The New Excellence: Made in USA
I'm so concerned about the decline of the United States that I've decided to devote a significant portion of my time and money to convince business, government and the American people that it is possible to act ethically, make goods in the United States and improve our education system.
Why? Because we cannot dig out from the deep hole of our fast-growing deficit by cutting spending. The U.S. deficit this year will exceed $1 TRILLION dollars. We cannot cut spending by that much and we certainly cannot raise taxes by that much. The answer is to increase the tax base. We increase the tax base by creating jobs that pay a taxable wage.
I am worried about the shrinking middle class real income. I am worried about the growing gap between the "haves" and "have nots". I am worried about an unemployment rate that will remain high for years unless we create jobs. I am worried about the abysmal performance of our education system. I am worried about American's reliance on the government for solutions to problems that the we, the people, do not have the national will to solve.
But mostly, more than anything else, I am worried about the decline of ethics and rise of greed. Companies move manufacturing to China because it's an easy solution to making more profit for shareholders. Shareholders. Frankly, I think it's wrong to move a manufacturing operation to China for the sake of cheap labor.
I believe this for two reasons. One. China is not our friend. I would not wish to live under control of the government of China for a second. China has a big appetite and grand ambitions. China is our biggest competitor and they are doing a masterful job of beating us economically.
Second. I believe it's short-sighted to move manufacturing abroad in search of cheap labor. When the auto worker losses his job, you lose a customer. I am sick of people blaming labor for all of our economic woes. This country enjoyed its greatest periods of prosperity when the American worker thrived.
This site is going to start a wave of change. Let's collect ideas and conduct civil discussions about how we can rebuild our manufacturing base and improve our social service systems such as health care and education. We all can do a better job. This isn't the place to blame. I don't want to hear about how bad a particular political party is and I don't want to hear defense for failed systems like our schools. I only want to hear how to make things better. We can fix this country if we work together. Let's pursue the new Excellence: Made in USA.
—Chris Reich
Why Do This?I believe the decline in ethical thinking has contributed to the decline of our country. CEOs take huge bonuses and move entire factories to China to 'cut costs'. Our politicians accept millions of dollars from foreign lobyists. Policemen lie. Food producers poison us. Employees steal. Citizens abuse unemployment and other social service benefits and boast about it. Ethics have indeed collapsed. Studies indicate that simply talking about right and wrong improves behavior. Hopefully we can start a conversation that will bring ethics back to our country. | Consider This Before You Buy that "Made in China" Item What you paid in Medicare taxes shows up on your W-2 income tax form every year. So when you retire, you want your money's worth. A newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn't come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as retirees. Medicare covers 46 million seniors and disabled people now. When the last of the boomers reaches age 65 in about 20 years, Medicare will be covering more than 80 million people. At the same time, the ratio of workers paying taxes to support the program will have plunged from 3.5 for each person receiving benefits currently, to 2.3. (Source: By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Associated Press – Fri Dec 31, 3:59 am ET) U.S. Continues to Fall in Education Ranking WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States has fallen from top of the class to average in world education rankings, said a report Tuesday that warned of US economic losses from the trend. The three-yearly OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world, ranked the United States 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics. In Canada, 15-year-olds are more than one school year ahead of their US peers in math and more than half a school year ahead in reading and science, said the report released hours after President Barack Obama urged Americans not to rein in education spending, even in a tough economy. The OECD report also noted that investment in education is paid back many times over. Boosting US scores for reading, math and science by 25 points over the next 20 years would result in a gain of 41 trillion dollars for the United States economy over the lifetime of the generation born in 2010, the OECD said. "Bringing the United States up to the average performance of Finland, the best-performing education system among OECD countries, could result in gains in the order of 103 trillion dollars," said the report. "This is not to say that efforts should not be directed towards mitigating the short-term effects of the economic recession, but it is to say that long-term issues should not be neglected," it said. The first step towards helping the United States climb back up the education rankings to the top of the class would be to convince Americans "to make the choices needed to show that (they) value education more than other areas of national interest," the report said. Currently, 18 percent of US 15-year-olds do not reach an OECD-set level of reading proficiency, compared to 10 percent in China-Shanghai and Hong Kong, which are compared with countries because of the size of their populations, said the report. The United States has also fallen behind in the percentage of 15-year-olds who are enrolled in school, ranking third from bottom of the OECD countries, above only Mexico and Turkey. Only eight OECD countries have a lower high school graduation rate than the United States, and in college education, the United States slipped from second to 13th between 1995 and 2008 -- not because US college graduation rates declined, but because they rose so much faster in other OECD countries. "These developments will be amplified over the coming decades as countries such as China and India raise their educational output at an ever-increasing pace," the report said, stressing the need for Americans to invest in education. |
Make Your Product in the USA? If Your Business Makes a Product in the U.S., I'd like to hear about it. Your business could be prominently featured on this site at no charge. Wonder why gas prices |
Chris Reich, The Ethics Project
Innisfree Ranch
Questions? Contact: Chris@InnisfreeRanch.com