SOLD! America II

Renew America ^ | September 14, 2006 | Bonnie Alba

[Joe Brower]

Just another milestone along the road to CW II.

God help us all.

[A. Pole]

In increments, we will transition into a North American Union with open borders which will someday include merged economies, one currency, and most probably, a melding of governments

And this will be the moment for Quebec to secede. Learn French :)

[Rutles4Ever]

We need to get these guys an account at Second Life, instead.

Leave my country be.

[tcostell]

If Bonnie Alba wants to write about economics it's no sweat off my brow, but she might want to learn a thing or two about first.

This just sounds like hyperbolic silliness.

[Tokra]

Do you remember when we bought products made by our own people? We were buying a piece of America, supporting our citizens and workers. Clothes fit better too.

We want to have our cake and eat it too. If you insist on paying Americans a "living wage" of $15 - $20 an hour to make Levis, then Levis will cost $100 a pair. If you insist on $20 Levis, then they have to be made in China or Bangladesh. We can't have it both ways - mush as we'd like to.

[CORedneck]

No loyalty to American workers but the converse, American workers are required to be loyal to their companies. It was a two way street, not anymore.

[Tokra]

mush = much

OR

mush = mushbrain

[stopem]

B.S.!!Bad argument....almost all clothing etc is ALREADY made in china ....etc.

NOTHING appears to be manufactured in the U.S. anymore so we don't really need "cheap labor" that is costing taxpayers KAZILLIONS!!

[A. Pole]

If you insist on paying Americans a "living wage" of $15 - $20 an hour to make Levis, then Levis will cost $100 a pair. If you insist on $20 Levis, then they have to be made in China or Bangladesh.

Bogus argument. The wages are only a part of the cost and making pair of jeans takes less time than five hours.

Read my tagline.

[Dane]

Gee Bonnie, if you had lived in the 50's when Eisenhower proposed the Interstate highway system, you would be calling him a communist and atheist.

Oh wait a minute your buddy birchers did that in the 50's, nevermind.

[Dane]

ALL GLOBAL ALL THE TIME. you too can have 3rd world living standards.....everything will devolve down to a ghetto existance....where personal initiative and achievement will be non existant. vote tancredo stop this moronic lurch.

Yeah improving infrastructure, such as the American Interstate road system, is a path to desolation.

JMO, sometimes I believe that tancredo is embarassed by such posts on FR.

Well, I don't really have much sympathy for tancredo. He courted you all.

When you lie down with nuts, you wake up with a whole bunch of nuts around you.

[Tokra]

Bogus argument. The wages are only a part of the cost and making pair of jeans takes less time than five hours.

It is not a bogus argument. You are forgetting the "hidden " labor costs in the US. If Levi pays a worker $20 an hour, it will actually cost Levi $35 an hour. Then there are all the other "hidden" costs - unemployment insurance, taxes, regulations, etc.

It's no different than the auto industry. A US auto worker costs $64 an hour, a Chinese auto worker costs $6 an hour. If you are in the business of building cars to make a profit - just where do you think your factory will be built?

It isn't rocket science.

[cinives]

For example: My husband complains every time he wants to buy another pair of Levis. Used to be, up until the late 90s, he could walk into any Levi-stocked store, pick up a pair in his size and never have to try them on. Aaah!! Now he must try them on 1) to see if they fit, one size can vary by two inches and 2) check the cut of the bias-seams, as now we can't be sure if the legs will hang straight or one leg may slant to the side.

That's kinda funny. Women have been complaining about this very thing years before men did - I guess now we're really "equal".

Next thing you know the men will have to pay $45 for a haircut and $3 to launder a shirt, just like women.

[Wolfie]

So our gov't screws up our economy with over-regulation and taxes, and then turns around and helps those companies burdened by same move over seas. And the American worker? Heck, there's always the military.

[Incorrigible]

Ha! Ha! Ask the Japanese how their real estate investments in the 80's fared!

Buy while it's cheap Comrades!

[Alberta's Child]

That just about sums it up perfectly. Very good post.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Yes, I remember when we required our own citizens to toil making us clothing.

But now we found better and cheaper ways to clothe ourselves, so those workers have been freed up to do bigger and better things.

I used to fertilize my own yard, toiling away. But now I found someone else to do that job for me, for a lot less money when I factor in my time and having to purchase the products at retail. So I can do something I enjoy more.

Progress. Let's stop it because the whackos are afraid a super-highway will have magical powers and form a union.

News flash, Maryland and Virginia have superhighways connecting them, and they aren't united about ANYTHING. :-)

Well, except that the roads have too d*mn many cars.

[A. Pole]

You are forgetting the "hidden " labor costs in the US. If Levi pays a worker $20 an hour, it will actually cost Levi $35 an hour

Yeah? And how many pairs of jeans are made per hour?