Politics Obama - Actually doing a good job?

I saw one of those facebook images that pointed out the obvious how the US supports the Chinese economy (and has a not small debt to them) yet has been treating Cuba like the red-headed stepchild with malaria and leprosy. I may have jazzed up the words a bit here spontaneously, but if we are more than willing to borrow money and actively trade with an openly Communist government with an active atrocious record of inhumane treatment and profound religious persecution, then why not deal with Cuba?

To get to the overall theme of this thread - I will be delighted to see Obama finally leave office and hopefully not cussing again like I was after the results of the past two elections, but his stance on things like Net Neutrality and this Cuba thing are bright points of his time in the hotseat.

 

I wonder if anyone in North Korea noticed that the internet went down?

I do kind of wonder if this isn't a black flag type of thing. Either state sponsored (Russia/China) or an underground hacker group could be behind it as well. And I don't even think the US government would blame anyone other than North Korea, since there is very little they can do. And the government needs to have a reason to spend lots of money on the military.

 

I'm so tired of bullshit pessimism.

The world is not falling apart.

 

If I had to prioritize education related funding, I would go with universal pre-school for every child first.

Fact Sheet President Obama’s Plan for Early Education for all Americans | The White House

 

Does this cover job training classes at a tech school? I would think this would be better promoted as a job training program. Be a nurse assistant in 2 years, be an accountant in 2 years, be a videographer in 2 years, or whatever. I would think that would help businesses find more qualified entry level people. But, he should be pushing this as a state by state issue. Get the local high schools to help the students find something. Get local businesses to recruit high school students like they do in the military. Have them help pay the bills through taxes and motivate the students to do well by offering them internships. And there would have to be something in place to incentivize businesses to go to the poor schools instead of just the wealthy private schools.

 

Absolutely!

 

On the jobs and economy issues even with the strong economy, there is still a problem of wages that have been stagnent for the last 15 years.

The Democrats had hoped to address it in part with the Bring Jobs Home Act but it was blocked by Republicans. Then, on the other hand, Obama's recent trade deals (Korea, Colombia, Central America and Trans-Pacific coming up) are bad deals for US workers and only passed with Republican, not Democrat, support.

What we need is a way to stimulate wages or, better yet, tie wages to productivity which has increased at 5X the rate of the wages of workers who produced that higher productivity.
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This is just not right when productivty increases so much and the workers benefit so little.

 

It would be nice if lawmakers actually knew why wages are stagnant.

So, Democrats want to start a trade war with the rest of the world rather than focusing in on making the US a more cost effective place to do business. Do we even know what the net is in terms of Us firms sending jobs overseas V. foreign firms creating jobs here? Do we care? I do.

Foreign manufacturers bringing jobs to U.S.

Sure this article is a few years old but the point is business will create jobs where it is most economically advantageous. If the US implements restrictive rules, other countries will do the same - everyone gets hurt!

Again, if we want to address stagnant wages we have to address the real reason. The relatively small percentage of jobs involved in the net exchange between countries is not the problem.

Perhaps what Democrats really want, is to have US business go into economically disadvataged places and exploit those countries, like the good old days. Why should Coke sell it product in Africa and not create jobs in Africa - the evil corporation, Coke, should bring all those jobs back to the US - they should just sell Coke in Africa and bring all the money, profits and jobs back...wow what a cynical view of the rest of the world. As a Republican I want know part of that type of thinking.

 

Ace,

Perhaps we should start with US fast track trade agreements.

Nearly every agreement since NAFTA (Clinton -China trade normalization, Bush - Singapore, Central America, Obama - Colombia, Korea, Panama) has cost jobs and increased US trade deficits with those countries. All supported by a majority of Republicans and, in nearly every case, a minority of Democrats. They dont address labor issues, currency manipulation, etc.. all to the disadvaantage of the US.

And more of the same to come with an Obama/Republican Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.

 

Ace, for futher clarification, I agree that the stagnant wages is not primarily a result of foreign trade or the trade agreements of the last 20+ years, although they are a contributing factor.

The biggest reason is that workers are not benefiting from the significantly increased productivity of the last 20+ years. I dont they companies should be forced to share, although that would be nice, but they can be incentivized to share in that prosperity through tax incentices to highly productive companies.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/sunday-review/americas-productivity-climbs-but-wages-stagnate.html?_r=0



I will say that my wages have gone up 25% in the past 10 years, but inflation might have gone up that much too. There has to be a limit though, not every job will make money for the company at higher salaries, and if the job can be eliminated and the other employees can pick up the slack, then productivity goes up, but salaries stay the same.

 

I think we should start with understanding what is being discussed. Aside from the populist message of being anti-corporation, I see no merit in proposals to punish international companies from doing business internationally or to punish domestic companies who import products made overseas. Ultimately these punitive measures hurt the consumer and global economic development - which in turn impacts the US economy and US workers negatively.

If you can clarify what Democrats actually want to accomplish that would be helpful. In the context of a company like Coke why is it wrong for them to create jobs in other countries to invest in other countries? Apple? Boeing? Nike? These companies generate sales in other countries?

Why is a US worker doing the same job as a Chinese worker worth 10x more? If you argue safety, human rights, environmental concerns, other regulations are the proposals addressing those issues or is the intent to punish US companies. I agree that there is a role for fair trade agreements, but the intent is to increase trade activity and the overall utility to all parties including US workers. Superficially looking at these issue and saying X number of jobs have been sent overseas is misleading - and has almost nothing to do with stagnant US wages.
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The problem is that wages have been flat but the cost to employ people has not been flat. Given limited resources, where/how are employers allocating those costs. If we want more of those costs to go to wages, we need to implement policy that does that. Today the work place is materially safer than it was 10 - 20 years ago - I think most workers would think making a little less in wages is worth having a safer work place. And so it goes with many other variables as well.
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One big problem we have in the US has an under-trained work force. If we want US workers to earn more they need to be able to do more using higher level skills. McDonald's improves productivity through innovation, technology and simplifying work processes - this productivity growth has not come from employees improving their abilities (but those that do get the biggest benefit). McDonald's have cash registers with pictures to make it easier for cashiers!

I support initiatives to make JC's either free or more affordable. I think it can be paid for in combination with both public and private sector funding. A HS diploma is inadequate now. In addition we need to create a culture of life-long learning and skill enhancement. People who think they are "done" will stagnate in terms of wages, for good reason.