Why do we always have to be Right?

What is wrong with the Left?   For Americans, the politics of the left is something way too radical.  Because that means you are in favor of shaking the established order.  For the French, it is just a part of life.  Why should you not question what is being prescribed by those who are giving the orders?  And for the rest of the world, it is to become a revolutionary.  Either you are battling your former colonists, or following an international movement.  So, are you a mover and a shaker or are you OK with the status quo?  Which stance do you belong?

When the radical Jacobins or Montagnard (French revolutionary radicals) deputies decided to physically sit in the upper left benches of the Assemblée nationale in Paris back in 1789, the symbolism was established.  They huffed and puffed over the current order vindicating how everyone should get a fair share of the pie and rid the republic of the monopoly of the monarchy.  And across the hall, seated the Legitimists (also known as the Royalists), they felt compelled that upon entering the auditorium, they were befitting and had bona fide claim of the right section.  A proper man in society at that time carried himself with grace and tact.  He spoke the proper lingua and held himself well.  His noble ranks always bought his ticket in the right place of the room.  

Who would have ever thought seating arrangement would change the rest of the world’s political psyche?  Is it human nature or is this just binary semantics?   Et voila, left wing versus right wing political spectrum was born- another contribution from the rubbles of the French revolution. 

For the first time in history, the American President is labeled from the left and the French President is from the right.  Sarkozy and Obama campaigned with the slogan that ‘change’ is on the way.  From national security, international terrorism, cyber security, a weakening currency, and worsening economy- all the maladies of an ailing state were present.  As difficult as it was to inherit all the maladies, their prescription was always not well supported by their legislative houses.  Being an agent of change is not easy- wherever you are coming from.  In 2012, both will run for their second term hoping to be reelected.  And both are also in trouble of being beaten.   But each one of their current opponents simply lack the substance nor a solid blue print on how to make things better.  

To be a leftist in the other parts of the world has a frightening connotation to it - fortunately and/or unfortunately.  Being a leftist can mean being unfairly branded as a terrorist who can wreak havoc in society.  The Cold War and leftist terrorism eclipsed the religiously-coded revolutionary movement such as the Khomeini-led Iran upheaval in 1979.  And today, either one is a Communist simpatico and a dreamer demagogue such as President Chavez of Venezuela, a separatist movement such as the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka that use illegal means to stage their agenda, your platform upsets the social order.  And worse, you can be part of a religious fervor such as the Taliban which uses a holy doctrine in a distorted way to fight off modernization.  Overtime, being on the left went hand-in-hand with terror- a destroyer of peace and order.  

Following the right or left has a different connotation across the world. So, back to the question, do we always have to be Right?  Or do you want to be left behind?  I guess choosing which way to go is not that easy. From a revolutionary or a terrorist, from a demagogue follower or a Commander in Chief, left or right, you are always in the hot seat. 

Vive les Vacances!

Volume 2, Issue 35- September 9-15, 2011

International Tribune

The Gallic tribe is returning home.  The summer exodus is coming to an inevitable halt.  This time-honored pilgrimage in French life usually starts in mid-July or the beginning of August and ends during the first week of September.  It is the most sacred and honored tradition in the French culture: the four weeks (minimum) summer vacation.  

Everyone is equally entitled, if requested- for their vacation during this time of the year.  Hurrah for égalité!  And because of this, the roads are jam packed with traffic all over the country.  At the airports and train stations, it is virtually a mass hysteria.  As an American living in Paris, I promise you, this is a collective movement like no other I have ever seen. French of all background, young and old, rich and poor are synchronized in action and bravely trained to maneuver themselves through the crowd to get to their final destinations. They even have Bison Futé (literal translation: Sharp Buffalo), a government-funded broadcasting company dedicated to monitor all commercial traffic on the ground for its citizens. Observing how Bison Futé works through the summer crowd is the closest that one can experience French camaraderie at its finest hours.  Hurrah for fraternité!  And finally, for some special case, the road back home was rougher than expected – with a slight twist of fate from a plane ride.  Yes, even DSK is now back in his arrondisement after his unexpected ‘perp walk’ in New York.   One is never too late to relearn the price of liberté.  

Here we are.  The summer of 2011 is finally over. It is now part of history.  The next massive movement will most likely be cyber traffic - as each holiday albums are posted each second via hundreds per megabytes on Facebook.  

You may now be wondering, do the French take their vacation days at the same time?  The quick and short answer is, yes.  And how many vacation days are they entitled to?   Well, this is where the Gallic tribe is far more advanced than the others and takes serious pride with their response. By government regulation, every worker is entitled to four weeks paid vacation.  Oh la la!  And the longer you stay in a company, the more vacation days are accumulated for your seniority and added to your employment contract.  In France, it is considered illegal to grant a worker less than four weeks of paid vacation.   This is not a bad national regulation to have, don’t you think so?  Why can’t a similar law exist in the United States? 

Believe it or not, most advanced countries have a law that protects employees for their time-off except in the United States according to the OECD, an international think tank.   The work force in Britain has 20 days guaranteed paid annual vacation.  Germany provides 24 paid vacation days.  The most generous are Finland and France, with 30 paid vacation days.   And on the other side of the Atlantic, Canada offers ten paid vacation days whereas in the United States, it is zero.  C’est dommage! Ironically, companies who offer paid vacation packages are already considered generous- even if it is only five paid vacation days (1 week) after toiling for two years.  The sad reality is, the US is the only industrialized country whose government does not have any law that supports and dictates how many paid vacation days one should be granted to a worker.  And same goes for the health benefits- but that is an entirely different topic for another article.  

Figure 1: OECD nations paid time off.  Statistics provided by the OECD.

One can argue that labor laws are different for every country.  Perhaps, it is probably far-fetched to compare European socialist models versus the American capitalist system in terms of labor rights.  However, the United States economy and government is still bigger compared to other countries.  There are more American-owned companies that are international in scope than other businesses elsewhere.   And when they expand outside their territory, to play by the rules, they have to honor the host country’s labor laws.  Technically, perks given by companies overseas exceeds what they provide to their fellow countrymen. Americans have no other choice but to work harder with fewer benefits.  How did we let labor rules evolved this way?  Or, how did we forget about taking care of the American workforce? 

America has become an alien nation when it comes to labor rights.  Most Americans are woefully ignorant of how pro-business US policies are compared to other countries.   And sadly, they do not really do anything about it.  According to Robert Frank, a Cornell University economist, an average American works 62.4 % more hours today than he did during the 1970s. And to go back even farther in time, in the 1950s, in order to make ends meet, an average American worker had to clock-in 42.5 hours.  Working conditions improved a little better and it slightly declined to 41.5 hours during the 1970s. Once you do the math, this only means that an average American worker is now toiling more than ever.  The quality time that should be spent with family and friends are lessened.  A basic thing such as a good night sleep is interrupted. And the idea of spending some leisure to cultivate one's personal interest or hobby has been definitely compromised if not completely relegated to the backburner.

Perhaps it is time Americans took some notes from their French counterparts and learn from their culture of joie de vivre.  Now that things are shaking up in the Capitol on the hot issue of employment and/or unemployment, maybe the time is ripe for changes on how to better take care of the hard-working Americans.  They certainly deserve more compensation than what they are given today.  Enacting a federal labor law as a guideline on paid vacation time will not cost dearly.   This clause can actually make the American work force happier and more rested- therefore, it will increase efficiency and productivity.  Maybe this is even a good strategy to help boost the ailing economy and the depress work force.  If we do not rock the boat now, considering the rate that working hours are increasing according to statistics, Americans might be soon risking their weekends permanently in the near future.   Quelle horreur!

Presidential Challenge

Volume 2, Issue 35- September 2-8, 2011

International Tribune

Last week, one of my favorite columnists at the New York Times apologized to the public that the media must have downplayed the significance of unemployment in the US.  At the end of his article, he even challenged President Obama to do something about it.  What a coincidence.  In his next major speech after Labor Day, President Obama will actually focus on the same exact subject:  something must be done with unemployment. 

In his bus tour of the Midwest this entire week, the buzz in the heartland is “jobs”!  The unemployment rate is at 9.1%- that is nearly 14 million registered unemployed Americans.   Not to mention that there are millions of former full-time workers whose job were cut down to half-time employment just to keep them afloat.   This statistics is still struggling to find ways to get back into full time employment.  History has shown that there has not been any president re-elected for a second term with this high unemployment rate.  If Obama does not focus on this issue now, he will also find himself unemployed after next year’s presidential election.  

Where did all the jobs go? The truth is, this topic can be a never-ending debate.  However, to narrow it down a bit to present my humble argument, there is one major culprit for this loss, and that is out-sourcing.  Since technology has advanced us to ways where we can now connect people from one side of the world to another, companies found ways to train and hire a much cheaper labor force overseas.  Most corporate executives now claim that it is more cost-effective to operate a call center in New Delhi or Manila than Pittsburgh or Omaha.  In fact, this is nothing new and most Americans know about this.  What is bothersome is that most policy makers in Capitol Hill have close ties with the big corporations but are still not proactive on finding remedies to this loss.  And ironically, the easiest and immediate target to blame is President Obama.   It becomes just another excuse to attack the president – twisting the situation as his lack of action to the issue.  The magnitude of these job losses hurts so many Americans.  It must be placed in the proper perspective.

In 2004 and 2009, IBM outsourced its high-tech jobs to India where there is a big pool of well-educated and less-expensive labor force.  India’s G.D.P. (Gross Domestic Products) grew at a very admirable rate of 7.1% which, to a very large degree, resulted from this outsourcing of America's economic activities.  In 2006, Eastman Kodak, Co. contracted a Singapore-based electronic company, Flextronics to manufacture and distribute a good portion of its digital cameras.  This agreement resulted in job creations not only in Singapore but also to factories in China and Mexico.  Not only one country benefited from this outsourcing, but three- to the expense of American workers.  Do you know that with outsourcing, companies are taxed less because of their overseas operational expenses?  Not only are the jobs given elsewhere, but they are also not paying their taxes at home.  Yes, this is a double-edged sword.  

Next year’s US Presidential Election will be a very important election in which the very future of this nation will depend.  From health care to defense, from national debt to creating jobs, the winner must take America to a better and higher road.   All we see now from the Republican runners are non-stop tirade and cheap shots on the current president.  They do not have any solid plans and hardly an economic platform to present to the American public.  Voters should challenge the candidates to provide them a real blue-print on how to fix America’s crises and not just dwell on the problem.  America’s infrastructures in every aspect need reconstructing, revamping and strengthening.  The American people have sacrificed too much and have borne the burden too far.

And now, here is my challenge.  I know that being the President of America is a tough job.  But we all hired him for this very important position.  Obama was elected not just for his intelligence and charisma, but because he was a real darn nice guy.  President Obama, no more Mr. Nice guy.  It is about time to kick some @*# and give those Republicans a real run for their money.