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Highlands Today

Unemployment figures

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James E. Ingalls, Sebring

Published: November 28, 2009

I am a former small business owner, now retired, and trying to make some sense of what is going on today. The unemployment figures are the glaring statistics that stand out and no one seems willing to state the obvious reason why they are so high.
Let's look at some facts. A small business starts because a person has an article to sell. He starts making the product himself but soon finds he can't do it alone so he hires help.
Now he finds several problems that he did not have before. Now he has a payroll to meet each week, sick days, vacations, taxes, office help, etc., and his help expects a raise in pay every year.
Then a union gains control. Now you are told you can't fire anybody, how the work must be done, and who will do it, etc. The union demands higher raises so that your product costs more than the public is willing to pay. Now that pet project that you were so proud of becomes something you wish you had never thought of. One alternative is to get someone to build it for you: China.
How about another alternative? Have the unions demand a reduction in pay? Now the cost of living would be reduced. Maybe we could build that product in the states again and keep the jobs here at a price the public will pay.
Remember, the one thing that keeps a business going is profit. Take that away and there goes the business and the jobs.

James E. Ingalls, Sebring

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