Five more years of pain

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,
do more and become more, you are a leader."

                                                                                                                John Quincy Adams

Eric LaMont Gregory

The economy of the United States has shed more than 8 million jobs in the last two years.  If and when the American economy can sustain the production of 300,000 jobs each and every month, we will be on our way to re-creating those lost jobs, but at that rate it will take more than five years to do so.

How can the system not protect its people?

How can it be that those DHL workers who left early, that is, before the closing but after the announcement of the end of operations, can still be eligible for benefits; while those workers who thought they were doing the right thing by staying until the end, are no longer entitled to benefits?

Our officials, our elected officials, at the local, state and federal level need to come together across party lines and set a much fairer system in place.

Could Lt Governor, and now US Senate candidate Lee Fisher have negotiated a more reasonable severance package for the 8 thousand Wilmington workers who lost their jobs?

Bob Portman's silence on this matter is deafening but it also speaks volumes.  While Portman who is using his run for the US Senate to position himself to be the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2012, one wonders how his pro-business above all else rhetoric resounds among the business owners in the 45 counties affected by DHL closing its Ohio operations.

Yes, the DHL closing has affected 45 of Ohio's 88 counties.  Although Wilmington is designated, and rightfully so, the epicentre, the other 44 counties have a great deal of pain that emanates from the sudden loss of so many jobs.  These jobs were lost just before the onset of the 'Great Recession'.

Why, did Governor Strickland not have the insight to realise that the loss of 8000 pay checks is a devastating loss to local businesses, and why was DHL allowed to walk away from a community that had made it a success without having to set aside the means to help these businesses?  What plans does his Republican challenger in the gubernatorial race, Kasich, have?

Are these great men willing to work with others, or are they just going to be obstructionists and play politics while so many people are in such dire circumstances?

I know one candidate for the US Senate that is not waiting to be somewhere else before getting involved in the process of creating jobs.  Jobs have always been, and always will be created in this country when we take on the great challenges of our day. Whether that challenge is harnessing the atom, exploring outer space or curing disease.

For example, there are fires burning out of control across this great country, consuming 10's of thousands of acres, destroying homes and lives, and we are fighting those fires the same way we did in the 1900's.  And, we are allowing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in amounts that dwarf human contributions.  How do these greenhouse gases figure into the carbon tax scheme?  And why, would anyone trust the same institutions who traded derivatives short to manage the buying and selling of such an ethereal commodity?

We, in this state will lead the world in delivering systems for fighting fires that are worthy of the 21st Century. 

Imagine, if you will, a plane dropping mechanical fire-fighters into a place where human firefighters cannot go; into the centre of the fire.  Some of these mechanical fire-fighters begin to deprive the fire of heat and air as they descend, others open once they land and begin to spray natural substances which deprive the fire of two of the fire triangle elements.  In the spray we have introduced a nucleant, a tiny pattern that tells the ash to form carbon crystals which have a very high ignition temperature which will prevent spontaneous ignition after the fire is put out.   After the fire is out, these mechanical fire-fighters are collected and re-charged - ready for their next deployment. We will develop the technology in this state, once we have the kind of leadership that can take us forward.

But it will not happen with the kind of leadership that spent 100's of millions of dollars on a 'pipe dream' fuel-cell technology, when we could be putting thousands of people to work in this state if we had put 100's of millions of dollars into the batteries that will power the electric cars that are actually on the horizon of commercial reality. 
 
Waste, plastics and tyres, both are the derivatives of oil, and can be vaporised and condensed back into oil, the oil can then be refined and used to make more of the same or other oil-based products without loss of integrity.   Otherwise, our leaders will keep believing the glossy brochures that tell them that we can incinerate our waste and produce energy.  Just ask the people of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who are going broke because their leaders believed that the high water content baby nappy problem had been overcome.  The nappy makes the incineration of mixed waste for power generation marginal at best.

I will put Ohioans back to work, making this state and this nation a leader in manufacturing the technologies for a safer and cleaner America. 

Together we will make a difference!