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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (125198)	11/20/2009 9:24:31 AM
From: Little Joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543139

Well we were discussing whether America was losing manufacturing jobs not who was responsible. lj

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (125198)	11/20/2009 10:46:17 AM
From: Mary Cluney	Respond to of 543139

<<<Your link is dated April of 07 and the jobs lost are since 2000. Good job Bush! Now you're getting it though when I talk of the missed opportunity of the eight years of the Bush administration. >>> I agree with you that we need to manufacture stuff but there are MANufactuing jobs and then there are manufacturing jobs. There is the low value added manufactuing like putting glue on toys versus manufacturing Caterpillar, John Deere, and solar panel stuff. The low level stuff is a dead end. There is little in terms of profits and keep those employed for only a short while longer until they figure out ways to reduce more labor. We have to be smart about this stuff. Slogans won't work. We have to be able to think strategically. And at the end of the day, if nothing is ventured, nothing is gained. There has to be investments. There are times when being cheap or thrifty if you will becomes very expensive.

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (125198)	11/20/2009 11:15:46 AM
From: cosmicforce	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543139

As much as I'd like to blame GWB, he really just continued policies that have been in place for 20-30 years including both Democratic and Republican administrations. One could say that the trend away from American manufacturing preeminence began in the 1960's. As long as companies are entities driven by profit, they will act rationally and chase that profit. All that government can do is tilt the table using taxation and subsidy. Without some guidance, the vagaries of the world economy shape the manufacturing location. We've instituted financial incentives that made companies move labor out of the U.S. Even if foreign labor was the same price, it is approximately 40% cheaper to use. I will say that for my company, the move of products from California to China was not without a quality impact. It also didn't save us nearly as much as the bean counters predicted. It was foolish to make external labor fully deductible while domestic labor is only about 60% deductible.