Time to get America back to work

One of my contacts told me today that in a straw poll of l0 companies in this industry, only one of the l0 responded that business had gone up in the last 60 days-and that one attributed it to a loss of competitors in its target area.

How many of you feel great about the economy? How many of you feel we are headed in the right direction? Been out on a spending spree lately? As I wrote last month one of the biggest issues we face is the continued growth of foreclosures, which here in California is expected to be 14Vo by the end of the year. But we also have almost l37o unemployment in California and almost 107o nationally.

While there are other issues that created the first round of foreclosures, this round has been created by unemployment. Indeed, it is estimated that unemployment or underemployment, including those who have just given up, is actuallywait for it-over 257o and nationally almost lTVot And other issues, such as credit card debt, are about to hit in large waves. We need to get people back to work.

I am fed up with seeing inactivity and with stimulus money evaporating, producing absolutely no impact in this industryor as far as I can see. in anv other industrv either.

ALAN OAKES publisher ajoakes@aol.com

We have to start creating jobs again. Not soft jobs but real jobs for the future. To date, we have lost around 7 million jobs-probably over double what most of us have seen in the last 50 years-and it is not short-term. For the under 25's, over a quarter cannot find a job. It is systematic of issues in this country and indicative of issues that have been growing for many a year and that have been covered up.

We are hearing that the recession has ended. Really! A recovery underway. I wish! The banks may have bounced back a few ticks, amazingly just in time to get their massive bonuses this year. Corporate profits are seeing an uptick, but what about us? Mr. and Mrs. America! We have lost our homes, lost our savings in our 401/k's, and we are seeing0.2Va interest from our banks. Most of us have seen cuts to our quality of life. There is a lot of bleeding in America.

If the recession has ended there would already be indications of companies hiring. At this time, there is absolutely no indication of that reality, and I am afraid a new employment paradigm may be in play. A lot of companies will resist hiring for well into the future.

The Administration has talked about saving jobs. I cannot tell from my perch, despite all the spending, if that has been achieved or not, although the spin doctors will say it has been of course. But what we really need to do is create jobs. Much of the stimulus package has been spent saving banks (and I am generally supportive that something HAD to be done) and car companies. But now that the Cash for Clunkers program is over, has that created any sustainable jobs? I do not think sol Sales have reverted back to pre-program levels.

We are in-like it or not-a new world order that we have helped to create by allowing our manufacturing jobs to go AWOL from our shores. We now compete against 25-cent-anhour jobs in Vietnam. We must rethink how we are going to become competitive and devise programs that support our nation's strengths: innovation, entrepreneurship and building small businesses from our garages. We have done that in the past and must do it again. Our leadership in technology needs to be reinvigorated, and we need to find ways to keep jobs on U.S. soil.

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Instead of us wasting the stimulus package on frivolous benefits that no one can see, touch or smell, cut out a lot of the anti-business regulations that our manufacturers have to face, unlike their international counterparts. Offer new job incentives to encourage hiring. Offer R&D tax credits to encourage ingenuity. Support entrpreneurs in taking new ideas and building companies and jobs that will revitalize the U.S.A. Retrain employees from old industries in new technologies. Industries such as renewable energy, healthcare and technology need to be supported, and we really need to focus and solving our housing problems. That alone would fill over a million jobs.

Getting people back to work will raise spending, eliminate pending foreclosure issues and will be the impetus of getting our industry back on its feet. A year has gone by since the collapse of all we knew but from where I sit we still have a long way to go to recover. I just don't sense that our politicians are doing a whole lot about it.

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