Posted on 10/19/2005 6:35:47 AM PDT by liberallarry
...manufacturing employment now accounts for only one in nine jobs, down from one in three in 1950. But the decline mostly reflects higher efficiency. Americans make more things with fewer people. From 1990 to 2000, for example, manufacturing output rose 61 percent while employment fell 2 percent...
...Of late, however, the news about manufacturing has seemed particularly dismal. Since mid-2000, 3 million jobs have vanished...
...Since 1948, the UAW and GM, Ford and Chrysler have crafted contracts that turned the companies into mini-welfare states...Now comes the reckoning. The market and the welfare state collide. According to the UAW, Delphi is seeking deep cuts in both wages (to about $10 to $12 an hour) and total labor costs including fringes (to $20 to $25 an hour)...
The fate of American manufacturing lies largely in American hands...But one giant unknown clouds everything: China. Until now, its booming U.S. exports have mostly displaced exports from other countries. As China modernizes -- moves into more advanced industries -- this could change dramatically. The combination of low wages, a huge market and an artificially low currency confers staggering competitive advantages. They constitute a powerful magnet for foreign investment in many sectors, whose output could subsequently be exported. Unless the currency rises substantially, the United States could lose many industries that, by all other economic logic, it shouldn't
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hecho en Estados Unidos........
I agree, everyone can't be doctors or lawyers.
Can't be educated? That's nonsense. Unless a mental deficiency is present anyone can learn. Whether they want to is another story. I have no sympathy for anyone who refuses an opportunity to better himself and then whines that life is not fair. Well, life isn't fair, so they just have to deal with it. Any person who is offered training and fails to apply him/her self to the training should be given the absolute MINIMUM in subsistence and a cot in a dormitory to sleep on. No rent subsidy, no cash of any kind. Three meals and a bed and if they want more then they have to get a job.
We should tax the hell out of manufacturing companies and use the money to pay former workers welfare.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
it was probably sarcasm)
The beauty and efficiency of capitalism is that it spreads everyhwhere notwithstanding Castro and Mugabe's depressing mantras. If US corporations cannot stay competitive with their sweetheart union management deals, then so be it.
As for the unskilled and uneducated, jobs at the lower wage end will always be there. Actually with just a little training the no college high school graduates can make excellent wages.
In other words you want to subsidize the Unions? The reason we no longer mfr TV's in America is that no one would pay $400.00 for the same TV, made in Asia or wherever, which they can buy for $139.00. If you buy only American made products and wind up spending 30-40% more overall, where will the extra money come from? Do you ask the boss for a raise so you can sustain your boycott? Suppose he grants the raise to you as does every other American producer to their foreign goods boycotting American employees? What happens to the cost of the product your boss is producing once his salary expenses start to soar?
It's not nearly as simple as you think.
My six year old daughter is on a "Made in _____" kick. She's been going through her toy box reading all the "Made in ___" labels. She has come to the conclusion that all the "cool" stuff is made in China. (Disney princesses, my little ponies, etc)
Workers at Delphi do not deserve to make Delphi's $27 an hour, and total wage and benefit packages around $65 an hour!!!
They'll find work in the service sector, (mopping floors, cutting grass, flipping burgers) just like they always have. Or else they'll go on government welfare or turn to crime. They do not possess the highly-trained skills needed by the manufacturing sector.
The unions have ruined this country....I am from Waterloo Iowa..John Deere used to employ 15,000 people there....the UAW raised wages so high..that all the other companies had to leave..cause every one of their employees were just waiting to get hired at JD or they had to match the rates...they couldn't..JD bought robots...now they employ 4,000..make twice as many tractors...buy the way they export them all over the world....the city which used to have over 100,000 and flourishing....is now 70,000 and floundering..that you UAW...by the way you could earn $60,000 with benefits for screwing a lug bolt on...not a lot of skill involved...and if you dropped it...you could not pick it up..that was the sanitations department job.....if you tried to expand your job duties by doing more...you would get "educated"...beat up or your car damaged...I hope they all loose their jobs....Check out Continental Airlines today..they broke their union..and they are making money...
I work in manufacturing, textiles to be exact. Unions haven't killed the textile industry, most textile manufacturers aren't involved with a union. Foreign companies are killing us, specifically at this time China. We have upgraded our machines so they are state-of-the-art, we have very high productivity levels, we have downsized the workforce to the bare bones and we still can't compete. It's really hard to compete when your competition sells at a loss and is subsidized by their government to cover that loss until the competition is gone. Our president has done everything he can to keep this company here at home instead of sending it to Mexico or elsewhere and solvent. Unfortunately I have my doubts about whether there will be a textile industry in this country in 10 years. It's very discouraging when you do everything you can to make your company competitive and it still isn't enough.
Well, I guess unions have gone overboard over the years, but their goal was admirable. I believe their intent was to maintain a standard of living in the current generation that matched the last, where "one" wage earner could provide for his family. It would have worked if the economy had remained more national but when it evolved into this global mess, companies/unions have gone to pot.
Unions failed to understand how corporations could and would exploit people around the globe, thus pushing relative costs for American workers to unrealistic levels. The changes I see coming sooner or later are elimination of healthcare benefits, the few pention plans left will be eliminated and wages will either slowly come down or stagnate until the world catches up. It is true that people need to re-tool themselves and learn new skills, but that costs a great deal of money and for those already scrambling to find work, going back to school is just not an option. I feel for the next generation, products of public school and a culture in decline.
"They can't be educated"
They can be educated. Will they be educated? That's up to them?
"They will get training if and when this nation has the bold vision of denying them undeserved benefits."
No they won't. They will march against oppression and discrimination until the guilt-ridded bleeding hearted liberal elite relent and put them back on the dole. Those on public assistance have been taught too well how to use the system.
I know what you mean. I am amazed at the popularity of NYS among those who want to "milk" the system.
NYS taxpayers are forced through their enormous taxes to support thousands of immigrants and others who need health care and welfare benefits for as long as they can get them.
Pretty smart cookies...smart enough to work? Only unless they are threatened with cutoffs.
In a world in which manufacturing is becoming increasingly automated, labor cost differentials won't mean anything at all. Transportation costs to market become the big issue.
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