hokiewolf said:
caryking said:
hokiewolf said:
caryking said:
Marco, MAGA is a simple term that says… we believe in America First. I certainly hope, through all your rhetoric, you feel the same way.
If you don't think politicians should create bills with an America First ideology, then, who should be first?
what if putting America first in a bill actually ends up hurting the US? IE are you ok with the Biden Administration trying to expand buy American First clauses into federal construction contracts? Are you good with union lobbied provisions in those same contracts?
Hokie, I don't know of these expansion in construction contracts…. That said, yes, I'm ok with the above. As long as we have an administration that yields to unions, then, it is what it is.
I'm not opposed to union negotiations; rather, I'm opposed at some of the provisions. Unions were created to protect employees from dangers put in by greedy management or owners.
Now, are unions needed in todays OSHA world, for safety? No, I don't think so. So, what is the purpose of a Union today? I'm not sure!
Going back to the beginning… as long as we have an administration that's union friendly… like I said, it is what it is… we should vote differently if we don't believe in unions.
I don't want to make this out to be a gotcha post, because it's not. But the new rules introduce more materials to the Buy American clause without taking into consideration the ability for America to produce those products at this time. The capacity to manufacture to meet the new rules isn't there and potentially won't be there for years.
To me, these types of rules that are created by the government are there for the government and not the free market to pick the winners and losers. This is just one example of where this occurs. The other is applying tariffs to oversees raw materials so that US materials makers can compete. The Jones Act is the most egregious offender.
I think there is a lot of nostalgia of how America used to compete in manufacturing, and in some respect I agree that it is important to have manufacturing capabilities within the United States. However, I don't believe it should be up to the Federal Government to use it's power to force this change because it arbitrarily inflates the costs of the materials or goods that are under such protection. It also eliminates all need for innovation within that sector.
I would much rather have the free market determine the winners and losers and the private sector use innovation to help push manufacturing marker sectors back into the US.
Hokie, I think we agree on this in normal times. The government, along with Wall Street, created these supply chain issues. We outsourced our economy and the Uber Rich got richer, while middle-class America got screwed!
For me, this is not nostalgia; rather, it's a righting of the ship. So, yes… we agree that when government engineers the economy, we get disastrous results; however, unfortunately, we need to correct the errors of our way, in order to push us back to a normal situation.
BTW, you and I spoke about this, at lunch, and you heard me agree with you in philosophy…. Also, you heard me say the same thing I'm saying here. So, this is one of the main reasons I support Trump. He knows this about the structural side of the economy and will (I hope) continue his actions, until we correct things.
Free market is always the best solution. Unfortunately, we haven't had one in 30 years. At the same time, we lost the fabric of the USA. I use the following example when I discuss this issue:
My daughter graduated from High Point University. The campus is absolute gorgeous! When you drive a mile away from campus, you see factories shut down, people sitting on their front porch, not working. The so-called free market or organized destruction created that mess. These people (in general) would rather be working than sitting on their front porch. Government and Wall Street let these people down! Now, we have to pay for it in safety net programs because we don't have skilled labor jobs anymore.
Not everybody desires to work in an office. Some people really enjoy working with their hands and want to work those jobs (that we don't have anymore).
On the illegal or criminal immigrants…
“they built the country, the reason our economy is growing”
Joe Biden