Buy all of your stuff from China/India/Mexico/insert low wage country and get it cheaper. The US manufacturer closes down and those people go on unemployment. They can't find a decent job so they end up on welfare (and we cry like babies over that although somewhat justifiably based on welfare trends)
Either:
A. You pay more taxes to support them.
B. We borrow more money to support them (more like this lately).
C. We don't do shit and they rob us blind or kill us / be killed in the process.
You still lose.
But we don't need those jobs...people can all go to college and be the next Apple iChamacallit designer. :hmm:
I saw a disposable alcohol swap with "crafted in pride in the U.S". I was like uh, since the costs are a lot higher in the U.S how about make something a lot more value-added instead of just making the same exact thing which can be done much more cheaply in China?
Crap comes from Korea?http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/
http://madeinusaforever.com/
http://america-store.stores.yahoo.net/
http://www.buydirectusa.com/usa_made_shop/index.php
http://www.buyamericanmart.com/
http://www.madeinusa.org/
Some categories, we who care, have no American-made options; computer goods, electronics, etc., but clothing, shoes, and tons of other categories, "Made in America" is still possible.
I don't give two shits about the "world economy," I only care about the American economy.
Sometimes I'll buy goods made in Europe, parts of "Oriental Asia," and a few other "free countries," but I go out of my way to avoid anything that's stamped, "Made in China," and flat refuse to buy anything that says, "Made in Vietnam."
I also avoid anything that's Made in India or Pakistan because the quality of those goods is usually even worse than the crap that comes from Korea.
Crap comes from Korea?
LG is crap? Samsung is crap?
If I won some insane amount in the lottery, (like 300 million), I would open up a factory in the US and produce shit that is currently sent to China; electronics, plastic nick-nacks, shoes, etc.
And, I would sell them at an overall acceptable loss. I would pay the workers whatever is the proper wage is for someone at a manufacturing position. And sell the goods at the prices companies like Nike are willing to. It would take about 1 year to get everything up and running. And, as long as the quality is good and the price meets what companies are willing to pay for it, I don't see going out of business for 5 years. What would I lose? 150 million? 200 million? 250 million?
Also, there is a great possibility that demand would be high enough, to warrant opening up a shop and getting all jobs like these back on American soil. Hopefully, it can show to the wealth holders, that you don't have to make billions in profits for manufacturered goods. And, if you focus on that model, you are harming the American people.
Back on topic; this is great. I don't need any of the shit that is on this site. But, I would like to get some gift certificates for my friends who have an actual house they can use these things in.
Nice story, but not really true.
US manufacturing has grown for 23 straight quarters and our country still produces a boatload of stuff. The manufacturing sector is pretty desperate to hire qualified people right now, their problem being that they can no longer grab John Doe off the street and jam him in front of a machine. Modern manufacturing techniques require a lot of training and technical expertise, something that we're critically lacking right now in this country.
I understand all that, however, the not really true part confuses me? If you buy your stuff from other countries and the US manufacturer making the same stuff doesn't sell their stuff, they won't close down? Obviously, the manufacturers selling stuff are not going to close down.
I do agree that manufacturers can't find the technical people, but I wonder if it's by choice (i.e. people are so afraid of working for a manufacturer that they avoid it altogether). Seems that manufacturers can't find engineering candidates with experience and "skill" at all right now.
The only thing I don't quite understand is how we got into this predicament (the knowledge gap). How did our workforce suddenly lose (or not maintain) their high-tech manufacturing know-how, especially in light of how strong the manufacturing sector has been in America for the last 6- 8 years.
As for the economies of it all, I'd have to leave that to someone more qualified.
I read a bunch of articles about the manufacturing sector and they all said that there are literally tens of thousands of jobs they cannot fill right now within the United States because workers lack the expertise they need to operate modern-day machinery. Evidently many community colleges are becoming something akin to trade schools. These big industrial concerns are telling professors what they need their workers to know, the professors are teaching students those techniques and skills, and then the manufacturing companies are snapping them up.
The only thing I don't quite understand is how we got into this predicament (the knowledge gap). How did our workforce suddenly lose (or not maintain) their high-tech manufacturing know-how, especially in light of how strong the manufacturing sector has been in America for the last 6- 8 years.
As for the economies of it all, I'd have to leave that to someone more qualified.
this all seems the opposite of what is generally assumed to be the case- us workers don't want the available jobs in places like manufacturing and agriculture because they are low paying and labor intensive. i can't really recall reading anything that made any serious mention of an education gap causing US labor woes.
although the general populous is certainly pretty stupid, the problem is that we're an 'overeducated' country...mostly due to low education standards. no one with a college degree is going to want to do these jobs...and we hand out college degrees like candy.