Made in America?

Oops, forgot my post but had the link.

Under the FTC link's guidlines the company mentioned in the first post was fradulently calling their product "American made".

Look at the pressure that an American manufacturer is under. The unions are still making unrealistic demands, Workman's Compensation insurance rates are outrageous, Medical insurance is through the roof, drugs and alcohol are rampant in the workplace, etc, etc, etc. If I hadn't automated a lot of operations thus cutting my workforce in half, I'd have gone under. If I don't cut my workforce in half again...I'm screwed. I'm actively looking into buying components overseas. If I don't, I'll go under. "Made in America" is a good sticker on a product but it doesn't mean anything anymore. Everybody from Joe consumer to Joe purchasing agent buy on price...PERIOD!

We will be getting rid of a machine soon, not because it isn't capable of making good parts but because we can get fully machined parts for what we pay for materials here.

Damn hard to compete against that.

Wes

How bout dis?

According to the last paragraph in this Snopes feature, it's probably still going on.

Jeff

I don't think most Americans really care where clothing is made, or if it has a made in the USA label. Even Levi's jeans recently closed all their US factories without a bit of protest, and they are now selling more jeans than ever.

And the fact is that most Americans don't want jobs in the needletrades, which means illegal immigrants would have to fill those positions anyway, leading to more controversy over immigration.

So who cares if clothing is imported, or what label is inside? I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

T>

Seems to me, anything made offshore, _especially_ if they sell with an American name, should say "of China" or whatever as part of the company name. "Matell Toys of China", "Master Lock of China", etc. The made in China thing isn't so bad, it's the USA'n companies who have outsourced to other countries, and then try to keep selling as if nothing has changed, are the ones which I find particularly annoying.

Speaking of annoying - when the hell did it change that USA made cast plumbing components are impossible to find?

Actually, my mom taught "needletrades" for decades at a local technical college. Every semester had a waiting list. And then the administration cancelled the classes because they were a "dirty hands trade" and classroom space for liberal arts is cheaper than a whole lab with machines and (gasp!) people doing actual work. Yet liberal arts students got money from the government for the school at the same amount per person. So it's not that people don't want to do the jobs, it's that poorly run schools have reduced the training for people for those jobs.

I don't think any of her students were illegal. Many were immigrants, but as long as someone follows the laws, good for them.

That's great until we go to war with china again.

I'd rather let uncle sam and his fancy think tanks worry about it, I have my own problems.

Tony

War or no war - China WILL get "pissed off" at the USA and the flow of goods will stop. In the unlikely case this does not happen, the chinese standard of living will aproach ours, and they will put the screws to the US, They will have a monopoly as there will be no manufacturung capacity left between the Pacific on the west and the Atlantic on the east, particularly between the Rio Grande and the arctic circle.

So, you think that's China's downturn will happen overnight? It took them several generations to tool up, and if the slowdown is any faster, it will lead to massive starvation, and riots in their streets. That will give others time to tool up, to take up the slack.

Let's face it, they're screwed already.

================== The same thing will happen that always happens.

Our strategists and generals will miscalculate. Our senior NCOs and junior officers will lead the patriotic citizens and they will get the job done, but get their ass blown off doing it, with shortfalls of sub-standard, inappropriate and worn-out equipment. The war profiteers will get rich, the politicians will out gas, and the taxpayers will pay. samo-samo

Unka' George [George McDuffee] ============ Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

========== Sure recipe for a war.

The PRC is a thermonuclear power. They may go down, but they will go down in flames and take a bunch of people with them. They survived one "great leap forward," and are not going to go through another one.

IMNSHO- you are correct about the massive starvation. The concentration of people into huge urban areas with no alternative to starvation other than wage labor for the purchase of food is sure to lead to disaster sooner or later. Even a one week interruption in the food supply would produce massive rioting/looting. Think Katrina-New Orleans to the 10th or 20th power. Unka' George [George McDuffee] ============ Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

============ To twist the knife, if you check on the companies that complain the loudest, you will generally find they are the ones with the highest property [local] tax abatements, tax increment financing schemes, etc. Not only did they fail to provide any additional support, they short changed the school districts on what they were supposed to pay. In many cases the retiree with a homestead exemption and a shack is still paying more property tax measured as percent of actual real estate valuation than the "tin cup" corporations. The "tin cups" are also [in]famous for dodging the "personal property" taxes the rest of us get hit with.

These local taxes are what fund, for the most part, US elementary and high schools. Unka' George [George McDuffee] ============ Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

Well we'll have to go off to war naked, I'll moon 'em

Tony

If they don't kill themselves and the rest of the world with the massive amounts of polution they are pumping out of all those coal powered factories and power plants.

You just reminded me of Tom Leher's song "World War Three" which I first heard shortly after he wrote it circa 1965. I'll put it up here for a few days:

Jeff (A hard core Tom Leher fan.)

That's a stretch, what percentage of the cost of goods is fuel for the ship? Ocean vessel net ton-miles per gallon varies widely by size of ship and backhaul percentage. With no backhaul, the average net ton-miles per gallon were as follows:

Size of ship Net ton-miles per gallon 30,000 dwt 574.8 50,000 dwt 701.9 70,000 dwt 835.1 100,000 dwt 1, 043.4

A qiuck Google shows the fuel cost to be insignificant, you need to rethink your logic.

What? And give them a bigger target? ;-)

What american goods? Scrap iron, aluminum, and copper. Raw materials (about all Canada sells to China, anyway)