Ed Barlow
Ed Barlow

Responses to Ed Barlow of Creating the Future

by Lewis Loflin

While dated (2004) it's an example of why American workers have been destroyed by open borders and globalism and why Donald Trump became president in 2017.

If one visits Ed Barlow's website at www.creatingthefuture.com, all one hears is a sales pitch on how wonderful he is. According to his website:

No one is more passionate about, nor more actively engaged in assisting people, organizations, and professions anticipate and prepare for the world of tomorrow. Ed Barlow's insight and energy have been incorporated into a variety of settings including keynotes, think-tanks, seminars and strategic planning activities.

Ed's professional experience includes executive positions in healthcare, business, higher education, and a Washington D.C. based management consulting firm. He holds a master's degree in management from the University of Notre Dame.

Ed Barlow is President of Creating the Future, Inc. He is dedicated to enhancing an understanding of the future and the influences which will affect personal, professional, organizational, and community settings. In addition to his extensive speaking and consulting schedule, he is interviewed regularly by the media.

He has also testified before Congress on several occasions regarding issues of workforce, transportation, travel and tourism. His advice and counsel is sought regularly by leaders in business, government, and the non-profit sector.

Wow, I'm impressed. So what does he recommend when he visits Tri-Cities? It's apparent he has no use for labor or those who have to earn a living. Instead of a real solution to deal with the our appalling low wage scales, high unemployment, and under-employment in this area, he recommends, "Sullivan Country needs to attract more people from India, Mexico and Eastern Europe because the county doesn't have enough workers to fill and create jobs."

And, "the country needs to recruit Hispanics and Eastern Europeans to work lower wage jobs with the possibility for advancement." What is he talking about? Much of the workforce is already low pay with no future of advancement as it is.

My response to this idiot was sent to the Kingsport Times-News and the Bristol Herald Courier and printed in both March 2004.

Regarding this so-called "Futurist," the local press has failed to present the facts. If everyone in Tri-Cities had a college degree tomorrow, it's still minimum wage.

Barlow's own website (www.creatingthefuture.com) reveals he has no standing in economics, etc. He is a paid corporate hack promoting the mass replacement of American workers with cheap foreign labor. He wants to import more illegal aliens from Mexico to take local jobs and bring in Asians to replace white-collar workers at third-world wages. Quoting former assistant treasury secretary Paul Craig Roberts on such practices, "it's outright labor arbitrage."

Illegal immigrants (12 million) already cost $200 billion in depressed/lost wages and billions more in social costs dumped on state/local taxpayers.

"Diversity" is codeword for multiculturalism defined as: "all cultures are equal, and that the United States must accept its destiny as a universal nation, a world nation, in which no one culture - especially European culture - will be dominant.

"The ideal of multiculturalism is a nation which has no core culture, no ethnic core, no center other than a powerful state apparatus...multiculturalism is actively supported by an official government policy of "corporate pluralism." By replacing individual meritocracy with group rewards, corporate pluralism strongly discourages assimilation." Multiculturalism is destroying American education and needs to go.

"We don't hire people with college" says a prominent Bristol company. The reason we have so few college graduates is low pay and employer hostility. Local business won't pay anyone for their education, training or experience forcing many to leave their professions or leave the area. Nobody will address this problem. Gerry Ramey's letter (3/11) "Few Good Jobs" is right on target with how things work here. Why didn't they hire her instead of this "diversity" hack?

Instead of more education hype, let's start by opposing this "diversity" agenda. Defend American jobs and culture.

Lewis Loflin
Bristol, VA

Barlow's speech

April 26, 2004

Recent letter writers have described Ed Barlow, the presenter at Sullivan County's economic development summit, as a proponent of multiculturalism.

In fact, Barlow advocated "diversity," not multiculturalism. Given the likely influence of Barlow's thinking on economic development efforts, the distinction is important to make.

To Barlow, building diversity means providing the kinds of amenities that promote a fulfilling use of personal time. This is done primarily to attract members of the so-called "creative class" into the area to build wealth.

Some of these amenities would in fact be "ethnic," in keeping with certain cultural differences. The Hindu, as much as the Presbyterian, wants to worship appropriately. Promoting diversity seems to me to be a matter of common sense and humanity. It has no necessary connection to the ideology of multiculturalism, a belief in the parity of all cultures.

Inaccurate as it was, the comment raises the question of how those not able to attend the conference can familiarize themselves with the ideas presented by Barlow. His own Web site is not much help in this, nor did he give permission for public distribution of the paper version of his PowerPoint presentation.

In the interest of providing this important information, the Bristol Public Library has added to its collection the books cited by Barlow. These are now available for checkout by the general public. Also available is a handout listing the books. Also, following an upcoming redesign of its Web site, the library will be able to provide links to Web sites cited as sources for Barlow's talk.

Jud Barry, director
Bristol Public Library
Bristol, Va.

Diversity isn't the issue

Bristol Herald Courier May 25, 2004

This is a response to the April 26 letter, "Barlow's speech." Feel-good academic babble on "diversity" isn't the issue; it's the economy.

Regardless of definition, diversity and multiculturalism are intertwined and used by business to undermine American labor and replace workers with cheap foreign labor. They derail this vital discussion by dragging in the race issue. I like Hindus myself and feel everyone deserves equal treatment, but Barlow is still a corporate hack who knows nothing about the Tri-Cites.

Quoting Sullivan County Commissioner Jack Sitgreaves, "We have ETSU students flipping burgers. We do not have the level of jobs in this area to sustain the number of graduates from our local colleges. Therefore, they are forced to either leave the area or take what jobs are available (burgers). Hundreds of people graduate from area colleges, but few stay." (Kingsport Times-News, April 28)

Throw in the University of Virginia at Wise, Emory & Henry College and our community colleges, and we have several thousand members of the so-called "creative class" fleeing the region. So what does bringing in abused Mexicans to work low-wage jobs create?

Professor Karen Tarnoff of East Tennessee State University sent me a copy of her 18-month study, "The Skills Gap in Our Region," that presents some troubling facts nobody will address.

The 118 businesses surveyed revealed there's no real "skills gap" or labor shortage in Tri-Cities. The reason for the depleted pool of qualified candidates is the refusal of local business to pay decent wages. Employers want mainly high school graduates who are not trained enough to seek work elsewhere.

Quoting black conservative Michael King, "I can safely tell you that given a proper amount of money to live on, there aren't jobs that Americans won't do. However, Americans will not live on two or three dollars an hour, and cram 20 people into an apartment."

End this education, diversity and amenities hype and deal with the real issue.

Lewis Loflin
Bristol, Va.


Few good jobs

Re. "Futurist Sees "Tremendous Opportunity," I worked eight years at Eastman Chemical Co. during the '70s and chose to resign to take care of my children. At that time there was no daycare system in place to contend with my husband's shift work. For 12 years I struggled to obtain a decent paying job in Kingsport. I had a B.S. degree in English/business education and a year toward an MBA.

Yet, it was only after I returned to school to pursue another area in medical records that I was able to obtain another career path at Holston Valley Medical Center. During those years I continually felt that I should be able to find a job. After all, I was educated and had work experience. Now, years later, I think I am able to see the reality. If there is no job, you cannot get it.

If someone needs to make more than $8 an hour in Kingsport, they probably need highly skilled training or to move elsewhere. I still work in a hospital and am grateful to Holston Valley for the opportunity they gave me, a then 46-year-old. I think your leaders need to really look at facts as they are. There are not very many people there who are willing to hire anyone over 40 years old and then spend much time training them. Add that to the fact that very few jobs paying above $8 an hour are available.

Don't ask people to go out and spend time and money trying to do the impossible. Also don't have them going to school and incurring debt for no reason. Make sure they only train for jobs that are available in the area, especially if they are like me and unable to move away.

Gerry Ramey
Seymour, Tenn.

2004, Kingsport Publishing Corporation.


Futurist was wrong

March 18, 2004 Bristol Herald Courier

Where was Ed Barlow coming from? In a recent article from the Bristol Herald Courier I quote, "Sullivan Country needs to attract more people from India, Mexico and Eastern Europe because the county doesn't have enough workers to fill and create jobs."

Also, he said, "The country needs to recruit Hispanics and Eastern Europeans to work lower wage jobs with the possibility for advancement." These remarks were sponsored by mayors of four localities through the Blue Ribbon Economic Task Force the mayors formed last year. If the mayors and task force members would leave their computers and offices and mix with the residents of our communities on an everyday basis, they could see we already have this.

Why do our elected officials and others feel that we need a study or a $30 a person session in order to find better employment for our people? We do not need a speakers bureau or vice president for human capital development to get this done. All we need is people with common sense. Just look over the past 40 years at the money and time spent. Have we gotten our money's worth in high paying jobs for our area? We have instead gotten plenty of the so-called service or low paying jobs.

Also in the article, from 1990-2002 growth in older people included a 56.4 percent jump in those 85 or older. The region on the other hand has seen a 3.3 percent drop in those up to age 24. Why? Because the available jobs are taken by the people we intend to attract and recruit. Think about it.

Jim Williamson
Bristol, Tenn.


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