finding a job with these problems isn't easy, but I do my best. I'm out there and looking, but jobs are few and far between. Perspective employers don't want you if you have medical issues. My husband and I make 22,000 a year combined, but that's too much for assistance. My rent is 12,000 a year. You do the math. Factor in food, phone, cable, gas, car insurance and those "oh my God" moments and you have nothing, in fact you have less than nothing. Yet you want to talk to me about savings and retirement?
I don't have a college degree because I started working when I was 14 and my mother could not afford to send me. Why do I need one to be a receptionist? Seriously, I have seen adds in the paper for receptionists and they want a 2 and sometimes 4 year degree. Who would go to college for 4 years to become a receptionist? Is our economy so bankrupt that we would spend 40 or 50 thousand dollars a year on school to make 20 thousand a year as a receptionist? We need those jobs back. Maybe then, those of us who are poor can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make enough money to eat and pay our rent because making the choice between the two often leads to a lot of nights with empty plates.
Not to mention that we have no healthcare and cannot afford the medication that stops us from having those seizures and being in chronic pain all day. If I were obese I'd be on disability, but I just have a disorder that could kill me if I strike my head when I fall. No big deal, move on with your life, right? Thanks, I appreciate that. I'd become obese, but I don't have the money for that kind of endeavour.
If I had children I would be covered under Medicaid, WIC or Section 8, but did I mention I have a seizure disorder that would be fatal to a fetus should I fall? Did I mention I have a part-time job because I can't get anyone to employ me? Did I mention that I am married? Yeah, you can't get help if you have those things.
I worked at a job that saw disability and no-fault cases by the scores. These people are in no way disabled, yet the government pays them each month to crank out kids and buy really nice cars. One woman claimed to have a herniated L4-L5 and was in horrible pain, yet managed to carry a child on her hip for over 20 minutes while shopping at the mall with me. She gets $1600 a month in Disability plus Medicaid and Section 8 for her and the now 2 children she has. Her husband lives in an apartment two blocks from her and makes 60 thousand a year working for the MTA. She claims they are seperated and he does not pay child support. This is a scam I have seen played out over and over.
Private insurance would cost me $480 a month (cheapest I could find) and would not cover either the seizures or the fibromyalgia as they are pre-existing conditions. Why get the insurance then? I don't have $5760 a year to spend NOT to get help. Not to mention that that figure is just the cost of the plan, not the co-pays at $30 for and office visit, and $50 for a specialist (which is what I would need). Factor all that in, and it's just not feasable. What the hell happened in this country to make the upper 1% hate those of us who were born with a plastic spoon in our mouthes?
The tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas topic that Barack mentions in his speeches does not hit home like it should because most people do not know or understand that Obama is referring to an actual part of the Bush/McCain tax cuts so it becomes a throw-away line instead of delivering a punch. He says something along the lines of "create incentives for companies that keep jobs here instead of shipping them overseas." Obama misses the mark when he mentions it because people don't know that companies are benefitting from a tax cut because they outsource overseas....they think how could that REALLY be happening? Because of the way it is phrased, it sounds like a fluff argument to them, but its a REAL argument. Some people at the company I work for joke that if Obama is elected we'll have to give up our India-outsourced IT jobs, but still 95% of the people in my company do not even know about it, and I'd say 98% of America does not know. He should change the line to "are you aware that under the McCain/Bush tax plan, companies that outsource actually get a tax break because they outsource? But no such tax breaks occur for companies who keep jobs in the USA. I will change that." None of us should take any part of the McCain/Bush tax plan and the public's knowledge of it for granted. I just went through it with someone who is knowledgeable about most things, but even she was shocked at the outrageousness about some of the loopholes. There are enough loopholes in his crazy tax plan to counter all of McCain's earmark babble!!!
Someone should make a You-Tube commercial highlighting the outrageous aspects of the bush/McCain tax plan!! America just isn't hearing enough details.
This is why Palin shouldn't be our next VP and why McCain shouldn't be our next President! Don't vote for McCain and Palin!
Sarah Palin Ad from Heart of the Wolf Org. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4v_kOFSV2I Please check out this ad and pass it along. Mike Wagner Founder and Director of Heart of the Wolf Organization
http://www.heartofthewolf.org
Monday, the Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt, Nebraska -- a key employer here, providing hundreds of jobs in Southeast Nebraska -- announced it would close. According to the Lincoln Journal Star, Vise-Grip's parent company, Newell Rubbermaid, will outsource some of the production to China.
Sen. Obama released a statement this afternoon on the closing:
OMAHA, NE – Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement regarding the Vise-Grip plant closing: “My heart goes out to the workers and families affected by the closing of the Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt, NE. Today's news is a painful reminder not only of the challenges America faces in our global economy, but of George Bush’s failed economic policies. I refuse to accept that we have to stand idly by while workers watch their jobs get shipped overseas. That’s why as President, I will end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs over seas, and reward tax credits to companies that create good full-time jobs with good benefits for our workers right here in the United States. Additionally, I will bring good jobs to the United States by making long-term investments in education, training, and workforce development, so that as Americans we can leverage our strengths to create new high-wage jobs. Today more than ever, we need a president who knows the fight for America’s workers is the fight for America’s future. And that’s a fight I intend to have if elected President,” said Senator Obama.
OMAHA, NE – Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement regarding the Vise-Grip plant closing:
“My heart goes out to the workers and families affected by the closing of the Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt, NE. Today's news is a painful reminder not only of the challenges America faces in our global economy, but of George Bush’s failed economic policies. I refuse to accept that we have to stand idly by while workers watch their jobs get shipped overseas. That’s why as President, I will end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs over seas, and reward tax credits to companies that create good full-time jobs with good benefits for our workers right here in the United States. Additionally, I will bring good jobs to the United States by making long-term investments in education, training, and workforce development, so that as Americans we can leverage our strengths to create new high-wage jobs. Today more than ever, we need a president who knows the fight for America’s workers is the fight for America’s future. And that’s a fight I intend to have if elected President,” said Senator Obama.
And from the Lincoln Journal Star, "Vise-Grip employees ponder what's next for them":
Newell Rubbermaid, which owns Irwin Industrial Tools, will move at least some production to China. Production at the plant will continue until the end of October, though employees were given the rest of this week off, with pay.After Wednesday’s meeting, many crossed the street from the plant to R.J.’s, where they wondered aloud what lies in store for themselves and for their community.“I’m 56 years old. What am I going to do?” asked Susie Miller, who has worked at the plant for 34 years. READ MORE
The old tricks aren’t working any more. The government’s tools for a weak economy have been to lower interest rates, borrow and spend, or have a war. Now, interest rates are so low that you can’t earn enough on your savings to keep up with inflation, the government owes $31,666 for every man, woman and child in America, and we have two of the longest running wars in U.S. history. We need something new, something smarter.
Here’s a radical suggestion. Let’s stop collecting taxes in ways that hurt us. All we need are two simple changes to our existing system.
It is worth noting that Obama's economic advisor, Professor Goolsbee of the University of Chicago, published an article several years ago showing that when business investment is attracted to a low tax environment, hiring increases and employee market power increases, and thus wages rise. He is thus a guy who will understand the fact that our current tax system, which penalizes corporations for placing operations in this country, is not only reducing jobs but suppressing wages, helping to drive the increasing over concentration of wealth we have been seeing.
http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/austan.goolsbee/research/cps.pdf
An increasing number of people are catching on to this fact (though thy need to be educated on the practical mechanism for affordable and progressive reform set forth at
http://www.sharedeconomicgrowth.org/home/summaryslideshow.html )
For example, John Endean, President of the American Business Council, is quote on TaxVox as follows:
"John Endean raised an intriguing idea the other day in response to my blog on whether business executives would be willing to give up targeted tax breaks in return for a lower corporate rate, as John McCain has suggested.
John, who is president of the American Business Conference, said that one of his CEO members has a different swap in mind: Completely repeal the “terrible” corporate income tax and pay for it by raising rates on top-bracket taxpayers. In effect, this would directly tax the owners of capital rather than doing so through the backdoor of the corporate tax."
McCain's economic advisor, former senator, Phil Gram, is meanwhile denying that anything is wrong with the economy. I guess he's better off than he ever was, so he does not see a problem. If one judges a man by the company he keeps, who should American employees favor?
Why Obama?
My point of view is one of a much larger backdrop illustrating the dire need for a leader, not a contiual caretaker lacking the vision or character to fight off the internal power-structure. We need a steward with a long term vision that recognizes the importance of the new world order - not the typical "terrorist"sales presentation that worked before, but has since become more about us terrorizing others. Someone who speaks to our goodness, not our fear. Someone who inspires us to be all that we can be, not fear all that is (or what some think "is"...) or even what we have created.
John McCain is a war hero and a good man, but when did being "good" become the presidential criteria? My grandmother is very good, but not someone I want to lead the free world. Lots of people are good....what makes a leader? Strength, vision, character...but mostimportantly seeing a paradigm that others do not and being able to execute that paradigm.
McCain's paradigm is the current one, just tweaked (not even sure the result will be better or worse). We need a new paradigm. We need a new vision. We need someone who has the intelligence to articulate that vision and the strength to execute it.
Obama is showing the beginnings of the promise of a new paradigm. Obama has taken elements of the past, such as foreign service, and combined them with new ideas, such as free education, to create a new paradigm. There is a flat world waiting to compete with us. I have lived in India, hired bright people from top institutions. People who get up at 5am, take a bus 2 hours in 120 degree heat to work for Lehman Brothers until 10pm...before taking the 2 hour bus back...these people are hungry like you have never seen. Competing against them will take hardwork, dedication and embarcing of many new ideas. But competing WITH them will take a new mindset. It will be just as hard, but infintely more rewarding. These people are not to be viewed as our enemies, but to be engaged as our competitors. There is a new paradigm coming...are we ready for it?
Scott
Unlike Karl Rove, I have confidence in the intelligence of American voters so I won't play down to divisive tribal loyalties and superstitions with catchy [though meaningless] slogans and hypnotic buzz phrases.
With that intro, let's explore the logical counter-point to the usual [and false] Republican mantra of "tax and spend Democrats". Barack Obama must find a way to expose the Republican's taxation shell game.
Republicans have become very good at disguising devastating taxes on the American middle class while blaming Democrats for "tax and spend". Unfortunately, most Americans link taxation to the tax code formulated by the U.S. Congress. That is the open, honest way to do it preferred by Democrats. However, there are other ways to impose (or shift) the tax burden without going through the U.S. Congress. These are the ways preferred by Republicans and, sadly, not exposed effectively by Democrats.
Americans should be Outraged by the Outsourcing of American jobs.
If you share my Outrage or or are concerned with the future security of the U.S. or are concerned about the future of the American Middle Class then continue reading and check out the following website:
http://outsourceoutrage.com/
We have been exporting our high tech. knowledge and jobs for the past 20 years, and the rate rapidly increased during George W.'s administration. I am a recent victim of this unfortunate trend after training 1000's of software engineers in Russia, China, India, Brazil, France and other countries to do my job, developing wireless phone software.
I was "laid off" from Motorola's Mobile Device division in Nov. 2007 while performing critical work required to develop furure mobile phones. The Russian contractors in our team (working in Russia), who had almost no written or verbal knowledge of English AND had mediocre to poor software engineering skills, were kept on because they were much cheaper. I spent the last 2 years attempting to train these people to become decent engineers and to help them improve their English skill level.
Not surprisingly, Motorola is now failing to develop new phones that the customer wants to buy. Creative problem solving and inovation have been seriously stifled by the loss of much of the good talent and by the fear experienced by most of the remaining employees within the US.
More recently, a major controversy has been reported by Lou Dobbs and others about the Outsourcing of Military contracts. Please watch the following video to learn about the US Air Force's decision to award a major contract to Airbus (France) rather than Boeing (US). This Outsourcing trend in not only hurting our economy and jobs, it is also risking our security.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/03/06/intv.murray.outsourcing.defense.cnn?iref=videosearch
