Host Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 48 stations) by expressing empathy for the millions of Americans living in poverty, because they are locked into low paying part-time jobs. Neal challenged listeners not to accept the status quo and ask representatives to explain how the nation wasted $20 trillion on the War on Poverty (created under Lyndon Johnson), and yet today we still have more people living in poverty than ever before.
Neal’s first guest was Indiana Congressman Todd Rokita, who maintained that it’s time to break the cycle of dependency on government entitlements, and help the record 46.5 million Americans living in poverty.
“After 50 years, and $20 trillion in federal funds spent to reduce poverty, let’s take a look at what is working and what is not working instead of pouring money into failed programs. The solution might be to copy what is being done by faith–based groups to alleviate local poverty. We have second and third generations that are dependent on federal aid, and have stopped even looking for work. If they ever want to be truly independent they need to find a good paying job instead of part-time jobs,” suggested Rokita, who added that it’s time to stop characterizing the unemployed as victims.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman agreed, adding: “If you keep getting money for doing nothing, there is no incentive to look for work. We now have 15 percent of the country living in poverty, creating a permanent underclass. We are eroding the traditional American work ethic.”
Returning as a guest on Made in America was Kevin Martin, a member of the National Advisory Council of the Project 21 black leadership network, who advocated that his children should have the first crack at jobs instead of giving jobs to newly immigrated foreign workers.
“We have to stop putting untrained, non-English speaking illegals before U.S. citizens when it comes to jobs. It’s time to put America first, but politicians are using the immigration issue to score points with Latino voters,” maintained Martin.
Neal agreed, chastising politicians promoting the need to open our borders to more foreign workers because we have jobs that can’t be filled.
“This is nonsense. Jesse Jackson had it right when he suggested that we spend more time working with urban America instead of immigration issues,” said Neal, who agreed with Dr. Roffman that more Americans than ever are concerned about the rise in illegal immigration and are in favor of returning more illegals to their home countries.
Neal continued the discussion on the employment rate, reminding listeners that 300,000 jobs a month must be created just to keep pace with the nation’s population growth, but only 47 percent of Americans have full-time jobs. Many of the rest are either not working or have part-time jobs that result in these workers being five times more likely to live in poverty.
First time guest Dr. Gerard Lameiro, economist, engineer, and founder of Lameiro Economics, LLC, joined Made in America, and agreed with Neal that most of the jobs being created are part-time jobs, which can’t compensate for the 523,000 good paying jobs that have been lost.
“What a loss for America’s GDP, standard of living and economic growth when we have so many workers stuck in part-time jobs. We have created a welfare economy.
Ronald Reagan created 17 million jobs, but when we have things like Obamacare – which should be repealed – jobs aren’t being created,” concluded Dr. Lameiro.
The final guest on Made in America was Dan Ogden, Chair Emeritus of the National District Export Council, and current chair of the Trade Policy Committee and Chair of the Export University Liaison Committee.
Like Neal, Ogden is concerned that the future of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), which helps so many American exporters with loans and guarantees so they can expand foreign markets, is caught up in an intraparty political fight that has seen some Republicans yield to Libertarian pressure to avoid any federal programs. If Ex-Im is not reauthorized by congressed–it will fold.
“They are fighting against the wrong agency. Ex-Im helps entrepreneurs create jobs. They should be going after agencies that stand in the way of job creation. Republicans need to stop attacking Ex-Im on ideological grounds and trying to appease a small constituent base that doesn’t like Ex-IM,” advocated Ogden who predicted that the senate would probably vote to reauthorize Ex-Im, but there will be a tougher fight in the House.
Neal and Dr. Roffman moved on to their weekly segment identifying rampant cronyism.
“We have Hillary and other progressives trying to repudiate success, as if it were a bad thing. Hillary tries to distance herself from the wealth she and Bill have accumulated, while collecting $3,000 a minute to give speeches. It’s part of a movement where successful people who revel in the face that they’ve made it, now don’t want other people to be successful, too,” lamented Neal.
Dr. Roffman noted that White House ties continue to be profitable, with the news that former White House press secretary, Jay Carney, is reaping large rewards now that he’s back in the private sector, due to his Obama ties.
“Cronyism is the gift that keeps on giving, but there are some rumblings about these rewards. Some UNLV students recently demanded that the university get back some of the $250,000 they paid Hillary for a speech,” concluded Dr. Roffman.
Each week Neal Asbury’ 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.
JUL
