Every worker is at risk...Part Two

This transformation of the American workforce is very visible
on the  "earning side", but little is said about the "spending side",
equally important and needs to be examined too.

Today's deflated wages make it more difficult to buy what our
parents purchased, essentials such as housing, insurance, taxes,
education, health care and transportation, and often requiring
two incomes!

Only electronic equipment is more affordable, due to technological
advances, convincing us we "never had it so good". Everything else
places a heavier burden than decades earlier.

How did the most prosperous country in history, with its richest
citizens having the wealth of kings allow the majority of its citizens
to struggle rather than thrive?

We cannot begin to restore a robust  and more productive labor
force until we understand the cause.

The degradation of the American workforce occurred due to failure
of government, institutions, self-serving capitalism, and even the
people themselves.  

Government:
Its easy to point to greedy corporations politicians are quick to blame,
but corporations don't make 'the rules', the laws and regulations.
Only government can do this!

Begin with the tax code, constructed in isolation, without regard for
the 'global economy' we have been told is essential for a growing
economy.

How can the US be serious about competing when the corporate tax
rate is thirty-nine percent, 60% higher than the twenty-two percent
average rate found around the world?

If there is a desire to be globally competitive, it is  difficult to find
among the politicians who have yet to offer legislation to reduce it!

Competing in a 'world economy' cannot be done with this disadvantage,
giving businesses little choice but manufacture offshore, paying workers
less or do both.

For any government which desires to be globally competitive to
impose a much higher tax rate on businesses does not make sense.

Now add federal regulations and legislation that increase the cost
businesses must bare,  leaving little choice but to pass them on to
their customers.

Both are burdensome drivers that have raised the cost of housing,
health care, insurance and education all essentials to every family.

One example; the average cost of regulation on new homes is $85,000,
and the reason why so many couples need two incomes to afford one,
unlike decades earlier when one income could.

Laws and regulations also burden states and towns, increasing local costs
that drive up in state taxes om business and citizens.

Institutions:
Generally, an institutions is any organization which is self-serving. And the
most powerful ones influence government for their benefit even at the expense
of other institutions.

An example would be the renewal energy 'institution' which has successful
lobbied government to overburden oil and coal industries driving up their costs,
forcing them to cut jobs.

The US Chamber of Commerce qualifies as it lobbies government to pass
trade deals that better is members but always American workers.

Even education is an institution that in recent decades has had political desires
rather than preparing student for careers.

There is an opinion education has morphed from a vocation to just another
'industry' driver like any other, to grow, a tentacle of government with priority
given to federal mandates not on providing the best education for its students.

We already know both IT and health care industries cannot meet the demand
for technicians and medical practitioners. What we don't know is why education
has not addressed the shortage so foreign workers would not be needed?

As long as this is not addressed we will continue to 'import' workers rather
than educate our students for better paying jobs.

Capitalism:

The drive to grow business blinds corporations to bring down costs without
seeing the problems created 

These are drivers that influence government and business. They wield the
power the citizen does not have. Consider the high cost of higher education
driving many families into debt beyond any reason.

Rare do we hear criticism of the body which caused this transformation,
our government.

The failures of higher education to developer health care and technical
professionals to meet the demand of these industries have forced us
to look to other nations.

Government taxes on businesses is a contributing factor to all the above.

One last point which needs to be mentioned, this transformation has also
impacted Social Security too.

First, these laid off workers and their former employers no longer paid
the payroll tax, eliminating billions in contributions. Also, 70% of  retirees
now take their benefits at 62. Three decades earlier before the
transformation his number was reversed, 70% eligible for benefits took
their benefits at 65. This reversal drained the system of tens of billions
three years earlier and necessitated the Social Security Administration
to continue to increase the threshold for income, now up to $127,000
and raise the contribution to 15%, half paid by worker, half  by employer!









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