Factory jobs aren't coming back

The Cincinnati Enquirer ^ | December 6, 2003 | Greg Barrett

[sarcasm]

ping

[RLK]

More of the same. It will continue until we are an economically bankrupt third world country with atom bombs.

[doosee]

Reading this article, simplistic as it is, helps to bring out how complex and interdependent our economy is today. For example, how popular are bicycles today compared to the 50's, 60's, and 70's? Kids have shifted to skateboards and roller blades and who knows what else. Boomer bikers want specialty bikes now. Is this article really about how WM put Huffy under or how Huffy did not change with the times? It is too easy to say if only WM didnt exist and we all paid more for bikes the world would be great. Time for all Luddites to adapt!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sarcasm]

Do you really think that we'll still have a nation? I have my doubts.

[RaceBannon]

Yeah!

Why doesnt her husband build his own bikes!! Huh??

[Indie]

But as one door closes, another opens. It's the maturation - and growing pains - of a new economy. By 2010, an additional 22 million jobs will be created in the United States, bringing the total to 168 million, the Department of Labor reports. Nearly 14 million, or three out of every five, will be in service occupations such as home health care, food preparation, child care and transportation.

This sounds to me like a propaganda piece for the globalist freetraders. What the above paragraph left out was..."and those new jobs will be at considerably lower pay and benfits (if any) than the jobs lost."

Growing pains of a new economy?? HA! Pure bull. There will be no economy soon. No state has survived, or can survive, on purely a service economy. The ship is sinking and the officers are swimming away to retirement villas overseas.

[Recovering_Democrat]

But as one door closes, another opens. It's the maturation - and growing pains - of a new economy.

Holy crap...some real world writing...instead of the continual harangue of pessimism and "blame America" garbage.

In what world, besides pre-school, did societial norms begin to create and/or expect a "Nanny Society" where even employees are expected to be able to have everything all the same all the time?

[sarcasm]

They have other plans in mind

[carlo3b]

Stick with the Union Label, and raise minimum wage and wave bye bye to low cost jobs. After all these folks don't even have an education, or a work ethic, and Environ, Harassment, Workman's comp, Trial Lawyers, are breathing down corporate necks anyway.. Why fight city hall and Union thugs.. Hello India, China, Mexico..

[TalBlack]

"The buck stops with the folks with the lowest skills," Richardson said. "These people find themselves now in a world with a whole bunch of other low-skilled folks who are competing with them."

This doesn't seem to square with the mantra that "we need" to let in illegals because ther are no Americans who want to do their jobs.

Cut the illegals and lets see where the wages of the people in this article go.

He's a janitor and she's a waitress? I have to go a long way to see an american in those jobs in my neck of the woods.

[freeangel]

These articles remind me of Pittsburgh when they started shutting down the steel mills. Many "waited" several years knowing that their jobs at the mills would not be lost forever(big mistake). Some retrained into jobs that were ultimately more financially lucrative than their old jobs, and a few brave souls started their own businesses doing what they loved. We've been through tough times before and will weather this one too.

[verity]

We can't go out to eat every Friday, Saturday and Sunday like we used to,"

That alone should save you a bunch of money!

[FITZ]

No state has survived, or can survive, on purely a service economy.

The region I'm living in has welfare rates approaching 40% --- health care is in worse shape with only 33% bothering with private insurance ---- the rest get their health care free from the government. Needless to say, about the only jobs are in health care and education ---- but it's taking massive federal and state bailouts to keep things going. If the bailouts stop rolling in, we're sunk.

[FITZ]

He's a janitor and she's a waitress? I have to go a long way to see an american in those jobs in my neck of the woods.

I've seen American waitresses and janitors --- but not where I'm living now --- not many because they are being driven out because it's cheaper to hire an immigrant. The immigrants don't expect any job benefits like employer provided insurance because they don't mind the free government insurance. So they're cheaper for the employers but not for the taxpayers.

[sarcasm]

That alone should save you a bunch of money!

Of course it means less money spent in restaurants which means that they hire fewer employees. Can you say downward spiral?

[verity]

Downward spiral.

[sarcasm]

You'll also be aghast when we get a national health insurance program and a massive tax increase to pay for the cost because these people will demand this of their politicians.

[ChadGore]

Re: This sounds to me like a propaganda piece for the globalist freetraders.

Agreed.

Re: No state has survived, or can survive, on purely a service economy.

This statement is based upon the assumtion that the manufacturing sector will no longer exists, and that is just flat out false.

Let me give you some examples.

Affordable information exchange has revolutionized the industry in a fundemental way. 10 years ago, the thought of a team of engineers in another country performing concurrent engineering on a PIM design would have been un do able.

Today, not only can a contractor in Bangladesh log in with a seat of UniGraphics or ProE and view, edit, and post on the same solid model everyone else is working on, but the entire shop floor can have access to the same information. It's cheap, distributable, and real time.

This decentralizes many of the functions that used to be performed only under the same roof on the "Nike Network" of people walking cubicle to cubicle to get questions asked and answered.

So a company hires 2 temp workers for next to nothing, and they may not get that much productivity out of them, but given the low price they're paying, that's ok, and if they're on the other side of the globe, their 3rd shift is your first shift, so your time to market is reduced because your compressing the schedule considerably.

So then the company hires different temp worker from different temp agencies and judges their performance, and eventually finds a few that really are performing with the same quality that they get out of their engineering team in the states, so they add a 3rd, then a 4th, . . .you get the idea.

Then one day, in a conferance call, one of the engineers in bangladesh says "I know a guy in this same industrail park that prototype this part in ____ time for ____ dollars, and they take him up on his offer.

Now they're getting some sample work done over there, so they add yet another temp, then the prototype guy in Bangladesh says he just bought a Trumph laser, a brand new HASS VNC and a Mits EDM, and can can to work in _____ amount of time for ____ dollars, so they try a few and they suck really bad, so they shop that around and . . .anyway

This is exactly the way it's happens with shop owners I know here in the states. It's not a planned thing, there's no mallice in it, it's just a question of keeping quality high, and not being afraid to shop around.

There are others who have sent and entire mold over to China, only to have a dup mold built to run knock-offs of the part to flood the black market, but that's another story.

[cp124]

or three out of every five, will be in service occupations such as home health care(changing diapers), food preparation(MacJobs), child care(more diapers) and transportation(driving from one minimum wage job to another).