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"As Norbert Sporns, a Seattle-based CEO, recently said, "The major reason why we're [now] sited [in China] is not because of cheaper labor, but because of government support, because of the infrastructure that is laid out properly"."
Its time to stop drinking the "free trade" Kool Aid because its destroying our manufacturing sector along with the American middle class.
No its just that china has peasants that can assemble things now that they have the facilities to do it. I the meantime Obama wants to tax other industries to encopusrge them to leave also because they can't compete.Most of CVhina's infrastructure sucks in 90% of teh counhtry. Its also one of the most polluted nations on earth.My nephew visited one of their inductria; areas.125 sq miles of factories because they can distribute them because of infrastructure problems of energy and getting raw materials thru out the land.
"As Norbert Sporns, a Seattle-based CEO, recently said, "The major reason why we're [now] sited [in China] is not because of cheaper labor, but because of government support, because of the infrastructure that is laid out properly"."
Its time to stop drinking the "free trade" Kool Aid because its destroying our manufacturing sector along with the American middle class.
Also you cannot discount the fact that fuel is too cheap to make it attractive to buy American.
If it ecomes cost prohibitive to ship goods to the U.S. from China, the trade will return to our shores along with the jobs to manufacture the goods.
Okay for those that say a Western, developed nation can't compete with the likes of China, how do you guys account for Germany and (although not necessarily western but still developed) Japan?
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovert
"Germany is perhaps the best case in point, as this Montana-sized country of 82 million people was the world's #1 exporter until 2008, surpassing the United States even today and only surpassed by China in 2009. Germany is more culturally familiar to Americans than Japan, another strong performer in the developed world, and thus its policies are easier to understand. (Both nations, by the way, now pay their workers industrial wages higher than the U.S.) This is all without significant natural resources to export (Canada doesn't count) and while supporting a welfare state generous by American standards. And the rest of Germanic and Scandinavian Europe follows, broadly speaking, similar economic policies, so it is well worth understanding how the Germans do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovert
"In 2008, Germany ran a $267-billion trade surplus, while the United States ran a $568-billion deficit.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sickofnyc
Without a strong manufaturing sector, we wil never again have a thriving muddle class. We went from being the world's largest creditor nation to the world's largest debtor nation. People will continue to sing the praises of Walmart and stores like it because they can purchase cheap $hit and toxic products from China. The voice of reason will fall on deaf ears and numb brains. I have posted many links and you would be amazed at how vehemently posters defend this practice of not demanding better.
The American people have lowered their standards. There's no doubt about it. I still remember the commercials, "by cotton, it's American made". Now, we dishonor American made products and a commercial such as that would be deemed facetious at best.
Marketing and in how we present ourselves today, vs. how we presented ourselves 40 years ago, 50 years ago...
America will never be as grand as it once was; the American people have made sure about that.
We have worked ourselves just right out of jobs, just how grand is that?
Without a strong manufaturing sector, we wil never again have a thriving muddle class. We went from being the world's largest creditor nation to the world's largest debtor nation. People will continue to sing the praises of Walmart and stores like it because they can purchase cheap $hit and toxic products from China. The voice of reason will fall on deaf ears and numb brains. I have posted many links and you would be amazed at how vehemently posters defend this practice of not demanding better.
Your post needs to be repeated, since its 100% on target. Our Manufacturing Sector is now only about 11%, and has been decreasing every year for the past 50 years. Funny that the Middle Class has been losing quality of life for that same period.
Americans have to buy everything from China, since that's all our stores will stock, but the quality is as low as possible. Thus we have to buy replacements constantly, which are also crap, and need to be replaced almost immediately as they fail/break/don't work at all.
Germany seems to be doing well taking over the quality manufacturing. Businesses have to get their equipment from Germany if they want it to work.
We could stop America's fall off the cliff with a simple solution: switching back from "internal" revenue (taxing every move Americans make) to Tarrifs and Trade Barriers (as the Founding Fathers intended back when we were prosperous and growing). The only hope of such fundamental change is a Libertarian Revolution; otherwise, your children and grandchildren will remember this endless Recession/Depression as "The Good Old Days."
and has been decreasing every year for the past 50 years. Funny that the Middle Class has been losing quality of life for that same period.
50 years ago the average middle class family had a much smaller home, much less variety of food available, traveled less, watched a black & white TV, no internet/computer/microwave/cell/DVD at all, one car that needed much more regular maintenance, lots of medicines and procedure we take for granted weren't available, etc.
One can make claims about middle class relative to elite etc. but to just state the "quality of life" is worse now for the middle class is flat out wrong.
If universal health care had been passed, then our manufacturing sector would be competitive with China's. They would not have to pay the enormous shipping and transportation costs that China does and the product would be higher quality. I firmly believe that UHC would have ended the recession by allowing business and industry to concentrate on what they do best, make a superior product and not spend a large portion of their overhead on employee health care. It would have been the best economic stimulus we could have done for the country.
Okay for those that say a Western, developed nation can't compete with the likes of China, how do you guys account for Germany and (although not necessarily western but still developed) Japan?
Germany and Japan are once again positioning themselves to debunk the myth that developed nations with high wage laborers can't compete with the likes of China in trade exports and manufacturing.
"That's partly because countries around the world view those old ways, while dangerous over the long term, as the quickest option to power out of the deep economic decline. For China, Japan and Germany, that means exporting vast volumes of goods, saving too much and spending too little; for the United States, and to varying degrees Britain and other European nations, it is the reverse."
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