Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 45 stations) by admonishing President Obama for lecturing businesses to set an example by raising wages. The trouble is that with our current economy, entrepreneurs can’t afford to raise wages.
“I employ 300 people and I struggle every day to pay my employees good wages. I could employ more people and pay even higher wages if we had an economy that helps entrepreneurs be successful,” said Neal.
Neal’s first guest was Ira Stoll, who recently penned an Op/Ed entitled “Obama’s Bogus Case for a Decent Wage,” in which he accuses Obama of trying to force companies to pay higher wages.
“What President Obama and his allies are really up to, though, isn’t simply “asking our businesses to set an example.” “Asking” is an Obama euphemism for forcing, as in “asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes.” “Obama called in the State of the Union address for increasing the federally mandated minimum wage to $9 an hour from the $7.25 at which it currently stands. At least 30 senators and 140 Congressmen have sponsored legislation backed by the AFL-CIO that would go even further and raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Dozens of economists signed an open letter last month backing different legislation that would raise the minimum to $10.50 an hour,” noted Stoll, who added, “…maybe if Obama shopped, or had experience in the private sector, he would know that raising wages will hit consumers in the pocket.”
Stoll proposed that Americans are pretty smart and they understand that to get ahead they need to raise their skill levels and get more education, but they need the opportunity to get hired.
“American workers need to return to the principle of an individual initiative, which allows them to work their way up the corporate ladder. That’s the basis of the American Dream,” said co-host Dr. Rich Roffman.
Neal and Dr. Rich Roffman continued the discussion on job creation.
“Everybody wants to see wages go up, but by Obama creating friction between employers and employees, that isn’t the way to accomplish this. Wages can go up when we have a competitive economy, so risk takers come off the sidelines, and that includes lenders. When we boost economic activity, we can boost employment and worker wages,” said Neal.
Dr. Roffman agreed, warning of the danger of “income envy” among workers, which is not the American way.
“Every business has to watch the bottom line. I recently talked to two owners of all electric cars- the Volt and the Karma. The Volt driver was having problems with his lights so he couldn’t drive at night. The Volt has been plagued by quality problems and they aren’t selling. Contrast that with the Karma, which sells for $100,000, and sales have been so successful that they have paid off their government loan, with interest. What this says is that demand from the private sector creates the market. But that means that we have to have an economy that is growing. That’s how jobs are created and that’s how wages go up,” noted Dr. Roffman.
Joining Made in America for the first time was Gary Rathbun, radio host of “Eye On Your Money,” who also writes a weekly column for the Toledo Free Press.
Based in Toledo, Rathbun noted that “when Detroit sneezes, Toledo catches a cold,” a reference to Detroit’s ongoing financial problems and its impact on the entire Midwest.
“You have to remember when Detroit’s nickname as the ‘Motor City’ was recognized around the world. But after years of cronyism and fraud between the unions and the city government, they might as well have put up a sign reading ‘Detroit is an Enterprise-Free Zone,’” suggested Rathbun.
Co-host Dr. Roffman referenced Detroit as a true power center, home of Ford, GM and Chrysler, where they innovated creativity, marketing, fabrication and steel manufacturing.
Rathbun proposed that it will take some years for Detroit to recover, facing repercussions over pensions and municipal bonds.
“Detroit needs to clean house. A city can’t prosper where 50 percent of the population is culturally illiterate. It’s a great city but they will need to recover one business at a time, one home buyer at a time. And you have a crime problem that is so bad that even the police are warning visitors to avoid downtown Detroit. It’s going to require an unpleasant change in leadership, but it needs to be done if Detroit is to recover,” concluded Rathbun.
The final guest on Made in America was Bob McNeil, Founder of the American Citizen Party and 2016 Presidential candidate, who is advocating for the end of the federal income tax. He proposes that by eliminating the income tax, “it will stimulate the U.S. economy, create a dramatic rise in GDP and the stock market, create jobs, bring offshore corporate capital home, and set our Nation on the path of freedom and prosperity for generations to come.”
McNeil suggests that we have elected representatives to Congress who voted to pass a series of laws that took our freedoms from us, and that it is time “to remove every one of them from office and elect true citizen representatives who will vote to repeal those laws and pass the legislation necessary to restore our freedoms.”
Neal and co-host Dr. Rich Roffman concluded the show by returning to the topic of cronyism and its impact on job creation.
“Cronyism is insidious because it allows those with powerful connections to continue to receive benefits at the expense of everyone else, especially those that can create jobs,” said Dr. Roffman.
He listed a litany of examples of cronyism, starting with the company that received the lucrative contract to create the red light cameras to catch traffic offenders, also has received the contract to fix their own equipment because it is not working properly.
Larry Ellison of Oracle, in bed with the NSA, is receiving more money to help the NSA upgrade their domestic spying operations.
A Louisiana refinery, with long connections to the Obama administration, is the only refinery in the nation exempted from EPA environmental standards.
And finally, Extel, a company with strong ties to Governor Cuomo, on the day they were admonished by the general assembly for financial irregularities, received a new contract for more work.
“That my friends, is cronyism at its best,” concluded Dr. Roffman.
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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