Lets make all our stuff HERE & give ourselves raises & SCREW the c.e.o.'s.

[Philosoraptor]

Its just fucking stupid to have the Chinese, Taiwanese, Indians and hundreds of other countries making all our wonderful stuff for slave wages, while we pay illegal immigrant Mexicans slave wages so bosses and ceo's can make billions more and we can all just screw the pooch.

Would it be too insane to stop sending our factory and manufacturing jobs overseas and start making our own stuff on our own soil with our own citizens at a decent wage so we can control the quality and safety of the very food we eat and the very toys our kids play with?

Fucking corporations and ceo's obviously don't give a crap about quality or safety, only astounding, outrageous, obscene profits.

I don't know WHERE I come up with all these wild ideas, too much antacid in the sixties I guess.

[porphyrian]

1. Agreed. Fuck 'em. - n/t

[Breeze54]

2. But it would cost Mattel $8 an hr for an USA worker and only $1 an hr for a China Worker!

That's a bargain! :sarcasm:

[Trillo]

3. It needs to cost an employer more than twice that.

Something on the level of $20 per hour. Some would call that a living wage.

[Breeze54]

7. I agree but that figure was stated on the news last night by Mattel,

if they were to move those jobs back to the USA! That news piece also covered toy makers
that are here and staying in the USA. It had a maker of those balsa wood toy airplanes
and he said he's staying here. The company is in Wakefield, MA. He also said that many
toy makers, in the USA, are ramping it up for the Xmas season due to this Mattel BS!!

[Fridays Child]

4. Unless the price of a gallon of gas plummets and health care stops bankrupting...

...average Americans, Mattel would need to pay a lot more than $8 an hour in wages. In fact, if that were all they had to pay American workers to get their toys on the shelves of Walmarts, across the country, I think they'd do it.

But you're right. Paying Chinese workers $1 an hour to produce substandard, tainted, and toxic goods is no bargain for anyone except company stakeholders. And, if they could see past the money, they'd understand that even their own families are exposed to the dangers associated with unregulated imports.

I agree with the OP that we should bring jobs back from overseas--in both the manufacturing and service sectors. But it's a more complex problem than we realize and, at every level, corporate greed rules the day.

[Breeze54]

8. Agreed. That was Mattel's figure.

:) They'd have to pay a whole lot more than that!

[Fridays Child]

34. Mattel must be trying to break into the comedy business, huh?

Thanks for the clarification. :hi:

[Skidmore]

5. And how much to ship those toys here?

[Raksha]

11. So effing what if DOES cost $8 an hour?

The labor cost is only a fraction of the final cost of the toy anyway. It's the distributers and everyone else along the supply chain who are making the money, not the workers.

[Breeze54]

12. Did you miss my comment and

the sarcasm tag? ;)

[Raksha]

19. Yeah, I guess I missed the sarcasm tag. n/t

[Raksha]

6. No, it wouldn't be insane at all.

Lately I've been wondering if there's some kind of law against rebuilding our manufacturing base! All we'd need to do is eliminate the bloodsucking CEOs and turn every factory into an employee-owned co-op. Why not? There is definitely a market for American-made products--it's just that the products no longer exist.

[Breeze54]

9. There's still some products being made in the USA!!

Employee's bought out companies back in the 70's and 80's too.
There's still a lot of toys made here, like Lego's.

It can work!!! ;)

[dmallind]

10. One question

Why not try? Start up your toy company. Pay your workers whatever you wish. There is no maximum wage after all. Sell your products and take only a modest income for yourself as a CEO.

What you will quickly find is that in all but the smallest of companies, and none that deserve the name "corporation" as aught but a legalism (a self employed fruit grower is legally speaking a corporation), labor costs far outstrip executive pay, and make a huge difference in whether you can sell your product or not.

It's amazing for all the anti-business screed on here so few people seem willing to show the nation a better way to pay top dollar, deliver top quality, and yet find enough people to buy their products. Ironically, the few companies I can think of that are able to do so are almost all high-end luxury goods where labor costs are a small component of overall value.

[Raksha]

13. Why would we need to "prove" this? That standard used to be the norm

for American companies, and NOT all that long ago either.

It's amazing for all the anti-business screed on here so few people seem willing to show the nation a better way to pay top dollar, deliver top quality, and yet find enough people to buy their products. Ironically, the few companies I can think of that are able to do so are almost all high-end luxury goods where labor costs are a small component of overall value.

Right on the table behind me, to prove my point, I have an ordinary saucepan, a little stainless steel pot made by an American company probably in the 1940s or 1950s. It's a Revere Ware copper-bottomed pot, the same kind my mother used, and it's excellent shape for its age. The damn things are practically indestructible and I've become more than a little bit nostalgic about them. In fact I've started collecting them, since this cookware is no longer being made in the USA. And yes, the company was originally founded by THAT Paul Revere and his son, who were metalworkers by trade. At one time (again, not that long ago) this cookware was so immensely popular that there were three factories (all in the U.S.) producing it.

So what the hell happened? Did it not pass the "planned obsolescence" test or what?

[brentspeak]

17. Exactly. And how was it those made-in-the-USA products were affordable back in the day?

The pro-cheap-labor advocates never seem to have an answer for that.

[Richard Steele]

23. Hmmm...maybe because the people who MADE them were paid enough to BUY them?

:shrug:

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. What happened was that America said "no" to quality if they could have something cheaper.

Cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap is all they wanted.

And now, WalMart.

Build it yourself at home pressboard furniture; shitty plastic crap; metal stuff that falls apart in a year or two because it's too thin and uses shitty fasteners; mass produced shitty shoes that need to be replaced in 6 months; American Idol, Reality TV, and shitty movies; off-the-rack clothing instead of bespoke or home-made; canned and boxed and frozen whole dinners; and so on.

America decided that it would rather have a lot of shitty cheap crap than a few well-made, but more expensive, products.

[Raksha]

42. Ummmm...which "America" is this?

Build it yourself at home pressboard furniture; shitty plastic crap; metal stuff that falls apart in a year or two because it's too thin and uses shitty fasteners; mass produced shitty shoes that need to be replaced in 6 months; American Idol, Reality TV, and shitty movies; off-the-rack clothing instead of bespoke or home-made; canned and boxed and frozen whole dinners; and so on.

America decided that it would rather have a lot of shitty cheap crap than a few well-made, but more expensive, products.

Speaking for myself, I'm sick of all this cheap crap that BREAKS the first time you use it! So what if it only costs a buck? Not only is a buck down the tubes, there's also the frustration and the time lost because then you have to go and replace it. I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone else on this thread when I say I'd rather spend 2-3 bucks and NOT have whatever-it-is break the first time I use it!

The problem is that better quality is getting harder to find all the time. I'm getting increasingly wary of all this blame-the-consumer conventional wisdom--it's starting to sound like a push poll.

[brentspeak]

15. You're equating public outrage at today's corporate behavior with an "anti-business" ideology?

That would be quite a straw man there.

[depakid]

14. "too much antacid in the sixties I guess." LOL.

Quite the opposite-

seems to me your memory is intact. What you just wrote sounds an awful lot like traditional Democratic values.

Too bad so many others have forgotten- or sold us out.

[kimmerspixelated]

16. Since Barbie and Ken and well before,

The Mattel company has made billions of dollars. I think they could afford to lose a few dollars/millions here and there in order to right what is so wrong with America/the world! It wasn't until a few years ago that I ignorantly thought great American companies like Mattel were-naturally, still IN America! This is absolute madness! What the fuck is wrong with the ceos?!!! It seems the more money and power you get, the crazier and greedier it makes you! This shit has got to stop. Do we boycott their toys altogether? Do we only buy American made products from here on out? Would that help, or make the seriously in danger economy plummet further?

[Breeze54]

24. Yes, yes and no!

Boycott Mattel this holiday season!

Seek American made toys and what have you, for gifts!

Make your own!! ;)

Boycott Wally Fart too!

[kimmerspixelated]

38. I've been avoiding Wallyworld for awhile now!

[Breeze54]

39. I haven't been inside one in 3 years at least.

They suck and so does the stuff they sell. It's all crap, that falls apart
or breaks within days and weeks of purchase. And they treat their workers like slaves.

[Raksha]

26. The ironic thing is that the Mattel corporation wouldn't lose ANYTHING

by making at least a fraction of their products in the USA, even if they still outsourced most of their production to China or wherever. In fact, they'd probably make money. A big chunk of their business (with dolls, anyway) is in the collectables market. A limited-edition Barbie with MADE IN USA prominently displayed on the box would be an instant hit with collectors, and you'd think they would already know this. And if they know it, why aren't they doing something about it?

[Initech]

18. I agree, keep the jobs HERE!

It's not a question of "DEY TOOK UR JOBS!!!!". It's outsourcing, a REPUBLICAN idea started by a billionaire computer tycoon douchebag. That's the problem! You think we can turn the Minute Men against their corporate masters? I would like to see that!

[treestar]

20. I'm not sure why that doesn't happen

Except that maybe the Chinese can undercut on the prices, and people will go for the cheaper goods.

That's why little drugstores close when Walmart comes to town, etc. We can't get people to pay more for the same thing. Weird, because they think of themselves as so superior for being American, so you'd think they'd say sure, spend the extra money to have a (superior) American product. But it seems they always chose the cheaper price.

Human nature, apparently. You won't catch anyone boasting they paid a higher price for anything.

[BlooInBloo]

22. Because people couldn't afford the goods thus produced.

[Breeze54]

27. Baloney!!

We did it before, like forever until W got in the WH!

So what would be different now? If the workers are making

decent wages then they will be the consumers and buy!!

[BlooInBloo]

28. The US had ceased being a manufacturing economy loooong before W.

[Breeze54]

30. Wrong again.

Between January 2001 and August 2004, Wisconsin lost one of every nine manufacturing jobs, according to the IUC. Fully 61 percent of the layoffs by the state’s manufacturers that issued federally mandated WARN notifications between January 2001 and May 2004 were trade related. The WARN Act is the federal law that requires large employers to give advance notice of layoffs involving 50 or more employees.



The figures are similarly grim in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington State: Between January 2001 and June 2004, the Buckeye State lost nearly one of every six manufacturing jobs. Pennsylvania’s computer and electronics products sector, for example, lost more than half its workforce since January 2001. And 40 percent of Washington State’s net manufacturing jobs lost since January 2001 have been trade related.



The state job-loss analyses are culled from a http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/">Job Tracker database created by the IUC and WORKING AMERICA. The database is accessible online with information on more than 200,000 U.S. corporations and their subsidiaries that are reported to have moved jobs overseas. WORKING AMERICA is a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

[treestar]

50. True, it's been happening, but how do you get the consumer to

pay the higher price?

The American Way is pay the cheapest price you can get.

The American consumer takes nothing else into consideration.

The same effect happens when the small town grocer, etc., is forced out of business by the big chain. The consumers in the area go to the big chain for the lower prices. They never seem to continue to patronize the local guy at higher prices so that he can stay open.

Americans don't care about anything else - not where the goods come from, or who it is that gets the $$, so long as they are paying less. I've never seen signs of anything else in this culture.

Maybe a name brand. Even then, they're looking for the best price they can, even if the item is a status item that costs a lot (those expensive brand name sneakers or jeans).

[Breeze54]

32. Check your area for Job losses! You'll see when and who!

Here's my state:

23 companies and industries have been reported as exporting jobs from your area, within
a 100 mile radius of ZIP code ##### . Click on the company name for more details.

COMPANY NAME LOCATION INDUSTRY

3 COM CORPORATION MARLBOROUGH, MA Manufacturing
A T CROSS COMPANY LINCOLN, RI Manufacturing
ACS INDUSTRIES INC WOONSOCKET, RI Manufacturing
ADHESIVE TECHNOLOGIES INC HAMPTON, NH Manufacturing
AVERY DENNISON CORPORATION MILFORD, MA Manufacturing
BAKER HUGHES OILFLD OPERATIONS SOUTH WALPOLE, MA Manufacturing
BROOKS AUTOMATION INC CHELMSFORD, MA Manufacturing
CONSOLIDATED FABRICATORS INC AUBURN, MA Manufacturing
ELMWOOD SENSORS INC PAWTUCKET, RI Manufacturing
EMC CORPORATION HOPKINTON, MA Manufacturing
FORECASTER OF BOSTON INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
MAIN ST TXTILES LTD PARENTSHIP FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
MOTOROLA INC TEWKSBURY, MA Manufacturing
NUTRAMAX PRODUCTS INC GLOUCESTER, MA Manufacturing
PCC SPECIALTY PRODUCTS INC HOLDEN, MA Manufacturing
PERKINELMER INC WELLESLEY, MA Manufacturing
RAYTHEON COMPANY WALTHAM, MA Manufacturing
SHERMAN-FEINBERG CORPORATION BOSTON, MA Manufacturing
SIMS LEVEL 1 INC ROCKLAND, MA Manufacturing
TELEFLEX-CT- DEVICES INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
TERADYNE INC BOSTON, MA Manufacturing
TEXTRON INC PROVIDENCE, RI Manufacturing
VISHAY BLH INC CANTON, MA Manufacturing


59 companies and industries have been reported as laying off workers in your area, within
a 100 mile radius of ZIP code ##### . Click on the company name for more details.

COMPANY NAME LOCATION INDUSTRY

A T CROSS COMPANY LINCOLN, RI Manufacturing
ACS INDUSTRIES INC WOONSOCKET, RI Manufacturing
ACUSHNET RUBBER COMPANY INC NEW BEDFORD, MA Manufacturing
ADHESIVE TECHNOLOGIES INC HAMPTON, NH Manufacturing
AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC WESTFORD, MA Manufacturing
AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC MARLBOROUGH, MA Manufacturing
AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS CUMBERLAND, RI Manufacturing
AVERY DENNISON CORPORATION MILFORD, MA Manufacturing
BAKER HUGHES OILFLD OPERATIONS SOUTH WALPOLE, MA Manufacturing
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORPORATION WATERTOWN, MA Manufacturing
BRADLEY SCOTT CLOTHES INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
BRONZE CRAFT CORPORATION NASHUA, NH Manufacturing
C & W FABRICATORS INC LEOMINSTER, MA Manufacturing
CARDINAL SHOE CORPORATION LAWRENCE, MA Manufacturing
CONSOLIDATED FABRICATORS INC AUBURN, MA Manufacturing
COPLEY PHARMACEUTICAL INC CANTON, MA Manufacturing
DURO TEXTILES LLC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
ELMWOOD SENSORS INC PAWTUCKET, RI Manufacturing
ETCO INCORPORATED WARWICK, RI Manufacturing
ETHAN ALLEN INC DUDLEY, MA Manufacturing
FEDERAL-MOGUL CORPORATION BOSTON, MA Manufacturing
FENDER MUSICAL INSTRS CORP WESTERLY, RI Manufacturing
FISHER CONTROLS INTL LLC NORTH STONINGTON, CT Manufacturing
FORECASTER OF BOSTON INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
GANGARAMS INC WOONSOCKET, RI Manufacturing
GRIFFIN MANUFACTURING CO INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
INVENSYS INC FOXBORO, MA Manufacturing
JENSON MANUFACTURING INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
JUST-A-STRETCH RI INC HOPE, RI Manufacturing
L HARDY CO INC WORCESTER, MA Manufacturing
MAIN ST TXTILES LTD PARENTSHIP FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
MERRIMAC PAPER COMPANY INC LAWRENCE, MA Manufacturing
METSO AUTOMATION USA INC SHREWSBURY, MA Manufacturing
MOTOROLA INC TEWKSBURY, MA Manufacturing
N E D CORPORATION WORCESTER, MA Manufacturing
O S WALKER COMPANY INC WORCESTER, MA Manufacturing
PCC SPECIALTY PRODUCTS INC HOLDEN, MA Manufacturing
PROVIDENCE METALLIZING COMPANY PAWTUCKET, RI Manufacturing
REGAL-BELOIT CORPORATION NEW BEDFORD, MA Manufacturing
RIVER LTD FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
SCHNEIDER AUTOMATION INC NORTH ANDOVER, MA Manufacturing
SEVILLE DYEING COMPANY INC WOONSOCKET, RI Manufacturing
SHERMAN-FEINBERG CORPORATION BOSTON, MA Manufacturing
SILVER ROSEMAR COMPANY INC NORTH DIGHTON, MA Manufacturing
SIMS LEVEL 1 INC ROCKLAND, MA Manufacturing
SLATER DYE WORKS INC PAWTUCKET, RI Manufacturing
SLATER SCREEN PRINT CORP PAWTUCKET, RI Manufacturing
SMTC MANUFACTURING CORP MASS FRANKLIN, MA Manufacturing
SWAN FINISHING COMPANY INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
TELEFLEX-CT- DEVICES INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
TILLOTSON RUBBER CO INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
TYCO INTERNATIONAL INC NORWOOD, MA Manufacturing
TYROLIT NORTH AMERICA INC WESTBOROUGH, MA Manufacturing
VALENTINE TOOL & STAMPING INC NORTON, MA Manufacturing
VISHAY BLH INC CANTON, MA Manufacturing
WALTRICH PLASTIC CORP CLINTON, MA Manufacturing
WATERFRONT SPORTSWEAR INC FALL RIVER, MA Manufacturing
WYMAN-GORDON COMPANY WORCESTER, MA Manufacturing
WYMAN-GORDON COMPANY MILLBURY, MA Manufacturing

http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/

[BlooInBloo]

35. Lovely. And disagrees with nothing I said...

... I'm sorry you don't perceive any difference between an over-all claim and a claim about some data points, but there *is* such a difference, whether you understand it or not.

[Breeze54]

37. I already posted to your position that it didn't start with W- scroll up!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1601448&mesg_id=1602091

Read the AFL-CIO issue brief, The Bush Record on Shipping Jobs Overseas.
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/jobs/upload/bushrecord_jobsoverseas.pdf

[Virginia Dare]

44. They could, but just not in the volume they're buying now..

maybe your kid would get two or three toys a year instead of dozens.

[Raksha]

31. Do people really always choose the cheaper price?

That's why little drugstores close when Walmart comes to town, etc. We can't get people to pay more for the same thing. Weird, because they think of themselves as so superior for being American, so you'd think they'd say sure, spend the extra money to have a (superior) American product. But it seems they always chose the cheaper price.

I just bought an Estwing hammer because it had a "Made in USA" sticker on it...and I'm on a fixed income. Granted, I did buy it at Home Depot and not one of the smaller local hardware stores. I had a long shopping list and needed to go where I had a reasonable chance of getting everything in one place.

[treestar]

51. I once paid more for prescriptions at a local pharmacist

He knew my name and what I was taking, and I figured that was worth it.

But that seems unusual. Most people go to the big chain whatever that has the prescriptions for the least money.
By now, I'm sure that pharmacist has retired and is out of business.

We had a local chain drugstore around here. Even it sold out to Walgreens.

I'll hear people talking about where they can get this or that item cheaper. That's where they will go, whether the owner is Chinese or Liliputian or American.

[RB TexLa]

25. And the cry before: They are shipping jobs to another state

And before that the industrial revolution, all the local candle makers and weavers had their jobs "stolen" from them by factories in the city.

"start making our own stuff on our own soil with our own citizens"

You are a citizen of the world. Civilization has advanced and made the world a smaller more closely interconnected place.

[Breeze54]

29. Corporations Doubled the Number of Jobs Sent Overseas in Three Years

Corporations Doubled the Number of Jobs Sent Overseas in Three Years

Originally published: October 20, 2004

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/jobs/ns10202004.cfm

Oct. 20—

U.S. companies will send some 406,000 American jobs overseas this year compared with 204,000 jobs three years ago, according to a new government report. Of those jobs, 140,000 will be moved to Mexico and 99,000 will go to China. The report supports the findings in recently released studies by the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council (IUC) which examine the role trade has played in manufacturing job losses in several key states. Since January 2001, Americans have lost more than 2.7 million manufacturing jobs and 850,000 professional service and information sector jobs. The AFL-CIO reports show that many of these jobs have been moved overseas as a result of bad trade policies pursued by the Bush administration.

The government report, The Changing Nature of Corporate Global Restructuring: The Impact of Production Shifts on Jobs in the U.S., China and Around the Globe, released Oct. 14, was prepared for the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission, which Congress created four years ago.

“With no particular loyalty to country, industry, community or product…this global race to the bottom is driven by…the search for ever-cheaper production costs, accessibility to expanding global markets and the flexibility that comes from diverse supply chains in an ever more volatile economic and political climate,” the report says.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and Stephanie Luce, research director and assistant professor at the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, prepared the report.

Why do you hate America so much?

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

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[kestrel91316]

36. Buy American-made -

At least SOME of these are made in the US, probably by the Amish:
http://www.lehmans.com/sdx/H21485.jsp

Amish-made household products and furniture:
http://www.padutch.com/amishproducts.shtml
http://www.simplyamish.com/

Jams and jellies made by, you guessed it, the Amish:
http://www.amishjam.com/

Seems to me there is at least ONE group of Americans left who aren't afraid to work up a sweat in manufacturing........

[Breeze54]

40. Read the AFL-CIO issue brief, The Bush Record on Shipping Jobs Overseas.

Read the AFL-CIO issue brief, The Bush Record on Shipping Jobs Overseas.
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/jobs/upload/bushrecord_jobsoverseas.pdf

[Raksha]

41. K & R n/t

[scarletwoman]

43. We USED to make our own stuff, it was working pretty damn well for a few decades.

After WWII, we were a pretty self-sufficient country; making our own stuff, growing our own food, and hiring our own citizens to do it all. Hence the marvelous rise of the Middle Class, the prosperous times that saw home ownership and rates of higher education rise faster than at any other time in our history.

The income differential between the highest paid executives and their workers was something like 4 to 1 -- as opposed to the current 400-500+ to 1.

Then Reaganism happened. "Greed is good" happened. Deregulation happened. Globalization happened. Factories, mills, family farms, all kinds of domestic industries: shut down, went broke, got bought out. Those at the top of the pyramid just kept sucking up our collective wealth and turning it into private wealth for the rarefied few.

We live in possibly the most resource-rich, raw materials-rich countries on the entire planet. We could EASILY be completely self-sufficient -- making all the stuff we actually need (as opposed to the kind of zombie-consumerism that keeps us enslaved to the feudal lords of capitalism) in order to live happy, fulfilling, minimally stressful lives, growing all our own food, generating our own energy.

But that would mean that the rarefied few would not be able to continue to amass the humongeous fortunes that they feel themselves entitled to.

That would mean that enough people would wake up to the fact that there are more of US than there are of THEM -- and if enough would wake up from their American Idol/Walmart trance, I am quite certain that the rabble could put some righteous fear into them.

But they've planned well for the rabble. Distractions piled on distractions, fear, fear, fear, demonization of the poor (if you're poor, you are obviously subhuman -- or a sinner, for the religiously inclined), whips and goads. Don't question, don't think, just keep working and be damn grateful that you have a job at all.

The selfsame feudal lords own the corporate media, of course, and therefore make absolutely certain that no inconvenient questions are raised in any sort of media venue that reaches a mass audience...

It doesn't have to be this way. The only reason it IS this way is that -- so far -- the People have essentially given their consent. The People have been well-trained to hold a nearly unshakeable belief that the system we live in is THE BEST IN THE WORLD. And even more insidious is the belief that THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.

In order to build a self-sufficient economy and society, those two false beliefs must be terminated with extreme prejdudice. But even here on DU you will a preponderance of belief #2, even among those who no longer hold belief #1.

Anyway, thanks for putting up an inspiring post.
sw

[Virginia Dare]

45. Agreed, consumerism has gone off the charts..

people buy ten times more things than what they NEED, just because they're cheap and accessible. We've become greedy and overindulged. At what price?

[scarletwoman]

46. k & r, of course -- C'MON people! Why aren't you recommending this thread?

This is stuff we really ought to think about and talk about.

sw

[Breeze54]

52. I forgot to hit the recommend. Done now! :-)

And I agree! This is the type of things we should be hashing out!

[Deja Q]

47. Especially when Russia is being eyed for offshoring AND with Russia AND Chila whining about us.

They say we should leave them alone.

Well, leave them alone.

Then they might change their minds.

[blues90]

48. It would be nice if we could .

I can only blame american consumers going for the cheap price and never really considering what the end result would be .

The corps just did waht they wanted and american consumers went blindly into the hell .

Now what < it's a bit to late to stop this global machcine unless people just do without most of the needless junk they buy and how does one convince then of this . Americans thought the attack on Iraq was a grand idea too .

[Raksha]

49. Great essay by Joe Bageant, "Dispatch From the Chinese Landfill."

I discovered this essay a few months ago thanks to a DU link, and this looks like as good a place as any to repost it.

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2007/01/dispatch_from_t.html

[GeneCosta]

53. Corporations are just an extension of the State

Along with the stock market and most other pretty capitalist inventions...

Worker councils, co-ops, and community assemblies are more natural and would do us little folks a lot better...

[Blue_Tires]

54. k+r

[Philosoraptor]

55. .................

[spindoctor]

56. It's not the CEO's, it's the shareholders

CEO's don't care if a company makes profit or not. The only ones who have a direct interest in a company's performance are the share holders.
In today's world, that is everyone with a 401k or a medical savings plan.

Of course corporations don't care, because despite existing jurisprudence, corporations are not persons and subsequently have no feelings. Corporate management usually does care about the quality, safety, and publicity of their product.

[Tsiyu]

57. There is a shop near here

that sells US made dishware, pottery, furniture, lighting, etc.

Lodge Castiron is just a short drive down the mountain. Local women quilt and make bedding. A local farmer supplies my hay; other local farmers supply my feed, which is milled in a neighboring state.

The point is, wherever you live, there are already people making things. Support them.

I anticipate a great year for American craftsmen who make toys and dishware.

BUY LOCAL :)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

58. That's ridiculous...

C'MON!

:think:

[NuttyFluffers]

59. good idea. buy local and small business then.

mom 'n pops stores tend to have difficulty shipping their small operation halfway around the world. perhaps we should support those who haven't the means to destroy us. y'know, just a thought.

[Selatius]

60. You would have to reinstate a tariff system that allowed America to build up industry

Tariffs on foreign-made goods ensure American manufacturers aren't undercut by foreign manufacturers in the market place and driven out of business or forced to go overseas. Of course, the cost of goods and services here would rise as a result, but with the revitalization of American manufacturing, wages would also go up.

I day say those wages would go up faster than the cost of goods/services. Laws that make it easier for workers to collectively bargain with employers and unionize would also help ensure this outcome.