Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Lets Call a Temporary Truce and Solve the Real Problem

Our Founding Fathers gave us a state-of-the-art governing structure that allowed us the opportunity to build a country like none before. It enabled a system that for the first time could focus on the welfare of its citizens rather than an elitist ruling class.

We were expected to use our best talents within the structure to “establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and to secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our Posterity”, There was a lot of hard work ahead but the enthusiasm for the vision was there to tackle it.

Over the following 200+ years we successfully conducted a continual battle against domestic and foreign forces that would destroy that vision. Although there were ups and downs most Americans felt that progress would allow their children to inherit a country that offered increasing blessings of liberty along with a continuing improvement in general welfare. We became a very special nation that was an example to the world.

This progress has come to a screeching halt. The citizens feel shock and deep disappointment after the disheartening discovery that both the elected government and many sectors of the private economy have no interest in the Founders’ vision for America. They have led a period of governance that is inept and almost completely self serving. A recent Gallup Poll shows that citizens rate their confidence in Congress dead last among 16 critical institutions.

The fundamental problem can be stated simply.

We now have a government that is under the corrupt control of special interests acting to the detriment of United States citizens. The ineptness and self serving greed of our private and public institutions has brought hardship to good citizens throughout the nation, and destroyed our vision for the future.

These destructive forces have pushed their will on us not by an invading army-which we would surely defeat- but by hidden manipulations of our economy and successfully lobbying for damaging foreign national policies. This has siphoned trillions away from productive job- creating work in the United States. The misallocation of resources is bringing the nation to its knees. The result has been billions for the few and financial disaster for the many.

Unfortunately, those few benefitting from the situation have assembled powerful tools.

A two party system that works against our choices for responsible leaders.
Hugh wealth in large corporations and institutions used for the control of the government
Excessive influence through the financial sector
Extensive ownership of the media

They are already using these tools to divert the public outrage away from the fundamental problem into multiple confusing issues to which they are offering self contradicting solutions..

To counter their strengths we have the following
The Constitution power to replace governments
Our numbers
The vision of America we hold with the Founders

The level of effort required to focus and solve the fundamental problem as a precursor to solving the many others is not even seriously on the table for the two political parties.. Drastic actions will have to come from the patriotic citizen regardless of party. The Constitution provides the tools to do this. We need a major change in our government.

This is one goal on which patriotic Conservatives, Liberals, and Independents should agree. A sincere plan to rebuild should be a priority in all party platforms and in the thoughts of voters. Once we have the fundamentals back we can return to the traditional conflicts.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Intel Founder Explains Unintended Consequences on American Jobs from Mistaken Movements of Manufacturing Overseas

Andy Grove, a founder and one time CEO of the semi-conductor giant Intel Corporation, has taken billions of dollars of product from startup to mass production. He correctly points out that most observers do not understand the job implications of what he calls the “scaling phase”, which is that part of the cycle that moves the product status from startup to mass production. Manufacturing is a key component of the scaling phase.

In the July 5 issue of Business Week article “How to Make an American Job” he presents a clear and detailed description of how the economist and financial experts lack of understanding of the scaling phase led America to give up leadership positions in critical industries. They did this in the mistaken belief that moving manufacturing out of the United States to “low cost labor” was a wise strategy that would only affect manufacturing lines. The consequences of this action to our nation’s workers, along with our position in the global economy, have been severe. To quote “Without scaling, we don’t just lose jobs; we lose our hold on new technology. Losing the ability to scale will eventually damage our capacity to innovate.”

He gives strong and specific advice on what must be done to recover some of our losses. It is a discussion of what is working, regardless of ideology. He describes how the governments of Asian countries have had great success in guiding and assisting their industries into critical areas against us. As a former Hungarian who came to the US in 1956 he is well informed on how a capitalist system can outperform a rigidly planned system. However we must recognized that our system is now being outperformed by the Asian system. We must intelligently incorporate some features from the Asian system if we are to compete.

. This is only a sampling. To hear from someone with real knowledge Please read the article.