Today, May 15, 2014, just several months short of 13 years after the horrific “Islamic Terrorist” attack on the “Twin Towers” where 3000 New Yorkers perished, there was a solemn ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial Museum dedicated to the victims and heroes of that evil act. The ceremony brought together with one voice, elected officials, the President of the United States, heroes and the kin of those who perished and gave witness that from many countries New Yorkers were One – E Pluribus Unum. As noted in an NYPD press release [The history preserved in the Museum is rooted in heartbreak and tragedy…yet its greatest lesson is found in the courage and compassion that emerged in response. We should take comfort knowing what those who sought to destroy us could never have understood: that the ties that bind us strengthen in the most extraordinary ways when we are faced with the most unimaginable circumstances].
For me the dedication rekindled an unforgettable, painful memory, because I stood on the shoreline in L.I.C. that morning of 9/11 and watched those magnificent towers burn and crumble to the ground sending huge clouds of smoke and debris into Brooklyn.

The Job Market
Indeed much has changed since that day of infamy more than 13 years ago particularly in the jobs market and with society in general. The digital age was rather in its infancy when the “Towers” crumbled to the ground and today we have Google, the World Wide Web, and the Smart Phone. We have entered the world of “Tap and Touch” where encyclopedic information is at your fingertips, where 10 year olds, consumed by their smart phone, gather at a table not to talk to each other, but to text among themselves, while music is streaming into their ears from that very same smart phone. The down side of the “Tap and Touch Generation” is their overall deficiency with the four R’s: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Respect. Collectively they are unprepared to face the challenges of a “Global Economy” and this fact has caused many, many good paying, high-tech jobs to be moved outside of the United States to lands of our competitors.
Another factor facing young people who do have the necessary skills to qualify for a job is the fact that older people are working longer and there is no vacancy to be filled. There are many reasons to want to stay in the jobs market and according to a 2014 AARP report; financial need is at the top of the list – driven by personal or financial health care cost, the need to assist aging parents or children, and their own financial security. But, the report points out psychological reasons are at the top of their mind too. Many older workers see their job as an integral part of their identity.

Depending on the government for everything

On the political front there has been a severe change in the direction our country is heading which has had a chilling effect on the jobs market. Although shifting American jobs to Japan, China and Asia has created the “Rust Belt” throughout the mid-west since the 1970s. For the past 5 years President Obama’s `social justice` policies have strangled our economy. And shifted our constitutionally created Republic to a form of socialism wherein the citizen is dependent upon government for almost everything.
Peter Morici an economist and professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland notes: Washington corruption – in the pattern of Valdmir Putin – is driving inequality and sinking family incomes. Higher taxes may catch your family doctor in the near future but politicians will still find a way to exempt their supporters among the wealthy. Politicians offering ordinary voters a free ride on taxes, subsidized health care and other enticements are really picking their pockets by giving the country away to the oligarchs.
Professor Morici’s premise is born-out in the unbridled greed for profit among investors, for most, the bottom line is their god. Clearly, if we are to grow this economy we have to grow the “Middle Class”. If we are to maintain a civil society we must grow the “Middle Class”. When a father has a job it brings dignity to the dinner table and adds structure to the family which is the smallest unit of a civilized society. I commend several Employers such as Costco, Lowes, Bed Bath and Beyond, Starbucks and others that have treated the employees very fair and yet maid sufficient profits to grow to national and internal size.
The quest for unbridled profit foists excessive taxes upon families for welfare, education and prisons. When we get our politics right social, education, welfare and penal problems will correct themselves. In light of the military build-up in China and the aggression of Valdmir Putin’s Russia into the Ukraine, it is past time to rebuild our 21st Century Military with advanced weaponry. Frankly, these countries are perched to act as a Mafia threatening military force if you don’t buy their products and shun United States products,
Without question, along with rebuilding our military we must harvest our energy resources for domestic consumption and export. And to start by removing unnecessary restrictions on these industries, which will provide thousands of good paying jobs for Americans.

Immigration: Can’t have a one size fits all
With regard to immigration, we must have a government photo ID of all aliens irrespective of their immigration status. We can’t have a one size fits all approach. And, internal enforcement as well as absolute boarder enforcement must be the “Order of the day.” Our city and town street corners a filled with illegals looking for a day’s work. Unfortunately for them and America most of them are illiterate, that is they do not read nor write in their native tongue. They and their families are living like slaves in the land of the “Free and the Home of the Brave.” All this presents a huge educational and social challenge for our cities. America must have one common language – English. It is ludicrous that the NYC Department of Education must printout notices to parents in 29 languages.

In closing I note Sen. Jeff Sessions, (Republican from Alabama) May 13, 2014 remarks to The Daily Caller: Americans overall, and especially middle-class Americans, have been pleading with their political leaders to end the lawlessness in immigration, to create a policy that serves national interest, and to protect them from excess labor flow that pulls down their wages and may cost them their jobs….Congress because of an unhealthy attachment to corporate America and political maneuvering, has refused to give it to them.

We need to tell people who think they can buy bad policy with money and contributions to go jump in the lake. We need to tell them with clarity – we don’t represent special interest, we represent the American interest. We’re not going to be seduced into adopting the policy of a narrow group of billionaires and ignore the legitimate interest of millions of working Americans.

Pray for our veterans. E. Pluribus Unum.