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We Should Learn From The Greatest Generation
By RAMOND CHIARAMONTE
Special to the Tampa Tribune
Published: December 28, 2008My father used to tell me many things growing up that at the time did not have meaning to me, and if they did I did not really believe them.
My dad was right in the middle of what is often referred to as the Greatest Generation - the generation of Americans who, by working together regardless of ideology, defeated the biggest threats to our survival that this country had ever faced.
They came back and built a country where if you worked hard at your job, your individual talents led you to you having a reasonably good chance of having a decent life.
Part of that philosophy was working together as Americans to support each other for the benefit of the country. He thought that being a conservative meant taking care of your family, being loyal to your country and working hard in the physically demanding job he had as a silkscreen printer. In return for that hard work, there was the wonderful opportunity to live a life with hope for the future of his family, to do better. I wish I could have the same confidence that he had for the future.
He has been dead for 21 years, but oh how some of the things he said have reverberated through my head lately. Nothing has sparked my memories of his wisdom more than the situation with American automobile companies. My dad never really understood why people were so obsessed with buying foreign products, especially cars. Why would you not buy products that helped the other workers in our country, thereby helping the country as a whole?
Now I get all the arguments about freedom to buy whatever we want, about problems in the past with quality of American cars not being perceived as being as good as foreign cars, about unions and pensions and health insurance and all the rest of the issues. However, there are some things I don't get.
I do not understand the double standard that is expressed by the media when they report on the financial problems with the Wall Street types who inhabit the same world. They seem to have no clue why we should help our largest industry that employs millions of blue-collar, skilled workers.
Clueless To The Real Issues
There seems to be more outrage over factory workers getting help because they have decent wages, insurance and retirement than there is over Wall Street moguls who have salaries in the seven figures. The reporters seem totally clueless about the real issues. They seem to have an illusion that somehow American products cannot compete in the free market. What free market?
It seems American car companies compete quite well in Europe and Asia when they operate on a more level playing field, without some of the extra burdens of the legacy costs they have here at home that are covered by governments in other countries. Is it a level playing field when many Southern states give millions in tax credits to lure foreign car companies to build in their states? Is it a level playing field in general when many times our products are subjected to fees and extra taxes in other countries?
I wonder how well our car companies would compete if they did not offer the benefits of health insurance and retirement that in some competing countries are covered by the government.
Don't Believe The Hype
American cars have come a long way in the past 10 years and are competitive in quality to foreign cars. It is not true that there are no American cars that get good mileage or are well-designed. I find it interesting that the media would have people believe that the only car Toyota makes is the Prius, never attacking all the trucks, SUVs and sports cars the company produces the way they attack American car products.Toyota and Honda sales also have fallen more than 30 percent over the past two months, but you would hardly know it watching CNN or FOX. The problem is largely the financial breakdown of this country, not the design of American cars. Most industrialized countries in the world are considering some type of help for their car companies to weather this storm. It is too important an issue not to.
Maybe we should level the playing field by putting the same taxes on foreign products as they put on ours. Maybe we should put fees on their cars to make up for the legacy costs of the past for our industrial employees.
I have a better idea: Why don't some of us start thinking a little more like the Greatest Generation did when they faced problems? Maybe we should think in a little bit more of a loyal fashion. If you are going to buy a car or another major item, check and see whether an American product can meet your need simply because it can help our country.
Consider buying a product from an American company because the profit often stays in our country. Consider what benefits a company offers their employees when making a purchase because it is the right thing to do. Think about making your decisions in a way that helps your fellow citizens instead of just getting what you want regardless of what impact it has on our country. Be a little less selfish.
That is what patriotism is about - helping each other do better. Sometimes there are not good choices available, but many times there are.
Well now, so to speak, the chickens have come home to roost. Huge trade deficits with other countries are weakening our own economic system. We had better start thinking more about our fellow American workers because the situation we are in is affecting all of us. Only by working together and making purchasing decisions that help our country can we solve the problems we are all facing.
Our family is the United States, and it needs taking care of now.
Ramond Chiaramonte is executive director of the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization.