By Marc Cuniberti
Obama continually spouts about how one of his top priorities is jobs, jobs, jobs. With one half-baked program after another aimed at creating make work instead of just letting business do what it does without excessive regulation or taxes, he burns through billions of hard-earned dollars trying to bandaid over the problem, while the solution sits right under his nose and he is told as much through repeated outcries from business leaders “Leave us alone!"
In true misguided form, Obama believes, as do many politicians on both sides of the aisle, that successful businesses need to have their profits garnered and “redistributed” to those companies that make bad decisions with even more stolen and given to those “eligible" workers who sit at home and collect benefits for almost 2 years while “looking” for work.
Jobs are created through demand, and, much like Henry Ford exhibited in his assembly line revolution, produce a good product cheaply, pay your workers fairly and the workers themselves will fuel demand with their paychecks. Unmolested by government interference and minimally taxed, his company went on to become one of the largest companies in the world, successfully employing tens of thousands of workers, most if not all of whom were more than thrilled to be employed and happy being able to afford to feed their families and buy other great American products.
Enter the “world improvers" crying for worker equality, minimum wages, child care, health insurance and all the things Ford's original workers could probably afford to buy on their own anyway, join them up with meddlers looking for pet peeves to settle and within a few decades, American business is so loaded with “improvement” costs it can no longer compete with foreign countries who, like America did way back when, just want jobs so their people can feed themselves.
Bogged down in costs, American businesses sought greener (and cheaper) pastures elsewhere, and the mass exodus to offshore jobs began. In the late '90s, with the writing on the wall begging to be read, Washington and the Federal Reserve thought we could replace good old manufacturing with an asset-based economy, where profits were no longer obtained by making and selling things but by banks shuttling money around balance sheets while force feeding Americans easy credit thereby enhancing the illusion.
Like all good fiction, however, it came to an end when reality once again bled through the canvas illustrating the flawed model America’s economy had become.
Not willing to give up the fight however, more regulation and more taxes are loaded into the “improvers” armament and hurled over the American business landscape while those below hunker down to take cover, not willing to venture out with more commitment let alone more hiring under such profit-destroying bombardment.
Those in power scratch their heads and wonder where everybody went, then rain down ever more costs in an attempt to drive out jobs in a landscape littered with dead and vacated businesses, casualties of the last volley.
Nothing beats a good fiction novel except maybe a good comedy, and true to form, the heads of the asylum never lack for completing the task. (Keep reading!)
Founded in America in 1878, General Electric is a multinational corporation offering a multitude of products and services. It filed over 7000 income tax returns last year, more than a good portion of those from its overseas operations. Incredibly, however, in 2010 it paid NO U.S. INCOME TAX with the obvious blessing of the current administration.
Does GE outsource some of its manufacturing?
Does the sun rise at dawn?
With more than half of GE’s revenues now coming from overseas, you could say it employs a few less Americans since the day it turned on its first light bulb. In fact, just last month it closed its last light bulb plant in the US to export those jobs overseas as well.
GE made over 10.8 billion dollars from its overseas operations alone, and employs literally tens of thousands of workers in over a hundred countries, the very same jobs Obama is using your money to try and create.
Who is in control of this behemoth and guides these decisions?
His name is Jeffrey Immelt (GE CEO) and he obviously has a lot to say about GE’s outsourcing and corporate tax liabilities. But don’t think his influence ends at the doorsteps of GE headquarters.
In January 2011, he was appointed by President Obama to lead the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Marc Cuniberti hosts the financial radio show “Money Matters” on KVMR FM 89.5 and 105.1 or www.kvmr.org
Website www.moneymanagementradio.com
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