by Buster55

A Jobs Bill?  This Can’t Be Good.

Hello. This is my first public article so please forgive any rambling that may follow. I think it is important for you to know a little about myself so you’ll understand what follows.

I grew up during a time when the nation and culture were in  fundamental transition. I went through junior and high school in the late 60’s and graduated in the early 70’s. The country was going through experiences and teachings that are now the basis of the “theology” of the leadership (or better put, the leading powers) of this nation.

Be sure of one thing, I love the United States and would not want to live anywhere else. I am , however, very concerned that we have forgotten where we came from.

I grew up in a family where if you wanted something you’d best get a job and earn some money, which is why I started working on farms in the summer and picked apples in the fall when I was 14. I continued to work part-time jobs until I graduated high school. I then got a job in a machine shop and have continued in that trade in some fashion until today.

After a few years I enrolled in the NY State Apprenticeship Program for Mold Building and became a Journeyman Mold Maker. I chose this job because “there would always be a need for Mold Makers / Tool Makers”. You see, anything that ever gets produced begins as an idea, becomes a blueprint, and is eventually followed by the execution of  machinery and tooling, and is ultimately built by Tool Makers (in some trade). and ultimately produced by an American worker in a factory which manufactures the finished product.

Then came NAFTA – the North America Free Trade Agreement. In the 1970’s & 80’s the mid-southern states started to loose jobs in the textile mills and all related trades. After that other portions of the country starting loosing traditional American jobs. First it was basic manufacturing, and then automotive jobs left our shores. Later it was electronics. (Do you remember the last computer that had “Made in America” printed on it?) Now, many of our medical products, from the prescriptions you ingest to the testing items used when you are in the hospital. are no longer made in the USA.

 Topping all the previous items, you would be frightened at how much of our National Defense products are made by countries that don’t like us very much. Now our President wants to take money TARP repayment funds to create a Jobs Bill.

First of all, these funds were specifically designated for debt reduction, but that apparently doesn’t matter. Congress can “just revise the Bill” to allow this travesty to go through.

More importantly, the “jobs” that will be produced from this bill will be Health Care Bill related or GREEN jobs related. (Can you spell agenda?)  I’m referring to the Health Care Reform most of America doesn’t want and Green jobs for a condition that doesn’t exist. This situation sounds much worse than NAFTA.

To give you an idea of what it was like in the late 1970’s, I was one of those drivers that got to sit in line at gas stations for hours just so you would be able to get enough gas until you could do it all over again two days later.  Have you ever been told which days you could buy gas? (Depending on your license plate number being odd or even)? That was the Carter years friends.

Because of my trade, I was fortunate enough to still have a job and be able to afford gas. Then things went bad again in the 1980’s and the 1990’s. But once again because of my willingness to continue learn and adapt, I went to Onondaga Community College in Syracuse NY so I could advance my opportunities by becoming a Design Engineer. You see, even though much of the manufacturing went off shore, most of the Engineering and tool building was still being done in the States. But once again, we (the American workers) started loosing that sector as well.

In 1993 I relocated my family from central New York to Western North Carolina for employment. The Tool Building trade was the staple of the area, and I did very well, for a while. If you haven’t noticed the pattern yet, it happened again, except this time I found myself unemployed for the first time in my life.

During the past five years I have lost two different jobs and have spent nearly two out of those five years unemployed. I went from working in the most stable trade in American history to wondering what am I going to do next.

You see, NAFTA was America’s first step towards the Global Market. It is good to buy and sell globally, but for some reason we gave “away the store”, and we are about to do it again….. An upcoming Jobs Bill. Think again. What have we seen the past few years? More importantly, what about the past 35 – 40 years? History is repeating itself.

America has always rebounded (in my lifetime), but this time I am really scared. We don’t have the leadership in place that wants to rebound.  Those of you my age, remember the past. Those who are younger, learn from our past.

 Stand up

 Get Involved 

 Be a “Rebounder”!

Respectfully submitted,

Buster55

February 18, 2010