by Tom Kern

Created on: July 16, 2008

This is a double edged sword question. Whatever is that supposed to mean anyway ? In a country like the great United States,it helps because of our democratic system is based on inexpensive uses of everything we have inherited since the signing of the Declaration of Independance to the recent Supreme Courts rulings on Banking & Regulation. In short, this country needs a labor force to sustain the economy. Americans just turn their cheeks at certain forms of labor. An example. The movie "Scareface" with Al Pacino comes to mind, and an analogy in referance to to this point. Here it goes . Suppose a young person comes into this country and makes $ 20 dollars an hour for 2 to 3 years as a butcher at a local food market. After 3 years he's going to say to himself,"I can go into business for myself now,I don't need to work for corporate anymore". He starts his own company and goes on to make a lot of money selling beef jerky on line from his cousins garage. The American Dream has been attained ! Now,let's say Tony,yeah I guess that is a good name, works really hard getting organised all the contracts for developing this company,researching the cattle industry etc. All is going great for Tony and more so. Life could not be better.Tony is sitting on top of the world. Until one day someone wants to make life miserable for Tony and his Jerky business gets sued because one of the Jerky's was infected with Mad Cow disease. OOPS. Tony has to go back to the Super market and beg for his job or go crawling back to his country of origin and hope for the best. Life is miserable. Tony is out on the interstate with sign saying,"please help". Not as bad as Scareface & Al though. The balance had to be made in this story. A decision to solve a problem. In the real world, our Social Security system depends on a vibrant and dedicated workforce to sustain programs set up to protect people and society in a limited way. Helpful in a limited time frame, but possibly harmful in the long run. If you haven't seen Scareface,you know the story. Be warned, the language is not for everybody. In 2008 the U.S. would seem to be the place to want to be. Many are returning or even moving away simply because the economic conditions in this country seem to be going in the wrong direction. The global sweep of goods and services has moved to where it is most needed and can be sustained. Again, another choice has to be made or made available due to neccesity. Certain countries have histories and cultures making things impossible or intolerable to sustain a labor force for society to function. The world's work will be done. It just is not like ordering a pizza. It takes time to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The people are what makes or breaks an economic entity. The teams form, play for awhile then it's time to go on to something else. Do I hear the sounds of Summer Olympics '08 ? This debate could go on, but just like in a race it must come to an end.

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