Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 44 stations) by expressing his skepticism that a federal budget will be passed.
“We don’t just have one budget proposal, we have three; from the House, the Senate, and from the administration. Should we seriously think that they will able to compromise and pass a real budget?” asked Neal.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman characterized this proposal from the administration as smoke and mirrors, referring to it as the “Houdini Syndrome” where things sound good until you discover the benefits you expect have mysteriously disappeared.
Neal’s first guest was Congressman James Lankford, who represents Oklahoma’s fifth district and serves on the House Committees on Budget and Oversight & Government Reform, where he is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements.
“In all of his speeches on the budget Obama talks about a balanced approach, but his budgets never balance. He thinks if he says it enough people will accept it, but every plan is about increasing spending and paying for it with more taxes. We can’t solve our problems with words, we need numbers,” said Lankford.
Lankford proposes that the only way to fix entitlements is through reconciliation, but for that to work, the House and Senate must create a budget, but he suggests that the Senate has never been a partner in the process.
“There is some common ground, but we have to reduce government waste without going after worker pay; but cutting worker pay is the first thing that the administration went after. Sequestration was built up as a big thing, but we’re only talking about eliminating $45 billion in waste form a budget in the trillions. We need to address this in a smart way,” concluded Lankford.
Neal and co-host Dr. Roffman segued to a discussion of near-sourcing, the practice of producing products closer to where they are ultimately sold. This helps workers, manufacturers, retailers and customers who expect fast delivery and the made-to-order options they expect. For this reason and more, Neal noted that more and more U.S. companies lured to foreign countries by cheap labor are moving back home after finding unpleasant realities, as Neal did when he operated his company out of Asia.
“After 10 years in Asia, I moved my operations back to the U.S. where I now manufacture all of my products. I found out the hard way that countries originally welcome you with open arms, but that welcome is short-lived. It’s not long before U.S. manufacturers find themselves facing the scourge of corruption, gripping poverty, hostile labor unions, crony courts, runaway intellectual property theft, inefficient labor, massive infrastructure deficiencies, skewed investment laws, security concerns, environmental meltdowns and host governments that expect strict adherence to their unfair and onerous rules and regulations,” said Neal, adding that “there is nothing more valuable than a product that is stamped Made in America.”
Dr. Roffman agreed, recalling appearances at trade shows where customers raved about American-made products because they reflected quality. He proposed that this is backed by America’s traditional pride of workmanship.
Neal followed up by reacting to a Rasmussen survey that found that 54 percent of American workers think it is longer possible that if they work hard it will give them the money and security to get ahead. He considered this “a sad, sad day when Americans think they can’t achieve their dreams.”
“This is the only country on earth where you can grow up believing that you can aspire to the aristocracy if you work hard. We can’t let the Horatio Alger story die,” said Dr. Roffman.
Joining the show as a return guest was Bill Johnson, CEO and director of the Port of Miami, who was recently privileged to welcome President Obama to the facility (this is the second presidential visit – George Bush visited in 2006) and where he addressed the Port’s successful projects.
“The President applauded our ability to create public/private partnerships to fund major projects. Our new tunnel that links the Port of Miami to Florida’s interstate system will create 500 jobs, which will swell to 7,000 direct and indirect jobs once the project is completed,” said Johnson.
Another example of this public/private partnership is the deep dredging project that will create a shipping lane with a depth of 50 feet, tripling the number of containers they can handle by enabling more and larger ships to dock. It will also create 33,000 new jobs.
The final guest on Made in America was return guest U.S. Representative Blake Farenthold, currently serving his second term in Congress, representing the 27th District of Texas.
Farenthold related that as a result of Texas’ pro-work-pro jobs agenda, and their low energy costs due to an abundance of low cost natural gas, they are creating more jobs than can be filled.
“Our oil field areas need engineers, mechanics, welders and truck drivers with commercial licenses—and we’re paying top dollar. In fact, a Dairy Queen nearby is paying workers $18 an hour. We’re open for business, as evidenced that a Chinese company is building a steel mill in Texas. Texas is a model for this nation’s economic recovery,” concluded Farenthold.
Neal and Dr. Roffman concluded the show by returning to the topic of Americans no longer striving to fulfill their dreams.
“This nation’s leadership is preparing us for the decline of our greatness. We aren’t thinking big anymore,” bemoaned Neal.
An example, according to Dr. Roffman, is NASA’s announcement that they will no longer strive to return to the moon.
“NASA exemplified this country’s can-do spirit. This defeatist attitude breaks my heart,” said Dr. Roffman.
He continued his ongoing report on cronyism, returning to his favorite topic: wasting money on green energy. This time, the IRS has agreed to extend energy credits worth $540 million to fund wind energy products – an energy option that represents less than 2 percent of our energy grid—and favors supporters of this administration.
Another green energy failure is the Fisker Karma, a plug-in all electric luxury sports sedan that received $529 million in U.S. loans, which has recently laid off 75 percent of its workforce and is headed for bankruptcy due to a low consumer demand.
What these have in common is that they benefitted Obama cronies and investors. In the case of Fisker, beneficiaries of the government’s money were investors Al Gore and the founder of Google.
Each week Neal Asbury’s Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com.
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