Posted on 07/29/2011 8:29:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
“Exactly how does one go about surviving on $10/hr., seriously, I’m curious.”
I’m sure it meant that $10/hr. is the minimum starting. A LOT of factory jobs (non-union) start at that, or less. But raises can be pretty often (at least the first couple) and good. Union rates, IMO, are exhorbitant, unrealistic, unfair, and responsible in large part, for the demise of several of our once great American industries - rail, auto, steel, etc.
Lowering tax rates would make things better for everyone.
“As long as Joe Sixpack price shops at Walmart American companies have to outsource to survive.”
Not if Joe Sixpack would refuse to buy any Chinese-manufactured products from wherever he happens to shop.
According to the Free Trade™ dogma, it doesn’t make sense to manufacture ANYTHING in the USA. Their mantra is “Let turd world slaves do it”0 Then those same Free Traders will complain when those 10 buck/hr former NB employees go on the dole. THe tariff was a better deal. It is a sicko world.
That would be really bad news for Skowhegan.
“I guess the question is: Do consumers want to subsidize the NB employees?”
That’s exactly what happened in the auto industry going WAY back. GM was a prime example. Look at how many thousands of $ were part of the car price due to union salary and benefit demands, going back decades.
It’s more complicated then that.
If having a trade agreement allows Boeing to sell just 1 more 787 to Vietnam then dozens of small family run machine shops around the country get to deliver another ship set of aircraft parts and maybe make a few thousand more profit.
There just might be more economic benefit in selling expensive high tech things then can be had from a $10M subsidy to make and sell low tech inexpensive things.
“Not if Joe Sixpack would refuse to buy any Chinese-manufactured products from wherever he happens to shop.”
But a lot of them won’t - they’re looking at cheapest price.
AND of those who do want to be patriotic and only buy American, I’ll bet the majority don’t realize that when they see all those Made in USA tags (many of which are seen at Walmart), only something like 17% of the product is required to be made here.
No “small family run machine shop” can compete any more with China. Can you name anything which can’t be produced more cheaply in China today, except for tort lawyers and bureaucrats?
That, and blithely ignoring the fact that people without jobs don’t purchase much of anything.
What if we outsourced all of our manufacturing to Japan in the 1930s?
RE: BTW, back in 1950, the average hourly wage for manufacturing work in the USA was $1.44; in 2011 dollars, that’s $13.49. How could we ever afford to have been on top, eh . . . ?
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Could it be that we just finished a world war 5 years prior, most of our potential competitors were devastated, and we were the only country left standing?
Were there any major auto manufacturing companies in 1950 other than Ford and GM for instance?
No, it wasn't that. And speaking of that, we had incurred a $4.5 trillion debt due to that war (2011 dollar equivalent) and could still afford to implement things like the Marshall Plan.
Could it be that we just finished a world war 5 years prior, most of our potential competitors were devastated, and we were the only country left standing?
Those companies were not exporters. Instead, they had European divisions. There were also car companies like Austin, Morris, Hillman and other British companies; back in 1950, the UK was the world's largest exporter of automobiles.
Were there any major auto manufacturing companies in 1950 other than Ford and GM for instance?
Are factory workers who have been there for years, really all that much more productive than newbies?
The majority of jobs in the US fall under the general umbrella of “entry level”. Real wages for labor in this country have cratered over the last 20 years sending millions into social assistance programs, and stampeding voters into the waiting arms of socialist demagogues like Obama.
Wages in this country are not “artificially high”. Costs of living are considerably higher in the US than overseas, and $10/hr isn’t much over subsistence level in most areas of the country after you factor in things like rent, electricity, fuel, food, and healthcare.
Waging reverse class-warfare is every bit as much a race to the bottom as socialism. Bad politics and bad economics. There are other words for entry-level workers. They’re called “consumers”, “voters”, “citizens”, and “neighbors”.
You’re assuming wrong. NB’s competitors will only have to undercut them by $10/pr, and only until NB is out of business. At that point, they can (and will) raise their prices. Then the jobs and the tax base will be gone, as will the consumer benefit of lower prices.
So I guess the real question is whether a short-term reduction in consumer prices is worth long-term loss in jobs, GDP, and tax-base?
I’m always amazed at how many people claim to believe in the free market until it crosses a border.
I am an American consumer. I wish to purchase something made in Mexico or China.
On what free market basis does anyone have a right to tell me I can’t spend my money as I see fit?
BTW, back in the 80s I had a job where I had to wear black “work shoes,” but due to the chemicals I worked around they didn’t last long. I bought Red Wings for about $75, if I remember right, quite a large sum at the time for me. They fit great but only lasted about 8 months.
Then Walmart started importing shoes that were under $20. They were less comfortable and lasted a little less than six months. This was the equivalent of a fairly substantial pay increase for me at the time.
Why should I have been required to pay 3x the price for shoes so Red Wing guys making more than me could keep their jobs?
RE: I am an American consumer. I wish to purchase something made in Mexico or China.
I know how you feel. But let me ask you this — how do you feel when a country protects its industry from American exports by RAISING TARIFFS on US Goods while we here in the USA do NOT reciprocate the same tariffs? Is that fair?
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