The New EconomyCopyright 2001 by Perry Jones Revised 2005
A million jobs and more are being lost each year overseas. Thousands of people each month are giving up hope of ever finding a job. This is a huge tragedy
effects of which have not yet even begun.
A million jobs lost are a million people out of work. It's a million people depending on an unemployment check to pay bills and feed their families. A million people out of work is a million children whose parents wonder how they are going to feed their children. A million jobs lost.
That's a lot of people wondering what to do next. That's a lot of people wondering if their next job is going to pay as well as their last job. A million jobs lost is a million people bewildered.
We are faced with a great challenge. But challenge we face in lost jobs is opposite viewpoint of what is really happening. No matter how politicians may rant about their opponents causing millions of jobs to go overseas, no matter how politicians may promise they will stem outflow of jobs to Mexico, China and India, no matter how many promises are made; outflow of jobs cannot be stopped. Nor should it be.
Jobs are flowing toward those areas where economics prove most effective for that job keeping cost of goods and services affordable for most people. Productivity gains in areas of job loss keeps inflation from rising. But these things are meaningless if you're one who has lost your job.
A great restructuring is upon us. It is painful and it is arduous. It is challenging. But it is also necessary. For those whose jobs have been lost things could hardly get any worse. But loss of jobs is a good thing. The loss of jobs to China and Vietnam, Mexico and Korea means increase of opportunity where those jobs were lost. It may not look like it if you're one holding that final paycheck and your heart begins to flutter in panic.
I know. I've been there.
Instead of looking at what we've lost, we must do hard thing and look at opportunity that has been presented to us. With some support from government in form of unemployment compensation, tuition loans and vouchers for adults and medical, life, vision and dental insurance for those thrown out of work, we can make it.
With these necessities provided, we can now set about ensuring that never again will we be at mercy of some corporation that doesn't really care about us anyway. By starting over again at 30, 40 or even 50 at some big corporation, we'd only be first to go at next economic downturn. There has to be a better way. And there is.
It will be hardest for adults. But I also know that as adults, we do whatever is necessary to get by - to put food on table for our children and families, to keep a roof over their heads and clothes on their backs. It will be hard. But it is doable. It is also necessary.
A new economy is upon us. The means of production are being handed back to individual by forces of evolution, science and progress. No person is doing this. No state is doing this. No religion is doing this. No ideology is doing this. Evolution, science and progress alone are presenting each of us with opportunity to grab a hold of our own economic future and be totally self responsible and totally self-sufficient.
