(03-10-2013 06:00 PM)firmbizzle Wrote:  The private sectors only job is to make money for its investors regardless of ethics.

That's no more true than the statement that the only job of government bureaucrats is to f*** over citizens with no regard to ethics. Assuming that one group is more likely to act unethically than the other is simply absurd.

Quote:Imagine if the NFL changed their rules so that the winner of the Super Bowl each year got to create the rules. Baltimore would change the draft order, the way free agency works, and the way the schedule works. Teams like Kansaa City, Jacksonville, St. Louis would fall further and further behind to a point where they could never catch up. This is what is happening in America.

What is happening in America is that those who can make their money overseas are doing so, and those who can't aren't. Chasing more investment overseas makes the problem worse, not better.

(03-10-2013 05:58 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(03-10-2013 05:53 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  I don't know how anyone can be excited right now. What exactly is the US producing? I don't see "Made in America" on my store shelves. Aight, Cabelas, Walmart, and Target hired fresh employees whoopty doo.

This is the problem. We've become a retail/service economy, and retail/service economies don't include the jobs necessary to support a middle class. And we can't "redistribute" our way to a solution.

Value-added activity will continue to move overseas. Wealth will become increasingly concentrated in the few individuals and corporations who can move their assets overseas. The middle class will continue to fade away. And the actions that Obama has proposed--all of them--will only make these trends worse.

Absolutely... The only real middle class jobs being created these days are in natural resources and/or subcontracting jobs dealing w/ those jobs.

(03-10-2013 06:15 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(03-10-2013 06:00 PM)firmbizzle Wrote:  Imagine if the NFL changed their rules so that the winner of the Super Bowl each year got to create the rules. Baltimore would change the draft order, the way free agency works, and the way the schedule works. Teams like Kansaa City, Jacksonville, St. Louis would fall further and further behind to a point where they could never catch up. This is what is happening in America.

What is happening in America is that those who can make their money overseas are doing so, and those who can't aren't. Chasing more investment overseas makes the problem worse, not better.

Beyond this the simple fact is that the NFL analogy is like the Government competing with the private sector in area like Healthcare... They can write the rules to burden private companies more than the govt and the point out how much more "efficient" the gov't is.

The Government is the ultimate example of an entity that can rewrite the rules to their advantage. Hell in Minnesota they want to force every in home day care (someone watching one or two kids) to be a part of a government union.

Just think where the economy would be without the Bakken and fracking. Heck, those two things might account for MORE than the total growth we've seen in the economy. They certainly account for more than 100% of the increase in domestic energy production. And Obama and the left are opposed to both of them.

(03-10-2013 04:53 PM)firmbizzle Wrote:  

(03-10-2013 03:02 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  I still don't know what part of the U.S. Constitution mandates redistribution of income.

For the good of the people capitalism must be checked, otherwise you end up with lead in your milk and rat feces in your burgers. Very similar to the salary cap in professional sports.

Damn...just Damn. Never mind that government is the largest polluter.

(03-10-2013 05:58 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(03-10-2013 05:53 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  I don't know how anyone can be excited right now. What exactly is the US producing? I don't see "Made in America" on my store shelves. Aight, Cabelas, Walmart, and Target hired fresh employees whoopty doo.

This is the problem. We've become a retail/service economy, and retail/service economies don't include the jobs necessary to support a middle class. And we can't "redistribute" our way to a solution.

Value-added activity will continue to move overseas. Wealth will become increasingly concentrated in the few individuals and corporations who can move their assets overseas. The middle class will continue to fade away. And the actions that Obama has proposed--all of them--will only make these trends worse.

I believe the Kiplinger Letter addressed the service economy factor a couple weeks ago. They said it was about 70% of the US economy right now.

Folks, manufacturing is DOA in America. Look to EU, LAC, and APAC for that sector. That is what Owl69 primarily means by "value-added activity". However even many many service oriented jobs are leaving the USA as well.

I work at FedEx Express WHQ in a department that focuses on international shipment solutions. International shipping, especially into and out of Asia, is where the FedEx bread and butter is. Someone has to transport widgets INTERNATIONALLY from point A to point B; our collective objective is to make damn sure FedEx gets its share of the express transport business. We don't really care if the origin is Dallas or Dubai or Dusseldorf or the destination is China, Colombia, or Canada. FedEx = service industry.

(03-10-2013 04:53 PM)firmbizzle Wrote:  

(03-10-2013 03:02 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  I still don't know what part of the U.S. Constitution mandates redistribution of income.

For the good of the people capitalism must be checked, otherwise you end up with lead in your milk and rat feces in your burgers. Very similar to the salary cap in professional sports.

Maybe, but someone needs to check the checkers.