GH,
Sir, your points are valid and correct. The best example of what can happen when the government meddles in business affairs too much is California. Many Californians were scratching their head at why so many companies were going bankrupt as well as many companies undertaking great costs to move their operations to other states. Yet, the answer was obvious; bad legislation.
Whilst I agree with you that social changes lead to much of the reformed labor standards, it was set in stone by legislation and regulatory bodies. I have never, and will never trust a company to police itself. It's an extreme on both ends. I'm trying to meet it in the middle. The problem seems not to be the legislation, but the extremes to which the legislation is brought to. Worker's Safety, great stuff. Let's have some minimum standards in order to assure we don't have people getting sucked into a meat grinder. But, then these governmentally created bodies, in order to perpetuate their jobs, create asinine regulations every year in order to seem like they are doing more. THAT is a serious problem.
My position is this, Sir. We have corporations whose motto is obfuscate, obfuscate, obfuscate... Eventually the truth comes out, and YES the system does work, they have to answer for any mistakes in judgement, Monsanto/Tobacco/DowCorning etc etc... When their mistakes come to light, the consumers are the ones who rally into action. I had always thought that the reason for regulation was to try to bring these issues to light sooner rather than later. We need environmental standards that are enforceable, but the EPA has gone to far. We need standards for workers safety, but OSHA has gone too far. We should not scrap these agencies or change the legislation to zero. These organisations need solid neutral/competant leadership. We can have it both ways. Unfortunately, it seems like everytime we create an organisation they wind up overstepping their bounds in some way.
It's hard for me not to want some legislation to protect workers. I'm the son of a Union Man. I understand your position, and on all economic levels it is factually sound. I honestly can't give you any personal stories from my region about this being a bad economy and that things look glum. In fact, I can point to quite the opposite. We are doing very well in New England. My concern lies with those folks who have at minimum a HS education and found solid pay in the manufacturing sector. There are quite a few of them.
I really liked the new proposal to help re-train those workers. I believe in that proposal. We WILL create jobs in new sectors and refocus our economic base. I think the 12-18 month forecast for this country is fantastic. If we maintain this level of growth and follow through on the re-training proposal, I really like the direction we are headed in. I've seen so many economic forecasts both doom and gloom and total prosperity to realise it will lie right in the middle. We will sort this out, we will add jobs, hopefully legislation will be introduced to roll-back some of the more-intrusive anti-business laws, and we WILL innovate. That is the Motto of the United States of America, we are innovators. I may hail from a Liberal bastion, but I understand that corporate success is what lends us to have the quality of life we enjoy. Meaning: everyone here dislikes me. The motto around here is "Big Companies are BAD very BAD." Hard to explain and pose the question "So, who signs your paycheck?"
The Yankees. Yes, if spending that much in luxury tax for a guy who can't pitch when we walk down Yawkey Way with the prize... Sound economic fundamentals.
With regards to phone centers in that region... I could write up a business plan, but I'm saving that for your Christmas present. The profit potential is enormous. All I ask in return is a company title and use of the corporate jet. If you think that consultants make a great deal of cash, try owning a corporate training company that expressly focuses on the training of the hottest growing industry in that region. Money will rain down from the heavens.
Always a pleasure discussing things with you, GH. I always wind up learning more than I say.