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How silly and unrealistic of a mindset do you have to have to think a number one would never fall? Come back to reality and then be logical about why China might over take the US. Remove all political bs and be realistic
How silly and unrealistic that you don't see how we are responsible for China overtaking us.
How silly and unrealistic that you don't see how we are responsible for China overtaking us.
So you have nothing? You can't come up with any logical, non political related reason why China could take us over? Fwiw I didn't say we played no part in it but that's you creating strawmen
BTW have you noticed that the auto industry is booming? And that's with high wages, good benefits, and making great products. Why? Because Americans won't buy Chinese cars (for now)
Fact: We keep seeing posters complaining that America has outsourced jobs overseas. How about all the jobs that have been insourced from overseas to this country. Example, 11 foreign companies own large auto plants in this country. At least one makes more cars in the U.S. than overseas. There are only 2 American Owned Auto Companies. This type of thing is happening in all types of industries. We have foreign owned electronic companies in the U.S. We have foreign owned banks in the U.S. U.S. companies have only outsourced manufacturing jobs overseas, when they cannot compete on the world marketplace, and it is outsource or go out of business. By outsourcing, they can keep about half the former number of employees working. Which is better: Outsource and lay off 500 people, and keep 500 people working in the U.S. OR Go out of business, and lay 1,000 people off.
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Also, take a look at Germany. Their manufacturing sector is doing great and they have a big trade surplus.
Take a look at this link, and learn that Germany has laid off a bigger percentage of people in manufacturing jobs than the United States has.
Today mechanization has caused huge numbers of manufacturing employees to be laid off. Auto industry can build more cars that in 1970 with only half the employees. Not only can they use less employees, but can also build better cars with better quality than they could in 1970 because of robots and other mechanization changes over using people to do the work.
Due to modern equipment, they hire way less office workers today, which is happening in offices, and manufacturing floors.
Automation is what is cutting off jobs for people. I remember going to a concrete block making plant, to order a large number of concrete blocks a number of years ago.
Now there are automatic machines that make them in high volume. Just needs someone to feed in the ingredients in one end, and out pop the blocks at the other end.
There are 3-D parts printing machines to day, that provide auto parts as an example. Engineer draws part diagram and the machine prints it out. I have a niece's husband that works for a 3-D parts maker, that is producing in volume for high priced cars, etc. One man on duty for several machines 24/ 7. A tech that sets up the machine, and someone watches they make parts. If something needs tweaked, this person can solve the problem. One person overseeing automatic machinery that does all the work, that would have taken several times as many people, and take days to produce the parts the old fashioned way.
Blaming outsourcing is the easy way out. But it is not the big problem. The big problem is a lot of jobs have been replaced with modern equipment and methods.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Originally Posted by oldtrader
Blaming outsourcing is the easy way out. But it is not the big problem. The big problem is a lot of jobs have been replaced with modern equipment and methods.
This. People who design, manufacture, program and maintain the newest technology are the winners.
I worked at a major utility for 17 years, and saw layoffs for the following technological advances that I was involved with in the 1980s and early 90s:
-Cad replacing drafting for engineers
-PCs replacing keypunch operators
-Word processing systems replacing many of the typists
-Later, PCs on every desk replacing the word processing operators
-Servers and networks replacing Computer operators
-and replacing people that processed microfiche data records
-Automated Remittance processing systems replacing many people
-Call center software reduced the number of customer service people required
-Handheld automated meter reading systems reducing the number of meter readers
-Later, they have been reduced even more by systems that transmit the readings
This is just one example, and doesn't involve robotics.
With all the talks of how good a $15hr will be for people with no skills, it makes me wonder what will happen to all these no skill employees now. Many times minimum wage jobs are given to people that will get a job that most people refuse to work, as most people will not flip burgers or mop floors etc. If wages did go to $15hr, now employees can be much more selective on who they hire as many people would work for $15hr compared to $7.25 hr.
So when many of these no skilled workers that no one wanted to hire previously because of their poor worth ethic, poor appearance, or ghetto/rotten attitudes, but had no choice because no one else would take the job, now cant get a job because better applicants will now works those positions, will they do the next thing in resorting to stealing since they can no longer provide for themselves and no one will hire them since there will be less jobs available.
Its only 3 ways people can provide
1. Work to pay for what you have
2. Get assistance from the government to get what you have
3. Steal/Rob to get what you have
Choices 2 and 3 are going to go up big time if min wage goes $15hr nationwide.
$15 an hour would just put it roughly in line with Canada and Australia. And those two countries have far less of a violent crime problem than the USA. Last I checked Canada also had lower unemployment rate. Not sure about Australia.
Its only 3 ways people can provide
1. Work to pay for what you have
2. Get assistance from the government to get what you have
3. Steal/Rob to get what you have
Choices 2 and 3 are going to go up big time if min wage goes $15hr nationwide.
Analysis shows that only a small percentage will be effected. Though the problems you state might come true, just not as big a problem as you think.
So in the 50s, 60s, and 80s minimum wage increases resulted in a better lifestyle for minimum wage earners? We've already established that that wasn't the case in the 60's
No, we established that minimum wage increases had nothing to do with inflation in the 70s. And there wasn't very much inflation in the 60s, until the aforementioned energy supply crunch.
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Originally Posted by JimRom
What happens when the poverty line goes up because wages have gone up across the board?
Why would that happen? If all prices were entirely 100% due to minimum wage labor costs, then the poverty line would increase enough to cancel out the minimum wage. If the price is less than 100% due to m/w then m/w workers will gain purchasing power relative to the new prices. The math is not very complicated.
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Originally Posted by JimRom
I find it rather humorous that the same people who complain about the lack of manufacturing jobs in the United States support the very kind of idiocy that makes manufacturing businesses want to move overseas. Instead of focusing on fixing a problem that is inherently unfixable like the minimum wage, we should be focusing on encouraging businesses to bring manufacturing back to our shores and encouraging small to medium size businesses to expand.
Most manufacturing isn't minimum wage. Maybe by increasing the spending power of most Americans, domestic demand for goods would increase and motivate more hiring?
Sorry to interrupt but the reason college became so expensive is because Ronald Reagan, while Gov. of California, decided to make the free college system into a cash cow and other states soon followed suit.
Do carry on....
How did this cause private universities to raise their tuition?
Reagan did impose higher fees and tuition on public universities in California, true. But that doesn't explain why they have raised their prices much faster than inflation for all these decades.
Actually, one reason for tuition inflation is that federal student loans are so easy to obtain that universities and colleges push the students to max out on borrowing, thus relieving themselves of the need to live on a budget. Unfortunately no one talks about what happens after you graduate (or drop out).
So you have nothing? You can't come up with any logical, non political related reason why China could take us over? Fwiw I didn't say we played no part in it but that's you creating strawmen
China is a joke. Their GDP per capita is less than 1/4 of ours. They walk around with masks because their pollution is so out of hand. The RW propaganda machine is disgraceful.
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