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Lost jobs aren't coming back

Everyone keeps looking at the unemployment rates and wondering when they will go down. The fact is the jobs won't return; they have been shipped overseas.

Unemployment has been on the rise ever since the removal of import tariffs, which moved us from fair trade to free trade. This was the beginning of the jobs going overseas to cheap, cheap labor and unregulated standards.

Of course our products did cost more to make here because not only have our workers over the years gained a decent wage for a reasonable workweek, but the products cost more because of the additional other protections we require in producing our products in America as opposed to those of Third World countries.

We implemented and regulated safety standards in our workplace. We demanded quality standards in our products. We insisted on regulated standards and the monitoring of our food and medical items.

These are all very costly requirements compared to the unregulated Third World countries. Also, the Third World work force is willing to work obscene hours for little pay and horrible and unsafe working conditions.

In order for jobs to return to America, our work force will have to be content to work under Third World standards to compete. Don't look for this to happen anytime soon. In fact, look for unemployment to increase until the work force accepts this reality.

The cost of the move from free trade was fair trade, and it has devastated the American work force.

Leo A. Dietrich

Lake Villa

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