a (possibly) bi-partisan answer

No, not about the government shutdown or default.
No, this is about something more everyday: customer service.
This is in serious decline in our country. No matter where you go, there are not enough
customer service workers. It seems this is where many companies have chosen to
economize - in the very workers that most interact with the customer, the very workers
that give the customer their impression of the company.
Since everyone is doing it, no company pays much of a cost.
But I think this holds the key to not one, but several problems we are experiencing.
First, of course, it its own problem. We have accepted this for too long. In the past, we
were accustomed to good service. Why have we let it slip away? We DON'T have to just accept this.
We need to start demanding better service. Companies will listen if we speak loud enough.
Second is the unemployment problem. How much better off would our economy be if
every company hired just ONE more customer service person in each location? And how much easier
would our lives be?
Third, and this may be where the bi-partisanship fades away, the inequality problem.
Let's not pay for this with higher prices, let's use executive salaries. Why should the big boys get
so much money for cutting our service? How many people could be hired with a big chunk of the
multi-millions they get? And how much more of that would be spent right here at home, instead
of invested overseas?
This would be a positive way to take us back to the 50s that conservatives revere so highly.
In those days, salaries WERE more equal and that is the time period we look to for great
customer service because there were enough employees to provide it.
Anyway, that's my idea.