Posted on 12/14/2002 10:22:42 AM PST by arete
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Charles Seitz remembers when Rochester was a bustling manufacturing town. Now, all the 58-year-old unemployed engineer sees is a landscape of empty buildings.
''There's nothing made here anymore,'' the former Eastman Kodak employee says, his eyes welling with tears as he talks about his struggle to find a new job. ''Wealth is really created by making things. I still adhere to that.''
It's a situation that's been playing out across the country for decades but has received increased attention in recent years.
Fifty years ago, a third of U.S. employees worked in factories, making everything from clothing to lipstick to cars. Today, a little more than one-tenth of the nation's 131 million workers are employed by manufacturing firms. Four-fifths are in services.
The decline in manufacturing jobs has swiftly accelerated since the beginning of 2000. Since then, more than 1.9 million factory jobs have been cut -- about 10% of the sector's workforce. During the same period, the number of jobs outside manufacturing has risen close to 2%.
Many of the factory jobs are being cut as companies respond to a sharp rise in global competition. Unable to raise prices -- and often forced to cut them -- companies must find any way they can to reduce costs and hang onto profits.
Jobs are increasingly being moved abroad as companies take advantage of lower labor costs and position themselves to sell products to a growing -- and promising -- market abroad. Economy.com, an economic consulting firm in West Chester, Pa., estimates 1.3 million manufacturing jobs have been moved abroad since the beginning of 1992 -- the bulk coming in the last three years. Most of those jobs have gone to Mexico and East Asia.
Last month, film giant Eastman Kodak -- the largest employer in Rochester and the central focus of the community since the company was founded by George Eastman in 1888 -- announced it was shutting down an area plant and laying off the 500 employees who make single-use, sometimes called ''throw-away,'' cameras. The work will now be done in China or Mexico, two countries where the company already has operations.
The movement of jobs to other countries angers Seitz the most.
''The United States got to where it is today by making things,'' he says. ''People are suffering, and communities are suffering.''
Perot was okay and he wasn't a paranoid. Perot was the biggest threat to the established old boy inside the beltway system since Carter, and they went full out to discredit him. Perot's problem is that he talked about it. "Threats to his daughter and middle of the night intrusions on his property" were read by the public (with the help of the media) as delusions. Yet, many eagerly belive that Bubba was capable of the elimination of Vince Foster and black bag operations against all the women that he slept with over the years.
Richard W.
Forgive yourself. You once were lost, but now you're found.
While I despise the unions and all they stand for, I must disagree. Its the greedy companies who care nothing about our country, just how fast they can make a buck. Even if we did not have Unions(I can hope), they would still go overseas for the cheaper labor costs. What Americans need to do is stop buying made in (non-USA) items whenever possible, go that extra mile to check the label, if it doesn't say made in USA and getting this item isn't a must have at the moment, don't buy it.
Also let the manager and anyone else within earshot know just how you feel about non-USA goods. If enough of us do this the Greedy a**'s that put money before country will get the idea or go broke.
Lesser of the evils at the time. Now, I'm not so sure.
Richard W.
Kodak got fat, dumb and happy and by the time they tried to do anything about it in the late 80's early 90's, they had lost market share to Fuji, AGFA, etc and missed some good opportunities. It's been an uphill climb ever since.
As far as companies going to Mexico, etc, Champion Products used to have plant in Perry, NY. They downsized that plant in part to work going down to Mexico. A few years later, they moved some work BACK UP to the Perry plant due to problems with quality, etc with products made in Mexico. One of my workers, who used to work at the Perry plant, said several folks who were contacted by Champion to come back to Perry to work told them "no", citing the lack of loyalty that companies have to employees, etc. I think it's a valid point, while acknowledging that companies have a duty to shareholders and other groups as well.
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No, he didn't. Perot brought more new voters into the political process in a turnout that hasn't been close to being equaled since '92. Don't believe the people who who voted for Perot would have voted for Bush if Perot had not run. The numbers don't add up.
Bush lost the election because of Bush. Trying to win elections by declaring there should be no candidate except your own isn't going to work very well when you field duds for candidates. Snap out of it and enter the adult world. Bush was a loser. Dole was a loser. That's why Clinton won. Period.
As far as your killing yourself, that's your decision. If it means one more goof I don't need to be burdened with, good.
That was my first thought, also. However, adding value isn't enough. Displaced U.S. laborers added value right up until the day the plants locked the doors. (Raw materials went in one end of the plant. Value was added, and finished goods emerged from the other end.)
The problem is, they weren't providing value to the extent that their foreign conterparts are willing and able to do. When foreign laborers turn out acceptable products at a lower cost, they provide value where the domestic worker can't or won't. We can't maintain our standard and compete with workers in developing countries.
Look at Gateway. Initially they manufactured and sold. They then created their retail centers and started providing a service to go along with their computer.
They've had to learn some tough lessons. Here, the Gateway Country store is located across the street from Best Buy. Initially, the consumer could walk into Gateway, touch some display models, order a PC, and wait for it to arrive a few days later. Or, he could walk into Best Buy and take one home today. (I understand upgrades can often be installed while you wait.) No surprise, Gateway Country was a ghost town.
I think Gateway recently figured out they need to stock PCs on the premises. But, I haven't been back to find out.
I wouldn't be surprised if the old-school farmers were saying the same thing a century ago, as they watched the farming economy go out of style.
1. Class warfare. Large businesses are no longer loyal to the US because they are treated like the enemy.
2. Enviro-wackos. It's getting downright insane.
3. High taxes and fees on businesses, such as a blasted TOOL TAX in my local area.
4. Education: The teachers' union is destroying US education. What is the point in throwing money down that REEKING RAT HOLE when we ought to dump it and start the equivalent of school choice anyway?
Acually I don't think that is true. Film resolution is limited by "Grain". So in effect you still have a dots/inch resolution.
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On this forum we only talk about paranoia withing the framework of personal convenience and rationalization. The idea that we live in the kind of country where Juanita Boraddric could be raped, where Pula Jones could be summoned to a hotel room to have a penis shoved in her face, or where 70 people could be killed by rogue government agents at Waco, may be acceptable, not paranoia. For those who don't like Perot, the term peranoia can be employed at will.
I'd bet you everything I have that isn't true. I'd give you 1000 to 1 odds. Please, please!
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So, thell me what the grain structure is on 35 mm color film.
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