Posted on 02/25/2008 5:28:10 PM PST by shrinkermd
What is truly amazing is how people cling to their original understanding of things and deny any facts to the contrary.
Kraeplin once gave a lecture to his students demonstrating the force of a faulty, delusional idea. He had a patient appear who claimed he was dead. Kraeplin then asked him if dead men bleed. The patients said no. Kraeplin then seized his hand and pricked a finger with a needle drawing blood.
Kraeplin then asked the patient if this did not prove he was alive. The patient answered, “there is an exception to every rule...I am dead...”
For instance: Boeing tries to sell air liners to China -- who will weigh buy not strictly based on price or value, but the politics of trade with Europe (Air Bus) versus us (Boeing). Meanwhile Chinese toasters, ski jackets & PC's flow to us unimpeded. We are economic "Big Game" hunters, while China is far less dependent on a single sale or market sector.
I basically come down on the side of "Free Trade", but that doesn't mean I don't worry about it.
Milling machines? China.
Metal lathes? China.
Cutting tools? China.
Robotic and CNC machines? Japan and Germany.
Show me what I'm missing.
Is fast food manufacturing?
Wonder what is included in 'manufacturing' - making burgers and fries? Of interest is the composition of Dow Jones 'Industrials'.
Hershey makes most of its chocolate overseas. Smaller American companies are stealing their base. Check out their stock price.
Reagan would be bashed as a protectionist today. As Michael Reagan wrote “Sure, he was a free trader who wanted too open up trade, but he always sought first to protect the sovereignty of the United States and its manufacturing base. He did not confuse free trade with giving the store away.”
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MichaelReagan/2007/10/10/where%e2%80%99s_the_fire
‘Future projections include increasing manufacturing output with fewer and fewer employees needed.
Eventually, all the goods the world requires will be manufactured by one guy, who will be very productive. Everyone else will watch him on TV.
We’re the BASF of the world - we don’t make the products you use, we make them better...
When was the last time you bought a chipset for a motherboard? Or a PLC for a flat-bed mill? Or a 3 axis gyroscope for autopilot? Or a 3D rendering engine for the latest game?
A lot of what you buy from China USES American parts, and uses US and EU machinery. We do the hard, intellectual stuff and get the final assembly - the “lots of fingers” work - done overseas where it’s cheaper. Do what you do best, outsource the rest.
Try to find a computer that does NOT use a US-designed and sourced CPU, chipset, and GPU. Try to find a car that does not use a US-designed and sourced ABS controller and accelerometers. Try to find a new drug not designed in the US.
Your new Samsung TV? Built using US-designed and manufactured chipsets, along with US-designed and Italian-built high pressure plastic molds.
Your new Pioneer stereo? Speakers designed in the US, manufactured in Mexico.
That new Honda? Probably built in the US, with a lot of the parts designed here as well.
One of the speakers I’m doing right now for a big client has engineering done in the US, magnets from Brazil, steel from South Korea, copper from Chile, cone and surround from Germany, spider from the US, cabinet from Columbia, and final assembly in China. Is it a Chinese-built product?
We’re build the expensive stuff, not the cheap stuff. I’d rather we make our $15 trillion GDP on airplanes and OSes and modern medicines than stamping forks and molding Happy Meal toys.
Automobiles are passe now? Looks like they’ll be around for the next 100years as well. Washing Machines are still a necessity in every household. The hardware stores are plumb full of power tools. Looks like they have a bright future coming in from China. And I’m willing to bet that chip manufacturing , where we once led the world, has declined drastically.
In fact, I asked some defender of our trade policy to tell me what products he’s referring to when he said there are plenty of great things made here. He said the Intel microprocessor. Trouble is, we might produce a good percentage of the silicon wafer, but the chips themselves are manufactured and packaged overseas. Aviation components, electronics even, are more and more being outsourced. The domestic content of Boeing planes has dropped precipitously over the years. And somehow, the software production, nice as it is, is hardly a boon for the manufacturing sector.
So where are my American-made products? It’s just a feeling.
What the US is losing, or has already lost, are men and women of grit as typical of those of us who live here, young or old. Oh, there are some. They are not the norm. They are our Johns and Johannas Wayne.
It was a real moment for me to realize I will no longer defend my countrymen as a matter of course.
HA!
Hillary and Obama’s “Tax the Corporation” mentality ought to really encourage American manufacturing!...../sarc
Well, remember that China accounts for 5% of our exports, and 16% of our imports. We account for 21% of their exports and 7.5% of their imports.
We export the products and tools that allow them to export. We import things that simply make our lives more convenient.
In a trade war, we could absorb the blow to our GDP - loss of 5% of our exports. They would be crushed with a 21% loss in theirs.
I work and live 1/3rd of my life in China - they understand that, at least for the next 30 years, China will be the low-tech manufacturing base of the world. The US, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and the EU have the high-tech section covered, and covered very well...
Then why did the Apple I-phones, the most advanced in the world, go straight to China for manufacturing?
The concluding line of my post:
When I speak of industrial goods, I refer to companies that are manufacturing for energy/process industries, aerospace (especially in national defense), automotive to some degree, etc.
Glad to be of assistance...
We can still manufactor them.
With what? All the machinery has been exported, and the brick and mortar facilities have been closed. Small town USA has become Ghost Town USA. I know I live in one.
7.5% doesn't include all the factories, industries, dollars and Treasuries we export to them.
I was trying to find one of those old GE irons, they had one brand new on ebay and it went for over $200.00. That was for an iron that was made in USA and was a quality product.
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