Opinion

Made in China

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

It is amazing how many of the goods that we are currently buying are made in China. Our powers that be in the Military keep expressing the opinion that war with Chia might be on the horizon to prevent them from taking over the independent nation of Taiwan. Taiwan has established itself as the largest electronic chip manufacturer in the world the chips that power our cell phones, control our automobiles and the biggest percentage of our electronic gadgets today are so essential to modern life as we know it.

What happened? How did we get into this kind of predicament? For your old columnist, it is easy to blame it on the Democrat Party.

The Democrats love labor unions and why not? Labor unions have a long record of sending money to our Democrats running for office and then for reelection in Washington. So why not send little favors to the unions to keep the money coming in?

Well, labor unions curry favor with their workers by constantly raising wages. Manufacturers that try to make a profit see labor as an ever-increasing expense and in large numbers have moved operations to China to take advantage of the cheap labor there. So it is that a very large percentage of the goods that you buy in Walmart, and about every other place, are tagged with having been made in China.

Then too, big money talks in Washington and all too many of our politicians, of every stripe are on the take from large corporate donors. “Here I’ll donate to your campaign and I’ll trust you to look favorably on my interests” or something like that. For example how in the world did President Obama come into office dirt poor and become a multi-millionaire in those few years? Nothing to see here! It is time to clean house and get rid of those politicians, and their families, that are on the take. For example, Paul Pelosi bought $1 million in stock in the computer chip industry just before the House voted to send a big subsidy to incentivize our domestic chip makers. Totally corrupt and why the ruling class is so deathly afraid of President Trump being elected for another four years. Choose wisely when you cast your next ballot at the upcoming primary and again two plus years from now in the next general election.

So if we go to war with Communist China, our largest military rival on the world stage, our “essential” supply of China manufactured goods will be cut off. Obviously, such a move will lead to disaster in the lifestyle that we have come accustomed to today.

Speaking of unions I have for years always thought that public sector unions should never have been allowed to form. For instance look at the two large teachers' unions, unresponsive to parents' wishes but eager to teach the LGBQ??? mantra, Critical Race Theory and that America has always been bad. In my lifetime teachers’ unions formed to aid and assist in the professional development of teachers, a good thing. But then there is big money to be gleaned from union dues and of late the majority of that money has gone out to influence politicians mostly Democrats. Thank goodness for those states like Nebraska that have right-to-work laws that enable good teachers to opt out of paying union dues. I suspect that the police unions also favor the Democrats instead of the local taxpayers whom they are sworn to protect and make their communities a safe place to live and work.

Ah yes, 87,000 new IRS agents, armed yet. Just what we need to collect ever more tax money from those of us that actually do pay federal income taxes. I personally have always done my own taxes and of late with the help of an electronic service. I have always intended to be perfectly honest with the reported dollar figures and take only expenses actually incurred. I also suspect that the vast majority of our population honestly does the same. Now the Democrat majority has decreed that we need twice as much checking on the figures that are reported on our tax forms and possibly that is because they are reflecting on the dishonest way that they have reported their own personal taxes filed over the years. Just sayin’.

This administration with its woke leadership is causing our US Military to precipitously decline in numbers of warriors and equipment. We don’t need more IRS we need more military. Recruiters are not meeting the required enlistment needs. The pilot corps is bleeding bad to the airlines. Pilot training is suffering from old equipment and too few instructors. Just sad leadership in action.

Where is the good news? The forecast is for cooler temperatures and a greater chance of rain. School is again back in session this week. Mike had a great column this week talking about school supplies of old and I do remember the Big Chief tablets and wood pencils. Personally, I always hated for summer vacation to end as I enjoyed the farm activities of my youth but to be honest I also enjoyed school with new subjects to explore, new challenges, football and best of all close relationships with peers that were my friends. Our youth are our future and we can only wish them the best. Drive carefully!

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail

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