Times Have Changed: No Time Machine Yet

The perfect American family scene (circa 1962)

By JIM PURCELL

When I was a boy, my Mom worked. She was one of the few. My Grandma stayed at home with my brother and I. My father worked full-time My parents had a nice house in the suburbs. I played with my friends and it was mostly about sports and trying to figure out what boys had to do with girls. 

It was an idyllic situation. But, the things that made that life possible do not exist anymore. What were those? Well, factories, unions, jobs and relatively good wages.

The economics of yesterday isn't there today

There was plenty of work. If someone wanted to make more money then all they had to do was work harder at their job and there were promotions, because business was booming in the United States throughout the 1960s and '70s. The working man having a decent living translated into prosperity for absolutely every corner of our economy.

It seemed there would be no end to the good times. But, there was an end to them. It came when companies got the green light from Washington DC to start moving all of their plants across the sea in search of cheap, slave wage labor markets. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what killed this country and nothing else.

There are angry men in the world who will tell you today that a woman's place is still in the home. To them, I would say I am sure many of them would love that except wages are pitiful and, last time I checked, kids still have to eat.

Meanwhile, the notion of a sole bread-winner in a working-class household today is preposterous. It does not happen, and whatever political nonsense that made it more profitable for companies to be headquartered in China as opposed to right here in the United States are squarely to blame.

Want a revolution that is beneficial, bloodless and where everyone wins? Make the companies bring back their manufacturing and industrial hubs to the U.S. Drag them back kicking and screaming if you have to, but do it.

By doing that one thing, many of the ills that have Conservatives barking loud will be cured overnight: Our nation will experience full employment again, so everyone will be insured the old-fashioned way. Everything will flourish again, and there will be fewer homeless people, unemployed people..you name it.

Men and women in this country would, with the return of manufacturing, be able to do things like buy nice things again, go on trips, eat out more, buy shoes for the kids without having to sacrifice the light bill.

This would have a beneficial impact on the American family, as well. Is it just about changing values that the American family suffered? Everyone changed their minds about having a loving home: children, a nice life? No, when economic times are bad the very first place it is felt is in the family.

A man and woman having a life together is tough enough, add into it a world where work is scarce and holding on to cheap jobs and working too many hours is the only way to almost get by. Now, Mom and Dad have to work, and still not make the rough equivalent of what the breadwinner did 30 years ago. Pressure is on the American family today like it has rarely been before (the Great Depression put a lot more on it).

Nothing will be solved in this country until the issue of manufacturing's return is actually addressed. The business lobby is trying to have their cake and eat it too: 'No, it is more profitably to hire labor for 5 cents per hour in China rather than use American workers, who cost more.' Well, if the 'downside' for paying slave wages isn't apparent, let me make it more clear: It's wrong! Big Business is sacrificing its humanity for the sake of a crooked buck.

You cannot get people back on to the job rolls if there are no jobs. There is a massive displaced work-force in the United States today and they have been displaced for the better part of 20 years now; it is time to get them placed. Meanwhile, the notion of paying a non-living wage in this country goes against everything America stands for.

Look at the average number of hours that Americans work compared to Europeans -- we win. The only place that averages more hours at work than Americans (who have jobs) is Asia. And I, for one, do not like the idea of American workers being ranked alongside the Asian work-force for most hours worked at cheap jobs. Too wide of a disparity between rich and middle class transformed our culture, and not for the better.

A lot of so-called "Conservatives" want to gauge this country for every penny they can get and not give a dime back to it. Heck, nowadays, there are even poor people saying rich folks shouldn't pay taxes because they might -- might -- hire someone if they didn't. Well, that is a lot of malarky. Greed is a disease, and it is infectious, and so is desperation.

Teddy Roosevelt was a Conservative, he was the first one actually. That word arrived from his interpretation of Conservative: Conserve the forests, the jobs, the money Americans spend -- all of it within American borders to the best of our ability.

We all know how to "make America great again," and the only way to do that is to restore full employment, manufacturing and raise the standard of living.

Of course, women will not and could not be shoved back into the kitchen: That ship has sailed. But it's high time that struggling work people stopped getting blamed for being lazy by the self-same people that sent their jobs to be worked by slave labor in Asia.