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I agree. Buy American or the US should tax those imports from China or other countries so the cost of the item or the service is comparable to American product or service. If something isn't done many more will lose jobs. It started with trinkets from Japan went to electronics and cars and businesses moving over seas. Now with computers business workers, accountants, medical trascribers,financial analyst can be hired overseas. My dr. uses a medical transcriber from India cost less... sends info at end of day next morning transcribed and back. How does our country compete can't have American's live on the same wages as those paid to workers in foreign countries cost of living is to high to compete in that way. The only other way is new jobs in new technologies and new inventions.
If technology was the reason for the loss of manufacturing jobs, why has it grown in other countries while shrinking here? Dont you think this technology is available in other countries?
Obviously those companies moving their facilities to other countries have the resources to just stay here and computerize.. Why dont they? The only reason for not staying here is what I listed..
You're absolutely correct. It's not like we don't use steel anymore or automobiles because of technology. What a warped idea.
Now, we get steel from where?.... Bring back sky high trade tariffs on ALL imported products, and you would see the manufacturing base come back.
Until then, we will not be self-supporting and in a crisis, we will be screwed.
They used to chant the line "The American worker can compete against anyone in the world" which is true as long as pay is somewhat equal but how do you compete against someone sewing shirts for $0.35 an hour?
Answer: You can;t,
We opted for cheap foreign goods and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
For example in 1964 Admiral added four new 21 -inch color TV receivers ...Retail price is $895 each.
What cost $895.00 in 1964 would cost $6,149.27 in 2008.
Can you imagine paying over $6,500.00 (I added sales taxes) for a simple color television set today?
And if you are under 30 I doubt you appreciate how much $900 was in 1964 but for us it was an unbelievable amount of money which is why television repair shops were in business while today we toss it in the garbage and get a new one.
But America wanted the cheap stuff and we got it. We traded 100 years of industrialization so we could enjoy a wild ride over the last 30 years but now the wealth, and means to manufacture it, is gone.
What we need to do is change NAFTA to include only Canada and the USA. Canada and the USA can not compete with south of the border wage rates unless you want to volunteer for a $1.10 an hour job yourself.
Tariffs on steel I would be all for but the unions will have to do some bending too... no, not on wages or benefits but work rules that would allow computer operated manufacturing facilities and not be stuck back in 1949.
I miss my made in the USA Arrow Shirts. Quality is really down today.
Understood, but this is the basic problem: many Americans want to support Amrican industry, but they also want to pay the lowest price possible; these two views are not usually compatible, as another poster pointed out..
They will be compatible once imports are taxed so much the American goods are cheaper.
Boys and girls, with Taiwan barely being an exception, all of the globe's Big 12 manufacturing economies have been losing manufacturing jobs for 15-20 years despite the fact that manufacturing output has soared over that time. US manufacturing jobs are not going anywhere except to the very same place that everyone else's manufacturing jobs are going. This is a simple fact of life that people are going to have to get used to.
Rather than crying over manufacturing jobs and posing absurd plans apparently designed to do nothing more than raise costs and slash efficiency, we need to focus on those areas where we might have a comparative advantage. These do not include textiles and simple manufacturing any more. We are not going to prosper by insisting upon doing things that, relatively speaking, we don't do any better than anyone else.
Boys and girls, with Taiwan barely being an exception, all of the globe's Big 12 manufacturing economies have been losing manufacturing jobs for 15-20 years despite the fact that manufacturing output has soared over that time. US manufacturing jobs are not going anywhere except to the very same place that everyone else's manufacturing jobs are going. This is a simple fact of life that people are going to have to get used to.
Rather than crying over manufacturing jobs and posing absurd plans apparently designed to do nothing more than raise costs and slash efficiency, we need to focus on those areas where we might have a comparative advantage. These do not include textiles and simple manufacturing any more. We are not going to prosper by insisting upon doing things that, relatively speaking, we don't do any better than anyone else.
Your argument has been made, tested, and failed. It was said high-tech jobs, etc., would stay here, that we'd have the advantage there. Not true, everything that can, is being outsourced in the name of greater profit. People who are free and paid reasonable amounts for their work, can't compete with slaves.
Taxing imports to protect domestic production works.
And comparing Chinese and U.S. made items, I'd say you're wrong that we don't do better on manufactured items.
We must take drastic action! Down with the WTO and NAFTA. Tax Americans companies to death that move jobs out of this country. Soverign wealth funds will own us otherwise! We can't continue to allow this capital to be drained out of our country. It is just killing us!
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