Labor Day Facade

Today we as Americans will celebrate Labor Day. The origins of the day date back to the 19th century, with the first Labor Day being celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. By 1894, 23 states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Labor Day was traditionally a day of parades and fun for those who were part of the labor movement that made this country great. The United States evolved into the great nation it is because of the contribution of men and women who toiled under the most severe conditions to produce a bountiful harvest of products that the whole world coveted and at one time, would pay big money for.

I’m old enough to remember the days of the Cold War, when stories were told about Soviet citizens offering big money to western tourists for a pair of Levi’s blue jeans. I remember when our farmers produced the majority of the world’s food supply, our factories built the latest hi-tech gadgets, and our financial sector was the world center of investment and trade.

I’m also wise enough to remember when Chrysler needed a Government bail-out because of poor quality gas guzzlers, Harley-Davidson was on the brink of bankruptcy and needed tariffs to survive, and General Motors thought innovation meant mounting a radio vertically in the dash board(remember the Chevy Citation?). So, what do my memories have to do with anything?

Today, this labor day, I challenge you to walk into a Wal-Mart store and find a “Made in the USA” tag on…Anything! I know some readers just love to shop at Wal-Mart, and I have better things to do with my time then bash that monster retail example of all that’s wrong with America. But seriously, look at what Wal-Mart represents and issues it mirrors back at us everyday, issues we seem to ignore.

In order to be competitive (spelled “cheaper”), Wal-Mart has forced it’s suppliers to off-shore production on just about everything. That off-shoring has destroyed millions of good paying jobs. Since those people have been forced to take lesser jobs, they can no longer afford to shop at anyplace other than Wal-Mart. See a pattern here?

Wal-Mart has pulled off one of the biggest magical acts since Satan convinced the liberals he didn’t exist. As the standard of life in our country has eroded due to government waste, greedy politicians entering trade agreements that choke us, and tax laws that don’t favor job creation at home, Wal-Mart has reduced pricing on everything people use in everyday life resulting in the masking of this lifestyle erosion. Think about that for a minute.

If Wal-Mart had not brought pricing to it’s current levels, those people that were falling behind due to lower pay, longer hours, and fewer job opportunities would not have been able to keep buying necessessities such as clothing, groceries, personal care items, and certain luxuries such as entertainment, electronics, and sporting goods. Every Christmas, rather than giving little to their children, people are able to stuff their Christmas trees with Chinese-made toys full of lead paint. People can still revel in the fruits of success, while ignoring the fact that they are only falling farther behind as the once American Dream has now become the American struggle to survive. They fail to see that the same pair of Levi’s that cost $27 in 1984, still cost $27 at Wal-Mart for a reason. That reason is some American lost their job and some slave-wage foreigner took it.

In the bygone days of American success, we exported little other than food. We imported little, other than exotic minerals and oil. We had a manufacturing base that had unions demanding a fair wage and corporations being run by individual stockholders and owners whose only goal was the survival of the corporation. People worked eight hours a day, stores were closed on Sunday and holidays, and one spouse could afford to stay home and give a proper upbringing to the children. It was baseball, apple pie, and Chevrolet.

Since then, Wall Street has taken over and the politicians have given them the mandate to do it. We now export little other than our coveted military technology, import more stuff than we can continue to afford paying for, and forgot how to manufacture things. People now work ten or more hours a day, greedy stores cater to anxious shoppers and stay open on Sundays, and both spouses have to work to survive and pay the bills. We now have over-paid prima donna baseball players that spit at umpires, mom doesn’t have time to bake that apple pie, and Chevrolet is owned by the unions and the government that are running it into the ground.

People…voters…have allowed our politicians to sell of America to the highest bidder. What was once a day to celebrate of Labor and its accomplishments is now just an excuse for a lazy government worker to have a paid day off. Stores advertise sales, cheap labor is used to work those extended store hours, and Wal-Mart is packed…no available parking space.

So today I say, “Happy Labor Day” America! Look what you’ve allowed yourself to become.

And those jobs went to communist countries. Towels from Pakistan, jackets and shoes from Vietnam and nearly everthing in between from China.

We once owned a small business and tried to sell American made only, good steel, hand made wood products made in the USA, etc. People wouldn’t pay the price even though the quality was 100 times better and the products would have lasted much longer.

It is now difficult to find any commonly needed products like towels, sheets, any type of hardware, or you name it that is made here. Some labels now tout that they were “assembled” in the USA of product made overseas somewhere.

If obama succeeds in making us a third world country I guess we’ll get the jobs back, at a nickle a day.

Good article, thanks for posting.

I'll start. They fail to see that the same pair of Levi’s that cost $27 in 1984, still cost $27 at Wal-Mart for a reason. That reason is some American lost their job and some slave-wage foreigner took it.

Yes, it is such a tragedy that foreigners are willing to do our laborious, repetitive, meaningless work for us. America will only get its soul back when the textile mills are full of Americans again and a pair of Levis costs $100.

Maybe we can eliminate the cotton gin while we're at it. Everyone knows machines are the worst kinds of traitors, given how they steal away jobs on our own soil.

The part of US labor unions in chasing these jobs away has been overlooked. While these unions served a great purpose in the past, most of what they fought for became law as a result; at that point, they became obstacles to progress. The work conditions they imposed made it difficult to operate a business not just in a profit sense, but also to remove “dead weight” in the work force.

Most people over the age of about 40 already know everything you said here. Most younger folks can't imagine it.

Now you've stuck that jingle in my head, and I'll be singing it all day. Which means I'll be inflicting it on everyone at the the barbeque. So I may was well inflict it on the good follks here. ♪ Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. ♪

Yes, it is such a tragedy that foreigners are willing to do our laborious, repetitive, meaningless work for us.

Of course, how silly of me. EVERYONE born in the U.S. can be a doctor, lawyer or govt. pogue.

America will only get its soul back when the textile mills are full of Americans again and a pair of Levis costs $100.

Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Maybe we can eliminate the cotton gin while we're at it. Everyone knows machines are the worst kinds of traitors, given how they steal away jobs on our own soil.

I might agree except that the machines are all made overseas. So, there is a double whammy.

Really, what are the masses of mildly educated teenagers supposed to do for a living? How will we support the millions of Americans that don't have the business acumen, intelligence and ability to be more than a laborer/machine operator in a factory? Believe me, I've known many that were good operators but could never be a business owner, doctor, lawyer, restaurateur, etc.

Your argument is straight out of the two class system - elites and subservient.

Let’s take a step back. Before Wal-Mart or any one else is blamed let’s look at what the governments of Local Municipalities, States, and the Feds did.

We could look at the North East. Higher taxes, higher fees, stingent controls, road tolls, and higher government costs of all kinds made it costlier to do business in those states.

Owning a trucking service, I was forced to charge higher fees to bring goods into and out of those states. Those fees caused the manufacturers in those states to be at a disadvantage to companies in lower tax states so they began to move. Younger workers then began to move to follow the jobs.

That same thing happened when the entire US became less attractive because of government intrusion.

Sure, some businesses are to blame but, I believe, our government bears more of the blame.

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