Transportation minister visits US to push for new Windsor-Detroit bridge
Border stats from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Posted on 04/30/2014 7:52:33 AM PDT by PoloSec
Mike Rowe earned national recognition for sharing stories of hardworking Americans doing their dirty jobs.
And even though Americans clearly think Congress is dirty — polls gave the elected officials an approval rating in the single digits at the end of 2013 — when asked by one representative when viewers could expect to see a “Dirty Jobs” episode about a member of Congress, Rowe said he’d never do a show about it.
“With respect, some jobs are just too hideous to contemplate,” he said.
The blue collar-friendly television personality was invited to speak to the House Natural Resources Committee about the nationwide skills gap. While unemployment numbers still linger in the double digits, several technical industries are having a hard time recruiting enough employees.
“In all 50 states, everybody I talked to who owned a small business said … ‘the single biggest challenge we’re facing right now is finding people who are willing to retool, retrain, reboot and learn a truly useful skill from the ground up — and work, show up early, stay late and work.’”
Rowe continued “I know that sounds old school… but it really did become a recurring theme.”
Democrats on the committee, including Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.) said the skill gap is a mobility problem. He said low income workers don’t have the money to move to states where there are an abundance of jobs — North Dakota being one. The shale industry has created such a boom in that state, businesses like McDonald’s are actually offering hiring bonuses to get employees in the door.
Democrats suggested one solution is comprehensive immigration reform and a government subsidy to help families move to find jobs.
“Comprehensive immigration reform, are you kidding me?” Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) asked. “The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported that in 2013 … that one in five American families aren’t working. Let’s focus on putting Americans to work, and lets get them the training that might be necessary.”
Rowe pushed back, saying the biggest problem isn’t necessarily a shortage of skilled laborers, but an overall attitude in America towards “dirty” work.
“It’s social anthropology … we want our kids to have something better we did … and that’s perfectly normal,” he said. “The question is, what is that? What does that even mean?”
He continued: “That maybe is the most subjective question there is but it informs the way we present opportunities to our kids. For all the talk around the issue, the biggest conversation that I’ve seen, the one that really gets resonance, happens around the kitchen table.”
Rowe suggests one solution is a massive public relations campaign, modeled after the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign. He wants parents to rethink the idea of “what is possible” with their teenagers.
“You’ve gotta make skill cool,” he added.
The mikeroweWORKS Foundation is concerned with promoting hard work and supporting the skilled trades in a variety of areas. Primarily, we award scholarships to young men and women who have illustrated both an interest and an aptitude around mastering a specific trade. Qualified candidates include those students who want to advance their education through an accredited trade school or apprenticeship program, exhibit high work ethic and need financial assistance.
Most recently, the Foundation has created more than $1.6 million in education scholarships with schools around the country, including Midwest Technical Institute, Tulsa Welding School and Universal Technical Institute. Click here to find out about “The Next Big Thing” for the latest news.
Additionally, the Foundation supports SkillsUSA by covering travel costs for competing students who could otherwise not afford to attend. We also provide tool stipends for top students that have graduated from accredited AED schools.
The mikeroweWORKS Foundation is supported by donations from individuals and corporations, as well as a variety of fundraisers and sweepstakes. To date, we’ve raised over a million dollars, and hope to distribute much more in the near future.
http://profoundlydisconnected.com/foundation/
That’s their voters...why would they make it easy for them to leave and better their lives?
Detroit is a perfect example of democrats standing firmly in the way of job creation.
After some 30 years Rick Snyder managed to get a deal with Canada for Canada to build a second bridge over the Detroit river to ease the trade bottleneck. (Detroit is the second busiest freight crossing on the continent) Canada agrees to pay the 3 to 5 billion dollars and hire an equal number of Americans to build and operate the bridge.
Then along comes Obama who demands that we give $100 million of the blight alleviation money to the union pension funds. That money was going to be used to clear a path for the bridge through the worse most run down areas of Detroit. Plus, Obama refuses to release the $250 million required to build highway ramps and approaches to the new bridge.
That bridge will bring a lot of Jobs to Detroit and Michigan the same way the functioning and efficient border freight crossing at Laredo has brought jobs to that kinda nowhere town. (Laredo is the busiest freight crossing on the continent)
Interesting. Do you have a link so I can share it on facebook.
Mike only gets have of it right. The other half is that kids are taught that they don’t need to work their way up in the labor pool. They demand to make 40K+ plus a year or they aren’t interested. They live in Mommies basement because they are “special” in their parents eyes.
Then there is the other end, born and raised in Section 8 Housing. Demanding free stuff so they can lay around and reproduce, get their nails and hair done every month amd bitch about how bad it is for them. Not once considering improving themselves with dedication to an education or skill to try to get a job ...
Yet, a hundred years ago, poor people managed to travel to the US all the way from Europe to find work.
Here's how they did it, Tony. A family or group of friends pooled money to send their most capable candidate over. Once there, he got a job, found a place to live, saved his money, and financed getting the next person over, who could live with him until he got his own job and place to live.
Mexican immigrants do it all the time. They will cram as many as will fit into one apartment, in order to be near work. It just takes people willing to help each other and able to get along without shooting or stabbing each other. Think your constituents can manage that, Tony?
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