Posted on 02/17/2009 5:12:29 PM PST by BfloGuy
The U. S. by far remains the world’s leading manufacturer by value of goods produced. It hit a record $1.6 trillion in 2007 — nearly double the $811 billion in 1987. For every $1 of value produced in China’s factories, America generates $2.50.
(Excerpt) Read more at buffalonews.com ...
You guys make my head explode. They did not award the tanker project to AirBus. They awarded it to Northrup-Grumen. N-G decided to utilize an empty AirBus air frame which would be totally assembled and customized to the tanker application in a brand new US factory that would have created many hundreds of new jobs and then fitted with either GE or Pratt & Witney engines. The air frame would have been the cheapest part of the project.
Because of some bone heads, the entire project has been put on hold, and now that the Red Diaper babies control the government, will likely be ended.
American is almost bankrupt...our 401K’s are cleaned out thanks to Wall Street, our houses have gone down in value and millions are losing their jobs...7.5 % unemployment calculated the old pre-Johnson way really equals 15 % unemployment. The economy is in shambles.
Really? ALL of the people in China?
..the products are expensive as they cost people their very lives.
Do products from other countries sometimes take peoples' lives too? Yes.
Freed “slaves” tell their horrific stories. Rescued by relatives they talk about police indifference. Children lured with promises of jobs are kidnapped and forced to work like adults. Factory owners threaten and beat parents who try to rescue their children and those of other parents.
Yes, that sort of thing does happen in China, and it happens in other countries too. But you're trying to generalize that ALL Chinese manufacturing is slavery. It's simply not true.
Also, it would be happening whether we buy from them or not. Our trade with China is NOT the cause of such terrible abuse.
Do you suppose China had a stellar human rights record before Wal-Mart came along?
If the Obama unionists would give into some concessions like the rest, maybe your husband would not lose his job.
Sirius radio on the brink of bankruptcy because of the lack of auto sales are not union either...this is not about unions and if you are honest you will admit it.
Sirius is not on the brink because of lost auto sales. They are on the brink for bad business models that relied on auto sales rather than selling a good product to people that wanted it.
Dude, you REALLY need to take your meds. Your grip on reality is getting very shaky.
America is NOT "almost bankrupt".
My 401K is NOT cleaned out.
My house has NOT gone down in value.
Unemployment is no higher than it was in the early 80's, so it's not a monster crisis at all.
Panic and anger are dangerous things. In combination, they can be especially bad.
Take a break before you twist off and hurt somebody!
Oh. So child exploitation bypassing child labor laws is ok in 'some cases'?
Allow me to correct you. It provided many low wage jobs.
How much are you willing to pay for throw away injection molded crap?
What if a kid wants to help his neighbor put on a new roof for 'extra cash'?
If someone making $17,000 a year is unable to house, feed and care for themselves, something else is wrong.
Your post is inaccurate...the truth is American would have gained few jobs and lost as much as 100 billion in revenue...it was a stupid deal and has been terminated thank God...you left of EADS role didn’t you? Let’s see EADS is a subsidiary of Air Bus. 2000 jobs in Alabama vs 100 billion dollar...Shelby is a traitor to America as he was involved in this deal as was McCain.
“On 29 February 2008, the U.S. Air Force awarded a $35 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers (the KC-45) to Northrop Grumman (token American company trick-my words), with EADS as a major subcontractor. The contract, one of the largest created by the Department of Defense, is initially valued at $35 billion but has the potential to grow to $100 billion. It is also a sign of the growing influence of foreign suppliers within the Pentagon and breaks a relationship that has lasted decades with Boeing, which had built the bulk of the existing tanker fleet and had fought hard to land the new contract.
Under the contract, Northrop Grumman and EADS would build a fleet of 179 planes, based on the existing Airbus 330, to provide in-air refueling to military aircraft, from fighter jets to cargo planes. While final assembly of the craft would take place at an Airbus plant near Mobile, Alabama, parts would come from suppliers across the globe.[23]
However, the award was protested by Boeing, the other bidder on the project, which was upheld by the GAO. The Air Force announced a partial reopening of the bid, focusing on the eight (of nearly 110) areas where Boeing’s protests were upheld, with a final decision due by the end of 2008.”
I'd be happy to go back to a time when people exercised at least a small degree of reading comprehension before they replied to posts...If you go back and re-read what I posted in #244, I stated...
"... that would be the repeal of ridiculous child labor laws that prevent kids from developing a healthy work ethic."
I think most people reading that might infer that I thought there were child labor laws that weren't ridiculous, and didn't prevent kids from developing healthy work habits. Because I thought that may not be explicitly obvious to everybody, I followed it by writing...
" I'm obviously not calling for the resurrection of sweat shops and child labor mills..."
...and yet after taking the time to carefully qualify that position, you accuse me of wanting to resurrect sweat shops and child labor mills.
I used to believe that...until I met some basic high school teachers.
You are not serious?
Not a problem...but no kid should be working for a roofing contractor unless he is legal by child labor laws which vary state to state.
Apparently the House of Representatives disagrees with you but there are too many “free traders” in the government to stop it.
For your edification:
H. Con. Res. 294
Whereas the Laogai is a vast prison labor system in the People’s Republic of China and consists of a network of more than 1,000 prisons, camps, and mental institutions in which detainees must work at factories, farms, mines, and other facilities;
Whereas the two major aims of the Laogai are to generate economic resources for the state through free labor and to ``reform criminals’’ through hard labor and political indoctrination;
Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China relies on the Laogai as a tool for political suppression of pro-democracy activists, Internet dissidents, labor activists, and religious and spiritual believers, including Han Chinese, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, and ``house church’’ Christians;
Whereas, while the Soviet Gulags no longer exist, the Chinese Laogai is still fully operational, subjecting most of its three million prisoners to forced labor by threatening torture;
Whereas fifty million people have suffered as prisoners in the Laogai since its inception;
Whereas Laogai prisoners are deprived of religious freedom and forced to give up their political views in order to become a ``new socialist person’’ and uphold communism and the Chinese Communist Party;
Whereas in recent years, more than 100,000 religious believers have been unjustly and illegally imprisoned in one Laogai camp alone, where they have been beaten, tortured, and often killed;
Whereas Laogai prisoners are forced to work long hours in appalling conditions, including mining asbestos and other toxic chemicals with no protective clothing, tanning hides while standing naked in vats filled with chemicals used for softening of animal skins, and working in mining facilities where explosions and other accidents are a common occurrence;
Whereas it is documented that China’s national policy since 1984 has been to extract organs from executed prisoners without prior consent of the prisoners or their family members, setting China apart from every other country in the world;
Whereas there are more than 1,000 instances in which organs are harvested from executed Chinese prisoners every year;
Whereas both Chinese and foreign patients from around the world receive organs transplanted from executed Chinese prisoners;
Whereas Laogai prisoners are required to make confessions of their wrongdoings, which include political and religious views that the Chinese Communist Party wishes to suppress;
Whereas Chinese citizens are not guaranteed due process of law nor even a right to trial;
Whereas many individuals are often convicted and sentenced with no trial at all, or they are convicted with ``evidence’’ extracted through torture;
Whereas in one part of the Laogai system known as the Laojiao, or reeducation-through-labor , Chinese citizens can be detained for up to three years without any judicial review or formal appearance in the judicial system;
Whereas goods produced by forced labor in the Laogai system continue to be exported to the United States and the world;
Whereas the Chinese Government has continuously encouraged the export of goods produced through the Laogai prison system and relies on forced labor as an integral part of its economy;
Whereas forced labor and torture practices carried out in the Laogai violate international laws, standards, and treaties to which China is party, including the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and
Whereas China , a member State of the International Labor Organization, also violates many agreements regarding labor conditions and the rights of workers: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress—
(1) calls on the international community to condemn the Laogai, the system of forced labor prison camps in the People’s Republic of China , as a tool for suppression maintained by the Chinese Government;
(2) calls on the Government of the United States to fully implement United States laws that prohibit the importation of forced labor products made in the Laogai;
(3) calls on the Government of the United States to take actions to review the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on Prison Labor in 1992 and the Statement of Cooperation in 1994 with respect to the Laogai;
(4) will undertake efforts to join with the European Parliament to urge the introduction of a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Commission condemning the Laogai and the human rights situation in China ;
(5) calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to release information about the Laogai, including the total number of Laogai camps and prisoners throughout China , the exact locations of the camps, and the business production activities taking place at the camps;
(6) calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to release information about the number of executions of prisoners at the camps that are carried out every year, and the extent of the harvesting and transplantation of organs of executed prisoners;
(7) urges the Government of the People’s Republic of China to allow unrestricted visits by international human rights inspectors, including United Nations inspectors, to Laogai camps throughout China ; and
(8) urges the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to continue to investigate the Laogai system in China and to make recommendations for United States policy that will help protect human rights for Chinese citizens.
You mean like Walmart jobs? Haha. Retail is the biggest employer outside of the government these days and they pay little. Those jobs were far better than Walmart jobs who are you trying to kid? We as a country were better off when we made our own stuff.
However, this would be the outcome of such a repeal of child labor laws...kids would be forced to work in the end by desperate or unscrupulous parents...some would die-working in unsuitable jobs. It’s a form of slavery. I’m against it.
You are one of the lucky few. The market went from 15,000 to under 7500 last time I checked...most people I know have lost big and millions of houses are underwater as it’s called...I suppose you don’t know about the massive layoffs either...I want to live in your land...the land of delusion.
So now we know that you consider $17,000 a year a sub standard wage, just what do you consider to be standard?
A border is a ‘trade barrier’. Should we do away with those? Oh wait, we already have with illegal immigrants taking jobs American teenagers used to do.
A citizen is a ‘trade barrier’. I know you’d like them to be replaced with simple ‘consumers’ so they don’t get uppity and try to control their own government.
A culture is a ‘trade barrier’. I am sure you’d approve of the death of the American culture of freedom, it gets in the way of “free trade” and globalism.
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