Yes, it is being created in other countries. It's called globalization.
Richard W.
Comments and opinions welcome.
Richard W.
Yes, definitely a national emergency when our single-use cameras are being made overseas. How will we survive when they cut off our supply? {/sarcasm}
I don't get it. I see these threads of FR all the time. Everyone whining about the decline of manufacturing, free trade and globalization. And completely ignoring the objective statistical evidence that:
1. National inflation-adjusted income continues to climb.
2. Unemployment has gone down dramatically since introduction of NAFTA and GATT, despite the recent downturn.
3. A global economy improves standard of living both here and in other countries, making war less likely, and making it more likely they will stay home instead of coming here as a penniless immigrant.
Hey, folks, we're Americans. We don't need to whine. We have the most powerful, most productive economy ever seen on the planet, and it shows no signs of serious decline.
Yes, it's tragic when people lose their jobs. But you want to look at the alternative? Look at Europe. They're trying to maintain their manufacturing base and make jobs safe. They have all kinds of laws about it. Guess what? Their economies are in the tank, they have produced less than 1/10 the number of new jobs per capita that we have in the last ten years, and they are on the way to being third-rate economic powers. Is that what you guys want?
Our only problem is that our government imposes far too much regulation and restrictions on business, while other countries do not. But that's our problem, and we've got no business blaming anyone else for it.
And yet we have the highest per-capita income and the highest standard of living in the world. Ricardo still rules....
So let Mexico and China have the throw-away camera market. I stopped using them years ago with the advent of digital cameras. For about 10 thow-away cameras that take crappy pictures one could probably buy a cheap digital camera that takes better pictures which cost much less to store than the cost of film processing for the throw-aways. So, what's the big fuss about?
If the Kodak enginmeer had more balls and stood up for the guy that got fired recently for publically broadcasting his wish not to receive gratuitious homosexual propaganda from Kodak, I might have some empathy.
Fundamentally, we believe that the U.S. government needs to devote more resources and put in place new programs to build wider expertise about China and to protect our industrial base from eroding as a result of our economic relations with China.
-- C. Richard D’Amato, chairman
U.S.-China Security Review Commission
(How to improve U.S.-China relations)
I have been saying this for years. I love it when the talking heads on tv talk about the Christmas season as a "make or break" time for the retailers in this country whose goods come from foreign factories.
How utterly ironic that our economy's survival is predicated on the sale of billions of dollars of foreign goods.
Let go of it already. Simply ''making things'' has never been enough. ''Wealth is really created by'' providing value.
When ''making things'' is enough, the people live in 1-room apartments, they rejoice when the grocer has fresh bread and rutabagas, and they wait years for the chance to buy a Trabant.
(No, thanks.)
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.
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?
Yes, other countries do making it attractive for U.S. companies to move their production overseas.
A more correct assessment, though, is that it is more a matter of businesses being chased overseas by business hating groups and government agencies, overregulation and costs over liability and workers comp insurance here in the U.S.
If conditions were right in this country, business would stay. That businesses move overseas only for cheap labor is a convenient myth. In some labor intensive industries, labor costs are an important factor. But even in labor intesive industries, the labor savings is only one componant of the many other benefits.