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Too late.
The horse is already out of the barn.
But since we've had Republican Presidents for 20 out of last 30 years.
It's sure is strange how it's ALL the Democrats fault for all our jobs leaving town???
Steve
Hate to break it to you, sport, but we're all guilty of off-shoring jobs.
You are guilty every when you purchased that Chinese made metal barbecue for $29,99 at Wal-Mart instead of the American made Smoker Cookhouse model for $100.00, Not faulting you, I often do the same thing, but at least put the blame where most of it belongs.
You got a choice between two i-phones... one for $300 made in China and the other for $700 made in Modesto, California. What one are you going to purchase?
In the market for khaki slacks? You going to purchase a pair of Bill's American Made Khaki's (http://www.billskhakis.com/index.aspx - broken link) for $115.00 or an identical pair sewn together in Guatemala for Wal-Mart for $0.40/hour labor that cost you $24.99? Come on, fess up, which one you gonna buy if you're on a tight budget? Come on, Sport, which you gonna purchase?
PS, I own one pair of Bills and love em. They are not equal but I can purchase four or five for the price of one.
We got to face the fact we can not compete with Chinese 40 cent an hour wages. Used to be we could because we had automation but now the Chinese do too.
We need to institute tariffs to bring these jobs back but when we do it's gonna bite. You'll see inflation go through the roof, our standard of living will drop precipitously but the fact is if we continue we'll end up with no standard of living at all.
The idea of passing some sort of law to prohibit off-shoring of jobs is farcical and unenforceable. How you gonna stop a Japanese company with bank accounts in Europe from just moving? Grab their people and hold them hostage?
The truth is Obama could stop the "off-shoring" right now by doing exactly what President Bush did with steel imports in 20022002 United States steel tariff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaand he doesn't need congress to do it. Put a tariff on Chinese imported goods and two things will happen; we will get into a trade war and prices you and I pay will skyrocket.
this isn't about liberals......it is about a president who wants to prevent even more of our jobs from leaving the country.
What was done with NAFTA has been harming the workers here for quite awhile & someone should finally be looking at the interests of our own workers.
Tax the hell out of those businesses to the point where it is no longer profitable to go out of the country & start hiring those who use & buy their products & services, Americans.
Finally someone is at least understanding & looking at the harm this has done to our country.
Too late.
The horse is already out of the barn.
But since we've had Republican Presidents for 20 out of last 30 years.
It's sure is strange how it's ALL the Democrats fault for all our jobs leaving town???
Steve
I wonder if this had anything to do with jobs going to China?
this isn't about liberals......it is about a president who wants to prevent even more of our jobs from leaving the country.
What was done with NAFTA has been harming the workers here for quite awhile & someone should finally be looking at the interests of our own workers.
Tax the hell out of those businesses to the point where it is no longer profitable to go out of the country & start hiring those who use & buy their products & services, Americans.
Finally someone is at least understanding & looking at the harm this has done to our country.
Hate to break it to you, sport, but we're all guilty of off-shoring jobs.
You are guilty every when you purchased that Chinese made metal barbecue for $29,99 at Wal-Mart instead of the American made Smoker Cookhouse model for $100.00, Not faulting you, I often do the same thing, but at least put the blame where most of it belongs.
You got a choice between two i-phones... one for $300 made in China and the other for $700 made in Modesto, California. What one are you going to purchase?
In the market for khaki slacks? You going to purchase a pair of Bill's American Made Khaki's (http://www.billskhakis.com/index.aspx - broken link) for $115.00 or an identical pair sewn together in Guatemala for Wal-Mart for $0.40/hour labor that cost you $24.99? Come on, fess up, which one you gonna buy if you're on a tight budget? Come on, Sport, which you gonna purchase?
PS, I own one pair of Bills and love em. They are not equal but I can purchase four or five for the price of one.
We got to face the fact we can not compete with Chinese 40 cent an hour wages. Used to be we could because we had automation but now the Chinese do too.
We need to institute tariffs to bring these jobs back but when we do it's gonna bite. You'll see inflation go through the roof, our standard of living will drop precipitously but the fact is if we continue we'll end up with no standard of living at all.
The idea of passing some sort of law to prohibit off-shoring of jobs is farcical and unenforceable. How you gonna stop a Japanese company with bank accounts in Europe from just moving? Grab their people and hold them hostage?
The truth is Obama could stop the "off-shoring" right now by doing exactly what President Bush did with steel imports in 20022002 United States steel tariff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaand he doesn't need congress to do it. Put a tariff on Chinese imported goods and two things will happen; we will get into a trade war and prices you and I pay will skyrocket.
Thanks for the posting. I see by the link (assuming it is correct, a huge, huge assumption given it is Wikipedia) that a year after President Bush imposed the tariff, he took it off. I did not know that (or, rather, I do not remember it).
It does remind me that we had much the same problem with Japan. At the end of WWII we (USA) decided to help Japan get its industry up again (since we bombed the bejeebers out of their iron and steel factories). The result: Japan had much more up-to-date foundries than we had, and they soon began dumping steel and iron in the USA. I do recall that the steel industry (Pittsburgh, etc) was slowly dying off in the late 60s and 70s due to Japenese steel.
I actually worked for a family-owned iron foundry in the mid 1970s. I recall that most of the equipment dated back to 1918 or thereabouts. It was simply too expensive to purchase new equipment.
China now has not only the latest equipment, but cheap labor to boot. I toured China two years ago. It was amazing to see these huge, modern cities. It was also amazing to see all of the newer model cars around (my tour guide told me that most of the drivers I saw got their license to drive, at most, ten years ago, and that many cars I saw speeding about were probably driven by drivers 'enjoying their first day at the wheel'.
Remember Wal-Mart back when Sam Walton was alive? I sure do. Everything in Wal-Mart was "Made in the USA". Everything. Wal-Mart advertised heavily on Paul Harvey News and that was the pitch Paul gave every broadcast: everything in the store was made by Americans. I recall that it finally got to the point that there was only ONE brand of television sold at Wal-Mart (Curtis Mathis).
Of course, when Sam died, his dream died. Now it is rare to find anything NOT made in China in Wal-Mart.
Sorry for the ramble. Old age (I'm 55, and it happens a lot quicker than you think!) will do that.
Dennis Donovan, a veteran corporate-relocation consultant, said many legal and engineering firms already have outsourced routine work overseas, and he sees a bigger wave of offshoring by the burgeoning healthcare industry. At the same time, he sees fewer companies moving overseas strictly on the basis of cost.
Dennis Donovan, a veteran corporate-relocation consultant, said many legal and engineering firms already have outsourced routine work overseas, and he sees a bigger wave of offshoring by the burgeoning healthcare industry. At the same time, he sees fewer companies moving overseas strictly on the basis of cost.
Thanks for the posting. I see by the link (assuming it is correct, a huge, huge assumption given it is Wikipedia) that a year after President Bush imposed the tariff, he took it off. I did not know that (or, rather, I do not remember it).
It does remind me that we had much the same problem with Japan. At the end of WWII we (USA) decided to help Japan get its industry up again (since we bombed the bejeebers out of their iron and steel factories). The result: Japan had much more up-to-date foundries than we had, and they soon began dumping steel and iron in the USA. I do recall that the steel industry (Pittsburgh, etc) was slowly dying off in the late 60s and 70s due to Japenese steel.
I actually worked for a family-owned iron foundry in the mid 1970s. I recall that most of the equipment dated back to 1918 or thereabouts. It was simply too expensive to purchase new equipment.
China now has not only the latest equipment, but cheap labor to boot. I toured China two years ago. It was amazing to see these huge, modern cities. It was also amazing to see all of the newer model cars around (my tour guide told me that most of the drivers I saw got their license to drive, at most, ten years ago, and that many cars I saw speeding about were probably driven by drivers 'enjoying their first day at the wheel'.
Remember Wal-Mart back when Sam Walton was alive? I sure do. Everything in Wal-Mart was "Made in the USA". Everything. Wal-Mart advertised heavily on Paul Harvey News and that was the pitch Paul gave every broadcast: everything in the store was made by Americans. I recall that it finally got to the point that there was only ONE brand of television sold at Wal-Mart (Curtis Mathis).
Of course, when Sam died, his dream died. Now it is rare to find anything NOT made in China in Wal-Mart.
Sorry for the ramble. Old age (I'm 55, and it happens a lot quicker than you think!) will do that.
I am 62 and ramble a lot.
I remember 2002 well. I was self employed and had three large jobs getting ready to start in a business that deals heavily in steel pipe. I was under contract, could not bump my price and literally overnight my cost of pipe skyrocketed 35% followed by 10% weekly increases for about 8 weeks. In two months truckload prices doubled but with prices skyrocketing everyone attempted to beat further prices by stocking. After a week or two you couldn't buy a truckload of pipe at any price. Simply not available at any price.
It is important to note the kind of price increases I suffered would be extended to everything at WalMart, really anything purchased anywhere, should tariffs be instituted for Chinese Communist made goods. It would be very painful for John Q. Public which is why it will never happen.
The Japanese pipe invasion started in the mid 1970's, nobody could touch their prices and much of the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of government tax policies.
The Japanese built a foundry on a man made island. Everything was automated and new; new buildings with state of the art new equipment this foundry was almost all operated by machines and computers. A half dozen guys sat in an air conditioned control office operating everything by button and keystroke.
Contrast this to the American foundry that was built in the 30's or 40's with machinery dating to the end of the great depression. Foundries weren't built because 40 year tax depreciation schedules made it nearly impossible... businesses were making decisions not so much based on what was good for business but tax policy which is always a bad move.
Looking out over the floor of an American foundry was a glimpse into Dante's hell. Working conditions were like going back to the great depression era taking 100 men to do what it took 6 to do in Japan. Unions were in stranglehold control and the very idea of purchasing automated equipment would have caused a mass walkout. The never walked out the companies simply closed up shop and today you can see these massive, rusting relics all over the Mahoning Valley.
But the government beast always get their "fair share" cut first.
On the bright side the much of the American steel industry has returned and I seldom see foreign manufactured pipe anymore. Prices are lower now than ever before and the quality is excellent. The steel industry did this by building new, modern specialty plants. Gone forever is the mill that once employed thousands but you can actually purchase American made pipe for prices paid decades ago. Got a quote a couple days ago for a 40,000 lb order and 1" schedule 40 was around $0.85 per foot and if memory serves me right we were paying in the mid 50 cent range 35 years ago.
To get manufacturing moving again we need to offer investment tax credits for large machinery purchases and reset the depreciation schedule to a year or two. For buildings we need to offer a 5 year depreciation schedule instead of the 40 year monstrosity we have today.
We need tort reform as well... our bureaucracy is killing us but that isn't politically stylish so it will never happen either. All the garbage about tax breaks for the rich while the ever increasing cost of doing business force businesses to move beyond our borders.
Oh, right. The Republicans, huh? The Repubicans can't stop anything. The Democrats (now known as the "Progressives") have total control. They can do whatever they want. They do not need the Republicans.
Thank you for pointing that out. The Democrats do exactly what they want to do, regardless of what Americans want, and yet like schoolchildren can think of nothing to say except "It's all the Republicans fault." Yes, the Repubs were a failure because they abandoned the ideals of fiscal responsibility and small government. But the Democrats didn't take up this mantle: instead, they represent the ultimate in wasteful spending and huge, abusive government.
Since Obamacare was forced into law in the face of 100% Republican opposition and strong majority Independent opposition (as well as against strong opposition by the American people, with 59% opposing compared to only 29% supporting How Does Obamacare Poll? | The Weekly Standard), it seems clear that Democrats do whatever they want to. When they fail, it is a political game to try and make the Rebublicans look like they didn't support a laudable goal.
The Democrats have had total control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency for over a year and a half. No matter how many times Dems try to blame the Republicans, they have adopted every bad move made by the Repubs and made them worse (senseless foreign wars, overspending, overtaxation, and allowing Big Business and Big Finance to destroy the American dream as they create Booms and Busts to steal all the wealth out of the Economy).
Any failure to stop the outsourcing of American Jobs is 100% the Democrats' fault, since they have proven they could steamroller over even unified opposition from Rebublicans and Independents. Likewise, the continuation of the Iraq War via mercenaries and funneling funding through the State Department, and the entire Afghanistan war, are 100% the Democrats' fault. Also their inability to control spending, and their absolute distain for the will of the American people (Obamacare). This list goes on Ad infinitum...
We gave you total power, Democrats. You could have done real reform with Health Care, but instead allowed Big Insurance and Big Pharma to write the legislation to maximize their profits, with no cost control whatsoever--but a precedent-setting new intrusion of government into the lives of citizens: now they tell us we must, by law, buy a for-profit product from Big Business.
Excuses and blaming the previous office holder won't fly when the next elections roll around. It's the Economy, stupid. It's worse now than it has ever been in my lifetime, and I'm old.
We need change in the form of Libertarian movement, not "change" in the form of different pigs at the trough of the American's workers' confiscated paychecks.
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this isn't about liberals......it is about a president who wants to prevent even more of our jobs from leaving the country.
