CommentsA POST-PANDEMIC PROPOSAL-What makes great lives for Americans? Great jobs. A livelihood that they are passionate about.
The sense of accomplishment of a good job well done that not only pays the bills but also allows for the extras that create a quality of life that is. . .part of the American dream.
But. . .where have all the good jobs gone?
Most of the good union positions that formed the backbone of communities half a century back have been moved overseas where corporate bean counters don’t have to pay union wages and benefits, don’t have to pay a living wage, don’t have to meet safety standards, and don’t have to obey environmental regulations.
Comes a corona crisis, and what does America find?
Critical medicine is no longer made in America, critical equipment is no longer made in America, PPE is no longer made in America.
We are no longer a country that makes things but one that uses things. No longer a country that exports goods but one that exports the work to make them.
In the last 20 years instead of growing good jobs, the United States exported them, 5 million of them, more than every man, woman, and child in the city of Los Angeles.
The American economy is now dominated by service industries, where people are seen as interchangeable, replaceable. And paid, based on the worth of anything disposable – as little as possible. Certainly not enough to raise a family in Los Angeles.
Corporations no longer answer to the people or the government but to Wall Street and investors.
But who pays for the education, the infrastructure that allows these companies to profit? Our taxes.
Like the health profit companies that call care for one of their clients a loss, investing in a valve that would have prevented the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a president who would have served the interests of the people is considered. . .un-American.
There are five foundations for a healthy business – owners, investors, suppliers, workers, and consumers – and the business will thrive only if it supports and satisfies all of them. If the owners pay themselves too much, if they disrespect their workers and consumers, if they squeeze their suppliers or no longer inspire their investors, they will not have the profits necessary to reinvest in their equipment and facilities, and expand their product base.
Without tangible products, by building paper tigers and dot-com fantasies, our country has become the emperor who has yet to understand his own nakedness. That other countries have followed suit makes this no less real.
Private equity companies buying up productive businesses only to saddle them with debt and dismantle them have destroyed careers and communities across America.
Senator Rubio sounded almost like a socialist in a New York Times editorial published on April 20 calling for resiliency, solidarity and collective pursuit of the common good.
In it he calls for the United States to use tax policy and robust federal guarantees in the national interest to rebuild the supply chain for all essential goods – 21st century energy systems, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and the physical elements of the technologies on which Americans have come to depend.
Following the pandemic, Congress should draw on Roosevelt’s actions during the Great Depression and put people back to work, starting with programs to restore America’s ailing infrastructure. It must enact strong “buy American” provisions to ensure that our tax dollars are directed to domestic companies. And support the establishment of the companies to produce those goods.
Headlines last week forecast a 7.4% economic decline in the EU, which could be much worse if the reopening triggers a second viral wave. The United States is in far worse shape than most countries due to the irrational leadership from the White House. Can we really expect a better outcome?
Pushing to reopen our economy while infections and death are still climbing will only cost America more – in financial losses probably precipitating another market crash, and in human suffering from lives lost. And further costs from medical complications from the virus, in a country where good medical care exists only for the rich and working.
But Rubio, scion of the Republican Party, has put it out that investing in people not profit is the most fiscally viable option once the dangers of the pandemic have truly been conquered.
Mayor Garcetti and the brotherhood of American mayors must make the most of this offering and aggressively push the Federal bureaucracy into adopting Rubio’s vision to fund what he laid out in his State of the City address – good jobs, better wages and a green economy for Angelenos.
The American business model must pivot from prizing paper profits and individual enrichment and focus on building healthy companies that support Main Street and the common good. To do that, we will need sustained efforts from both the City and its allies in Washington.
However, Garcetti will need to put his house in order by doing his own pivot to clean up his budget failures so the City can invest heavily in all its people, not just developers and the City’s unionized employees. And our City Councilmembers will need to forego lobbyist contributions to their election funds and learn to win office by taking care of the electorate.
We can rebuild our infrastructure, heal our environment, and help ensure the country is no longer tethered to a fragile supply chain by doubling down on job creation and developing a skilled labor force.
And seize victory from the jaws of the pandemic.
(Liz Amsden is a member of the Budget Advocates, an elected, all volunteer, independent advisory body charged with making constructive recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council regarding the Budget, and to City Departments on ways to improve their operations, and with obtaining input, updating and educating all Angelenos on the City’s fiscal management.) Photo: ABC News. Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
