Posted on 12/04/2014 10:28:07 AM PST by central_va
True, but not as a result of free trade. We have not had free trade with China, Korea or Japan at any point since WW I. Quite the opposite, where transactions at one end are treated by totally different rules than transactions at the other.
My mom would have gotten a kick out of hearing that after her job of 20 years went to Haiti in the late 90s.
It varies from industry to industry.....product to product, country to country.
Hourly compensation in the us manufacturing sector in 2012 was around 36 dollars per hour, (includes benefits)
We are far from the highest labor cost. Norway takes that prize with $63.36 per hour, followed closely by the Swiss.
This is the better way of comparison as various industries require different ratios to remain competitive so you look at it as a whole.
As far as being competitive, you can then compare the same industries against each other. But as you know, the US can no longer manufacture a wide array of goods because costs make it prohibitive due to cheaper competition, and that cheaper competition more often then not, is not entirely a labor issue. Electricity, fuel, transportation, insurance, medical care, and government mandates all have a direct and perhaps the primary affect on production costs..
You also should know that China is gradually losing that once vaunted labor cost advantage as their wages rise and they are now facing competition from countries like Vietnam.
No, Rush is not being hypocritical.
Two things have caused the chinese to catch up to us in overall GDP, and it isn’t free trade.
1. they’ve taken to capitalism with a vengeance
2. we’ve take to socialism with a vengeance
If we encouraged free enterprise and rewarded hard work rather than fight it and discourage it, we would still be way ahead of china, free trade or not.
Even with that, China has almost 5 times the population of the US. If it is true that their overall GDP is about the same as the US, that means their PER CAPITA GDP is still only one fifth that of the US. So we’ll have to continue our march to socialism a while longer before they catch up with us in per capita GDP.
Anyone relying on an entertainer for political leadership is a lo-info idiot.
Rush did not go all of the way through college so maybe he does know a little.
It's the slackers who can't cut it . . . and the people who enable them, such as yourself.
That wasn’t my question, so I will answer it for you. The cost of labor on average is 7% of the unit price of a given manufactured item. So if your labor is free i.e. slave labor, then the most you can save is 7%. Now if you consider that labor is not ever free the amount saved by off shoring is maybe 3-4% per unit. Not worth the social upheaval if you ask me.
So which is it, you cant get workers? But somehow you have them and they are happy. You are confusing...
That is all he does.
/johnny
On tomorrow’s free trade thread, the protectionists will argue that we can’t compete with low-cost labor. Today, it appears that their argument is that the cost of labor is an insignificant portion of a product’s price.
Maybe wages have something to do with it. Pay more and they will stay, of course you will have to raise the wages of the current employees. But none of that matters as you've built in high worker turnover into your business model. Otherwise you would go out of business to to lack of workers which seems to not be the case.
Then in your world, everything is rosie. In the world I know, the US working class has suffered because of the lack of free trade between the US and the Pacific rim countries. That does not make Rush a hypocrite. He has tried to enlighten about the damaging effects of trade restrictions by both the government and unions for years.
Raise the prices of the things that everyone buys, so that a few slackers can keep their jobs. Protectionism in a nutshell.
I would say a 5% tariff on imports would do it. Better they man the assembly lines than sucking the govt teat. I'd pay 5% for that. And lower my taxes to boot.
Anyone who criticizes Rush doesn’t remember what it was like before him. He revolutionized talk radio and gave conservatives a very powerful voice for the first time. he has since spawned many imitators (which is a good thing.)
I can’t stand it when folks, especially supposed allies, criticize this truly decent man.
Conservatives seem to be good at eating their own.
Rush is the master placater. If I didn’t know better I would say he is a leftist plant here to make us think we are doing something when in fact nothing ever changes. Has Rush ever used his influence to actually DO anything?
Which was never stated in the Bible by name.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
I have never looked it up but it could probably also mean confusion or maybe other things with the same meanibg.
See, everyone thinks they know something that isn’t even true. >>>>>>>
That is a good point but since I read nothing except the Bible to find out what it says I do not pay much attention about what people say the Bible has wrong.
So I plead not guilty in this one incident.
He’s a talk show host.
It’s up to our politicians to DO something.
What you have Rush do? Mobilize the Army?
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