Very interesting read (albeit long) on one of the many ways we are being sold out and hung out to dry by the globalist elite.

"Our trade deficit will not diminish absent a significant increase in domestic manufacturing. Those unconcerned about the decline of American manufacturing might want to read Winwood Reade's 1872 volume The Martyrdom of Man, in which he chronicled the economy of ancient Rome: "By day the Ostia road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor, the timber of the Atlas, the grain of Africa and Egypt; and the carts brought nothing out but loads of dung. That was their return cargo."

Today, America's biggest export via ocean container is waste paper -- our version of dung."

Outsourcing & Offshoring are among the worst things to happen to America.

That and War Profiteering.

Protectionism ultimately fails. Even the most redneck pro-American consumer shops at WalMart for imported products.

It's funny that within the fishing and hunting community, people scoff at lower priced but well made rods and reels manufactured off-shore, yet no one criticizes the purchase of what are perceived as high quality goods like fly reels from England and shotguns from Italy. Humans are weird.

Like it or not, if a manufacturer can hire the same quality labor he pays $35 an hour for in the US for $3.50 a day in Asia, then the forces of economics will cause him to do it, regardless of his preferences. The companies that don't have been dropping like flies. I suppose what this means is that the global marketplace will level the playing field. The standard of living in Asia will increase, while the standard of living in the US decreases. Is there really any alternative, and if so, what is it, and how does it work?

Sg

I tried to purchase a shipping container full of underage hookers from Thailand and it was seized by customs.

Everyone one knows Thai underage hookers are FAR better than American underage hookers.

Now tell me that's not protectionism!

I'm in the process of developing a new product, and so far have found
the American manufacturers to be very eager, and 150% helpful with
any questions, etc. I may have.

Tried to find an off-shore source for one component, but got so damn
frustrated at the incompetence and language barriers that I finally gave
up on it and found an importer of that material here in the US.

If I have my way (and I own the company) this product will be as near
100% American built as possible. Some materials may have originated
overseas, but that would be their only source, so I'm stuck there..but,
all production, QC, packaging etc, will be done in the good old USA.

ISO

molester? try humor
btw, the wife and i were looking to get a couple of new shovels last month
a square and a round
went to lowes, they have all china made
went to home despot, they have all china made
went to ace hardware, they have all china made
went home without a friggen new shovel
went online, a american made shovel seems to run $75 and up?
still don't have a new shovel
but i give up trying to buy american
next time i'm at lowes, i'll buy a new china built shovel for $18
seems everybody else does

bwp?
did your mom have any kids that lived?

yeah, but once shareholders get involved, making profits isn't enough...making huge profits takes center stage, and that's where things move to china.

kind of like the newspaper industry that i used to work in. they weren't content holding their own, they would rather go bankrupt than have to deal with the fact that they're not the only news source any more, and live with less profit. so before long there's more ads than content, and then they act surprised that nobody wants to buy their products any more!

alright, rant off.

Was hanging out in a County Park recently. A gal drives up to the trash can put there for Park users in her brown Mercedes and procedes to dump her personal garbage from home and fills up the can.

I said nothing. I did nothing more than shook my head.

I hang at the park a couple days later and a guy in his blue Mercedes drives up and does exactly the same thing as the gal a couple of days before.

Again I shake my head and say and do nothing.

The very next day, I'm at the park again and a fellow drives up and dumps his garbage (sorry, no Mecedes, but it was a newer car of unknown make).

This is a true story. And I think it is indicative of where we are as a people......the "Ain't I lookin' good?" seems to have over-ridden any self policing of morals. These people above are stealing public funds. Students who don't pay back loans are stealing public funds. People who buy more than they can pay for, steal from the company who sold to them which causes them to raise their prices, which they pass on to the next customer.....who might be me....so they stole from me.

And they are breeding and teaching their offspring the "something for nothing" code of ethics (or lack there of).

If I were a manufacturer, do you think that I would be interested in hiring from the above gene pool?

Hey, BWP--


You know the best thing about taking a shower with a 10 year old girl?








When her hair's wet she looks just like a 10 year old boy.



Lighten up.

The thing is that all of these places are relying on the US, EU, etc. as the marketplace. The western world cannot supplement the income of a billion Chinese yet that is what is being expected. It is a one way street, we have stiff requirements for US work conditions and encourage the exploitation of other countries, so basically if you want the ol' youth filled sweatshops, it is ok as long as they are not here.

I would consider the fact that China charging huge terrifs on imported goods (when we are charging none), paying their workers a wage that is supplemented from the Communist government to keep these people busy and not in a state of revolt... in other words protecting everything within their country from the outside and entering a world economy with a one way door. I find this to be a very un-level playing field, they pollute, they exploit, they don't take responsibility for defects poor workmanship, if someone dies from a Chinese product, it is nothing more than a note left on their door...

If all the laws we have in place to protect consumers, workers, etc. really did mean anything to us, why would we encourage these same things to be dismissed with our imports?

As long as shareholders have a shortsided view of profitability we will continue to lose our manufacturing base and move toward a "service" economy.

Shareholders do not NEED to have a long-view, because the efficiency of the stock market, allows many investors to buy and sell over much shorter timeframes. The FREE MARKET doesn't dictate long or short term views... Only the most profitable view.

I don't care if your issue is the environment, or exporting jobs overseas, or energy independence, or national security. If all you care about is the most profitable outcome, you will forsake ALL of the above (and more). Which is precicely the reason that some government (Tea Baggers be damned) is actually necessary.

If they are going to allow the marketplace to be flooded with things manufactured in other countries, they can at least let US manufactures hire 14 year olds at 3 bucks an hour, not pay workmans comp, negate OSHA standards and eliminate all US labor laws too... if we are going to level the playing field...

Or require manufactures and importers of foreign made goods to pay import terrifs.

If a company (COUGHWALMARTCOUGH) isn't going to buy products that are produced within the stringent laws US manufactures must adhere to, they should pay for it.

I was being sarcastic with the wage thing, but that doesn't change the point that regulations on American manufacturing become more and more stringent, expensive and counter productive all based on the social political platforms that our largest importers don't adhere to. Our government encourages us to have other countries do the dirty work unregulated and import the goods rather than encourage American manufacturing under a regulated and fair business environment.

Basically everything that the labor unions, EPA, and other groups have fought for in this country is null and void since the sidestepping the results of these efforts is now encouraged by the government.

Just like opening up a shop in a premium location costs more, such should be the case with selling in the US marketplace.

Imagine if an American company had to pay the high rent of a downtown location but the Chinese company next door paid none.

Regulations should work both ways.

this is the worst analogy i've ever read, considering it is supposed to be from some sort of historian/scholar.

first, the roman economy was not heavily invested in manufacturing, it was slaves. slaves as a form of property and thereby wealth prohibits the desire for manufacturing as it destroys the status quo economic base.

second, america has been sending heavy manufacturing overseas for decades. ever wonder what happened to acid rain? it's in china now along with the manufacturing jobs, as well as a host of other problems.

i do agree that we are being made to suffer at the hands of a global elite, because that's how it has always been. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."

Finally we have a solution to the towns devastated by outsoursing

Article

DETROIT – Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.

Near downtown, fruit trees and vegetable farms would replace neighborhoods that are an eerie landscape of empty buildings and vacant lots. Suburban commuters heading into the city center might pass through what looks like the countryside to get there. Surviving neighborhoods in the birthplace of the auto industry would become pockets in expanses of green.

Detroit officials first raised the idea in the 1990s, when blight was spreading. Now, with the recession plunging the city deeper into ruin, a decision on how to move forward is approaching. Mayor Dave Bing, who took office last year, is expected to unveil some details in his state-of-the-city address this month.

I think it is intended to reflect the lack of export being a sign of a unstable economic base, be it your export is slaves, bananas or slingshots.

True, the environmental effects are not limited to China although they begin there (we share air, water and atmosphere).

Although obsolete jobs has been moved offshore for years (i.e. low wage, low skill jobs) it is fairly new practice to offshore high tech, manufacturing and other viable vocations that result in the worst unemployment numbers we have seen in a long time.

actually, high tech and manufacturing have been going away since the '80's. IBM lost out on the personal computer to foreign labor produced pc's. GM closed plants during the most profitable time in the company's history - why didn't they retain american jobs?

the usa is like rome though. consumption, no production, stagnated and corrupt government. but the real reason rome was rome and we are too is that the world runs on our currency. the world accepted rome's coinage, that's what really made them an empire. funny thing about saddam hussein right before we sacked him - he was telling OPEC to drop the dollar as the standard for trading oil. you can forget about fishing for pleasure when the world dumps the dollar, you'll be fishing for dinner, literally.

i agree and thats where quality goes down hill, they are in search of the cheapest [censored] on the planet.