MUNCIE —
Our progressive colleagues have been telling us for years that the 1950s were a horrid time. Racial segregation prevailed and women were repressed; conservative cries for family values are naïve and dangerous. Going back to the ’50s is neither desirable nor possible — you can’t bring back Ozzie and Harriet.
We agree with parts of this assessment. Going back is impossible. No one wants a return of Jim Crow or strict gender roles. And although conservatives rightly esteem stable family life, most recognize government can do little to accomplish this.
But now the tables have turned — it is our progressive friends who are pining for the halcyon days of the 1950s. Back then, you see, income was distributed more equally, labor unions were powerful, the rich paid more in taxes and public services were well-funded. Professor Paul Krugman’s Twinkie Manifesto and the Ed Asner-narrated cartoon released by the California Teachers’ Union are examples of this nostalgia.
But the differences between then and now reflect much more “economic fundamentals” than some kind of right-wing policy revolution. The nostalgia-based policies the progressives have in mind are unlikely to bring back the good old days, and stand a good chance of stifling continued economic growth.
Consider manufacturing industries, which constitute 25 percent of Indiana’s Gross Domestic Product — the highest percentage among the 50 states. The good news is that from 1952 to 2011 worker output per hour in manufacturing has increased 7.5 fold, and total real manufacturing output has increased 5.5 fold — an impressive yearly growth rate of over 3 percent in both cases.
The bad news — in progressives’ eyes — is the decline in factory jobs. Over the same time frame, total manufacturing employment fell from 16 million to 12 million, and manufacturing’s share of total workers went from 32 percent to just 9 percent. The overall picture is clear: Manufacturing remains strong (in terms of output) although it has been shedding jobs for decades. The days of the giant factory employing thousands of workers making large quantities of an identical product are gone. It is the small, nimble plant with 50 workers making a variety of products that dominates the Midwest industrial scene today.
These results are the confluence of amazing technological advances and an increasingly competitive, globalized economy. These are good things. They cause job losses in certain industries, but immense gains in others. A similar pattern “destroyed” U.S. agriculture, an industry that used to employ 90 percent of us. Yet few lament this, a la Oliver Wendell Douglas in the 1960s situation comedy “Green Acres”; it’s obvious that the increased productivity of farmers is what made manufacturing, and now, the high-tech service sector, possible.
There will always be some unfortunate ancillary consequences of economic change. Yet we cannot avoid these without generating other more widespread and wrenching negative consequences; it is literally impossible to go back to the days when now-empty neighborhoods in Detroit or Muncie were filled with factory workers. Economic policy cannot take us back again, nor should we seek to.
Moving forward, we should be on guard against anyone attempting to impose some nostalgic vision of economic perfection.
Cecil E. Bohanon, Ph.D., and Tyler Watts, Ph.D., adjunct scholars of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, teach economics at Ball State University.
Flashpoint
FLASHPOINT: You can’t go back again — and that’s OK
- Flashpoint
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FLASHPOINT: Again in 2013 General Assembly, middle class generally ignored
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FLASHPOINT: Indiana lawmakers reinforced school safety mechanisms
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FLASHPOINT: Hoosiers got steady hand in recent session
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FLASHPOINT: Time has arrived for overhaul of TV news
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FLASHPOINT: Fiscal cliff, Obamacare have already raised taxes enough
Our history is rich with stories of people who have immigrated to the United States for a chance at the American Dream. The American Dream, in its truest form, is the opportunity to achieve success by working hard and playing by the rules; to make it on your own and to say, “I earned this.”
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FLASHPOINT: Expanding Medicaid coverage makes sense for Indiana
Since last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act effectively gave states the option to expand Medicaid, policymakers across the country have debated if and how to extend health programs to millions of uninsured Americans.
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FLASHPOINT: Improve public education, stop experimenting with it
In January, the four of us who serve as the Democrats on the House Education Committee outlined our hopes for the 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly, particularly in joining with Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz to offer common sense solutions to improve the quality of education for our children. With the halfway point of this session past us, we remain optimistic that positive steps can be taken … but that optimism is tempered by the reality that education policies are being directed by a legislative majority that has a radically different agenda.
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FLASHPOINT: Defending state’s authority is attorney general’s obligation
The law of the land recognizes the authority of states to license marriage.
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FLASHPOINT: Stability key for state’s future
Hoosiers have the unique luxury of being the fiscal envy of the nation due to the sound fiscal policies of the last eight years.
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FLASHPOINT: House budget offers Medicaid solution for Indiana
This week, my U.S. House Budget Committee colleagues and I introduced a federal budget resolution for fiscal year 2014. Our budget is a responsible plan that stops spending money and balances in 10 years — largely through making key reforms to drivers of our debt like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
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FLASHPOINT: Problem gambling in Indiana: A new understanding of community concern
The week of March 3 was designated as National Problem Gambling Awareness Week.
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FLASHPOINT: Eastern time in Indiana defies common sense
Nobody complains more than Hoosiers about changing their clocks. And there’s a valid reason — daylight-savings time in Indiana’s Eastern Time Zone is painful.
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Praying for civil resolution to debate over gun control
Guns are lively ammunition for passionate debate these days.
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FLASHPOINT: It’s not too late to expand health services
This week, state leaders euthanized the biggest, boldest Hoosier jobs proposal of the 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
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FLASHPOINT: You can’t go back again — and that’s OK
Our progressive colleagues have been telling us for years that the 1950s were a horrid time.
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FLASHPOINT: The fierce urgency of now — nation needs to protect youth
The alcohol-fueled alleged serial rape of a 16-year-old Ohio girl by two of her similarly impaired classmates — not to mention the drunken videotaped commentary of others — points yet again to the imperative that adult America renews its commitment to address as a true national community those issues that most threaten the health, safety and forward development of youth.
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FLASHPOINT: A pastor speaks out against Sullivan’s ‘traditional prom’
I am a pastor in Sullivan, Ind., and I am outraged.
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FLASHPOINT: 0wning firearms is a First Amendment exercise, too
Following the hysteria generated by gun prohibitionists in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, a nationwide rush on gun stores began as citizens bought semiautomatic modern sporting rifles, handguns and ammunition, in effect “making a political statement” about proposals to ban such firearms.
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FLASHPOINT: Maintaining the priority
Recently a newspaper article has been written about a change in the by-laws of the Indiana High School Athletic Association which speaks directly to attempted undue influence exerted upon students below the level of grade nine and their parents.
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FLASHPOINT: The fairness of marriage
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FLASHPOINT: We ask state legislators to abide by their oath of office
All of us relish giving unsolicited advice to our elected representatives.
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FLASHPOINT: Mentoring is having major impact on public education
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FLASHPOINT: Common Core standards should be common sense
Years ago, when state officials and education experts came together to create new model standards for schools, they probably never expected it to be controversial.
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FLASHPOINT: Milestone year for Rose-Hulman
The Rose-Hulman campus traditionally quiets down this time of year, yet for me I sense a renewed energy from the phenomenal year just closing.
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FLASHPOINT: ISU’s reasoning flawed in flight school planning
ISU and the taxpayers of Indiana and Vigo County are being led down a path of deception once again.
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FLASHPOINT: Incessant attacks on Christianity by the ACLU
It is obviously apparent that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is continuing its onslaught against religious freedom in the United States.
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