Neal Asbury began his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 46 stations) with the sobering news that after 50 years of waging the War on Poverty – begun under the Johnson administration—that the U.S. has nothing to show for the $20 trillion it has spent on this pressing issue. Worse, there still are no real solutions.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman agreed, adding that the word “poverty” has such negative connotations that it is now referred to as “income inequality.” And like Neal, wondered how we squandered all that money that didn’t create jobs or why the money was not targeted to communities where people wanted to work and still embraced the American Dream.
Made in America welcomed back Lance Roberts, Chief Strategist for STA Wealth Management and the host of the talk radio show “Street Talk,” who reminded listeners that three years ago Nancy Pelosi applauded expanding unemployment benefits because it creates jobs.
“It’s just the opposite. The Washington Zoo posts signs not to feed the animals because after a while, they become dependent on handouts from visitors. When you incentivize people not to work, they will stop looking for jobs. After 99 weeks of benefits they not only stop looking for jobs—even when jobs are available—because they make almost the same salary sitting at home; and at the same time start to lose job skills which makes it even harder to find a new job,” proposed Roberts, who added that one result of this is that employers are stealing employees from other companies who have already demonstrated they have a work ethic.
Roberts also believes that raising the minimum wage will not end poverty; it will simply raise the poverty level. “You can’t buy our way out of poverty—we need to create jobs.”
Neal agreed suggesting that we are creating a culture of dependency.
Dr. Roffman proposed that with dwindling job skills in the U.S., it leads to more exporting of jobs, which further adds to unemployment and poverty.
“Over the past 50 years we clearly are not spending the money on the right places to end poverty. Benefits should only be going to people who are interested in a path to employment,” suggested Dr. Roffman.
Neal and Dr. Roffman continued the discussion, agreeing that the key to job creation is giving entrepreneurs –our nation’s job creators—the incentives they need to build companies and hire.
“The tragedy in this country is that there are thousands of unfilled jobs because people lack the skills. We should be investing in vocational training so our workers can move into these unfilled jobs. Trained workers will also help fuel more small business development. You can’t simply kick people off of their job benefits if they don’t have the skills or incentives to work,” said Neal, who added that an idle workforce creates both financial and personal security risks.
Dr. Roffman concurred, and like Neal, wondered why the government hasn’t invested in programs that creates jobs and gets people out of poverty.
“Instead they are spending their time on immigration reform. Can you tell me how adding untrained once illegal immigrants to the workforce is going to help create jobs and end poverty?” asked Dr. Roffman.
Returning to “Made in America” was Dr. Pat Michaels, director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute, who is baffled by the Obama administration’s contention that the recent Polar Vortex is proof of global warming.
“The Polar Vortex has been a phenomenon on Earth since it was created billions of years ago. The term was first used in the 1920s, so it isn’t like this is a new idea. It’s just another desperate attempt by Obama’s people to defend their support for global warming. We had a Polar Vortex in 1994 in the Eastern U.S., so this isn’t really newsworthy. It just naturally happens every so often,” noted Dr. Michaels.
Another myth perpetuated by the Obama administration, according to Dr. Michaels, is that the Keystone XL Pipeline will add to global warming.
“Once again with their usual ham handedness, the Obama administration is trying to use their form of science to make political points. Not only will the Keystone Pipeline reduce carbon emissions by 10 percent, but it is more efficient and safer than rail,” concluded Dr. Michaels.
Making her first appearance on Made in America was Rachel Sheffield, Policy Analyst at The Heritage Foundation, who returned to the topic of poverty.
“Over the past 50 years we have spent $20 trillion to fight poverty, but the poverty level remains largely unchanged. All we’ve done is expand the welfare system without creating the jobs that really help people escape from poverty,” said Sheffield.
She noted that in 1996, the Welfare Reform Bill was passed, which was designed to activate people to seek work instead of staying on welfare. Welfare rolls dropped, employment rose, and poverty was reduced. But the Bill has been watered down, creating loopholes so people no longer are required to seek employment to retain benefits.
Recognizing that poverty is often linked to cronyism, Neal and Dr. Roffman concluded the show by returning to ways that cronyism rewards the few at the expense of the many.
“In the case of the recent sale of the remaining parts of Chrysler to Fiat for $3.6 billion, the American taxpayers are left holding the bag on the investment the U.S. made in Chrysler. The winners in this are the auto unions, who continue to receive their high salaries and benefits,” suggested Dr. Roffman.
Dr. Roffman also noted that the unions are benefitting from the construction of the state-of-the-art secret F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which has been described as “an over-budget, under-performing, behind-schedule fighter jet that’s on record as one of the biggest wastes of money in Pentagon history.”
A little known part of this story, according to Dr. Roffman, is that some parts are being built in China, which is probably the last place that the U.S. wants to share its technology.
Finally, Dr. Roffman noted that the Justice Department attorney who is leading the investigation into the IRS punishment of Tea Party organizations is Barbara Kay Bosserman, who has donated more than $6,000 to President Obama’s presidential campaigns. Needless to say, many Republicans have called into question the entire investigation.
“If you’re in the fix, you’re in the fix,” 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.
JAN
