WINNERS AND LOSERS

The older I get and the more of today’s world that see, the more I realize what great parents I had.  My parents taught my siblings and I that sometimes life isn’t fair, and more importantly, we learned that there are winners and losers in the life.  When I was in high school, I was on both the track and football teams, but our school had one of the best basketball teams in the state, and I really wanted to get on that team.  I knew that I wasn’t a very good basketball player, but I figured that since I was such a hot shot football player, and All American track star that surely the basketball coach would want me on his team right?  I was 16, and I’ve never forgotten the day that coach sat me down and told me that I really wasn’t a very good basketball player, he wouldn’t even put me on the practice squad for fear that one of his starters might get hurt.  Basically, the coach told me that I Sucked at basketball and should stick to the sports that I was good at.  When I told my dad what had happened, he told me that if I wanted to play basketball that I should practice more and maybe tryout again at some future point.   I never made the team, but I did learn that I wasn’t going to be great at everything, and that no one was going to make exceptions for me if I wasn’t good enough.   I can’t begin to tell you how many times over the years that lesson has pushed me to work harder so that I was on the winning side of life.

I told you my story to set up the following story: 

I’m driving down the highway last week, listening to ESPN when they start talking about a parent in Iowa who is suing her daughter’s high school because she failed to make the cheerleading squad for the third time.  Never mind that the young lady did not have full use of her legs and arms and could not perform even close to the level of the other girls on the team, her parents felt like she should be put on the team anyway.  When the coach refused, the parents headed straight for their lawyers office and filed suit.  What a great country!  Unfortunately, this young lady along with so many other youngsters are being taught that you don’t have to accept losing or being rejected, you can run to court and claim that you were discriminated against.

If you’re a parent reading this, please do us all a favor, and teach your children that there are Winners and Losers in the life.  Please explain to your children that those participation trophies they get in the local sports league even when they finish last, just isn’t the way the real world works.  Please let them know that despite the fact that some teachers might grade on a curve so that no one fails the class isn’t how the real world works.   People there are Winners and Losers in life, and the sooner that people recognize that, the better off they usually are.  I know lots of people who worked their way to the top, but I don’t know anyone who sued their way there and got any respect! 

If you teach your children that, “THE PERSON MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING IF YOU WIN OR LOSE IN LIFE IS STARING BACK AT YOU IN THE MIRROR EVERY MORNING OF YOUR LIFE”, you may be surprised how they turn out!  At best, they’ll realize that not everyone makes the teamJ

WHO REALLY CREATES JOBS IN AMERICA?

The first thing that everyone should understand is that no matter who the President is,  he is not responsible for job creation.  George Bush wasn’t, and Barack Obama isn’t.   So, if the president isn’t responsible for job creation then who is? 

In my view, you, I and American Business are all responsible for the unemployment rate being so high, and the lack of job creation.  Don’t believe me?  Take a look around your house, and in your garage and it’s easy to see why the employment rate is so high.  Virtually everything that we buy these days is made in another country, and nothing that those folks use is made in America.  When I was a kid, I still remember people laughing if you wore a watch or had a radio or TV made in Japan.  Until the mid 1970’s, no self respecting American would be caught dead in a car made in Japan or any other country, the exception being the rich guy in the neighborhood having a Mercedes to show his status in life.   Take a moment and just walk through a portion of your house, pick up ten items.  I bet that none of the items were made in this country. 

You see, in America, both consumers and business like for things to be cheap.  Business wants cheap labor, and knowing that they can’t pay people slave wages in America they move their factories to other countries.  They’ll tell you that it’s because taxes in America are too high, yet a closer look shows that corporate taxes are lower today than they were 30 and 40 years ago.  If a company has a choice between hiring an American for $12 to $15 an hour, or moving that job to China or Taiwan for $2 or $3, there went your jobJ  We all continue to do business with the companies that have moved their call centers off shore for less money, while our bills for their products and services continue to go up.  Try to get service on your computer or cell phone, that guy named Sammy with the funny accent is actually in Pakistan or India.  I have to wonder what would happen if people decided to start doing without some of those products unless those companies brought the jobs back home?

It’s easy to blame businesses for moving jobs off shore, but you and I are just as much at fault as they are.  Yep, that’s right; you and I could create American jobs, if only we would be willing to spend a few pennies more to Buy American.  We don’t even look for American made any longer, we just look for lowest price, yet we know that products made in sweat shops by children overseas are almost always going to be cheaper than products made in America.  We love Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart loves shit made in China, yet for most of us if we need something, that’s our first (and usually) last stop. 

So, what can we do?  Well in the interest of helping my fellow Americans, this is what I’m going to do! First is that when I go to make my next purchase and every purchase from now on, I plan to look for a product made in America, I have changed my telephone, TV and internet to Comcast, because unlike Verizon,  their workers and call centers are in America.  Except for my motorcycle, my garage is filled with foreign made vehicles, but my pledge is that the next vehicle that I purchase will be an American brand, or if it’s a foreign brand, I will make sure that I check the VIN, and purchase one assembled in the United States.  Finally, I will refuse to support any politician who supports NAFTA or any of the other half dozen Free Trade Agreements; I will not support any candidate who has voted to allow tax breaks for businesses that have moved jobs to another country.

If we all commit to simply buying American and doing business with American companies, we can create jobs in America, because if you’re waiting on the Democrats and Republicans to do it, you may have a very, very long wait.