Ive said it before but I do think it bears repeating. My facebook friends and family is a very diverse group of people. From far right to far left and everything in between. My friends list is without a doubt a melting pot of diversity, cultures and religions. Sometimes I feel like the net on a ping pong table watching the back and forth over issues. I see people posting every Breaking News report that supports their side. The only problem it seems that facts are taking a back seat to fiction with these reports. There is a much deeper story to the problems in Ferguson and those problems are not limited TO Ferguson. The problems in Ferguson have created a beacon of light and that light is exposing a nationwide issue that needs attention. When I was a kid growing up my old man used to tell me son your going to grow up some day and one of the most important things to remember is this; always give a fair days work for a fair days pay and you and your family will never be hungry. That was the promise that our parents made to us and that is the promise that we have made to our children. That promise may not be broken but it has faded to the point that it barely flickers. I graduated from Sikeston Senior High School class of 1976. When my generation graduated, and it didnt matter what high school you graduated from it was pretty much the same around the country, a person could find a job. Maybe that job was in a factory, maybe a saw mill, or a cop, or a building tradesman or maybe a person went to college? But what ever job a person took they could make enough to pretty well take care of their family. Maybe their vacations werent to Paris or France (I know just checking to see if anyones paying attention) but maybe those vacations were to Panama City or Branson. Regardless of where they went they had pretty good jobs with decent benefits and they had time to be parents. My old man was a journeyman electrician for IBEW Local 1. My old man and my mom (never say my old lady and expect to see sunrise) raised myself, my five sisters and one brother (thats seven of us for those of you that attended public schools...oh wait I went to public schools too) on dads income as an electrician. We certainly were not rich but we didnt want for much either. We didnt have extravagant vacations but dammit we had fun and we were and still to this day are a family. Can you imagine that? Raising nine people on ONE INCOME and doing it comfortably? That is the perfect example of the American Dream! A hard days work for an honest days pay! That is the foundation that the middle class was built on. That is the American Dream. That is the promise that our parents made to us and that is the promise we made to our children. Less than six miles Ferguson was the Ford Auto Assembly plant in Hazelwood. Approximately 2,600 UAW members worked there building high quality autos for many years. For each one of those auto assembler jobs there were six jobs in Missouri that were created and that number grows to ten nation wide. From the factories that make the tires to the dealerships that sell the cars. Ten jobs per one auto assembler job. The St. Louis area lost the Ford plant, two Chrysler plants and one shift at the GM plant all with in a three or four year period. Around 10,000 good paying auto assembler jobs were lost in the area. Thats around 60,000 good paying jobs state wide and another 40,000 jobs nation wide for a total of 110,000 jobs. And that is just from the St. Louis area. Its not enough to say pull yourself up by your boot straps and go to work. Where? Where can a kid graduating high school today find a job where he or she can make enough to raise a family? What hope is there for the kids today? What do they have to look forward to? Is this as good as it gets? Are we not better than this as a country? This is just my opinion but as long as we dont have or offer some forms of hope that restore the promise of a fair days pay for a fair days work we will continue to see problems like we have in Ferguson. Bring our manufacturing jobs back home. Lets work together to rebuild a real middle class with real wages and benefits and at least give the kids a chance.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 04:07:21 +0000
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