Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: LS
And they are a significant share of the jobs "lost" that actually haven't disappeared, but have transformed.

Yeah from high paying manufacturing jobs that were creating wealth into burger flipping, insurance selling, car detailing, gutter cleaning, lawn care jobs. Sheesh you are clueless if you think this is good.

46 posted on 09/01/2003 6:12:26 PM PDT by Nov3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies ]


To: Nov3
"High-paid manufacturing jobs."

I'm going to challenge you with this once, and only once, and if you can't answer it, then you have an obligation to shut up: WHEN DID THESE "JOBS" APPEAR?

1) During the late 1970s, in the Carter "malaise," when steel and autos shed more than 2 million jobs getting competitive?

2) In the Reagan years when the only tariffs we had were on Harley-Davidson competitors, SOME Japanese cars for about 3 years, and/or semiconductors? (BTW, we lost our entire semiconductor manufacturing during that time---with no ill result, because our people moved into the more VALUE-ADDED design and software development. Today, semiconductor mfg. is negligible as a share of computer value).

3) In the Clinton years, when taxes were increased and under NAFTA?

Ya'see, dude, there is Grand-Canyon-sized gap in your argument: if we have "lost" manufacturing jobs (we haven't), when did we HAVE them? If they existed, it was due to the "wonderful" Carter policies, or to the free trade of Clinton, or to the relatively tariff-free (high-deficit) Reagan years. Which is it? And you can't go before 1976, because we went into a BIG recession, where we LOST JOBS.

Now, as for "burger flippers," this argument gets old. I guess you don't consider software designers, architects, professors, lab technicians, chemists, biologists, robotics designers, high-tech service workers of ANY sort to have "good" jobs, because these are all "service" jobs. Yet, surprise, surprise, they are the very jobs that ADD ALL THE VALUE to the economy, NOT "manufacturing." Manufacturing accounts for less than 3% of a given piece of software, for example; design, more than 10%. And yes, I think this is VERY good, because we control all the design, all the content, most of the world's software market, virtually everything EXCEPT the meaningless chip production, which is the cheapest, least-value-added part of the process.

58 posted on 09/02/2003 5:58:17 AM PDT by LS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson