Love Thy Neighbor As Yourself

I read today how over one million will stop receiving unemployment benefits. I should also mention that another 3.6 million people will lose their unemployment benefits this year. One loving person said that maybe this would force people to look for jobs that they had not otherwise considered. I didn't know that there are over 4 and a half million vacant jobs waiting to be filled, that is not what the government says. I should also mention that when their unemployment benefits end, they will show as not being unemployed anymore. Government and business statistics lie, as far as they are concerned they will still be unemployed.

I am getting ready to retire and have never received one penny in unemployment in my life. I have also paid into the plan for decades. Where did that money go, it should have gone to pay for the people who do need it, it certainly never came to me. Lets consider what is coming this year and the options. Firstly, 4.5 million people, plus, who are willing to work and did work but were laid off or fired will stop receiving unemployment insurance payouts. That is a lot of people. They will stop making house payments, might not be able to pay rent and will be unable to get jobs unless we add 4.5 million jobs next year. We are not on track to add that many jobs.

Statistically, it will appear that unemployment is down because these people will no longer be included in the statistics. Somewhere next year that unemployment number will match the number that the Federal Reserve has been waiting on and then they will stop buying treasury bonds. LOL. That will the official end of quantitative easing and the stock market will crash.

Now lets consider the options. We can continue paying unemployment to people and get nothing in return or Wall Street can force businesses to take the roughly 1.5 Trillion dollars they are holding in cash and invest it in creating new industries or bringing jobs back to America. That is not going to happen, Wall Street is not interested in investing in America. We could let 4.5 million able bodies just go hungry along with their families. What will the United States look like with an extra 4.5 million homeless people? It will look like and be a third world nation. There is another option, we can create a jobs program like they did after the great depression.

Don't think that telling them to get a job means anything when there are no jobs. If business adds 200,000 jobs next month that will still mean that 4.3 million people will be unemployed and not getting benefits that were getting benefits in December. Get it? It is just math.

I went to the store today and I hate shopping, I was waiting till after Christmas to buy something I needed, new bed sheets, blanket and comforter. I like to be warm. Everything the sold was made in China. I think Americans are more than capable of making their own blankets, it is not that tough; but, we don't have much of a fashion industry anymore and make very little of our own clothes. We could; but, we do not. Now many will tell you that it is the cost of labor that "forces" business to use Chinese labor; but, this is a lie. I bought a set of things that cost $79; but, an identical set and most of the sets were selling for $49 or $59, they had cut the cost on most sets by 20 to 50% and still managed to make a profit. Hmmmm. Lets think about this.

Somewhere around 50% of all retail sales are made around Christmas time. After Christmas prices usually drop at least 20%. Yet, we are told that the 1% difference between manufacturing in America versus China is what keeps us from keeping the jobs here, does that really make sense? Macy's is having a 50% to 80% off sale on fashion, if it only costs us one more percent, not 50 to produce products here, then why don't we want to?

Perhaps you might think it is environmental concerns. There are a few problems with that. Is it really fair that we think it is okay that everyone in China get cancer because they don't use clean energy? The truth is China is burning oil and coal and not ever efficiently or cleanly. If China only kept their plants as clean burning as America's they would have a livable environment. I live in California, our requirements are the highest in the nation and we still manage to meet them.

Maybe it is the lax regulations in China that brings American companies there. Nope, they are a Communist country and regulate everything. In fact, in order to due business in China you have to give away trade secrets. We could keep industry here; but, do not want to. Why?

The real enemy to any society is not caring about one another and trying to control and limit one another. True libertarianism is not about selfishness, it is about not imposing your will on others. I can help others without forcing them to think or be like me.

I have worked for 43 years, I am physically are wreck and a shell of what I was. I have had two heart attacks, high blood pressure that is considered a hypertensive emergency and blood thicker than oil. LOL. I have made and saved my organizations well over $2 billion, I lost count so long ago it is funny. I got a year left before retirement. If I lost my job tomorrow, I could live on unemployment until I collect my pension in about 10 months. I will never go hungry or without a place to stay, I have fed and clothed and given a home to the homeless more than once and currently do. I am lucky, many of those 4.5 million people worked as hard as me and as long as me; but, their companies sent them away or disappeared themselves. We are living in tough times and people with college degrees and experience cannot even get a job at McDonalds.

What about this, what if we made sure everyone had a place to stay, food to eat and the ability to get to and from a job that they actually qualified for or had the opportunity to learn new skills that would allow them to qualify for jobs that we believe we will create? Some of the more right wingers will quote the bible to me and say things like "teach a man to fish" and assume that they will be self-sufficient. Not every skill has value or better said, many only hire so many. There are still companies that make buggy whips; but, the number of people employed in that industry is very small.

When I was young they were telling everyone to become rocket scientists because rockets were the big industry. Somewhere in the early 70s, they stopped making as many rockets and stopped going to the moon. I watched engineers with decades of experience go unemployed. Some ended up working at fast food restaurants, was the really the best use of their talents and is that what we want to do with people today?

Some will say that Americans are too proud to take certain jobs; but, it is a lie. When 20,000 Americans line up to take 200 jobs that pays $20 an hour, they are willing to work. When jobs that pay minimum wage have 2,000 applicants, know there are more than enough Americans willing to work.

People in high tech are calling for an easing on immigration saying that Americans cannot do the jobs, it is a lie. Steve jobs said that Americans were too dumb to make his products, another lie. We are still the only nation to put a man on the moon, we are plenty smart. What if we did this, what if we created the jobs here in high tech and then if after a year we cannot fill them, we opened up on immigration for those who were more qualified. Why is it that the tech companies are not proposing that?

The point of this post is aimed at Christians or those who believe they are such. Support loving and helping your neighbor and stop trying to excuse selfish behavior.