So You Really Don't Know Why Your Jobs Are Gone by Walt Barrett

    The short answer is that bad government and corruption did it and there is plenty of blame to go around. 
 I've been around since 1933 and I did manage to learn a few things about being a war veteran, working in the mills and sweat shops, politics, politicians, big business and betrayal.  It's enough to make you sick!  It has amazed me ever since I was a kid how apathetic most Americans are about the way that government at all levels has been and is being run to this day.  It starts right in your home town!   We got into the current mess because too many of the American people trusted the politicians to take care of them and run their country in a business like manner.  Now the chickens have really come home to roost big time because we trusted the wrong people!   We don't have enough jobs because the politicians sold us out to big business who ultimately sent all of our manufacturing jobs overseas.
The politicians always sided with the big money boys and never took the right steps to stabilize our economy or protect our jobs. 
    Lets take a very simple example starting with a normal situation right here in America.   Southern New England had a thriving, booming textile industry employing many thousands of people for at least 100 years.  Right after World War Two the mill owners who had been battling with the workers over wages and living conditions for many years discovered that there were states in the south where the workers would work for half the wages of the workers up north.  The southern states also offered tax breaks and financial assistance to those companies that were willing to pick up and move down south.  Well I'm telling you that from the late forties untill the early fifties the highways up north were lined trucks every day that were hauling looms and all other kinds of machinery down south for the cheap labor, financial assistance and the tax breaks.  Well when the tax breaks ran out and the labor force in the south started to make demands for fair wages like the rest of the country were already earning  the big business guys simply folded up in the south and moved off shore.  Since then, many other businesses all over our country have followed suit, It's that simple.
   Just think about it in terms of right here in America.  
If company "A" at 101 Main Street manufacturers nuts and bolts and pays his workers $20.00 an hour, and across the street company "B" manufacturers  The exact same nuts and bolts , but only has to pay his workers $7.50 per hour and they are all selling to the same market, how long is company "A" going to stay in business?  Well here in the USA That would be called fair competition and company "A" could lower his wage costs in order to compete with company "B" both being here in the USA. That's not too hard to follow so far is it?.  
   Now lets look at the real problem for both company "A" and for company "B"  
   This is the part where the politicians sold us out.  Along comes company "F" (lets call it "F" for Foreign.)  They are in Asia where people work for pennies on the dollar as compared to the USA.  It's called exploitation. Company "F" in Asia is not subject to any of the rules and regulations that that companies "A" and "B" are subject too here in the USA.  Furthermore they think that we are stupid because we have EPA, fair labor and and OSHA safety laws and all the other rules and regulations that US manufacturers are bound to.   Company "F" is laughing  all the way to the effing bank!  That's the so called "Global Economy" in a nut shell.  
   This happened because we have had politicians all the way back to Nixon from both political parties literally lining up at the trough to get us involved in this global disaster by pushing us into Asia, first Japan then China among the big ones.   The American worker is totally screwed because of his higher standard of living so here we are folks, here we are!
   A global economy can only be fair to all workers when the world wide wages are equal and that will never happen! It doesn't take a Harvard economist to understand that!  Now because of this huge blunder in world trade policy the USA and many other countries in Europe are on the ropes.  Add the trade problem to a couple of wars we did not need and a bunch of financial people that belong in jail right this minute and it comes up to this awful mess that we may never ever come out of again.  This is what we get for trusting our politicians and Presidents. Now I'm not sure who runs America and where we are going from here.  Now let me see, which political party represents the workers and which one represents big business, politically, I mean?  Well when I worked in the sweat shops the big bosses always referred to the workers as the donkeys so I guess I just answered my own question.
   If our own American workers don't work, pretty soon we don't have a customer base and without a customer base we don't have an economy, and without an economy we don't have a country!
  It's so bad now that even a foreign country can donate enough money to influence our elections and even get us into another war. Our government is bought and paid for.  This is what it has come to.  It's all about greed!
Let me just leave you with that thought!

Walt

Losing Weight Is Not Rocket Science by Walt Barrett

   First off, we are not selling weight loss products or exercise machines here.  As a person who is age 79 and very concerned about his own health I have already lost 25 pounds this year (8 months) and I am simply passing on a little information that has been extremely helpful to me.  By this time with all the information that is out there on the Internet and the TV news most of us should be well aware of the health risks of being overweight.  Let me just mention a few like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, bowel, liver, kidney disease and there are a lot more, believe me,  so let's get right down to brass tacks.
   I can tell you right off the bat that you have to be very patient to lose weight.  I tried several variations before I got my act together.  The most difficult part is sticking to it.  I do not have a magic bullet to make myself or anyone else instantly lose weight. So I'm going to cut right through it and tell you what is finally working for me.
1.  I keep track of my calories which after a couple of weeks gets real easy to remember the values of the various foods in my diet. The food calorie values are all over the Internet for free.
2.  I had to cut out Alcohol, sugar, salt, all fatty fried foods, butter, soda, fructose, white bread etc.  See the lists on the Internet.
 3. I try to keep my calories under 1500 per day.  A little less for a women.  
   I have cereal with  fruit in it and prunes in a side dish, coffee and a  small glass of skim milk for breakfast.  A sandwich, small skim milk and a small yogurt for lunch. and dinner is 3 oz of lean meat with green and yellow vegetables, brown rice and a diet desert.  We have it all figured so that it comes out around 1500 calories for the day.
I also drink water between meals but never was a big water drinker.
I stick pretty close to this diet and rarely eat out.  Basically most people already know what's good for them and what's not.  
I ride 10 miles a week on a bike in the gym  too.  
It's up to each person.  I also gave up smoking in 1998.  Most people have some control over their health.  It's as simple as that.  Make a program for yourself and stick to it as closely as possible.  It's always advisable to consult with your doctor if you can.  Just don't stop eating altogether.
It's really up to you.  
Some people choose life and some people choose death. 
Walt Barrett