Looking for Work: A History of Unemployment

These gentlemen were interesting when they were not bantering and trying to be amusing. The subject is certainly serious enough to that it deserved to be addressed with a bit of gravity, in my opinion. The gentlemen seem to enjoy each other and being on the radio, as if that was some new invention. I don't really care that it was on live web or radio. Nor, do I suspect many in the audience from the looks of it. However in all fairness they each have important if not well flushed out points of view. I watched it between commercial breaks of cable TV and checking my email to keep myself awake. I give it 3 stars.

JohnBirk You are so correct in all of logistic call to reform. Yet is it not the central bankers of europe that call the shots in the US to keep the workers at bay via the multi national scheme to control control congress?

Something doesn't add up! Reading the CIA Online World Fact Book I came across some surprising statistics, the top three exporting countries in the world are #3-USA #2-China and #1 with only a population of 82 million is Germany! My first thought was something doesn't add up about the story of US manufacturing job losses in the last few years. We were told manufacturing jobs, were transferred to other countries, due to the following reasons, -high wages- -union actions -environmental regulations -OSHA regulations -short working hours -too much holiday time off -medical care costs -unemployment insurance costs -etc. Well something doesn't add up! In Germany workers, -earn close to US wages -by law a union representative sits on the board of directors of all public companies -environmental regulations are much tougher in Germany -workplace safety regulations are tougher -they work fewer hours per week -every worker has a minimum four weeks of vacation plus holidays for a total of 39 days per year, the US has a minimum of one week vacation plus holidays for a total of 13 days per year -Germany has universal free medical care which is considered one of the best in the world -unemployment insurance last much much longer than in the US -etc. etc. etc. There are however at least two areas in which the US leads Germany, -as a larger country it has vastly more natural resources. -AND! US workers are the most productive workers in the world and have been so for many years! Something doesn't add up! If Germany, with more of the "problems" purportedly hobbling US manufacturing can provide it's workers and citizens with one of the highest standards of living and the US with more natural resources plus a more productive work force cannot, SOMETHING DOESN'T ADD UP! I am inclined to look not for something Germany has, but rather a flaw in the US model. Extemporaneously, I would suspect Germany's long tradition of working your way to the top by starting at the bottom, endows one with a broad, full and rich experience of the industry which you end up running. This multi year acquired in depth knowledge is what gives German companies their competitive edge. Compare this to the US, where business school graduates lack this essential insight into the companies they are hired to lead. The entire focus is not on improving product, but instead the focus is on quarterly profits driving stock prices, and the accompanying stock options, which are the chief focus of executives. This is focusing on short term returns and combined with a lack of improving the product leads down the path of, first boost stock prices, then sell the business or export production to low wage countries. In the end, executives will walk away with an incredible amount of money earned over what is a really short time span. Compare this to German executives, expending many years working their way to the top; they would be aghast at the thought of selling or moving production of a company with such a long and rich heritage, to another country. The American executive has meanwhile moved on to the next "hot market", like financial services, no need for putting in years learning the rules. We’re making up the new rules as we go and grow, ......... unless something unexpected happens, or perhaps, what if the system was flawed and doomed to begin with? Who cares! I got my offshore tax haven account, my jet, my yacht, my mansion in the Hamptons, my Caribbean winter estate. etc. etc.. John Birk