20160418 (fend for yourself, sucker)

Abandoned Packard plants in Detroit. Packard lost competitively. They didn't move to Mexico. That's part of capitalism's famous "creative destruction." So where are the jobs Packard's destruction created?

Did you need a Hula Hoop, Beanie

Baby, or a Cabbage Patch Kid?

Ever have to call the power 

Company to arrange for more

Electricity next month? Sure,

I did when I had to upgrade to

A 220 line for an electric stove

Or household air conditioning.

We don’t have to have to make

These arrangements because of

An especially comprehensive,

Powerful computing system that

Paradoxically requires no power

Itself. Without seeming like a 

Moonstruck capitalist, it’s the

Market I’m talking about that 

Calculates the relationships of 

All our needs and makes sure 

What we want is generally 

Available in quantity on store

Shelves when we want it or 

Them, even services to rid 

Us of our excess Hula Hoops,

Beanie Babies, and Cabbage 

Patch Kids (or their scam sisters

Garbage Pail Kids—which fooled

Not one youngster in the whole

Of the contiguous states, AL, or HI).

Likewise GM produced about 

Enough ’57 Chevy Bel Air 

Hardtops. Sadly there have been

Muff ups like Armour & Company

Famously supplying rotten meat

No one ordered, or those garden

Game Jarts which had a distinct

Penchant for puncturing crania

In the ‘50s (shoulda stuck with

The hoops, I tell ya). But it wasn’t

All success or partial success.

The market didn’t produce any 

Jobs to replace those lost when a 

Company moved to China. Flint

And Detroit are still waiting on

Employment possibilities long

After the last Buick rolled off

The line (or Pontiacs, De Sotos,

Oldsmobiles, or Plymouths).

Get real, man. Are we supposed

To weep for every company that

Gets it in the neck? Rubbermaid

Left Wooster, DHL left Wilmongton,

GE cut back hugely at Nela Park.

That’s life, no? No. Definitely not.

A company can move at the drop 

Of a wage scale in a foreign land.

Do they pay off your mortgage

When they scram? In a sense the

Six-pack schmoe has got a lot

Of losses ahead of him/her when

Flim/Flam & Friends moves to

Mexico. Only now are cities

And counties talking about

Snatching back government

Investments, low-cost loans,

And tax abatements for the

Companies that scoot. Who

Knows if there are clauses in

The contracts that cover such

Exigencies? If not courts will

Have to determine what recourse

Governments have. Years ago 

People moved to Lordstown

And invested in houses, schools,

Without considering GM could

One day just up and move leaving

Them holding the bag for new

Communities and their property.

In 2008 it could have happened.

Taxpayer monies can save banks,

Automobile corporations, and 

Weapons producers, but average

Joe? No.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016