In late June of 2011 the U.S. Congress failed to vote on the continued funding for the Federal Aviation Administration airport construction. It is interesting to note that on one hand the federal government talks a lot about the unemployment rates, and the need for further stimulus and spending on such projects that will kick-start the economy. Of course, the economy is officially under duress again, and the second quarter GDP growth in the United States was only 1.3% which is rather dismal.
If the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress tell us that their number one priority is to lower the unemployment rate, and get America back to work again, it seems there is a bit of hypocrisy here. However, when you look closely at what’s going on, you would understand that it is not the debt ceiling limit debate that prevented Congress from reaffirming their commitment to these new United Built Homes Floor Plans projects, the reason they were halted in the middle of these jobs was because these jobs did not have to use union labor. That’s interesting isn’t it?
Why that’s interesting is because the government wants more jobs and are caught in a conundrum as they want to give jobs to their union voters, and not anyone else. That’s unfortunate because in the country under 10% of the population work union, and one has to ask what about the other 90% of the population, who are also Americans, voters, and they too need jobs.
Not long ago, out here in California I noted that everyone is talking about alternative energy General Contractor Checklist projects, and the new green economy and how it would provide lots of new jobs. That’s interesting in and of itself, but what is even more interesting is that the unions in California decided they would help retrain everyone to do those alternative energy jobs, and build all of those construction projects for the green economy, and then demand that union labor be hired.
All I see is a lot of talk about jobs and employment, and lots of caveats behind the scenes that no one else is talking about. Well, I believe we should discuss this, and I was rather miffed at the fact that one of the major global aviation airline manufacturing companies came under fire because they built an airline manufacturing facility in South Carolina, which had different rules making it more difficult for unions to form, and then we watched the Democrats go behind the scenes to push their agenda.
At some point Washington DC needs to stop playing politics, the states need to stop worrying about redistricting, and we need to move forward reducing regulations for small, medium, and large businesses so we can get the employment going. And we need to be truthful with the American people, and maybe we should just put a sign outside Washington DC which says; “no new construction jobs, or, no new jobs all, unless they are union.” You see, the construction industry is an important sign of a growing or declining economy.
I believe that if we are more honest with ourselves, and what’s going on, we will see the construction industry improve and make the prudent decisions we need to see it through. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.