Free Trade Free Country

[Daveparts]

My Father used to be fond of saying “The right to swing your arm ends at my nose.” It was a very American thing to say, I embrace your freedom until it impacts me negatively. We tend to think of ourselves as a fair country, that fairness was a corner stone of our freedom. What was Superman’s motto Truth, Justice and the American way! And the greatest American value, the one we champion the most and work at the least is our Christian heritage! To the tune of for God and country our military men have marched for two hundred plus years.


What do we do then when these ideologies conflict? If say for instance I was selling bullets and Uncle Sam would pay me ten cents a bullet but the enemy would pay me thirteen cents a bullet. What? I’d be a what? How can you say that? Would you prefer the contract go to an overseas manufacturer? I mean after all their going to buy their bullets somewhere right? So, in this case nationalism trumps capitalism my arguments of employment and a full larder for my workers would fall on deaf ears. Fulfilling such a contract would bring about immense suffering on my countrymen and their families.


No system is perfect I once read a story about soviet light bulbs, while we in the west thought of everything the Soviets produced was of poor quality the story asserted the average life of these bulbs was five to ten years! The story went on to explain that it is easier to manufacturer a durable light bulb and that it took a great deal of finesse to make a crummy bulb that might not last a year. In the Soviet factory the job was just to produce light bulbs the easiest way. In the west it was to build a light bulb in such a way as to foster more light bulb sales. In a free country however you have many choices of light bulb suppliers but under capitalism it is follow the leader what one does they all do.


All right then, I will accept your definition of a traitor and will forgo selling bullets to the enemy. I am after all I’m a God fearing patriotic American just like you! I’ll buy a bullet factory in another impartial country and close my American plant. Now there, is every one happy now? Why are you mad at me? I’m just a businessman trying to feed my family and it’s a free country? And to my now unemployed workers I say the same thing, hey it’s a free country. In the new country I can produce bullets for a third of what it cost me in this country and sell them to friend and foe alike with a clear conscience.


In this country I had to pay Social Security, disability healthcare benefits plus retirement Gees what a pain in the butt. It was costing me six cents a bullet but now I’ve got that down to two cents a bullet, they say the country is horrible to look at with it’s grinding poverty and poor infrastructure but what do I care I still live in the good old US of A. Why are you looking at me like that? I’m giving them jobs! And paying good wages by local standards, some people are just never satisfied. I was making so much money I went back to Uncle Sam and explained I could now gladly sell him bullets for the required ten cents price. Do you know what they told me! What has happened to Capitalism in this country?


The military gives a preference to domestic manufacturers! I was outraged why this is America and my tax dollars pay for those bullets purchases! I went to see my Congressman; he explained the intricate ramifications of the program were to protect our ability to protect ourselves. I countered that in a global economy such notions are obsolete. After a long discussion and a large campaign contribution my Senator introduced The Military Defense Cost Relief Act why it will save the taxpayers millions the first year! God bless America!


Business is great! Sure, I get complaints from time to time about defective rounds, but the worlds not a perfect place and you have to understand that if you’ve never spent much time in school it can be difficult to explain the importance of accurate measurement of powder. Especially to people with a language barrier, it’s a good thing our soldiers have health insurance! What? What now? You’re just damn hard to please and besides you’re not even in this business so what do you know?


My wife’s been after me for a new car, she been complaining since we put the kids in private school. It’s a lot farther than it was to the public school and there is no bus but it’s worth it all the public schools have gone down hill for some reason. Business being so good I went out and bought her new Mercedes Benz, man it’s nice. Fine German craftsmanship they pay attention to details and give a damn. Not like the Fords and Chevy’s they used to build in this town, don’t get me wrong I loved the classic Chevelle’s and Mustang’s but the crap you get now is junk most of the parts are mainly manufactured in the third world and assembled in Mexico. Why even my Mexican yardman drives Japanese.

It’s sad to say but they brought it on themselves, they are paying for their mistakes. Why didn’t the big three relocate their plants overseas sooner? Sure they remain profitable in Europe where wage and price controls are the norm but in our free country they are done for! And I’m damn angry about it! In the sixties there were thirty thousand autoworkers in this state today eighteen hundred. They are walking my streets feeding their families off the food stamps I pay for! We’ve built a new jail twice the size of the old one and hired hundreds of new cops but I guess it’s just moral decay where did their parents go wrong? I think about it every night as I turn my security system on


Some times I just get disgusted the schools have gone to hell property taxes have gone up, crime and drugs are every where. Homeless people living under the bridges teenagers in street gangs. What’s happened to this country? Why don’t people have any pride in America? Why don’t they take care of their kids instead of letting them run the streets!
What can we do to stop this moral decline? I mean campaign contributions to Congressman can’t fix a moral problem can it!

[fasttense]

1. Wow Daveparts, that is one very interesting post.

It seems what goes around comes around. The rich businessmen who live in the US complain about schools, taxes, crime and yet they are indirectly the cause of it. A very interesting look into the ramifications of instant profits and greed motivated capitalism. Thanks for posting and welcome. :hi:

[mrcheerful]

2. Funny thing is I know of a business person that says these very same things

and for some odd reason that person thinks that if things get to bad in the state, they can move the business to another state and continue where they left off in their home state. It's unbelievable that businesses are cutting their own throats as well as the throats of their off spring for short term gains. Sure americans are consuming, but instead of using cash they use credit cards and are finding it harder and harder to pay for those credit cards. Answer to the problem second mortgage on their homes after all the housing bubble was at an all time high. Only now they are finding their homes being taken from them and more and more homes are now up for sell so the housing bubble is bursting. What is wrong with people today when they have this need to out do the neighbors on what they own? I remember growing up in the 60's and having a party line phone and a flush toilet were luxuries, you could call family plus you didn't freeze your butt off taking a trip to the out house in the winter, nor did you have to worry about bugs or snakes in the out house in the summer. It's like I went to bed after graduating high school and woke up the next day in a money hungry greedy unreality world, where a mans word was no longer valued but what he owned made him a valued member of society.

[Daveparts]

3. Destructionomics

It was said when Julius Cesar he came to power Rome was a city of brick and he left it a city of marble. When Ronald Reagan came to power Washington was a city of marble and he left it a city of brick and the entire business generation that followed only knows about wringing the sponge out they build nothing and see profit by doing the least as profiting best.