On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 2:22 AM, Maureen <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 9:06 PM, Scott Stroz <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Sadly, a lot of the left leaning people on this list will blame the >> decline in manufacturing on the 'big, bad corporations'. I am not >> saying that they do not share in some of the blame...key word there is >> 'some'. >> >> However, I think the blame also falls on others. Lets start with one >> that I know will ruffle some feathers - unions. Unions demand more and >> more of corporations, making it less and less profitable to continue >> to do business here. > > Every single union contract signed has two sets of signatures: the > union and the corporation. The unions advocate for the workers, the > corporation for the stock-holders. If the contracts are so bad that > they are causing manufacturing to move offshore both sides are to > blame.
I admitted as much. I was not saying corporations were not to blame, I just don't think they should bear all the blame. > >> Next, I blame everyone else. We all want the latest and greatest >> goods, but we refuse to pay a lot of money for them. This also puts >> corporations in a precarious position where they need to deliver >> quality goods as cheaply as they can. That is not gonna happen in a >> plant in America. > > I don't think "we refuse to pay a lot of money for them" is a true > statement. Look at the number of people who are buying iPhones and > iPad, which certainly aren't cheap. Lots of people bought Levis too, > but that didn't stop them from moving their manufacturing offshore. 1. For what the devices do, iPhones and iPads are a bargin - even after taking into account the discounts based on signing a contract. Oh, yea, and they are made in China, if they were made here I would expect the prices to be 30% higher, at least. 2. 'Inexpensive' is relative. Yes, Levis cost a lot less than an iPhone or iPad, but for a pair of jeans, Levis are not cheap. > >> >> Let's say that Johnny, you neighbor, cuts your lawn for $40 a week. >> Would you continue to pay Johnny, just because he is your neighbor, >> when Stevie, from across town, is willing to do the same job, or >> better, for $5 a week? > > I would if Stevie was an illegal or I had to ship my lawn to Indonesia > to get it cut. > A valid point. But I think I did a poor job of an analogy there. Lets assume Stevie is not an illegal and you do not need to send your lawn to Indonesia. lets also assume Johnny represents the US - because he is 'local' to us and we want to keep jobs in our neighborhood - and Stevie represents an over seas (pick a country) operation - because he is not 'local' to us - and everything is 'above board'. Would you continue to pay Johnny $40 when Stevie can do the same job, or better for $10. I would be willing to bet that the same people who complain about us losing manufacturing jobs to other countries would be some of the first to complain about high prices if we brought all those jobs back to the US. -- Scott Stroz --------------- You can make things happen, you can watch things happen or you can wonder what the f*&k happened. - Cpt. Phil Harris http://xkcd.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:328684 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
