Rob has now completed his second book, American Worker: Prison Wages in the Private Sector.

Here is a sample from this startling book:

Until the United States backs its currency with gold, silver, or something with real value, our buying power will keep declining. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics in May of 1994, the average hourly wage for a construction worker was $14.49 with the constant 1982 dollars at $9.75 per hour. (Constant means comparing wages from 1994 and 2002 to the hourly wages' buying power compared to 1982 wages). This means that the money earned in 1994 is equivalent to the same amount of dollars earned in 1982.

In 1994 you had to earn $4.74 more to purchase the same amount of goods a person could purchase in 1982. In February 2002, the average hourly wage was $18.47 with the constant dollars earned in 1982 at $10.30. Comparing the incomes of 2002 and 1994 by using the buying power of the dollar in 1982 (constant), actual income increased by 55 cents in eight years. The average weekly income in May of 1994 was $580.28 and the constant dollars in 1982 were $388.15. In February of 2002 the average weekly income was $711.10 and the constant in 1982 dollars is $396.60. Therefore, in eight years, the United States construction worker's weekly spend able income in real dollars increased by only $8.45 per week.

We found out with the Dot Coms and Enron's trading on paper that trying to make a profit without a real product is not very profitable in the long run. I am guessing our wages today compared to when we were on the Gold Standard are about the same money-wise, but in buying power we are earning 93% less. To illustrate: Inflation between 1982-2002 was 1% a year. If we multiply $711.10 times 20% for the twenty-year span between 1982-2002, the amount is $592.58 in actual wages. With cost of consumer goods rising 20%, the actual buying power for wages earned is $592.58 times 20%, which equals $474.06. What did cost a $100 in 1933, today costs $1,346 there a dollar is worth about 7 cents. Compared to 1933 money standards the $711.10 paycheck times 7 cents equals $49.77. Your actual buying power of this paycheck is $49.77.

President Bush has now taken away $1.3 billion from the college loan program and raised interest on college loans. While the president tells the American people that he is for the family, every decision he makes erodes the family value. In the past 20 years, spending for K-12 education rose 33.4%, but spending on incarcerated people rose 571.4%. We have to build prisons to replace the jobs that went overseas in free trade. The bureaucrats are trying to create a cheap labor force that can't even vote for them. In the long run, this costs the taxpayer because all they are doing is shuffling tax money from one government agency to another government agency, with the taxpayer footing the whole bill. The number of schoolteachers fell by 8%, but the number of guards rose 250%. The number of kids in K-12 rose 2.6%, while the number of lockups rose about 200%.

The number of students graduating high school fell 2.7%, while the number of people in prison and jail rose more than 400%. One of the reasons for the prison rise, in my opinion, is both parents working and not enough quality time together. The second reason is people don't believe they have a future. We have funding for prison labor, while we let people stay home and receive unemployment checks. It is up to the individual to get a job. The people on welfare want to go to work, but the competition from prison labor, free trade, and the anti-worker sentiment in the work place in this country make people afraid to enter the work place.

Every light-fingered prison labor employer's main selling points are: prisoners have no family problems, no car problems, take no vacations, no raises, have no unions, have no rights, and no special conditions. The taxpayer pays workmen's compensation and medical care. I just can't say enough bad things about prison labor advocates. Prison labor advocates are Hitler protégés. The United States is building state-of-the-art prisons and our kids are going to outdated schools.

The United States' infrastructure is getting old except for prisons. Is the United States government getting the most from every tax dollar? Our government needs to look at every alternative, but most of all it needs to change the curriculum from the Stone Age to the 21st century. The difference between President Bush and me is that he lives the good side of free trade and supply side economics. I see and live the downside of both of these things. If we keep placing people in prison at the current rate, we will soon have more people living off the tax roles or in prison than we have law-abiding citizens working in the private sector

American Worker: Prison Wages in the Private Sector can be purchased at:

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