Our country seems to have a lot of problems right now. There are backlog of ships offshore waiting to be unloaded. There is a labor shortage. There is the immigration problem and many, many more problems that the conservative press are asking “What is the President going to be doing about this?” I thought that we want smaller government? This is capitalism, why is it the presidents fault? Biden has been in office only 9 months but there are all these problems that are his fault? If you buy that then I want to sell you a bridge in New York or some swamp land in Florida. We seem to want smaller government until things go wrong and then we want the government to fix them.

Is it Biden’s fault that we have a backlog of ships? No. I was just reading an article from the Long Beach Post in Jan 21 that stated that it is from an increase of demand not a slowdown at the ports. 2020 they had a record number of ships off loaded. There is an increase of ships because there is an increase in demand for many home products. Also there is a limited warehouse capacity because of Covid. None of these problems were created by Biden or Trump. The Guardian, in an article Sept 21, blames it on the lack of trucks to haul the goods and the increased demand because of Covid. This is another example of when there is a problem we expect the government to come in and solve the problems. The shortage of trucks and of drivers is an industry problem. The demand for more home products is a direct result of Covid. Covid is not going to go away because people will not mask up and vaccinate. Simple physics, action: more people working at home because of Covid, reaction: a greater need for more home products and that need started before Biden took office.

I hear we have a labor shortage. Really a shortage? Is it a real shortage or is it that we need to do more to get people out into the workforce. Pay and child care go hand in hand. If you can’t afford child care how can you afford to work? An article in the World Economic Forum rates the U.S. as the 3^rd highest in child care costs in the world. We expect people to go to work and then starve paying child care. Is the private sector doing anything about it? It is their problem but no, everyone points their finger at the government to do something but if the government does it is an entitlement and we can’t have that. In the meantime it is the families and the children that are the biggest losers in this scenario. Companies that are paying better are being more successful at finding applicants. We have people being called lazy because they can’t afford childcare. The Associated Press just ran an article that the unemployment claims have fallen to the lowest levels since the pandemic so the shortage can’t be from all that free government money. People cannot be expected to work for free as other people get rich off their labors.

Immigration, is that just a made up problem? Here we have a labor shortage and illegal immigrants taking our jobs at the same time. How is that possible? How can we have both a labor shortage and have illegal immigrants taking all of our jobs? I really do not think that illegal immigration is a bigger problem now than it was during the Reagan administration or really any of the other administrations. I just think that it is more of a political weapon now used to feed peoples racism. Will a wall in Texas solve this imaginary problem?  No, sorry it won’t. It is just people spending money so they can get your vote. Taking that money, beefing up our border patrols, and even having the military patrol our borders would be much more effective. The wall is just a monument to racism and history will probably record it as such. I believe in a secure border and have always thought that our military should be patrolling it especially after 9/11 even though all the 9/11 terrorist came in through legal ports on entry. In fact over 60 percent of illegal immigrants come in through legal ports of entry and not sneaking across the border.

Now illegal immigration and asylum seekers are two separate problems. It is the asylum seekers that we see more than the illegal immigrants. People wanting to come to America for a better life. Trump once said, “Why is it that they are all coming from shit- hole countries?”  His words not mine. Why would people from countries freer than ours want to come here? That may be better to explore that in another blog. The asylum seekers do create a humanitarian problem that the whole world should be looking at. Always remember that Joseph, Mary and Jesus had to seek asylum in Egypt because Herod wanted to kill Jesus. That is in the book a Matthew.

Yes, we have many problems that need to be solved but I am sorry. The lack of cooperation from the Republicans is just scary. I have seen no solution come from the Republicans only throwing stones at the Democrats. I have seen the Democrats throw their fair share of stones but they at least have what they have what they think are solutions to some of the problem. The only things I have seen republicans do is cut taxes for the rich and shrink the middle class. Oh, and they have increased the debt that they don’t want to pay now.