Jasmine Revolution


Time to start bringing manufacturing back to the good ole US of A.

It seems to be one thing, after another, after another, after another with China.
 
Time to start bringing manufacturing back to the good ole US of A.

It seems to be one thing, after another, after another, after another with China.
No, greedy Corporations (not necessarily Model Trains) will just move somewhere else. When I was a kid it was the cheap Japan junk, then it was Taiwan, then Philippines, Mexico, Pakistan, etc.
Next Africa?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Time to start bringing manufacturing back to the good ole US of A.

Manufacturing will NEVER come back as long as the Government's Holy Trinity of Taxation, Regulation, and Litigation lie in wait for it here. :(
 
I worked for a company for ten years that took my electronic designs and built them in Mainland China. The US company owned the plant. Nearly all the assembly-line workers were recruited from the poor, rural areas. Most all were women. A handful of managers and manufacturing engineers were educated, urbane and well paid - usually from Hong Kong.

The "workers" lived, ate and slept in the compounds about 10 months of the year. Other companies could recruit your workers away if you didn't treat them well by the way.

They took lots of money back home to poor farming villages. They lived better at work than back home. And they didn't have a husband bossing them around. It's not a life you'd ever want, but they were OK with it.

These women went back home once a year flush with cash, and self-confidence. More money than their husbands could ever earn! So, do you think this creates some social pressures bubbling under the surface? You bet! :eek:

Add to that the termination of female babies, since families are only allowed one child. Allowed only one, they "punt" until it's a male baby- sad...

Do you think the skew in Male-Female population percentages will cause some problems. I do.

I give them 15 years and all Heck will break out. Can you picture any type of "representative" democracy with 5 times our population? That doesn't sound workable to me. It's hard enough with 300 million like in the US.

I remember an old engineering joke: "large systems fail in spectacular ways".
I predict that the PRC will split into a number of smaller countries based on language differences. Maybe that'll work. Just my thoughts.
 
The chineese government would never allow a revolt happen, they'd kill off everything and everyone involved, in fact they already are
 
I remember an old engineering joke: "large systems fail in spectacular ways".

The way events have been unfolding right here...

...our "large system" could well stage it's own "spectacle". :eek:

(Hey Charles, just noticed your "Northridge" location... I spent my teenage years there when CSUN was SFVSC and am in Topanga Canyon now. :) )

Greg
 
Greg,

What year did they change over? I think it started as a "Junior" College long ago. Is that true? I like having the college as part of the area here. They have CSUN cops that patrol the greater area now. They have full authority in this "town". The LAPD is spread too thin.

I bet it was a nicer place to live in back then. Did you get to see much Southern Pacific action back then?

I came down here from the Contra Costa County area when it was mostly rural. Didn't need cops much back then. If someone made trouble the "locals" would do that job. It didn't need duplication. :rolleyes:

Since I started in this forum, the part of Northridge I live in has been re-zoned (same zip code) as Porter Ranch. Everything North of Devonshire basically. A real estate agent told me it added $ to the home's value.
 
Greg,

What year did they change over? I think it started as a "Junior" College long ago. Is that true?

Hi Charles,

We moved to Northridge in 1959. It was San Fernando Valley State College when my brother went there for a couple of years. My only connection to the college was riding my skateboard through the campus. ;)

I like having the college as part of the area here. They have CSUN cops that patrol the greater area now. They have full authority in this "town". The LAPD is spread too thin.

I bet it was a nicer place to live in back then.

Yes, it was...
Lassen wasn't paved between Zelzah and Reseda back then. It was just a narrow dirt access road between farmland which later became dorms. I remember when they used to grow garlic there it really smelled when I'd ride my bicycle down the dirt road. Devonshire was a two lane road bounded by two rows of huge Eucalyptus trees. From our house all the way to Balboa Boulevard used to be farmland, orange orchards and horse ranches. I used to ride my motorcycle up in the hills where the oil wells were before Porter Ranch was built.

Did you get to see much Southern Pacific action back then?

Yes. Up close and personal... ;)
We used to go to Chatsworth Park and run like mad into the middle of the train tunnel, climb up onto the narrow shelf, and cling to the rocks while the train would come rumbling through.:eek:

I came down here from the Contra Costa County area when it was mostly rural. Didn't need cops much back then. If someone made trouble the "locals" would do that job. It didn't need duplication. :rolleyes:

Since I started in this forum, the part of Northridge I live in has been re-zoned (same zip code) as Porter Ranch. Everything North of Devonshire basically. A real estate agent told me it added $ to the home's value.

Sounds like a good move for you... Porter Ranch is definitely regarded as an upscale area. :)

Greg
 
I don't want to turn this into a political discussion, but here is what I've said to people. (and is my reasoning behind manufacturing)

1. Manufacturing will not come back to the USA in our lifetime. Why? Because there are plenty of countries out there for greedy corporations to take advantage of.

2. The Chinese workers are not being taken advantage of. To us, it seems that they are getting measly wages, but over there, the cost of living is lower, so they have enough to take care of themselves and their families. They may not be able to afford some luxuries, but they actually do very well with what they make.

3. Unions. Back in the day, unions were a great idea to prevent the workers from being bullied by the employer. These days, some unions have turned the tables and the workers are bullying the employers.

4. It's cyclical. Workers demand higher wages, costs go up, company has to increase the price to offset the cost of the workers. Higher prices on necessities means higher cost of living, and the higher cost of living leads to the workers demanding even higher wages.

Manufacturing companies are not all greedy. I know a man who is now in his mid 70s. He told me that when he was a little boy, his family owned a paper mill. The union demanded higher wages. The mill offered them wages up to the cost where if they paid the workers that wage, the mill would break even and not make any money (which was more than reasonable). The workers refused and went on strike. That strike shut the paper mill down. That made one less paper mill for the railroads to serve. Sometimes it's not the greedy corporations, but the greedy workers. I'm not saying all unions are bad, but some of them abuse their collective bargaining rights to bully the employer.
 
Manufacturing companies are not all greedy. I know a man who is now in his mid 70s. He told me that when he was a little boy, his family owned a paper mill. The union demanded higher wages. The mill offered them wages up to the cost where if they paid the workers that wage, the mill would break even and not make any money (which was more than reasonable). The workers refused and went on strike. That strike shut the paper mill down. That made one less paper mill for the railroads to serve. Sometimes it's not the greedy corporations, but the greedy workers. I'm not saying all unions are bad, but some of them abuse their collective bargaining rights to bully the employer.

That just happened North of me in Pine Falls at the paper mill. They've been happily chugging along for a century or so until the union got greedy, now they're shut down. The workers are laid off, truckers are out of work, the railway (CEMR) isn't running up the line, stores ar barely operating. Basically the town is dieing.
It's a shame really.
 
I don't want to turn this into a political discussion, but here is what I've said to people. (and is my reasoning behind manufacturing)

3. Unions. Back in the day, unions were a great idea to prevent the workers from being bullied by the employer. These days, some unions have turned the tables and the workers are bullying the employers.

Manufacturing companies are not all greedy. I know a man who is now in his mid 70s. He told me that when he was a little boy, his family owned a paper mill. The union demanded higher wages. The mill offered them wages up to the cost where if they paid the workers that wage, the mill would break even and not make any money (which was more than reasonable). The workers refused and went on strike. That strike shut the paper mill down. That made one less paper mill for the railroads to serve. Sometimes it's not the greedy corporations, but the greedy workers. I'm not saying all unions are bad, but some of them abuse their collective bargaining rights to bully the employer.

Well in my life time I have worked in 3 union shops and all I can say is back in the day when employers abused workers they were great now all unions care about is your money and keeping lazy people their jobs, it’s a legal Mafia. Now you have Federal Regulations, OSHA, State Regulations, Etc which protect employers making most unions useless. I am not a big fan of unions as all they do is make the work environment more hostile between the employees and management, you wonder why a lot of manufacturing has left the USA, Unions are partly to blame. As for manufacturing coming back to the US I doubt you will see that as you will have someone sitting there assembling toys and expect $20 - $30 hr or they will refuse to do it and a union threatening of a strike all the time. I know this is a touchy subject with a lot of people but this is just my opinion from what I have experienced.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The way things are going, WE may one day be the ones making toys for the Chinese. If people are hungry and desperate enough for work, they'll do just about anything to feed, clothe, and house themselves and their families.
 
Corporations and workers are supposed to find a balance, it usually doesn't work. With out organized labor you'd have what we did back in the late 1800's, early 1900's, Company owners made everything, payed very little and gave nothing back. Organized labor gave us the 40hr work week. before that it was 60-72hrs six days a week $.20 an hr, but laborer's always want more, how can you get ahead other wise? Not everybody can be a CEO.
Years back I worked in a factory we gave up wages and bennies, a year later the owners sold out, the new owners (an American Co) moved it to Canada, no union, no health care to pay for, no job.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Time to start bringing manufacturing back to the good ole US of A.

It seems to be one thing, after another, after another, after another with China.
why? aside of couple strategic plants i think its a good idea to keep clean hi-tech industries and let someone else suffer the environmental cost of handling polluting low tech stuff.

its seems to be one thing, after another, after another, after another with any given country on our planet, including us here.
 
The way things are going, WE may one day be the ones making toys for the Chinese. If people are hungry and desperate enough for work, they'll do just about anything to feed, clothe, and house themselves and their families.

Some people would rather steal, burgle, and scam than work. They always want the easy way out. For example, In the southern states, cabbages are harvested by migrant workers (who may or may not be in this country illegally) and are paid for the day's harvest in cash (under the table) about $8 an hour. It's not that they are taking our jobs, but some people would rather commit crimes and take advantage of other fellow Americans than to do backbreaking work.

Without these migrant workers, the cabbages would be left unharvested and would rot in the fields leading to an increase in price of cabbages. (currently, wholesale for savoy cabbages is about 27 cents a pound up from 8 cents a pound from about 2-3 years ago due to the crackdown on illegal immigration as well as inflation).
 
In a more RR theme:
I remember that the Rock Island was living hand-to-mouth in a receivership and the clerks union decided to go on strike at the . That soon put the hapless Rock under for good. Lots of jobs gone forever.

Frankly, I think all the government layers that are supposed to protect workers should be enough. Like OSHA, EEOC, Workers-Compensation and other things.
 
Have you ever seen that bumper sticker: 'Unions, we brought you the the 5 day work week'?
THey should change it: 'Unions, we brought you outsourcing'

Look at the teachers unions. Teachers, at least around here do not have to be drug tested. That is insanity.
Unions, at one time were needed. They brought needed change, but now, they are a legal mafia, extorting employers, taking the wages of employees. They trick employees into thinking they are needed. They only protect the weakest employees...the ones who should be let go.
Who knows...
 
Where I work, there is a union. Thankfully, membership in the union is optional. Union employees pay dues, but also get a 40 hour work week and get slightly higher wages. I get a 40 hour work week and I'm just a part time employee! It goes to show that people who can actually do their jobs and go above and beyond deserve the money and not the union members.

The union charges an initiation fee and dues that are taken from the paycheck. Those dues are put into a collective retirement fund. When a member of the union retires from their job, they can collect retirement checks from the union.

The 14-21 year olds who work in some stores that are entirely union stores (we have non-union stores where membership is optional, and union stores where membership is mandatory) pay union dues, but they're only there for part time/summer jobs. Their union dues are used to pay for the old people's retirement fund! What are the chances that a 14-21 year old employee will keep a job at that same company until retirement? Close to none.
 
Last edited by a moderator:



Back
Top