"Need to Say it Again"
By Capt. Fred Davis
Published: Wednesday, February 16, 2011



I know I have made this statement — perhaps many times.

I fail to understand why we — the USA — find it necessary to attempt to run the world. When we had our last major election, I thought it was to elect a President of the United States; not President of the world!

Yes, we are a world power, but should we be telling other leaders how to run their countries? It seems every time our country’s leaders give advice, half the people we are advising agree and the other half become offended by our suggestions.

Both sides blame us for their problems which we had no part of creating.
When President Obama told the Egyptians their leader had to go, he should have stopped there. But no, he followed up by making it a demand by saying NOW. Adding that word intensified the conflict and got both sides fired up. The next thing we knew, media people were being hassled, hurt and prevented from doing their work

When our President was asked why he used the word now he replied, “They are our ally.” That statement brings to my mind a big question. How much do we contribute financially to keep our ally? Another question, why are we responsible to straighten out their problems — ally or not? Has it not occurred to any of our leaders our involvement could lead us into another, South Korea, Vietnam or Iraq? Don’t we have enough conflicts to keep sending our troops to?

I don’t believe we should try to lead the world — the cost is too high and our benefits too little.

On another note, is everyone aware how many new products, produced in other countries are being introduced in the USA? I know of at least two that will debut at the Miami Boat Show this month. We are of course expected to place orders. One of the items was being built in Canada, with whom we trade equally and equitably. The company however announced it is setting up to begin building their product in the USA. As I see it, this is the way it should be.


Our country needs to barter better for equal trade but the trade should not be for products we can or do produce. Many trade products entering our country bear the same or similar name as those made in the USA. They are sold at discount outlets for much less than our companies can produce them. They are often made of inferior material and when the item fails, there is no one to stand behind it. If a product is made with acceptable materials, it is still likely produced in a sweatshop which robs our country of badly needed jobs.

Our country’s large corporations give jobs away by hiring cheap labor overseas; people who trained in our schools and returned to their homelands. They lack knowledge of the products and services1 of those they represent. They become very confused if asked a technical question or one that is not in a “script” in front of them.

Companies that employ overseas personnel should be required to let customers know how much the cost of the product was reduced by doing so. Perhaps our telephone companies, who claim they serve a very high percentage of people in the USA, should be asked to tell their customers how many jobs they provide overseas while charging for the service they provide in the USA.

As I file this article on Thursday afternoon, the news media is still awaiting Mubarak’s address to the people of Egypt gathered in the square in front of his palace. We can only hope for a peaceful resolution.

 

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