[Southack]

"It could not make money competing against the Japanese with American labor, but using Chinese labor has turned things around."

No, you can't make such blanket statements, and the reason that you're making them is because the Chinese have created a false economic picture via currency manipulation.

For instance, you can't say that Mercedes won't make money competing against the Japanese by using American labor -- because Mercedes *makes* money on their M Class SUV that's made in Alabama. So claiming that Kodak can't compete against the Japanese if Kodak uses American labor is false logic.

...And the reason that we get to such false logic is because the Market is being distorted by China's massive currency manipulation that makes Chinese labor *appear* to be cheaper than its actual cost...by roughly 40% right now.

We see the sticker price of Chinese labor and we think "My God, that's cheap!" But the hidden subsidies and camouflaged costs of corruption aren't being factored in to those Chinese labor prices by our current Market...

...And most of those costs *won't* be factored in until after China re-values their Yuan upward somewhat.

[Brilliant]

I don't understand your logic.

Kodak is selling cameras like hotcakes. They've made a profit in the past few quarters after years of massive losses. They blamed the prior losses on competition from the Japanese. They even had the US government bring a trade case against the Japanese, and lost because the Japanese weren't dumping--they just had lower costs.

Now Kodak is making money, and they say that the reason they are making money is that they (unlike the Japanese) are using cheap Chinese labor to make their cameras. If you ban them from doing that with trade restrictions, then how does that create American jobs? I won't. It will create Japanese jobs, and higher prices for the American consumer. We'll be right back to where we were before Kodak started making its product in China.