The coming shortage of everyone

"It is time for those who represent us in Congress to address some real problems instead of grandstanding. The red flags are out there for many upcoming issues. Your representatives will be home now for six weeks. Time to bend an ear or two."  

As we approach this next decade, stories abound about how technology will be doing more and more things for us. That is a good thing. Not just because many of us are techno geeks, it is also because there is becoming less and less of us to do certain jobs. This is one of those stories that you sometimes need to read between the lines on. Whereas continents such as Africa are having a population explosion, this country is not. And it is showing up in many professions.

For starters, Minneapolis has a cop shortage right now. Just recently, the police chief stated that his force needed to add 400 more beat cops by 2025 just to keep up. Keep up with what? Crime. Although not Chicago, Minneapolis is getting more sketchy in certain neighborhoods. More crime including murders. Sometimes, right downtown by the theater district. Today in the paper, there was a story about all the 911 calls in Minneapolis which go unheeded. Why? Not enough bodies. This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Agriculture. Fewer and fewer people are deciding to be farmers. Even though technology is becoming more helpful in agriculture, without the skills and experience of good farmers, we are headed for a farming crisis. And if we have a farming crisis, the world will suffer. Some of the unskilled shortages can be covered by bringing in more immigrants under work visas. But if we keep losing young people to non-farming jobs, soon this will be a big problem for us.

The Army. Even though the other armed forces made their recruiting goals, the Army fell thousand short of their recruiting goals in 2018. Why? The economy for starters. In a poor economy, the Army was always a safe haven for getting three hots and a cot. In this red hot Trump economy, the competition for young people with even minor skills, is extreme. Plus (and this is a big one) - fitness. The new fitness requirements for the Army are leaving many of the wide bodies left out.

Doctors. This one is a real head turner. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States could face a shortage of doctors by 2030 which is a real show stopper. Like 100,000 short. By the way - that is only ten years away. Plus - we have a shortage right now. More and more clinics are using Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistant to fill the void. But - with more and more of our population needing elder care, this is a need which should be addressed now. 

I really should bring this up before I close, although it makes some uncomfortable. This shortage of everyone is a self inflicted wound. Our birthrate continues to fall. Right now, it is the lowest it has been in 32 years. However, the next reason really hurts. We abort over a half a million babies every year. Think of what percentage of those unborn could have been in law enforcement, farmers, armed services or doctors. 

It is time for those who represent us in Congress to address some real problems instead of the usual grandstanding. The red flags are out there for many upcoming issues. Your representatives will be home now for six weeks. Time to bend an ear or two.