Can we create jobs here in America?

The answer is yes, we can create jobs in America, only if the regulations are a little bit relaxed and the corporation’s (or investors) thinking about long term profits not short term gains. There are people in this country who are willing to work longer only if jobs are available. But it just seems that jobs have been disappearing faster and what ever there remains need high levels of skills or are of low wages with no chances of advances (despite the hype on the contrary). Big areas of the U.S. are empty, where you can create lots of industries with jobs, but the trend of outsourcing and cheap labor lures even the companies which are here.

The one thing I don’t understand is if the jobs are going to be outsourced, how the unemployed people here will be able to afford the products that are then imported from cheaper places abroad. The jobs created here can enable people here to spend money here. But this is not happening and the real higher earnings jobs are being created for highly skill people and not for the common folk who may be struggling just to put food on the table and may have no money for retraining if ever they are willing and able to train. Retraining is a big thing now but even with that there is little evidence it will help a lot of unemployed people since the jobs are simply not there to support the retrained people. It is time to create jobs by investing in new factories where the real work is done because we should face the fact that not everybody is cut out to sit in the office and do the mental work that the new jobs will demand.

Desperate for anybody

I have seen this that every time some obscure politician does something out of the ordinary, people and especially the media try to speculate that that particular politician has an ambitious agenda going all the way up to the Presidency. Take for example the governor of New Jersey, when he started to take on the unions and his opposition party in the legislature and had some tough talk about the future of his state, the media started the hype of him being having ambitious of campaigning for a future election. The same thing happened with the New York, when he championed and fought and won the rights of gay marriage, there was again talks of him being politically ambitious for a higher office.

I don’t have any qualms about who gets running for the president and what not. But why the media had to start the speculation of higher aspirations when the politician has not said anything. But it is also that particular politician’s fault also that they don’t even refute this speculation and keep the media guessing. It may be because they like the limelight. But my point here is that we are so desperate for new faces and new ideas that when some politician does something radically different and wins over hard to win unions and entrenched interests, he or she instantly becomes the darling of the media and the frustrated public. We just desperate for anybody who may have a magic wand and that wand would instantly solve all our problems. Such is the desperation of all of us.

The troops are coming home

Finally after a span of ten years, some 33 thousand troops will come home from Afghanistan by the end of the next summer. Although we would still have about 65 thousand troops left there but it is a start and a realization that we cannot keep our troops there indefinitely and ultimately it would be the responsibility of the Afghan people to decide the fate of their country like the Iraqis before them. It also shows that the U.S. after eliminating OBL has mostly accomplished its goal of reducing Al-Qaeda to a small outfit. But the war is still not over and maybe not forever as long as the ideology associated with Al-Qaeda is destroyed and the links of various outfits completely destroyed.

There is also a realization now that the main focus of the war is now shifted to the lawless areas of Pakistan. Unless we destroy or reduce the ability of the Taliban and other Al-Qaeda affiliated groups there to plan and launch attacks on neighboring countries in particular and western countries in general, this war will keep on going one. Although Pakistan is trying its best to control its border and destroy Taliban, it has been doing it selectively (no matter what they say otherwise). We will need Pakistan to keep on doing its part but we must not stop using drones which are being used effectively in the tribal areas of Pakistan (which does not violate the sovereignty of that country since the laws of Pakistan are not applicable there). Drones are effective and until Pakistan shows its sincerity in going after all terrorist group regardless of their sympathies, drones should be kept on using.

Separating truth from lies

It is now harder than ever to separate truth from lies, especially on the internet. Anybody can spread rumors about it and then you have to scramble to make sure the damage is controlled. Sometimes people spread false information about somebody and then your reputation is ruined. Also putting up false information is much easier since you can plant that persons picture through photo editing software and insert somebody’s picture on it. Similarly fake news is implanted to damage the opponents’ reputation. Some times the person implanting the story is sued by some people for damages to their reputation. Sometimes what seems like unbelievable news initially turns out to be the truth which was supposed to come out at an appropriate time.

My point is that unless you do your due diligence regarding some news, you may find it harder to separate what is the truth and what is simple old lie. Some lies are so carefully planted that despite the best efforts of the people putting it out is not discovered until that lie is exposed by some obscure source or the person implanting the news comes out to say that it is not true. Case in point is the supposed female gay blogger in Syria who fooled everybody by posting his blogs on the daily events in Syria while he (she) was in the U.K. and nobody suspected it until he (she) came out by himself to say that it was a fabrication of what was supposedly happening in Syria. There are many stories like this out there and you have to be duly carefully whom to believe and what to believe before you gave your own conclusive judgment and opinion on the subject matter.