Unemployment almost 10% nationally

[RAWR]

Quote:
no, you are wrong. That was an article in the WSJ. The fact of the matter is... not wanting to get political, is that Companies are rewarded for allowing jobs to go overseas, and until the loopholes are closed, this trend will continue.

I'm not sure what that has to do with what I said, but okay...

You wanna know why jobs are headed to China? Because the labor is competitive! It's not a difficult concept - here in the US, the minimum wage and other regulations prevent US companies from being able to compete with places like China and India. What do you suggest to remedy the problem? Prohibiting companies from moving overseas? Great, if you don't mind making them go bankrupt, or their prices increasing exponentially. Preventing imports from China? Congrats, the cost of living goes from high to crazy insane high.

So far, I have seen no other viable remedies that won't kill the economy and make everything more expensive.

The people in China are enslaved by business owners. I do believe thats what they want to do here! Keep unemployment high so they can drive down wages. Nobody can support a family on a min. wage job, let alone what the poor souls in China are paid! Those people usually have to live in the factory, and pay rent and utilities... sounds like the old days of the coal workers and the company store. I for one want to move forward.. not backwards.
Companies outsource jobs if they think it will make them a nickel more in profit!

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
I'm not sure what that has to do with what I said, but okay...

You wanna know why jobs are headed to China? Because the labor is competitive! It's not a difficult concept - here in the US, the minimum wage and other regulations prevent US companies from being able to compete with places like China and India. What do you suggest to remedy the problem? Prohibiting companies from moving overseas? Great, if you don't mind making them go bankrupt, or their prices increasing exponentially. Preventing imports from China? Congrats, the cost of living goes from high to crazy insane high.

So far, I have seen no other viable remedies that won't kill the economy and make everything more expensive.

The people in China are enslaved by business owners. I do believe thats what they want to do here! Keep unemployment high so they can drive down wages. Nobody can support a family on a min. wage job, let alone what the poor souls in China are paid! Those people usually have to live in the factory, and pay rent and utilities... sounds like the old days of the coal workers and the company store. I for one want to move forward.. not backwards.
Companies outsource jobs if they think it will make them a nickel more in profit!

Well tomorrow IS election day.....

 

[Q9]

Quote:
I'm not sure what that has to do with what I said, but okay...

You wanna know why jobs are headed to China? Because the labor is competitive! It's not a difficult concept - here in the US, the minimum wage and other regulations prevent US companies from being able to compete with places like China and India. What do you suggest to remedy the problem? Prohibiting companies from moving overseas? Great, if you don't mind making them go bankrupt, or their prices increasing exponentially. Preventing imports from China? Congrats, the cost of living goes from high to crazy insane high.

So far, I have seen no other viable remedies that won't kill the economy and make everything more expensive.

The people in China are enslaved by business owners. I do believe thats what they want to do here! Keep unemployment high so they can drive down wages. Nobody can support a family on a min. wage job, let alone what the poor souls in China are paid! Those people usually have to live in the factory, and pay rent and utilities... sounds like the old days of the coal workers and the company store. I for one want to move forward.. not backwards.

Call me crazy, but last I checked getting a factory job was voluntary.

Obviously they make more cash in factories than what they did on the farm - wouldn't you call that moving forward? China is increasingly capitalistic, and increasingly everyone's living standards are going up. Competition has improved the average Chinese worker's pay and conditions already.

As for the infamous days of the coal workers, again that was entirely voluntary, and wages and conditions improved right up to the Depression - and the vast majority was done by competition. Companies have to compete for labor, so when one company improves its conditions or wages, it will attract workers. Other companies need those workers too, so inevitably something will be done to make it more attractive to laborers.

Anyway, you got any ideas on how to stop outsourcing that won't demolish what's left of our economy?

 

[Q9]

Quote:
The people in China are enslaved by business owners. I do believe thats what they want to do here! Keep unemployment high so they can drive down wages. Nobody can support a family on a min. wage job, let alone what the poor souls in China are paid! Those people usually have to live in the factory, and pay rent and utilities... sounds like the old days of the coal workers and the company store. I for one want to move forward.. not backwards.
Companies outsource jobs if they think it will make them a nickel more in profit!

Well tomorrow IS election day.....

AKA doomsday.

Another election, another batch of morons, IMO.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Well tomorrow IS election day.....

AKA doomsday.

Another election, another batch of morons, IMO.

I agree..

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
no, you are wrong. That was an article in the WSJ. The fact of the matter is... not wanting to get political, is that Companies are rewarded for allowing jobs to go overseas, and until the loopholes are closed, this trend will continue.

I'm not sure what that has to do with what I said, but okay...

You wanna know why jobs are headed to China? Because the labor is competitive! It's not a difficult concept - here in the US, the minimum wage and other regulations prevent US companies from being able to compete with places like China and India. What do you suggest to remedy the problem? Prohibiting companies from moving overseas? Great, if you don't mind making them go bankrupt, or their prices increasing exponentially. Preventing imports from China? Congrats, the cost of living goes from high to crazy insane high.

So far, I have seen no other viable remedies that won't kill the economy and make everything more expensive.

In the 1950s, the United States made virtually everything it needed. Things WERE more expensive but they were made to last. When a toaster broke, you called an appliance repairman ... you didn't go out and buy a new one. The toaster we have was a wedding gift to my inlaws in the 1940s and that thing is indestructible. IS--it's still working, quite well. None of the heating elements have gone on it and while it's been dropped a few times, it keeps going.

And our economy was better. Middle aged men worked at McDonald's and were able to support a family on their wages (not well, of course, but it was done).

Americans by and large are a "disposable" culture. When something breaks, why fix it if you can get it cheap? When cheap stuff became available from China, people liked having cheap stuff that was easy to replace. It's just spiraled out of control since then.

Honestly, we don't need half the junk we have. I was just remarking to my husband that even as a child in the 1980s, I never had a store bought costume. Mine were always made by my mother or grandmother. Grandma made me a white dress that went from fairy princess to regular princess to She-ra over the course of 3 years. It almost pained me to BUY a costume for my daughter when I have always made her costumes before. This year I didn't have time.

Actually, that's probably the crux of it. When the economy went down in the 1970s due to high gas prices and in combination of the feminist movement, a lot more women worked and pre-made cheap stuff appealed to them. Coincidentally, that was also the same time we began trade with China.

But when your grandparents talk about the "good ol' days," they're talking about postwar USA, when a man could support his family, people ate seasonally, Mom made dinner and clothes for the family, they all gathered around THE tv (not multiple, just one per house) to watch Gunsmoke or the Rifleman because there were only 3 or 4 (if you were close to Canada like we were) channels and not a whole lot of variety. TV was watched together as a family.

People think we're strange because we only have 1 TV--and I'm off on a tangent, so I'm going now.

 

[Dunkopf]

Sorry Q. Reading books and other peoples opinions doesn't equal real life experience. Real life is people that can't find jobs at all. People that have used up their 99 weeks of unemployment and are now begging on street corners. Of course there are people that take advantage of the system. The numbers of people that are cheating the system wouldn't even show up on a chart of the numbers that truly need unemployment. Saying that people that have worked their whole life and are now on unemployment want to be on unemployment is ludicrous. If I went on unemployment I would earn about 1/3 of what I now make. I would lose my house and have to move in to a 2 bedroom apartment with my 5 kids. If I lost my job I would do everything I could to get 2 or 3 jobs if need be.

As for your China compared to the USA thing. Yes, people that will work 16 hours a day for 50 cents an hour is competitive. No the prices wouldn't go through the roof if the American companies that are gaming that system had to pay tariffs to bring their goods in to this country. What would happen? Joe Scmoe the CEO of Who Cares About America Anyway would have to sell his house on the Riviera. Then they would move back to America because the tariffs would make it a wash on profit. Americans would have jobs again and maybe we would get out of this depression that the last circus that was in town left us in. Yes the price of a pair of jeans may go from 18.00 at Wally World to 22.00 at Wally World. Big deal. Do you think Americans should work for 50 cents an hour. Put down the books written by corporate economist and read what someone that isn't paid by the corporations has to say. So many experts are just like ventriloquist dummies. The corporation sticks their hand in from behind and out comes exactly what the corporation wants people to hear. Anyone that thinks corporations have to produce in China or they will go out of business needs to wake up and think it through. They were making it before Clinton foolishly signed NAFTA. They could make it in the USA again. Besides China is a Communist country. What do you think is going to happen once they own America?

 

[Gonzo]

Quote:
The people in China are enslaved by business owners. I do believe thats what they want to do here! Keep unemployment high so they can drive down wages. Nobody can support a family on a min. wage job, let alone what the poor souls in China are paid! Those people usually have to live in the factory, and pay rent and utilities... sounds like the old days of the coal workers and the company store. I for one want to move forward.. not backwards.

Call me crazy, but last I checked getting a factory job was voluntary.

Obviously they make more cash in factories than what they did on the farm - wouldn't you call that moving forward? China is increasingly capitalistic, and increasingly everyone's living standards are going up. Competition has improved the average Chinese worker's pay and conditions already.

As for the infamous days of the coal workers, again that was entirely voluntary, and wages and conditions improved right up to the Depression - and the vast majority was done by competition. Companies have to compete for labor, so when one company improves its conditions or wages, it will attract workers. Other companies need those workers too, so inevitably something will be done to make it more attractive to laborers.

Anyway, you got any ideas on how to stop outsourcing that won't demolish what's left of our economy?

Those jobs you call voluntary... my JOB was a factory job, and I was a coordinator.. Sure it was voluntary to take the job, it paid well, and paid my bills. I had a 401K and money put back to send my children to college. Not too many jobs out there at all right now. Ideas on how to fix it? Start taxing companies that outsource jobs. CLOSE the loopholes that allow this, and hold the politicians that pocket money from these companies to allow this to happen responsible. TRY ANY POLITICIAN FOR TREASON AGAINST AMERICA IF THEY GO AGAINST THE MAJORITY. Too many polilticans cater to special intrests....

 

[Q9]

Quote:
I'm not sure what that has to do with what I said, but okay...

You wanna know why jobs are headed to China? Because the labor is competitive! It's not a difficult concept - here in the US, the minimum wage and other regulations prevent US companies from being able to compete with places like China and India. What do you suggest to remedy the problem? Prohibiting companies from moving overseas? Great, if you don't mind making them go bankrupt, or their prices increasing exponentially. Preventing imports from China? Congrats, the cost of living goes from high to crazy insane high.

So far, I have seen no other viable remedies that won't kill the economy and make everything more expensive.

In the 1950s, the United States made virtually everything it needed. Things WERE more expensive but they were made to last. When a toaster broke, you called an appliance repairman ... you didn't go out and buy a new one. The toaster we have was a wedding gift to my inlaws in the 1940s and that thing is indestructible. IS--it's still working, quite well. None of the heating elements have gone on it and while it's been dropped a few times, it keeps going.

And our economy was better. Middle aged men worked at McDonald's and were able to support a family on their wages (not well, of course, but it was done).

Americans by and large are a "disposable" culture. When something breaks, why fix it if you can get it cheap? When cheap stuff became available from China, people liked having cheap stuff that was easy to replace. It's just spiraled out of control since then.

Honestly, we don't need half the junk we have. I was just remarking to my husband that even as a child in the 1980s, I never had a store bought costume. Mine were always made by my mother or grandmother. Grandma made me a white dress that went from fairy princess to regular princess to She-ra over the course of 3 years. It almost pained me to BUY a costume for my daughter when I have always made her costumes before. This year I didn't have time.

Actually, that's probably the crux of it. When the economy went down in the 1970s due to high gas prices and in combination of the feminist movement, a lot more women worked and pre-made cheap stuff appealed to them. Coincidentally, that was also the same time we began trade with China.

But when your grandparents talk about the "good ol' days," they're talking about postwar USA, when a man could support his family, people ate seasonally, Mom made dinner and clothes for the family, they all gathered around THE tv (not multiple, just one per house) to watch Gunsmoke or the Rifleman because there were only 3 or 4 (if you were close to Canada like we were) channels and not a whole lot of variety. TV was watched together as a family.

People think we're strange because we only have 1 TV--and I'm off on a tangent, so I'm going now.

Haha, we only have one TV as well.

I agree with what you've said about our culture - that is also a major part of the problem. The lack of foresight is a serious issue, since in the end the cheap stuff ends up costing more than the "expensive" stuff. American's are just trained to think only one step ahead, rather than several steps.

Isn't it ironic? More and more people now are trying out gardening and chicken-raising despite the GIMME NOW! culture. There may be hope for the American people yet.

 

[Organics North]

What an interesting thread! Thank you RAWR for posting it... Indeed it is election day... I know how I am going to vote...

My standing Senator voted against things like NAFTA which made it easier for companies to move jobs to Mexico.. (Guess what! he gets my vote again.)

Personally I am tired of the "well we have to give fat businesses lots of tax breaks and loop holes so they do not leave the country"... IMO we tried that the first 8 years of this century and it does not work! They pocket the money and leave anyway, seeking higher profits from offshore labor.

I personally have never collected unemployment.. However I think a safety net is good... Heck our prisons cost more than unemployment.!!.. I would rather keep food on the table for the desperate so they do not end up in trouble doing something illegal..

The whole western world has trouble these days because of the deregulated banking laws enacted in the past.

IMO it is a good time to spend money on the citizens of our great country... Maybe a few less military actions, less foreign aid, and higher taxes for the wealthy may be in order to help boost up the rapidly shrinking working class in America..

ON
The liberal Socialist..