The term “Spaghetti Western,” came about in 1959, when the first one was made in Italy, hence the term “Spaghetti Western.” The trained eye can easily tell if a film was made in Italy. The trains are not American, but Italian, and the decor of the bars and homes, tries to be American, but are usually over-decorated and easily told as Italian. When the credits come on, there can be no question about the film’s origin. That’s fine and good, and lots of them are really O.K. The theme of this, is simply why were they made there. The answer is obvious: No unions, no rigid EPA dictatorship, high utilities, and expensive technical help. Saved a lot of money! The last one was made in 1978, and America was tired of them. Neither John Ford, nor John Wayne would participate, and neither would other quality directors or actors. Italy had also gotten wise, and raised the costs so much, that they were no longer profitable.
Western movies were called “Spaghetti,” if made in Italy, but hundreds of other industries left America for various places, leaving America with few operating factories, and lots of unemployed factory workers, who were bereft of their former good paying jobs. Maybe we should call products made in China, as “Chop Suey” everything. “Chop Suey tires?” “Chop Suey auto parts?” “Panda Bear light bulbs?” Lots of possibilities, and all because of the same reasons: GOVERNMENT & UNIONS. How can government and unions be responsible for overseas manufacturing and filming? Easy. Why do you think that my new Mercedes was made in Alabama? Lots of new cars are made in the South, because they are non-union, but still pay decent wages. Why do you think everything in New York is so expensive? Because every single worker is unionized, from the doorman, taxi driver, and dish washer. Other big cities are far less unionized, and therefore less expensive to visit…assuming you want to take your life in your hands by visiting them, and I may, but not at night.
It isn’t that unions didn’t get started as a legitimate gathering of workers to get better working conditions or even wages, but almost instantly, they got power mad, and became the enemy of businesses and manufacturing. Atwater Kent was a Main Line, (Philadelphia), rich, playboy, who loved to play tennis, and enjoy his inherited riches. In the 1920’s when radio came out commercially, it was all the rage. Theatres were empty when Amos and Andy were on the air, and radio took the nation by storm. No more movie ’palaces’ were built after radio came on the scene, and exhibitors saw the writing on the wall. (My deceased friend Ben Hall, wrote a marvelous book on movie palaces, titled “The Best Remaining Seats,” which if you bought one, you would never be sorry!). Atwater Kent, decided he wanted to make radios. Not the common, cheap type, but the absolute best. He hired engineers, told them he wanted the best radio possible to build, and he built a huge brick factory in Philadelphia, in which to make “Atwater Kent” radios. I had an Atwater Kent by my bed when growing up in D.C. and loved radio then, and still do. I’ve got a couple of beautiful Atwater Kents in my house now as displays. The Atwater Kent sold extremely well, and made Kent a nice profit. His plant was efficient, well lit, and he treated his employees very well. Then, a union organizer came on the scene, promising workers untold wonderful benefits, if they voted for a union. Kent warned them that if this happened, he would simply shut the place down, and everyone would be out of a job. They voted for a union, and that was the last of Atwater Kent radios. (Go to E-Bay and look for used Atwater Kents. They’re beautiful). Everyone was out of a job, and Kent resumed his tennis playing back on the ’Main Line.’ The ’Main Line’ area, northwest of Philadelphia, was literally on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, between Philly and Chicago. The wealthy elite built their mansions there, and could commute easily to their center city offices. It’s still a marvelous place, and the girls still sometimes, have a certain ’main line look’. The brick factory is still there, off of Roosevelt Blvd, and is occupied by some entity.
All powerful unions, have made Detroit what it is today. An empty, crime riddled, dangerous place to live or visit. Unions killed the auto industry, in at least a couple of ways. In the 1970’s, American autos were a disgrace. It was ’common knowledge’ that you didn’t want to by a car made on Friday or Monday, because they were sure to be of shoddy construction. On Monday, the union members would all be ’hung over,’ and on Friday, they couldn’t wait for the weekend. Wages were high, and profits were low. Body parts didn’t fit, and this was a simple invitation for German and Jap car makers to come to America, build non-union plants in the South, with good quality, and they did. Detroit quickly became a disaster, with the thousands of layoffs, and union workers who had no jobs, a-la-Atwater Kent. I understand that China now has become so entangled with government, communism, and inefficiency, that it is suffering a bit from ’Detroititis.’ I also hear that Walmart is building a multi-million dollar plant in America, to make things that it sells, I hope it’s true. “How many union workers does it take to screw in a light bulb?” “Twelve, you got a problem with that?” In a gruff, threatening voice, of course. I could go on an on about unions in theatres, which business I was in for eleven years. Inflation needs no discourse from me, as you all know it is caused by politicians ONLY, and not unions, consumers, retailers, manufacturers, or housewives. It is caused by government spending more than comes in, and the printing press is used to pay the bills. “Stott’s Law:” – “The more of anything there is, the less they will be worth.” This includes dollars, so as the dollar loses value, due to politician caused inflation, wages have to go up, and this has driven manufacturing overseas, where wages are low.
Stott’s Law, also applies to stocks, in my opinion. There are literally hundreds of billions of stock shares floating around, and lots of books have been written about the market being “fixed” and rotten to the core. I don’t own a single share of stock, because I’d rather own a piece of real gold or silver, than own a share of some mine, whose figures may be fraudulent. How many stock trades are done by computers? Millions. The latest scam is certain firms hooking up directly to the stock exchanges so they can trade before figures show up on the boards. True stock values can be arrived at by their P.E. Ratios, which are price-earnings ratio. If a stock earns a lot of money compared to its price, it might be a good value. Historically, according to experts, the ideal ratio is about a P.E. Ratio of 10. Today, the ratios are far more than twice that. Examples: Procter& Gamble – 21.6. Merck – 39.3. Travelers – 9.7, (the lowest). Visa-27. Walmart – 15. McDonalds – 18.4. Boeing – 23.1.
Buy Low & Sell High
That’s the old rule about anything. It seems to me that with the stock market close to 17,000, and P.E. Ratios high, maybe it would be wise to sell stocks and buy metals, which are low. Gold has been $600 higher than it is now, and silver double what it is now. I consider silver to be a howling bargain at its current under $20 per ounce level. Of course it has the problem of requiring a lot of storage space. Like 65 times more storage space than gold! Experts on the metals field say that there is far more gold above ground than silver, and I believe it. We are selling silver far faster than it can be made and supplied, but no problems with gold. The historic gold-silver ratio has been about 16 to 1. This means that throughout history, gold has been 16 times higher in price than silver. Today, the ratio is over 65 to 1, meaning that silver is huge bargain, Were the ratio 16 to 1 today, we’d have $78 silver, not $19 silver. We believe the ratio will eventually return to 16 to 1, unless history tells lies. The ratio was 16 to 1 in 1980. Suit yourself. I took a ride in a WW II B-25 bomber Sunday. How neat! Rode in a B-17 a few years ago, and my attorney has a 1940 Waco bi-plane in perfect, restored condition. He takes me for a flight in it occasionally, and I fly it. Life’s good.
Our once grand nation has become like a faded, unrecognizable painting. A quote from Cicero in 50 B.C. might illustrate. “Our age, however, has received the Republic, like a remarkable painting which is fading with age, and not only has it neglected to restore its original colors, but it has not even bothered to preserve, so to speak, its shape and basic outlines. What remains from the original morals? We see they have fallen into such oblivion, that not only are they not practiced, but they are not even known.” Ask yourself: How many citizens and politicians even remotely know how far we have strayed from the Founders’ desires when they wrote the Declaration and Constitution?