Leading Lives of Quiet Desperation ..

There was a sad story on “60 Minutes” about the employment plight of the citizens of Wilmington, Ohio.  Seems that the area’s biggest employer DHL, a company owned by Germany’s Deutsche Post, closed its doors and moved its operations off shore.  A little searching on the web reveals that the local trade unions and DHL were having running labor battles.  That fact coupled with the multi-whammy of additionally losing a reported $ 3 billion on its US operations and the failing American economy were probably the reasons that the company closed down.  The move to foreign shores has resulted in the loss to the local economy of thousands of jobs.  60 Minutes reported on the beginnings of all this a year ago … this was just an update.

The TV show featured several personal stories about the impact of all this on their plight and some of the other 10,000 local people who are now unemployed.  The people in the story, being good Americans, are trying to help one another; some are growing gardens; others are volunteering in the hospital; some are working the soup kitchens and some are doing social work.  Many of those who haven’t given up are diligently looking for work.  The show was a frightening piece.

But there is a far more serious specter on the horizon.  To date, most of the people in Wilmington are still receiving un-employment compensation, but that will run out very soon.  With their money gone, a large number of people are losing their homes to foreclosure.  The forecloses are, in turn, depressing real estate values, which is further depressing the local economy.  Schools and local government are cutting back on services because tax revenues have dropped precipitously.  The much vaunted Federal and State stimulus programs are ridiculously inadequate — some 100 jobs for the 10,000 unemployed.  And ominously, no one in the private sector is hiring.

What is the answer?  The same as always — jobs.  Any logical reflection would tell you that spending dollars taxed away from “somebody else” to pay for these people’s unemployment compensation is not going to cut it.  This time, nation wide, that “somebody else,” is in nearly as dire straits as the people in Wilmington.  This time there is no “Golden California” for the “Joads” to load up their truck and go to, as in the depression era novel, “Grapes of Wrath.”  California is bankrupt.  The big “robber barons,” the banks, insurance companies, the steel mills, the mines, the fabricators, the manufacturers, the lumber industry, the farms are all broke or nearly so.  Think about how many people you know that are just one or two paychecks away from their own bankruptcy.  It is apparent that this tragedy is just beginning.  The people of Wilmington have nowhere to go.  Soon no one else will have anywhere to go, either.

The people of Wilmington are service workers.  The service industry, lets face it, is parasitic; it depends upon other industries for sustenance.  Production of raw materials from the farms, fields, mines and forests, are now as always, the real engine of wealth.  Without the raw materials, nothing can be built, there is nothing to eat; nothing can move; there are no products for sale, there is nothing to cook, there is no heat and there is no money.  Without the basic industries, there is no need for any of the service jobs, no reason for accounting, or business, because there is nothing to look after.  By restraining these businesses, government meddling is killing the goose that laid the golden egg.  Farming has been greatly hindered, heavy industry has been all but eliminated, lumbering essentially stopped, mining is nearly at a standstill and the automobile industry crippled for nebulous governmental safety or environmental reasons.  Reason would tell us that government interference and regulation is not only eliminating these industries, but is, because of its actions, likewise attacking, be it indirectly, the service sector.

For someone outside looking in, the plight of the people of Wilmington is easily explained.  It is almost a cinch that DHL left because their expenses were too high.  Labor costs were probably the major expense and it is a good bet that the unions were asking (maybe striking) for more. (That part was left out of the story.)  DHL went where they could get along with labor, find a friendly atmosphere and control costs.  DHL not only left the anti-business climate of Wilmington, but that of the entire USA.  Wilmington is a typical American city that is situated in mid Ohio.  Ohio is not only in the breadbasket of, but is also in the industrial hub of the USA.  Nevertheless, Wilmington’s citizens are not in industry, they are service employees.  When there is no manufacturing or commerce, service employees are not needed, they are out of luck.

Ah, you think … they just need to start their own businesses.  Not possible!  For over a century now the unions and their allies, the Progressives and Socialists, have been lobbying very responsive local, state and federal politicians and governments to make sure that only licensed  “journeymen” can work at meaningful jobs.  It is probably against the law for you to do anything but menial work, regardless of your competence.  Consider — why would anyone who has money, risk it in a new enterprise when he reflects upon the confiscatory taxation that will be incurred or the absolute reams of government regulation to be complied with, not to mention the exposure to probable fiat edicts coming down endlessly from government?  What about possible criminal liability for infractions, either accidental or intended?

And make no mistake, what is happening is revolutionary and it is being orchestrated.    If you smugly think that you or the rich or anyone else will be protected from harm, you are wrong … all Americans are in this together and none will be immune from the consequences.

What remains to be seen is … will the American people suffer the injury …  or react like wounded lions or … will they just cower and continue … leading lives of quiet desperation?