You are absolutley right in principle. The part you don't acknowledge is that change is relative and it's going to get tougher before it gets better...I'm talking about the lives WE live

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

-Bob Dylan

The only thing that will turn it back around is to bring manufacturing back stateside and end outsourcing.

If you are waiting for that you better take a really deep breath.
When you accept that it's a global marketplace your definition of "outsourcing" will change. Stateside manufacturing is for the most part gone gone gone. We have to accept it and use our innovation to come up with the "next Model A"

Take a deep breath and get used to the idea of working for the same level of pay as the Chinese.

The next step for americans is the "Energy Revolution." It will create a ton of new jobs, but it better get moving fast. people are really gonna hve to startt working hard to make a living. Living the american dream aint gonna be so pretty.
It wasn't that long ago that we were living a conservative life.

My parents bought their first house in 1968 and paid $19,000 for it. They sold the house in 1989 for $92,000. They bought 35 acres in Gales Creek with a 2500 sqft house and paid $189,000. In 1989 that seemed like it was going to break the bank. Now you can hardly find a home for that kind of money. It's crazy. Their neighbor sold an 1800sqft house on 10 acres last year. He got $680,000. My folks have bigger, newer home on 35 acres and i'm afraid to know what it is worth.
But then you look at what a dollar will buy and it is all relative.

Stay positive!

Mf

I don't see how we are going to recover without finding a way to produce something. Not just something, but many things....competitively. Entrepreneurs are great, but they need customers to stay in business. Customers have to have a way to make money to buy products and if business's can't make a profit....you get the picture.

We can produce energy efficient houses and cars, but if no one can afford to buy them....then what?

I see the latest concept is pumping another 150 billion into the economy right after the election....oh boy. Money just grows on a tree somewhere, I guess.

How many of us can work for the government? It may be the only job in town that pays enough to raise a family or retire......how socialist is that?
I think I need to change my job into something that everyone must face....like dying....yeah, that's it, I'll be a funeral home owner.

We haven't quite reached the No Job/No Fish scenario, but damn we're getting close.

Eric there are quite a few products that are made stateside. Supposedly there are quite a few jobs that Americans won't do. Watch when the hunger settles in what jobs they will fight to get. I will be dead before I accept defeat. If you try real hard, produce a quality product, you can produce it here in the USA. It is challenging but what the heck I wasn't doin' anything special anyway. I am ready to buckle down and I can get skinnier if need be. The American individual is unique. I will not accept the position that my country will inevitably fall into third world status. We can rise to the occasion when the chips are down as has been done before. America is and shall remain # 1. USA USA USA USA!

Until very recently, the US was the world's biggest manufacturer.

Of what? TVs, Car's, toy's, lumber, steel....

Cult's probably.....

Mf

Not too worried about my job. Just as long as you all keep breaking your computers, I'll be just fine......

ENERGY REVOLUTION is what we need. If we can produce energy, and products that produce energy, and as a bonus make these products and the process in which they produce energy environmentally friendly. There will be a GLOBAL market and some of the money that is being spent on oil in the global economy will start coming our way. How fast do you think China would jump on a clean energy source that might alleviate some of their air pollution? We need to be the pionieers in making solar, wind, tidal, and any other clean energy sources affordable and reliable.

That's exactly right. Be a conscience consumer.

This country has lost what has made it a great nation. Manufacturing of high quality products was the trade mark of the USA. Now Corporate tax rates in this country are the highest in the world and have forced company's to move overseas and have kept foreign companies from coming here. Like it or not when you give large corporations tax breaks it enables them to employ hard working people that are some of the smartest in the world. When they are taxed to death they move manufacturing over seas where cheaper labor exists or move all together.

Boeing is going to be the next to move. There high pay workforce is costing them billions when they strike. They are already having parts built over seas. Little by little production will be moved. The affects on our area will be imense if that happens.

The amount of young entrepreneurs that are leaving this country for abroad is stagering. They have far more opportunities to make there fortunes there than here.

JoJo......

You hit the nail on the head.

It's going to be a real eye opener for a lot of people. Someone recently was complaining to me that "it's getting harder and harder just to get by." His whining stopped when I asked if he still had his 2007 3/4-ton diesel pickup, his camper, his motorcycle, his satellite radio, every tv channel known to man, his bigscreen tv, and the latest greatest cell phone. Just wait until people have to make REAL sacrifices.
The upcoming inflation is going to take what money people have left and turn it into confetti.

Jojo is right on. American workers have been priced or priced themselves right out of the market- however you want to look at it. It sucks but focusing on that will only make it worse. We need to focus on the next revolution which I believe is some form of clean energy generation.

Saw a Boeing Exec on the news this morning. He said they want to continue to build airplanes in Seatte. However, he added the all important, "but", then made reference to a reliable work force.

My brother -in -law is a contractor and he was building custom homes ,now he's doing handy man jobs for a lot less money. I work in the food business and deliver to chain stores, at least people have to eat so my job isn't in jeopardy yet. what bugs me is knowing people who max out their credit cards and have nothing to show for them and absolutely know they live a life style that they can't afford and now their paying through the nose in interests and some have filed for bankruptcy! The mortgage lenders saw a fat cat during the housing boom and they don't want to take a fall , Hey, it's like gambling you pay the piper if you lose. Politicians get money out of this mess,too! I'm writing in Bill Cosby as he's the only one that has any BRAINS!