This section explains some of the misconceptions about economics and where our country is economically. The work that we will do in Energy, Transportation, upgrading existing structures, and eventually colonizing space will fix the Texas' economy.
I hope we shall crush in its birth, the aristocracy of monied Corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as from which they draw their gains
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them
-Thomas Jefferson
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King Jr
Our Right-Wing Radio Talk-Show Propagandists would have us believe that Big Business is the best thing for America, that a man can set up a monopoly and then claim "free market" when he sets his wage. They would have us believe that Upper-Level management deserves to make over 1000 times what the average worker makes in their prospective companies, and that's "just good business". They also say, that "We have the highest standard of living" and "The best quality Health Care system" in the world. We know by now. that we are ranked 37th in Health Care quality, here are some reports on "standard of living";
Maps of the World
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-quality-of-life-map.html
Rank (2008) Quality of Life
1) Iceland
2) Norway
3) Australia
4) Canada
5) Ireland
6) Sweden
7) Switzerland
8) Japan
9) Netherlands
10) France
skeptically.org
http://skeptically.org/economics/id21.html
STANDARD OF LIVING WORLD STATS, the revealing measurement
The U.S. ranks 4th in GDP, yet it is 92nd in distribution of wealth - UN measurement. In other words the top 5% live the best of all nations, and the bottom 25% live worse than in countries such as Greece. This disparity explains why the U.S. with the most expensive medical system is counted as 37th as to quality of care by the World Health Organization. Instead of addressing this disparity, both parties have been handing out tax breaks to the top 5% and corporations. Without election-founding reform, we can expect this trend to continue. WAKE UP AMERICAN PEOPLE—the politicians are serving BIG BUSINESS!
suite101.com
http://www.suite101.com/reference/nations_with_highest_living_standards
Ten Richest Countries (based on 2004 GNP per capita in US$)
Luxembourg ... $56,380
Norway ... $51,810
Switzerland ... $49,600
United States ... $41,440
Denmark ... $40,750
Iceland ... $37,920
Japan ... $37,050
Sweden ... $35,840
Ireland ... $34,310
United Kingdom ... $33,630
Read more: http://internationaltrade.suite101.com/article.cfm/world_s_richest_countries#ixzz0VzyztW0L
Daily Markets
http://www.dailymarkets.com/economy/2009/08/12/although-americans-enjoy-one-of-the-worlds-highest-standards-of-living-they-are-also-the-largest-debtors/
Today, the official U.S. Treasury debt stands at a shocking $13 trillion, or 100 percent of the (declining) total wealth created in the United States each year (GDP). But total federal debt amounts to an almost unimaginable $56 trillion, or 4.3 times GDP.
America still has the largest economy in the world, but that doesn't mean that it is the richest. Although Americans enjoy one of the world’s highest standards of living, they are also its largest debtors. As a result of the debt, which is subtracted from output, the worldwide rank of U.S. GDP is not first, as most would expect, but fifteenth!
Okay, so they are just trying to prove a point by lying, then again, maybe they don't know any better and they just assume. But if they are presenting opinion as fact, why does anyone listen to them. Are false assumptions and blind patriotic opinion, news?
The only thing that truly has value, is the labor of a man. Labor was not created to make money, money was created to keep track of labor. Any work which produces a useful, desired outcome, has an intrinsic value. Taking the value from Labor and putting it on money (which is basically under-wear scraps), is an abuse of the system.
Letting a national or global corporation move into a community that it is not based in, decreases that communities economics. The basic pretense to a positive economy is more money coming in then going out. If Wal-Mart is headquartered in Arkansas, then every community it has a store in is sending money to Arkansas. The goods coming in are cheap and so is the pay for the workers, add to that the "Mom & Pop" stores that such chains put out of business, and there is no way to generate a positive economic model. Sure their prices are cheaper, but the money you save is offset by loss of local businesses and drop in wages, which used to be set by the local economy.
No "Mom & Pop" local business pays their top managers $350 mil/year, but Exxon does. Sure, start talking Profit Margins, Tax Expenditures, Investment Costs and you can make it seem that "poor old" Exxon is barely hanging on. I guess that explains why they made more profit in 2005 than all but 14 countries GNP, and by 2008, the most profit EVER made by a company.
In America we hear about Free Trade, but unlike the rest of the world, we don't hear about Fair Trade. That is something poor countries have been trying to get instituted for several years now. Fair trade means that if America pays its worker $20/hour for a particular job, then when they get that same job done in say, China, they pay them $20/hour, or at least its equivalent. If that were true, we would still have a large manufacturing base in this country.
I do not have all the answers, but big surprise, no one else to even have a clue, just look how we bankrupted the world twice in 70 years. But I do know, that if we use local workers for local jobs from local materials when possible and pay based on the labor that is done, we will have a much better system than the present one.
If a Man don't work, a Man don't eat, but, a Man should make his money from his own labor, not off the back and from the sweat of another Man!
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