It seems that no one wants to focus on why all these problems
are happening, other than laziness and a temporary overabundance
of everything. U.S. manufacturing has been punished from every
sector of our nation and culture. Rampant technophobia has infected
both common discourse and education. Saying that it's their own fault
doesn't cut it. Manufacturing doesn't exactly attract the best and
brightest these days. It's just not nice.
The most immediate problem is rampant lawyering. These folks are
eating our country alive. Insurance companies simply exist now as
a money supply for lawyers. Does any parent brag, "Well my son/daughter
is going to work in a factory."? I don't think so. But you're sure
as hell going to hear, "My daughter Martha is in her second year of
law school."
I own a 50 employee factory. It's not much in the grand scheme of things,
but it provides a living for my emloyees and their families. Furthermore,
if we are to believe the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, each
manufacturing job creates 4.8 other jobs, in the form of shipping, services,
rents, equipment, repairs, ect. That's getting to be quite a few people. And,
incidentally, there are no minimum wage jobs in my factory. I don't
want anybody who's only worth minimum wage.
Moreover, I export more than half of what I make, mostly to India and China.
Yep, that's right folks, I export manufactured goods to India and China.
How can I do that? Simple, because I want to. What's my reward? To have
my taxes raised, to be subject to ever more ludicrous Alice in Wonderland
regulations, to be sued practically out of business, and to have my
export tax credit removed. These things are mostly survivable, except the
constant, viscious, lying, frivolous, groundless lawsuits.
If you wonder why all the technical degrees seem to be going to foreigners,
I'll tell you. It's not just a failure of our educational system, although
that's a symptom. After all the foreigners getting all this technical
education are getting it in our schools. It's a matter of motivation. Why
should a smart young man or woman go into science or other technical field
when the rewards in the U.S. are small and the downside is large?
In my own tiny corner of the manufacturing universe, I have often hired
engineers for something other than their field of expertise, because
they just couldn't find a job that fit their education. At one time I
had two chemical engineers and mechanical engineer working in my Q.C.
department. I couldn't afford to pay them what they were worth, or at
least what I thought they were worth. Guess what they did. They each
left and went to law school. Can you spell "waste of human capital"?
Over the last few years, as I have talked to various employees about their
families, the subject of their childrens' education inevitably comes up.
And when I inquire, "Hey, Bob, what's happening to your daughter Jane
now that she's out of high school?" Bob will stare at his shoes for a
minute, knowing my feelings on the subject and mumble, "Uh, she's, uh,
going to law school." The names are made up, of course, but this covers
virtually all my employees who have children. I'm certain one of the
little darlings will grow up to sue me for something.
The fact is this. No one can figure out anything else to do with their
children but send them to [EMAIL PROTECTED]&!% law school.
Now if you happen to think my story here is unique, think again. I know
personally numerous manufacturers who simply had to close their doors
because of lawsuits. And it isn't just the amount of money involved for
legal fees, which in my case has amounted to millions, millions that could
have gone into R and D, or could have been used for capital equipment,
thereby creating even more jobs. No its not that. It's the distraction.
You just can't think straight when you're wondering if some idiot
judge, or collection of half-wits constituting a jury is going to award
somebody your net worth, forcing you, therefore, to close your (evil)
factory. Get this folks, what's happening to my company on a small
scale is happening to the U.S. on a large scale.
We had a chance back when Bill was president. Congress passed a pretty
fair tort reform law. But Bill, in his infinite wisdom, vetoed it, because
the Trial Lawyers Association were his biggest campaign contributors, and
because he and his lovely wife are......lawyers.
I recently took a business trip to India. It is a land of astonishing
contrasts. Evidence of its rate of transformation is breathtaking. But the
main thing I noticed was the robust, boistrous optimism about the growth of
manufacturing. They actually like the idea, unlike here.
I know it ain't gonna happen, but tort reform would go a long way to
economic salvation of this nation. There's hardly any chance of it when
the entire line-up of Democratic presidential hopefuls are lawyers and
many of the Republicans as well. Of course, only Breck Boy (Edwards) is
of the truly destructive ambulance chasing variety. Fred Thompson of
the Republicans isn't a lawyer, but hey, he plays one on TV.
M.
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