Posted on 12/22/2007 10:48:10 PM PST by nwrep
All that adamantly staying onshore does is put US companies out of business when they can’t compete with those who do go to the best value in labor.
I worked for a company that “went Indian”. True, they work for less. We did a productivity study, and found out that 1 American engineer produced the work of 20 of our Indian staff, but since the Indians were paid 1/20 of the American worker, it was a wash. But factoring in the re-work the Americans had to do for the shoddy Indian work, we found it was cheaper to have “spoiled Americans” doing the work. Unfortunately, our new Indian VP saw it otherwise.
You have explained the problem and results in a nutshell.
Congratulations.....
My neighbor needed a replacement window for his semi truck cab. The truck warehouse and the glass warehouse are both employing (illegal) Mexicans because they are cheap.
It took 3 attempts to get the correct window. That meant that the American desk help was on the phone for a number of calls with the warehouses, shipments were made 3 times with the wrong glass inside the boxes, and the final one was checked by 3 different people who could read and write English before it finally was sent the 3rd time by OVERNIGHT FED EX, which cost more than the original window. Someone explain to me how this is efficient and makes the truck company any money.
(BTW) He had to replace the window because 3 thugs tried to get into his truck when he was sleeping at Stockton Calif truck stop. They were armed. He had only a length of pipe. Want to guess if he is NOW aremed when in the truck??????
This is not commercial work, this is defense work—which is supposed to be done by US citizens. We will rue the day if we ever have to go to war against China and our supply lines stretch all the way to India. Free traders love to worship the almighty dollar, but there are real consequences to going cheap on national security. The problem with many Americans is lack of foresight: if you don’t see it happening right now, we dismiss the possibility. Unfortunately, we will likely learn that less too late and find out that the “bargain” we thought we got was prohibitively expensive.
I remember learning when I was a kid that the only reason the USA could fight a war on 2 large fronts- Europe and the Pacific was because we had out own ore mines, our own steel mills, and our own aircraft and ship building companies. Otherwise, we never could have beaten Hitler or Hirohito.
Right, so when Saudi Arabia invests in Citibank, people with Mastercards are now funding terrorism and Islamic monarchies.”
Probably so.
Thanks for sharing your photo. Perhaps you should shave next time.
Which end?
I apologize.
I was just going to post a "My ass, Bob!" (quoting Dave Barry) when I remembered the photo.
Only *After* hitting the send button did it occur to me that it might be offensive.
Cheers!
You would NEVER learn that lesson today. Instead, you might learn that our strength is due to:
1. Free trade
2. Diversity
3. Our ability to outsource as much as possible
4. Our willingness to share our “great ideas” with the world (this last is actually from the Boeing Dreamliner commercial)
5. Our environmental regulations
You’re just not getting it, are you?
Quite true. Apart from Americans and Japanese, few countries understand the concept of quality. India has a lot to learn from the US regarding this.
Good luck fighting against the populists here. I’m sure they’re good people, but they seem incapable of understanding business or economics.
Allow me to ReWrite™ that...
...sell products that are far more expensive than competitors' just because Indians arewillingable to get educated and work for less than spoiled Americans because of onerous union and minimum wage rules that make it impossible for American companies and workers to compete on the basis of cost.
Although it was predominantly MIC, it has been hypothesized that phosgene and hydrogen cyanide were also released because of the conditions/reactions that led to the release.
Phosgene? Great, WWI chemical weapons.
Agree there. But remember “operators” includes the local Indian management that didn’t care at all about safety.
The local management should have been hung out to dry as they were directly, criminally responsible.
American management should be held for their failure to properly supervise the locals, and they have already paid millions for that.
I’m assuming those who suggest this are saying the water was chlorinated.
That's a large part of it.
Of course, it broadens out even more, into the macro-scale idea of how we borrow money from China to give it away to other countries (e.g., tsunami relief)...that is, we puff up ourselves via debt.
Even without unions, I expect many Americans would have the idea they should be paid more than an Indian for any given unit of work.
This is exactly what globalization is about. LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD and the only way to do that is bring down the life-styles of Americans. I saw an article on FR that claimed in China they paid something like .36 cents an hour for their slave labor. We have a long way to drop and obviously equalization has not taken place yet.
I'm never gonna buy a Boeing F-18 Super Hornet, ever!..........and I'm gonna urge my friends and family to do the same.
My boycott list grows longer every day.
Leni
I'm glad someone around here remembers that lesson!
That right there is my point.
Wishing we were alone in the world, where consumers around the world had to buy our products at any price we set, isn't going to make it reality.
So we have to face reality.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.