Host Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 72 stations) with the revelation that Veterans Administration Secretary, Robert McDonald was a frequent dinner guest when Neal was operating his manufacturing facility in the Philippines. Neal characterized McDonald as a good guy and hopes that he can turn the flawed VA around.
This lead to a discussion with Congressman Tim Huelskamp, who represents Kansas’ First Congressional District, and is actively working to overhaul the VA.
“There is a culture of deniability and corruption at the VA, including $6 billion in illegal spending. There was a promise that incompetent VA officials would be fired, but instead of 400 people that were supposed to be losing their jobs, only 4 have been let go. We need to get rid of the bad apples, and it’s way more than four,” proposed Congressman Huelskamp.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman, like many Americans, is disheartened that veterans who put their life on the line are not getting the medical help they need and deserve. And when they request answers, they are being stonewalled.
Congressman Huelskamp agreed, and added that although Congress is trying to change things, it will take the will of the American people to force change. Wounded veterans and others with medical conditions have limited access to local healthcare. Many must drive extended miles to VA facilities when they should be able to choose local healthcare providers and have their care covered by VA benefits.
“Congress needs to be able to hold the VA accountable and instead of giving them more and more money each year, start taking money away unless their performance dramatically improves,” noted Congressman Huelskamp.
Neal and Dr. Roffman segued to a discussion about the fantasy employment figures disseminated by the White House.
“One in five Americans isn’t in the labor force, but the administration reports that unemployment is at a 15-year low. Ninety-three million Americans aren’t in the labor force, including 56 million women. So how can jobless claims be at a 15 year low?” asked Neal.
Dr. Roffman agreed that the employment numbers are depressing, particularly among youth and African-Americans that are disproportionately suffering the worst employment numbers.
Also hurting employment has been the behavior of unions that are holding small businesses hostage, eroding their ability to hire.
“Only 7% of workers belong to unions so the unions are waging a war to add more members, especially at fast food restaurants where the pressure to raise the minimum wage will actually result in massive job layoffs. More and more companies are relocating to right-to-work states to avoid union coercion,” suggested Neal.
Made in America welcomed first-time guest, Dan Walters, a reporter for the Sacramento Bee, who highlighted a war in San Diego, California between the teachers union and the state assembly.
“The teachers union has been able to retain the worst teachers who are usually shuttled to poor neighborhoods, which impacts education standards. The state assembly, all Democrats who side with unions, refuse to make any changes to teacher evaluation. Shirley Weber, an assembly member and fellow Democrat, found a general lack of support from her colleagues when she introduced a bill that would change the evaluation and compensation process. Her fellow Democrats also voted her down when she tried to change standards in the police department,” reported Walters.
Walters noted that Weber didn’t go quietly and vocally castigated her fellow assembly members –a video which went viral and gained Weber some allies.
The final guest on Made in America was return guest Wayne Crews, VP of Policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who estimated that regulations annually cost the country $2 trillion – about half of total government spending.
“Even as our budget soars, so have regulations. This simply can’t continue and there are proposals on the table to cut back on regulations. As a nation we have to choose the way we regulate. To put this in perspective, if we had fixed regulations dating back to the 1940s, our economy would be at $5.6 trillion,” concluded Crews.
In his recurring report on the impact that robots are having in replacing human workers, Dr. Roffman noted that the trend is growing internationally and in America. Dr. Roffman reported that Chinese online search firm Baidu has developed the world’s smartest artificial intelligence system capable of scanning one million images with almost perfect recognition.
“This is scary enough, but people who should be the most scared are minimum wage workers who are in danger of being replaced by robots. It’s happening at fast food places, but even workers making a decent salary are in peril. At a New York hotel a robot checks in guests, hands out keys, and a robot delivers bags to each guest’s rooms. This doesn’t bode well for check-in clerks and bellman whose jobs could be eliminated,” related 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.
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