The Outsourcing of America?

When I was young, I guess I was still naive enough that I thought there existed businesses whose ultimate motives were altruistic. Now I've been in the world long enough to know that some do exist, but they are exceedingly rare. (I would lump Christian Hedonism in with altruism, because from the world's perspective, the two are indistinguishable.) I guess while I still had that mindset that there were a large number of businesses that just wanted to help people (long before I had a Christian perspective), my father wisely instructed me that businesses exist to make money. A profit is the ultimate goal.

Because I believe in capitalism, I think that's a good thing. I'm not going to go all Gordon Gekko on you, but the desire for companies to make money is what makes capitalism good for the company, the employee, and the consumer. Now, all people will have to give an account for what they did with what God gave them, so how people in businesses made their money and what they did with what they made are important, but there's nothing inherently wrong with making a profit, or even a large profit.

Simple economics lesson. In a free-market economy, the two ways to maximize profit are by: 1) making more money, and 2) reducing expenses. Consumers demand lower prices, so companies have to come up with ways to sell their goods and services at lower prices and still maintain their profits so that the stockholders gain. All of this means that reducing expenses is a major part of maximizing the company's gain.

At odds with this is the phenomenon of trophy kids coming into the workforce in much larger quantities. The cost of a single employee per year is substantially more than their salary. In order to attract and retain the best employees, (thereby raising product quality and increasing revenues) businesses have to provide employees with benefits. Medical insurance, life insurance, time away from work (sick and vacation), training, stock options, bonuses, and a towel with the company logo for Christmas. All of this adds up. Employees have the right to demand more, but companies have the right to refuse it (at least in most states).

Now, back to Trophy Kids. When the workforce is saturated with Trophy Kids, and the consumer market is saturated with "Trophy Consumers" (who demand better products for somewhere between free and really inexpensive) the business has a decision to make. If there are few to no other options in the workforce for reducing their expenses, one very reasonable way to do that is to streamline their processes as much as possible, make all work as akin to a robot-operated factory line as possible, and outsource for the labor.

I hate the idea of outsourcing America. It makes me sad to see hundreds of local jobs go to another country. Those are real people who do those jobs, with real families and real bills to pay. Unfortunately, many of those real people have chosen to live an unreal lifestyle. The workforce has raised its standard of living so high that the market is naturally going to have a hard time maintaining it for them.

In other countries, there are enough people whose demands are small enough, that the labor force is so extremely competitive that companies can pay much less for the labor. Not only that, but it's so competitive that the employees are willing to work extra long hours, and be self-trained just so they can get and keep those jobs. They understand that there are only a few jobs to be had, and they know full well that there are 10 people standing in line behind them waiting to take their position. A labor pool like that is good for businesses, and good for the consumers. In order to make it as an employee in those cultures, you have to be the opposite of a trophy kid. You have to be motivated by supporting your family. You have to be willing to spend less and work more. You have to be willing to do the extra work necessary to make yourself more beneficial to the company than the next guy in line waiting to take your place.

So do I like the outsourcing of America? My word, no I don't! Do I understand the outsourcing of America? Absolutely.

Trophy Kids?

Mrs. At Home and I have had some discussion lately about folks cut from a different cloth than we were. I don't think it's just generational, because there are lazy people and hard workers in every generation. Mrs. At Home referred to the younger generation of these folks coming into the workforce now as "Trophy Kids"

The phrase comes from something that had become popular in the 1990's - you know, when men weren't allowed to be men anymore - where kids weren't allowed to be successes and failures. Everybody was rewarded for participating, regardless of how well they had done. This was the age when municipal sports programs wouldn't keep score, there were no losers, and everybody got a trophy. There was no need for improvement because success wasn't measured by excellence at the task, but in simply showing up.

Evidently, those folks are coming into the workforce now, and corporations don't know exactly how to handle them. These folks have been trained to accept only praise from others, and to take, take, take. Employers can't pay them enough, can't train them enough, can't give them enough benefits, and for heaven's sake, can't expect them to work. I had a discussion with my teaching mentor last night, and evidently one of his new reports is unhappy because he's never been expected to work so hard or so much before, and he simply has too much going on in his life to have to do this sort of labor.

All of this makes me sick. I know exactly how corporations should deal with the problem, and the solution is very unpopular to American culture. I'll post about it later on because I hate to dump really long, unfocused posts on you. I doubt you'll like my solution, but corporations really have no other option - because these are the only new workers available in the workforce.

As with all problems, a Christ-focused life is the solution. Paul's last instruction to the Thessalonians was this:

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12

Billy

On that first day of digging in the dirt, it was clear who was in charge at this work site. Billy was clearly the one making decisions, and Ralph was glad to do whatever was necessary to build this house.

But the first time I rode back to the church with Billy, I realized that he wasn't a member of the church we were working with. He was another one of the tireless retirees who were called by God to help out in Mississippi. In fact, immediately after Katrina, he had given 2 ½ years of his life to this region and the city. He lives just south of Meridian, but he and his wife loaded up their Class C RV and parked it at the church. He worked so many hours for so long that he had to give it up for a time. He had worked 6 and 7 days a week for those 30 months, and it was taking a toll on his health.

Prior to Katrina, Billy had had a heart attack and had bypass surgery. Within 4 weeks of his surgery, his wife was calling the surgeon to find out if it was okay for Billy to be doing construction again. The doctor asked, "does he want to?" His wife said he did, and the doctor's reply was that it was the best thing for his health. Billy is 76 years old now and attributes his good mental and physical health to the fact that he's remained active for so long.

Billy has also been a missionary in Japan rebuilding churches. When he retired from the workforce, he had worked through a great deal of effort to become a full-time missionary until the organization laughed him away because he was 65 years old at the time. But rather than spend the rest of his life discouraged, Billy has remained faithful to what God has called him to.

The church has a great deal to thank Billy for. He was personally responsible for much of the portion of the church that was rebuilt. He personally did the wiring and architecture, and much of his time and effort were poured into that church. And the region has much to thank Billy for since the church has served as a center of operations for the area.

But Billy, like Ralph, doesn't crave the admiration of men. He's happy to be pleasing his God, who is the real reason for him to want to do the work. He's thankful for the work a carpenter in Nazareth did for him so long ago, which is why he's a carpenter for that Nazarene now. I'm so happy to have met men like Billy.

Ralph

On the first day of work in Mississippi, the church administrator, who had become the Katrina Relief Administrator took us to a couple of the homes we would be working on during the week. The administrator kept talking about the work that needed to be done, most of which would require some degree of skill. I mentioned that I have no skill, so I ended up getting sent to a property that they were building from scratch to help dig footings for a slab.

While I was there, I was working with a gentleman named Ralph. He seemed to be a long-term sort of guy, possibly a member of the church. I was just doing what I was told, so didn't spend a lot of time getting into a conversation with him that morning.

Until he got a phone call.

At one point during the morning I was holding buttresses in place while Ralph nailed them to stakes that had been driven into the ground. But Ralph got a phone call, and I couldn't help but overhear the conversation. Ralph's end of the conversations was filled with "oooh kayyys" and "soohhhs". But not a single "ya; knoooww?". So when he got off the call, I just had to ask what part of the Midwest Ralph was from.

He was originally from Ohio, near Toledo. When he graduated from a Bible high school in Atlanta, he was doing construction work back home when a friend asked him if he wanted to go to a county fair in Michigan with he and the girl he was dating. Ralph didn't want to feel like a third wheel, so the friend got him set up with a blind date. A month after the blind date, Ralph had bought Ruby an engagement ring, and a year later they were married. They've been married 53 years now.

It turns out that Ralph and Ruby are some of "those" people Mrs. At Home had told me about. They were people whom God had told to go to Mississippi to help out after Katrina, and they just haven't left yet. They've been in Biloxi for about 2 ½ years now. They had done the typical American retirement where you drive around the country seeing all the beautiful places, but they've now "unretired" and are working in Biloxi with the rebuild effort.

I have so much admiration for folks who value doing His work more than they value their own comfortable retirement. And I have a lot of admiration for Ralph and his life experience. The time of work was good work, but during the morning work and afternoon work, I couldn't wait until quitting time so I could ride back to the church with Ralph or Billy and hear their stories - how they got there, what God has done through them in those places, how God got them there, or just to hear their great stories of growing up and maturing in wisdom.

Samaria

He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." - Acts 1:7-8

This week, I'm in Samaria. Not literally, but in Mississppi. In Biloxi, actually. Where Katrina did all the damage you didn't hear about. Yeah - that Katrina. The one three years ago. Biloxi is still trying to recover.

The church here has been running recovery all over the city since right after the storm. The church itself had been flooded by five feet of water, and they managed to recover pretty quickly and then the church became a center of operations to help the remainder of the city recover. The church we go to has had a partnership with this one for quite some time, but we never made time to come here. This year, there was a trip for families to go and help the recovery effort.

Even after only one day of work, I have so many stories to tell. I got to work with Ralph and Billy today, and just the stores of how they got here are amazing enough. This storm is full of stories, and I'm so happy that we decided to come here, because I want for all of us to have stories like those of our own. And I want to keep hearing all the other great stories.

So I will do my best when I have time this week to post some of those stories. You won't want to miss them. But my biggest hope is that you might be motivated to help wherever Samaria is - Iowa, Galveston, California, or even Burma.

A Bubba Story

I have a friend whose nickname is Bubba. And by all the things he works himself into, he's earned the title. He's just a great guy to get to know, but many of his stories sound like he's telling a joke, and you're just waiting for the punchline. Only the punchline never comes. Because it really happened. Here's an example from today:

I love living in Lowell!

True Story - I'm driving back home from our all-hand meeting in Charlotte - and running low on gas. When I get off 85 I see the first gas station has gas! Whoot! So I pull in behind this big F350 at the pump.

Well, I sit there a bit, I can see the nozzle in the truck, and figure the driver is in the store. I get a chaw of tobaccy and sit there a bit longer.

Eventually, I decide this is taking too long, but the dang lot is filled up, and I got a line behind me and to both sides and can't move - so I get out and go in to see if we can get stuff moving again.

I go into the counter and the lady what runs the place meets me at the door and says, "I know, he's been sitting in here with his friends eating lunch and say's he'll move it when he's done. I called the sherriff and he oughta be here soon."

I asked her, "Which one is he?"

She says, "The big one."

So I go saunterin' into the back of the store where they got the picnic tables and sure enough, there ain't no question about which one is the big one. Cornfed country boy! I mean, that boy looked like a Brahma Bull personified, musta been like 6.5' tall too! Sittin' and eating a samich with about 6 other guys - all of 'em in there
mid-twenties I suspect.

I walked up and said, "Excuse me, reckon that's your truck out there slowing things down?"

He stood up, looked down at me, and said, "Yea grandpa. It is. Wanna fight about it?"

I said, "Sure. Inside or outside?"

He asks, "Are you serious?" (Friends laughing)
I said, "Well, I was raised in a trailer park in Misipi. Spent two years in the Army and ten in the US Navy, three of which I served as a drill instructure. On top of that, I got five kids and everyone of them woke up in a bad mood this morning, which didn't help mine. So, I'm betting I know something you don't know. Not that I can benchpress more than you. Beside which, yer daddy ain't here to beat yer butt for disrepecting your elders, and I reckon he'll appreciate me doin' for him."

He said (with a skeered look on his face), "You know my daddy?"

I said, "I told ya I know something you don't know."

He said, "Excuse me sir. I appologize, I thought I'd just have a little fun with ya, um...I'll go move the truck right now .. and, um ... I didn't mean nuthin' by the grandpa statement ... I got nothing but respect for my elders and veterans. Please don't mention this to my pa, I'm real sorry."

He left to move the truck (which he pulled outa the parking lot and didn't come back) and the little lady walked over and asked me, "Do you really know his daddy?"

I said, "No ma'am, don't have a clue who he is."

His friends was rolling on the floor laughing, and I got a free tank of gas out of the deal!

You just don't meet better people than Bubba and his running buddies and all their family. Good to see Bubba get a free tank of gas. And I bet you don't believe the story. If you knew Bubba, you'd know it was all true.

THEY

For those who don't know, Charlotte has been having a bit of a fuel crisis over the past couple of weeks. About the time Ike was turning toward Houston, and it was announced that the refineries in the Houston area would be shut down in preparation for the hurricane, Charlotte magically ran out of petrol. It's amazing how the shortage happened before the refineries were shut down.

The problem has been going on for a couple of weeks now. Prior to Ike, prices rocketed to close to $5/gal here, then dropped off sharply - because there was no more fuel to be had. When I returned from a business trip, many gas stations were selling fuel for 0.00USD/gal - meaning the tanks were empty. Any gas station that had fuel had lines for a quarter of a mile or more. Things are still that way today.

While having the refineries turned off in Houston has contributed some to the shortage of fuel here, the shortage is mostly complicated by local paranoia that there might not be enough fuel. I suspect that if people had not heard about Ike, we wouldn't have the fuel problem, and people wouldn't make a run on all the gas stations. If you're getting images of Jimmy Stewart looking hopelessly into the bank's shoeboxes because people came to get their money out of the local S&L in "It's a Wonderful Life", that's precisely what happened - had people not panicked about a lack of fuel (real or not), there would be no real shortage of fuel.

And then, I sat down to breakfast yesterday with somebody who insisted that THEY were to blame. You know who THEY are - the people all the conspiracy theorists blame for everything. THEY are the ones that you'll never know personally because THEY like it that way. Then the guy started saying that THEY were to blame because he went to other places and had no problem getting fuel. And the governor of North Carolina and the mayor of Charlotte are personally to blame for the shortage as well because they haven't like struck some under-table deal with OPEC to thwart THEIR attempts to keep Charlotte from gasoline. I tried as calmly as possible to explain that this was all because people in the Charlotte area have made a rush on gasoline, even if they didn't need it. I didn't get around to telling the guy about all the pictures of people with Honda Civics (i.e., not farmers) with 5 10-gallon gas cans on the ground filling those before Mrs. At Home rescued me from almost certain embarrassment because I just don't deal too well with conspiracy theorists.

So is the fuel shortage in Charlotte real? Yes. Is it necessary? No. Will I be topping off my tank as soon as relief hits the local pumps just because I know the next load might be 18 months out? Heck no. I won't keep the paranoia engine going.

And by the way - watch the video highlights of today's football game in Bank of America Stadium - from those, it sure doesn't look like there's a fuel shortage in Charlotte. Highway traffic doesn't indicate that people have felt the pinch and decided to stop driving. I haven't driven by local bars, cinemas, shopping malls, or anything, but I doubt their profit margin is down too substantially, either. And church was pretty full this morning. It may be hard to get fuel, and people are complaining about it, but the shortage isn't substantial enough yet to prevent people from doing what they value.