America stop complaining and get busy. Everyone is saying buy American products this season for presents. Sure, I would love to, but there aren’t any American products for sale in our stores anymore. Yes, they manufacture everything overseas paying people there next to nothing to make stuff sold in our stores. The unskilled over sea workers are taught how to use the machinery to make our stuff because they are willing to work for little wages. There is no minimum wage laws there that manufactures must abide by.

Right now there are 3 Million open jobs in this country waiting for a skilled worker to take the job. The manufacturer will not pay someone to learn here because it is too expensive. Years ago there was on the job training for veterans and poor people and internships too. Americans are stupid, well not intelligent just unskilled and I blame it on our laws that do not protect jobs in this country and especially on our schools.

We have schools that are very good in preparing an elite group of students to be what is called college bound. They take honors classes and AP classes which is advanced planning difficult classes so they can master the ACT test or SAT test. Get great scores and then be accepted to a college and try to overcome the $50,000 per year to get a degree. There is NO guarantee and no specific job waiting out there for anyone. They still have to sell themselves to a company. Not an easy way to start real productive lives. When I went to college in the 70’s college was free no debt following me.

What about the ordinary kid going to high school? What happens to him after his senior year? Not a thing. The schools just let them out unskilled for any job and uneducated for a corporate job. Their options are fast food chains that offer little in wages or civil servant jobs that if you can get one pays little too if you are considering raising a family. These kids that do not want to go to college should be required to leave high school with a marketable skill.

Teach them plumbing, electrical skills, bank job skills, most importantly give tax breaks to manufacturing companies to teach American workers how to run the machines that can make the products we love and keep the wages in this country. The political guys could care less because even after this election President Obama and most members of Congress kept their 6 figure jobs. Meanwhile every month since January 2009 more than 20 Million Americans have been either out of work or under employed.

Just in manufacturing there are as many as 500,000 jobs that aren’t being filled because we in this country are unskilled. Our workers do not know how to operate the machinery needed to make stuff. Employers say they can’t find qualified workers. There is even a name for it. It is called The Skills Gap. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country a place where we could be making stuff. A place where there are jobs waiting to be filled.

Manufacturing usually require, even if it is a tiny fastener for products , computer controlled machines that make precision parts. Measurements to a thousandths of an inch and sometimes the thickness of a piece of paper. Companies need workers that can program the computers, operate the machines, fix them and then make sure the results are up to speculation. These jobs do not require rocket scientists but need people that know how to do stuff other than serve you your favorite kind of sweet whipped creamed coffee.

The Skills Gap problem in this country starts at the entry level. If your kid is not going to college then your kid should be learning a marketable skill . Our government has failed Americans and our companies have failed Americans. Where is the land of opportunity if no company, no school and no law requires Americans to know anything? That is way too much freedom and is putting a big burden on the few that still have jobs here. Our taxes pay for unemployment and the political salaries that never go down.

Our schools have failed even in basic educational skills that are needed for any job. Our kids get out of high school and even college without basic skills. People don’t even show up to work on time, they can’t read or write or even do math problem solving. They can’t even put sentences together without a major grammatical error. If you can’t even write a proper resume for a job they will not trust you operating any manufacturing machine for their company. Manufacturing is in the business of perfection. They rather train a grateful foreigner to learn for one dollar a day than any spoiled stupid American.