Rx for Mike R. Bloomberg (Part III) -- Economic Empowerment |
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Sections - Politics | |||
Written by Bobby M. Reyes | |||
Saturday, 01 February 2020 06:37 | |||
Rx for Mike R. Bloomberg (Part III) (The third in a series of unsolicited suggestions for inclusion in the Mike Bloomberg's platforms of governance and socioeconomic development.) Democrats Must Promote Economic Empowerment for the Poor Caucasians and Minority Americans I posted recently a topic in five Democratic Facebook Groups and in my Timeline about Economic Empowerment, especially for Minorities and even Caucasian workers, now often out of work, in the Appalachian Region. This was my original posting: Very-few Democratic leaders talk about it. But one of the reasons Mrs. Clinton lost the 2016 election was the fact that minorities, especially the African-American and Latino communities, never really received economic-development support under President Obama. I posted this note in 2012 on Facebook: QUOTE. President Obama cannot even help mitigate the high unemployment rate of his fellow Black Americans (14.4%) or that of his biggest supporters, the Latino Americans (above 11%). Pls compare the said rates to that of White Americans (7.4% as of May 2012). UNQUOTE. If the Democrat Party wants to win back control of Congress in 2018 and the White House in 2020, then it must present bold but viable economic programs -- under Public-Private Partnerships -- that may not necessarily find support in Wall Street and Corporate America. But it is high time for Democrats to not pay lip service but to do actual work in helping minorities and poor White Americans, especially in the Appalachian Region, achieve real economic empowerment. Perhaps this group can help in revising the economic platform of the Democratic Party and turn it away from Wall Street. I proceeded to post more comments and ideas, so as to stimulate an intellectually-satisfying dialogue: 1.0 Now back to the underlying message in the above thread. Here was an idea that I tried to send then to President Bill Clinton and President Obama. It was Suggestion No. 1 in creating jobs for Minorities. The Democratic Presidents could have moved -- especially since during part of their first term, Congress was controlled also by Democrats -- for the revival of the cotton industry in the Southern U.S.A. Most of the cotton farmers and workers were African Americans sharecroppers. My proposal was not only to cultivate again the cotton crop but to establish modern-&-computerized cotton gins and factories that would turn out fabrics for the clothing industry. (Most of the American cotton were exported to China, India and other clothing-manufacturing countries.) Then workers would be aided in forming their own factories to turn out jeans, children's clothing and other ready-to-wear (RTW) clothing such as uniforms for the military, police, healthcare workers, etc. and even for export. Foreigners, especially in developing countries, prefer more stateside (Made in U.S.A.) clothing that those Made-in-China. It would not take rocket science to understand and implement my proposal. 2.0 I suggested also to the two Democratic Presidents to help young African-&-Latino youth (especially young Puerto Ricans and Guamenians) to take up nursing and other fields in the medical industry. Even now, foreign nurses continue to be employed by the U.S. healthcare industry (now mainly from China and Taiwan). Since the early 1960s for instance, more-than 500,000 (half-a-million) Filipino nurses were "imported" to fill up unfilled vacancies in U.S. hospitals. Most of the nurses eventually became U.S. citizens and many of them earn anywhere from $70,000 to $100-K per year. Imagine what a nurse can do to financially-distressed American families, especially if one or two members became nurses and/or physicians or even med-techs. Nursing and medical schools in the U.S. would have been thrilled by the influx of new American students, thereby helping pump-priming the educational sector. 2.1 I wrote then President Clinton in 1997 about the failed medical experiments that the U.S. did in the PH in the early 1900s. I mentioned in it also that perhaps the U.S. should begin again exporting American medical technology by setting up "medical centers" (school of medicine, a general hospital and research-&-devekopment center) on turnkey basis in Third World countries or even in Puerto Rico -- similar to what the U.S. did in 1902 in the PH. This would have led to young American medical professionals being set up abroad, thereby generating more employment in the medical field. 3.0 There are jobs that have been farmed out to foreign-based Call Centers (mainly in India and the PH) that did mainly telephone work and via the Internet (in transcribing medical or legal records and documents, for instance). Many of these jobs could have been given to graduating high-school students, many of whom do not proceed to college for lack of financial resources. Instead of student loans, these students could have been employed part-time and federal grants could have been used to defray part of the tuition and board-&-lodging expenses. Community colleges could have been the perfect sites for U.S.-based Call Centers. 4.0 The example of the more-than 10,000 Chinese workers "imported" to work in finishing the U.S. railroad extension to the Western U.S. in the mid-19th century could have been a lesson to American policy-&-decision makers. The federal and state gov'ts. could have aided Minority communities in organizing construction cooperatives for the present-and-coming repairs of America's crumbling transportation infrastructures (like roads, bridges, tunnels, etc.). This initiative could have resulted in millions of new jobs for Minority workers. 4.1 The U.S. Democratic President could have easily persuaded the African-or-Latino superstars in football, baseball, basketball, boxing and other sports or in the movie industry to invest in the above-named construction workers' co-ops. There are now many Puerto-Rican stars in the Major-League Baseball. Many these American athletes would not have refused an invitation to attend an Investment Summit in the White House or Camp David, as chaired by the President or the Vice President. 5.0 Perhaps a Democratic-controlled Congress and the Oval Office can push the development of Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands into new versions of Hawaii, as island-tourism oases for domestic-and-foreign visitors. 5.1 Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, HI, with its new hotels being constructed or rebuilt and modernized, can be the example of tourism-oriented development of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They can be developed into the Hawaii of the Caribbean. And Guam as another Hawaiian version of a tourism-oriented oasis for the Marianas. 6.0 Since I do not have a monopoly on ideas, perhaps you, Admin Greg Maziarz, can spearhead the turning of this "Real Americans ... Against Trumpenfuhrer" FB Group (or the Admins of the other Democratic Facebook Groups) into a Think Tank to devise ways and means of helping the economic empowerment of the financially-disadvantaged Americans of any color. There are more economic-development opportunities for the poor that the Democratic Party can include in its coming Economic Platform for the 2018 and 2020 elections. Thank you for your consideration. 6.1 What three other Democratic Facebook Groups, including the one administered by Greg Maziarz, did was to terminate my membership. Probably they did not like my ideas of socioeconomic-and-environmental development -- specially since I badgered their Admins and members for failing to contribute even modest efforts to provide their own inputs in the discussion. # # #
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I mentioned in it my letter then to President Clinton.