IF IT AIN'T BROKE....
You, of course, know the full text: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I don't know who first compounded that bit of ethnic advice. It is heard in a varied group of linguistic patterns and it makes good common sense in most cases. I qualify it with "most" because I feel there are times when you can fix a malfunctioning gizmo just before you know it is going to conk out and save yourself a lot of effort, worry, care and cash.
I have found it helpful to think of that old grammar-killin' adage when contemplating the state of our economy.
It helps explain the how, why and wherefore of the obvious fact that you economy seems to be suffering from a case of overseas emigration many of ourjobs. We keep demanding that our political craftsmen "fix" the problem, and it is becoming increasingly evident day-by-day that most of them have not the slightest of how to go about starting to do anything meaningful about the problem.
To make it still more complicated, many of the trained and experienced economists, not so common among us , tell us we should not be worrying about "our jobs going overseas" suggestions. It is the fancy term they use they say jobs migrate to other countries where the demands of labor are are not quite so heavy. They insist it is the natural thing for our jobs to migrate to other counties where labor is less demanding and the product can be manufactured better with less cost involved.
The vast majority of the voices I hear among workers and used-to-be workers speak rather sharply of the departure of American jobs for overseas sites. They object loudly to all that has happened . They speak out rather strongly against firms which have have moved production to Mexico, Thialand, Tiawan, South Korea, Latin America,Asia,and to China, in particular. They refuse to hear any contention that the movement might be a good thing rather than a bad one. They think it can be fixed by stretching some of the existing laws which encumber the plethora of such already in the books and already resident in Washinggnton, D.C.
They refuse to accept the idea that our economy, while badly bent in recent years, is not "broken." Ask anyone who was deeply associated with the era called The Great Depression and their feeling might well serve as a valuable norm in deciding the actual condition of our present day economy as it steadily improves. It is not dying or defunct as some critics would have us believe.
We work, play, live and die within economic systems. We always have and always will. Certainly many of the older members of the complaint corps are old enough to remember when we lived in what we now call a "Local" economy. The farmer raised the foods and city folks put together the gizmo, do-dads and gadgets they could sell to rural citizens and pass back and forth among themselves through local markets. Those centers for the exchange of goods were locally owned and operated and they served us well.
When they grew too large or cumbersome to work to the max, they changed to larger Area District or State markets. The change was gradual but after it caught on and covered larger areas, jobs changed as well. Local markets had to start advertising and reaching out to get new customers. Suddenly the area was larger in which people worked, lived, borrowed from and conned from each other. The things they sold had to be transpired longer distances by rail or truck. Exclusive markets such as those for Tobacco, Hogs, Cattle, Produce, came into being with many changes in the nature of jobs. Series of stores were set up throughout the area to meet increased demand.
With continued growth in the transportation fields and - particularly during several major wars when urgency made such changes more acceptable. We lived for a time in a crisis economy, and found ourselves to be world citizen involved a living in a world-wide marketing system. Now, in this World Market economic system, the farmer, the craftsmen, the craftsmen, artisans and others engaged in the making of products are re-cast in severely modified roles. Such work is now being done mainly in those areas where it can be done at less expense, faster and better. There are political, social, ethnic and other problems manifestations aplenty because the potential number of doers varies in different sections of the world as we work to sell the things we market to each other. Many prove to be recipients of better jobs where political and social adjustments are solved.
That which has been pending has already taken place to a large extent. We are now living and working within a World Economy. It is a natural, normal, continuing time of change and readjustment. My mother had a relative who operated a store Aspenwall, Pennsylvania years ago buying and selling local produce and manufactured goods an selling them to natives. There, in that Pittsburgh area, he had one supplier who called weekly to restock supplies of his bottled pickles on the shelves Â? a young man named Heinz Â? one name which remains among the many that made it all the way from Local, to State, to National and, now, into the World Economy.
It's here. We are part of it - like it or not. Go with it.
A.L.M. July 2, 2004 [c920wds]
