BUY AMERICAN?

 There was a time when people could exclaim "Buy American!" and mean it.  They could back up WHY you should buy American with good reasons. The Big Three Automotive producers for example, back in the day buying American meant, you were buying safe quality vehicles.  Now?  Check the ratings for yourself.  You'll be lucky to find one vehicle produced by any of the big three on any list for safety, quality or value.  "Buy American!"  you'll secure American jobs!  Ummm...no.  In the past yes!  Shoot in the past a person could steal TWO complete transmissions and the union had your back.  Not only would they get your job back but they'd get you back pay as well.  Now try and explain that you were taking your wife who was having a heart attack to the emergency room and called as soon as you could, you'll get punished for calling in an hour to late!  Now some of you might be shocked that a person would get punished for taking his wife who is having a heart attack to the hospital and not stopping to call in and tell them he wouldn't be there on time.  Understandable if you ask me.  Some others might be thinking "Well you get hired to fill a certain position.  If you aren't there then there's nobody to fill in your position."  You've got to see both sides right?  Then why is the punishment being humiliatingly escorted out of the building and getting two weeks off without pay?  Not hurting to bad to fill that position then are they?  Okay, I understand, they need time to fill in that position.  Maybe if they didn't run a skeleton crew...no wait a minute...they DO have people who's job is specifically to fill in for people who aren't there...soooo???  But what bother's me more is, what happened to the days when employers actually cared about their employees?  Think about it, that's when our big three were on top.  That's when America period was on top!  Why people wanted to come here- To live the American dream.  Right?  Now let's look back to the infamous "Buy outs".  First of all I'm sure the rest of you were as dumbfounded as I was (Or maybe not? ) when these CEO's showed up in DC in their private jets wearing clothes that were too expensive for even our congress men and women to afford to ask for money to stay afloat.  Might be why our government  decided they needed to get into that business?  I don't know but there they were and then when asked where they saw their company in I believe it was 5 maybe 10 years?  Hint:  Firmly established here in the great US of A providing thousands of well paying jobs for Americans, the American's who are essentially footing the bill for the buy out they were asking for.  But was that their answer?  No.  They stood there and admitted they had no intention to be based here in the United States in that time!  WHAT?!  And they got the buy out!  I'm not sure which is crazier? In the meantime, companies who yes, came from other countries like Japan for instance, were building their factories here, employing American's at a descent day's wages AND promising them job security EVEN if they have to close American plants.  I'm confused.  Who is the bad guy here?

I remember the days when companies hired family men because family men were reliable.  Now they look for people who are willing to be married to their job.  Who will work 6 or even 7 days a week for months on end without complaint even when there's no obviously good reason.  I remember when my Dad worked for a factory here in my hometown and the company celebrated the family and held "family day" at an amusement park where they not only footed the bill for us all to get in (and we kids could even take a friend) but they fed us as well!  I remember not even that long ago when factories opened their doors for employees to bring their family members in to see where they worked, they wanted them to be proud of where they worked!  Now they seem to make sure there is a division between workers and management, and I've not heard one single worker tell me different.  Why?  Wouldn't they be more profitable if they were all working for the same team?  Oh no, let's look back again to the great buy outs.  Did you know that during that time , knowing their stock was worth very little, meaning it cost very little, the factories forbid the workers from purchasing stock in the companies they worked for. Now again, maybe I'm wrong but couldn't their workers have saved their butts? Not only that but that would have given them greater incentive to see the company grow would it not?  Given them a bit more to survive on in their retirement?  But instead they wanted all tax payers to pay for them to survive long enough to establish themselves elsewhere. 

Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean to sound ungrateful for all the people these companies do employ (Even if they do live under threats of losing their jobs to Mexico...the jokes on the companies...all the people in Mexico are coming into the United States!  But that's a different story)  Yes, our country would be hurting if these companies were to move elsewhere.  The thing is, there comes a time when the spoiled child needs spanked, or at least a good time out.  And they need to step back and ask themselves, if they take away the American Jobs, who then will buy their products?  Afterall we are second in line as far as purchasing their products by quite a bit.  Further, where is THEIR honor?  The CEO's of the big three each make more in one year what the average line worker  might earn in their entire career with the factories.  Not to mention the perks they get!  You won't see that among the CEO's of any "foreign" car company and it's not because they can't give themselves that pay, it's because they won't.  Think about it.