Apple - VS Made in America?

If you're good at running a business rebuilding alternators you can probably do pretty well, even in recessions. The actual work probably isn't worth much more than minimum wage. But you don't learn to run a successful small business by getting an engineering degree- more like being a fairly narrow cog in a larger business.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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I have interviewed three Chinese contract manufacturers for possible outsourcing of large-scale projects. All three of them showed me very slick brochures showing their ultra-modern factories. All three of them had pictures of their campuses which all included dormitories for the workers. I was told, by all three of them, that every one of their factory workers lives in the dormitories, and gets to go home to their familes one week per year. When I asked what happens if a worker desires to live at home and commute to work, I was told by all three of them, "If they don't want to work by our rules, there are a billion others to choose from."

Brings to mind, "You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt."

Feh.

You are right. An engineering degree is not needed. But to be successful you do need a lot of skills that are also needed in engineering. He was smart enough to get his place classified as a farm and while he was running the rebuild company, he enjoyed low real estate taxes. The Christmas trees did not produce any income while he was running the business so lower income taxes during those years. Now he sells Christmas trees that people cut down themselves at $50 a piece and gets enough money to go to Florida for three months. He has an outdoor furnace to heat his house ( in addition to oil heat ) and lets some of the tree service businesses unload wood at his place. He does not charge them anything.

=20 Dan

Actually I do realize that this is a step up for them. Of course these factories keep moving further inland because the peasants are wanting higher wages.

I don't remember what the song was. A whole lot of people moved north in days past from the agrarian south to cities like Detroit to make high wages. That worked for a while but now many of them are trapped in inner cites with no hope.

I wonder if history will do a repeat?

Wes

a while but

See

The move to Detroit was, if I remember correctly, to take advantage of very much higher wages paid in the factories there as apposed to be a sharecropper in the South. The situation in many parts of Asia are the same. Take a job at the new factory for a salary or stay at home and get practically nothing for harder work.

But it wasn't the workers who caused the exodus out of Detroit, it was the unions and the manufacturers who caused that move. The workers were very much the victims.

As for history, it does tend to repeat itself.

-- John B.

? I'm looking at my bookshelf here-- Finite Difference Equations.. Thermodynamics Kinetic Theory and Statistical Thermodynamics, Complex Analysis, Hetrogenous Kinetics at Elevated Temperatures, Synthesis of Passive Networks, Microwave Devices, Fundamentals of Optics, Quantum Mechanics, Network Analysis etc. etc. Not too applicable to a tree farm or rebuild shop.

I agree that getting through all that stuff is a filter that removes people that are not mathematically inclined and not fairly bright, but it could also filter out people who may be more than good enough in those areas, and perhaps superb in areas such as people skills and salesmanship that engineers are often not so great at.

My hat's off to him-- sounds like he has his stuff together, and is optimizing his return for the work he puts in.

My kid's already competing against immigrants who have strong cultural and, in some cases, even genetic advantages in various fields.

Would you really want _your_ kids competing against this kind of thing??

a while but

Whether you like the idea or not, an economy is a closed system. Which means we can rob Peter to Pay Paul - for a while.

I guess it doesn't really matter much. If it did, then we'd quit eating chocolate as well.

Slave labor IS slave labor.

But how bad do you want the fruits of it?

"The Journey is the reward"

The point I was trying to make is that engineering is probably a better major than most of the other majors in that it teaches a lot of things the liberal arts majors do not get. And I do not think kids worry too much about global competition. They are more interested in the competition with other kids in the college they are enrolled in. The competition is there is most every field and what I want makes little difference.

if you were advising young people on selecting majors, which majors would you say are the best.

=20 Dan

respects, Dan, but serious disagreement...

I'd more recommend the medical fields.

You don't see congress trying to be engineers, but they all think they are doctors.

They probably do know that good paying jobs are not very plentiful in consumer electronics.

Confucious say rising tide lifts all boat.

Meds, law or business if they're going to University. If they're really science-oriented, bioscience. Skilled trade or some kind of well-pensioned government-funded worker such as firefighter if not.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

days past from

for a while but

I've recently been reading a book, "A colossal failure of common sense", written by a guy who was a bond trader at Lehman Bros. He mentions in the book that their Cheaf of Analysis forecast the failure of G.M. a year before it happened. Her analysis was that their main problem was the tremendous value of the accrued pensions that they were obligated for.

-- John B.

What's missing from this analysis is the arrival of the Japanese.

American cars had become a very bad deal. While the monopoly endured, it didn't matter. Japanese cars showed people just how badly they were being abused.

Joe Gwinn

Gunner Asch on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:42:18 -0800 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

days past from

for a while but

Neat. Now all Ford has to do is put the last fifty years of technical improvements in side, and I'd say they probably would have a big seller.

tschus pyotr

Yes, the Japanese did get their foot hold in with lower prices but what are they selling now? Think Tundra, Lexis, Accura, Prius, ect.

My uncle would dearly love to buy another Toyota mini truck again but those are not sold here anymore.

Szumi

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

A good local community college can provide for the first year or twos education at greatly reduced costs.

I know a lot of people that are struggling to put their offspring through higher education. One of the things they quickly learn is you can secure a decent education in the early years from a community college. It is a base to build on and if the kids don't have the discipline to buckle down and study, the waste of resources isn't as great to the parents or the child. Some parents worry about which Ivy League school the kids attend, other parents worry about getting maximum education at the most affordable cost.

Wes

PS

I actually used a Bridgeport to do some machining today at work, just to stay on topic for RCM. I didn't break a tap today doing a repeat of the same job I reported on earlier.

cent education in

if the kids don't

t as great to the

the kids attend,

Having the kids go to community college is good in many ways, but sucks in a couple of ways. One is that the kids generally live at home when going to community college. So they would miss learning from the other kids. And related to that is that it is extremely hard to transfer to one of the top schools after going to community college.

=20 Dan

Apple accused of ignoring labor issues that can kill

Under-age workers

Apple shares soar to record after blowout quarter

$1 billion a week profit

Story: Apple 'thrilled' by sales surge, profits blow past estimates

Apple declines to comment

Gunner Asch on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:24:27 -0800 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

days past from

for a while but

For such short runs? Of course. With inflation, the 1964 Mustang would run you around $18 Gs today. So, ramp up production, get the economies of scale and sell them for 20 -25 K, make a fortune.

tschus pyotr