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Chickens are home to roost in the U.S.

Society is in for a rough ride, thanks to powers that be letting things slide

When Mitt Romney doesn’t understand the root cause of the West’s financial problems, how can he solve them?

The problem is greed, and being part of a get-rich-quick society where we have little regard for others provided we think that we are OK.

When the bean counters realized they could make bigger profits for their companies by manufacturing overseas, they saw nothing wrong with their employees losing their jobs. It didn’t occur to them that their philosophy would mean that the time would eventually come when there would be no one working and earning the money to purchase their products.

In the meantime, we the customers were happy. Being able to buy a Chinese made garden set for $150 from Walmart was far better than paying $450 for an American- manufactured equivalent.

Our standard of living was going up (due to cheaper products) without having to earn more money, and of course we didn’t care about those poor unfortunates who had lost their jobs.

It was the people in manufacturing who saw their jobs being shipped overseas. The very people that were the main part of our wealth creating process were being thrown on the scrapheap along with the skills that they possessed.

At the same time people employed in service industries like the financial institutions, police, teachers, the medical profession and government employees were demanding and getting pay increases. These jobs are important but we tend to forget that they can only be afforded if wealth is being created and taxes could be collected.

Why should this group be concerned about where the money to pay them comes from? After all, they could always point to the obscene salaries that sports people were getting and thus justify their demands.

Is Romney prepared to put an end to both the manipulation that prevails in the stock market and the creative accounting and financing that nearly saw a complete collapse of the financial system?

Are those employed in service industries prepared to give back a lot of the financial advances they have made so that our skilled people finally get what they deserve.

Somehow I don’t think so.

Edward A. Mott

Parksville