Made In The USA

[ranwin33]

WOW! It is SO different up here. I'm bidding work for almost HALF of what I was turning it away for 6 years ago, and I STILL didn't get many jobs. Contractors here are almost at the point of paying the HOMEOWNER for the privilege of working for them.

Not wishing people ill, but I wish it were like that down here. I would have a new barn and fencing on our south place and my wife and I would have hired someone to do the whole house remodel on the south farm house instead of doing it ourselves with the kids.

Two years ago we had the contractor walk off the job on the project we had going at our home residence, and it was a big project. We had a detached garage and driveway poured. Then he tried to build us a back porch with a second story roof deck but got beyond his capability. We were basically keeping him working during bad times. But when it rained the roof leaked, his solution was to pour 35 gallons of foundation tar on it to seal the leaks after we told him to stop and lets rethink things. After trying to fix the problem and clean up the mess, he finally gave up and my wife and I were left to complete the job. Thing was, this was not a situation where tempers flared or any threats were made, we really tried to work with the guy because he was the friend of a friend and we knew he did good work on other houses he had built because we watched him build them.

We always seem to end up doing these things ourselves because we cannot find people to do good work at a reasonable cost. With the exception of a local handyman we have just run across who works for $20 an hour, works hard, knows what he is doing, and shows up when he says he will. Plus he and my wife work well together.

[Sailfish]

The manufacturing has already been left to other countries, if you are waiting on it to return and bring new jobs to the U.S., good luck and enjoy being unemployed.

No really, thats just it. We have to make it come back or we are down the toilet. You can't base an economy on services. Period. Your not producing anything of value (insert lawyer jokes here ) In the long run your "services" will be mostly outsourced as well to cheaper labor (see US IT market today vs only 5 years ago). Engineering, are following suit, accounting, etc etc.
We'll be left with the minimum non-income generating services. Money will only exchange hands, there will be no outside influx of cash so to speak..........we have to produce physical products

[Woods Walker]

EXACTLY! Then the entire country will be like Illinois. Businesses leaving so fast they leave tire marks.

[ranwin33]

Guys, manufacturing is not coming back, at least as it was known in the last century where we were producing everyday goods, toys and trinkets, those are overseas. Nothing is going to change that. American manufacturing is more efficient and needs far fewer people than ever before, and it has changed what it produces, yet at the same time we are still the number one manufacturing producer in the world, ahead of number 2 China If you can achieve that type of output and revenue while reducing workforce, do you really think from an employment perspective, numbers are going to come back. They are only going to get smaller as efficiencies continue to drive the work place and production methods.

I was at our governors strategic manufacturing plan round table today in Wichita. There is a lot of manufacturing going on in this country, but it is using advanced manufacturing techniques where the skill set needed is engineering, engineering techs, software developers, and other high skilled positions. Those and welders. Interestingly, not a representative there complained of high taxes or regulations as being an impediment to production or expansion - rather accesss to capital and an appropriately skilled labor force is what holds them back. Nor did they complain about foreign competion, although they did complain about the difficulty of getting into foreign markets.

Manufacturing has not driven this economy for years. If you are waiting for that to change, you will have a long, long wait.

[Cut N Run]

Here in N.C. the housing bubble burst when some of the crooks involved in the mortgage crisis were caught (Can you sign your name?...Here, have a house.) and the bank bailouts started. For 20 years, I have owned a company that does well & septic system inspections on houses and have had more inspections on short sales and foreclosed properties now than ever. People are still buying here, just not in the great abundance they were 10-15 years ago. There is also more competition in this line of work today. A large number of people are tending to make improvements on the house they own rather than moving to or building a new one. Given the construction materials and practices of today compared to 20+ years ago, I can't say that I blame them.

My wife and I were lucky & smart enough to double up on our mortgage and land payments when things were booming with our business. I hate owing anybody anything, so by paying off properties ahead of the scheduled course of the loan, I saved money on interest and now own everything but my rental house outright (and the renters are buying that one for me). At the time, tying up extra money in real estate put a crimp in my style and prevented me from going on some hunting trips I wanted to, but I would hate to think if i owed on all those loans now that my business volume has shrunk to about half of what it was. I cannot imagine living beyond my means, yet too many people in this country do.

Until we all start paying attention and focus on buying things made in this country, we are screwing ourselves. Even if some portion of a product is made here, it is better to buy that than to buy a similar product that is 100% imported. For example, look at the catalogs of sporting outfitters like Cabela's and Bass Pro, who list if a product is imported or not. If we all changed a little, it can help our country a lot.

Just over 20 years ago, I traveled to the Philippines and a large company who sells well known goods here in the U.S. hosted us on our arrival in Manila. Part of their welcome was a tour of one of their factories. Essentially, it was a glorified sweatshop with hundreds of 19 to 25 year old women working at rows & rows of tables of sewing machines on every floor of the factory. I don't recall how many floors there were in the factory, but 7 sticks in my mind. The tour guide flat out admitted to me that once the women get older than 25, they get fat, lazy, and start having too many kids, so the company just fires them and replaces them with younger workers. This company pays a a few cents more per hour than the competition, because they primarily sell into the American market and earn a greater profit. That made jobs in their factory extremely desirable. On my way out of the building I passed a line of perhaps 100 young women lined up for a chance at one of those jobs. It was quite shocking and very eye opening to see firsthand. Even though that was a well known American company, they were barely paying their help, offered no benefits for the workers, and were quick to terminate a worker if they became a problem. The management at that company lived like royalty too.

Jim

[hunter480]

[quote="ranwin33"]The United States is a service based economy and has been for years - anyone who thinks creating manufacturing jobs is going to keep the country employed doesn't have much of a grasp on what makes this country run, or the manufacturing sector.

quote]

I beg to differ. For years, the U.S. was the leader in manufacturing; quantity as well as quality. As our government attempted to acheive "balance and equality", in what they rightly perceived to be a more and more, "global economy", they passed all the bills which went far beyond making it a level playing field, they tilted it heavily in favor of the developing countries. Add to that, the fact that most CEOs` of American companies have become domestic terrorists, by shipping what once were, high paying American manufacturing jobs overseas to get cheaper labor, and we`ve seen a huge decline in manufacturing jobs in this country over the past 40 years. Then add in the confusion of what "made in America" really means anyway, it`s a wreck.

American manufacturing jobs were once what drove our GDP, and we were the best quality in the world.

[hunter480]

[quote You can't base an economy on services. Period. [/quote]

Bingo.......