America's Empty Buildings

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Boston. Two days driving up and two days back. We drove through 13 states.

Driving can be relaxing, educational and a time to think about a variety of things.

There was something about certain visual sights along the 2,800 mile trek that were very disturbing. More than a few large and small buildings sat empty. No activity and no cars in their parking lots.

These are buildings that once had cars filling their lots. The owners of the cars had been inside, working, manufacturing American made products.

The empty building observations were not restricted to just one or two states. We saw these buildings in most every state we drove through.

I think it is reasonable and accurate to conclude that these empty buildings represent thousands and thousands of lost jobs.

Jobs that supported families and communities. Jobs that paid taxes to support federal, state and local governments. Jobs that provided health insurance and some type of retirement plan.

My thoughts evolved to the question of why?

What are the reasons/factors contributing to this empty building syndrome across our country? I’m sure a small part of the problem is the overall poor economy as of late.

That being said, this empty building syndrome has been getting progressively worse for many years.

The products once made in these many empty buildings are now being made in various foreign countries.

Enabling legislation by our elected officials in Washington, over the years, has created the environment for this to happen. High paid lobbyists for large national and international companies have filled campaign coffers with obscene amounts of money.

The money “buys” the votes that will favor big companies in their quest to produce a product in some third world country that pays its workers the lowest wages on the planet.

In the aggregate, over the years, our Washington elected officials, Democrats and Republicans, are responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of jobs here in America.

Most of those jobs will never return.

Our country, from its very start, has remained healthy and strong because of what we take from raw materials to a finished product.

America, until just a few short years ago, has always been a nation that made many of its own products.

For the most part, federal and state elected officials represent the big money interests while the average citizen may get a crumb of representation that falls from the table from time to time.

High paid lobbyists and big campaign contributors have a seat at the table. The average citizen has no place at the table, although it’s the citizens who are always the ones adversely affected.

How can people in Congress continue to be re-elected approximately 95 percent of the time when the approval rating of the U.S. Congress is only 20 percent?

It’s all that campaign money! Money that funds expensive TV adds convincing the viewer how great they are.

They know where the money is and what they have to do to get it. Big companies have big lobbyists that donate big money to the candidates…..and those same candidates are always available to their donors.

The majority of our elected officials (federal and state) want to stay in office for life. Many are successful for 20 or 30 years because they have honed their money raising skills.

Because money has thoroughly corrupted our election process, term limits for these career politicians is one answer to at least improving things somewhat.

Significant election reform should be demanded by voters!

In the situation of the empty building syndrome throughout our country, big money equals bad policy that equals a tremendous amount of job loss that continues to increase.

My wife and I were moved by the history in and around Boston. The USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) the building in Boston where the Declaration of Independence was read aloud for the first time , Paul Revere’ s home, Old North Church, Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II, standing before the memorial that bore the names of those first settlers who came for freedom…..and those who lost their lives within the first year of arriving (more than half of them).

I had many more thoughts driving back to Florida than on the trip up. Mainly, the early settlers and their reasons for coming. Our march to independence over the next 150 years.

Reflecting on how our county has evolved, where it is today, and where it may be going is very thought provoking.

Our government is broken. Partisan politics gives rise to bad policy. There is legalized corruption in the way politicians raise money. Career politicians are NOT what our founding Fathers envisioned.

I feel strongly that no military power in the world can bring the United States to its knees. I feel just as strongly that economic calamity can and will accomplish what a military power cannot.

The standard of living in the United States will no longer improve with each new generation. This is starting to happen already.

We cannot continue year after year to lose manufacturing jobs to other countries.

This puts our trade deficit on an ever increasing path.

We are becoming increasingly dependent on other countries to provide us with most of the goods we want and need. If this trend continues, in fact, if it does not reverse, the United States standard of living will indeed be much lower. We will no longer be a world leader.

The United States Congress and past administrations are guilty of passing laws that undermine our economic stability in the future. Here we are in 2009 and it is all too clear…….we are reaping what we’ve sown.

Ernie Padgett resides in Marianna, Florida with his wife. He worked 30 years in state and local government. He served as county administrator for over 21 years in 3 Florida counties. He retired after serving 12 years as Manatee County Administrator.