In listening to today's NPR show, "On Point" with Tom Ashbrook, part of the discussion centered around capitalists complaining. The US employee pool does not have enough qualified applicants for new plants scheduled to come on line. This comment makes me want to puke.
"This country is facing a shortage of that kind of talent. So the demand is there, big time, " says Peter Cella, CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical. Chevron and competitor ExxonMobil Chemical are both building giant plants that will triple the output of plastics from Houston. "What we need to work on is the supply."
From the
USA Today article referenced on the radio show
Gee fellas, I am a Democratic Socialist. I don't know much about your fancy free market system. But my understanding is (I learned this from my socialist-public funded - education) it operates on a law of supply and demand. Now this concept states that when there is a shortage, you should raise the price you are willing to pay. So maybe, just maybe you should increase wages ? Or I dunno, maybe train people yourself rather than requiring society and employees to pay the costs ?
But no of course not. Big business just cries that society is shirking its responsibility to increase supply of qualified employees. Not only do have no responsibility to pay for our roads, bridges, courts etc, but that they are due free trained labor as well. You know, so they can under pay them.
There were many intelligent people calling in to today's show on NPR. But not one soul that I heard, dared to suggest that the employer has a responsibility here. We have lost sight of the role and responsibility ALL institutions play in a healthy economy and society. Unless or until we reestablish some basic civic principles, the majority of working people will continue to receive a lower and lower standard of living.