 |
|
 |
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:58:20 -0400, Bob LeChevalier <...@lojban.org
Alas, but American goods generally aren't higher quality.
That may be true with Walmart. But there are companies that compete
with Walmart, selling American-made goods, and they can't cut their
prices enough. Walmart has large margins AND high volume.
Chinese products seem to be prone to this sort of thing, but other
than the food supply, Americans seem less likely to worry about such
things - and again, American-made goods haven't been enough better to
warrant the price difference.
The auto industry is the best example of this. Toyota thrives while
Chrysler dies.
But they can't.
Tell it to GM.
Before the 1970s there were still trade deficits, just in the other
direction. There has never been "balanced trade" where all countries
import more or less the same amount that they export.
I am not sure that is true after you add in benefits, especially for
those companies with health care.
3rd world wages plus transport costs are even lower, relatively.
which won't happen unless we become oil-independent.
American cars are not built by minimum wage workers.
Absolutely, in a relative sense %^) I grew up "working class" in the
60s. My house now has twice the square footage of my parents, and my
lot is 3 times the size; the collapsing bubble means that it is only
worth 30 times what their house was worth in 1965 instead of 35 times.
We have multiple computers and other electronic gadgets. We go to the
doctor on the slightest illness (something my parents would never
consider when they paid full price for office visits). We can eat out
or go to the movies when we want - when I grew up, even McDonalds was
a special occasion, and a real restaurant was a once a year thing plus
an extra time for out of town guests - and then we went to a local
cheap eatery.
My dad moonlighted to support his family and my mom took a part time
job - we effectively had no family savings. Community colleges in CA
were tuition free, which allowed me to attend for a year with neither
a job nor a scholarship.
And we were probably the second most well off compared to my father's
11 siblings, who lived in smaller homes and had even fewer luxuries
than we did, despite several of them working in the auto industry in
Detroit when the big Three were still on top of the auto world.
lojbab
---
Bob LeChevalier - artificial linguist; genealogist
lojb...@lojban.org Lojban language http://www.lojban.org
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:01:40 -0400, Beam Me Up Scotty <...@Talk-n-Dog..com
Quality is a function of cost, and tax is a cost, the higher the tax the
lower the quality.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:07:06 -0400, Bob LeChevalier <...@lojban.org
Beam Me Up Scotty <...@Talk-n-Dog..com
Tell that to the European auto makers, operating in a significantly
higher tax environment.
lojbab
---
Bob LeChevalier - artificial linguist; genealogist
lojb...@lojban.org Lojban language http://www.lojban.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:31:56 -0400, Beam Me Up Scotty <...@Talk-n-Dog..com
Subsidized European auto makers that pay less tax than the average
business? You mean that auto business? And look at the price of
European car. ???? *COST* ????
> lojb...@lojban.org Lojban language http://www.lojban.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:30:52 -0400, Bob LeChevalier <...@lojban.org
Beam Me Up Scotty <...@Talk-n-Dog..com
http://www.economist.com/countries/Japan/profile.cfm?folder=Profile-FactSheet
Japan
Taxation: The standard national corporate tax rate is 30%. Including
local taxes, the effective standard corporate tax rate is 40.9%. The
top effective personal income tax rate, including local taxes, is
50%. The consumption tax rate is 5%.
Those are higher taxes than in the US. Japan produces better cars for
same or lower prices.
How much tax does GM pay, given that it isn't coming close to making a
profit?
People will pay that price for a European car, if they can afford it.
American cars aren't that good. (My dad would never consider buying a
Fix Or Repair Daily car; you don't live down such a reputation).
lojbab
---
Bob LeChevalier - artificial linguist; genealogist
lojb...@lojban.org Lojban language http://www.lojban.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 30, 1:58 pm, Bob LeChevalier <...@lojban.org
We are talking about China and now you have lost
whatever credibility you may have had because no
one but you believes that.
This is on everything from houses to heavy equipment
to Wal-Mart items.
No they just can't be found anymore.
Toyota is not Chinese, and most of those cars sold in the US
are made in the US. I don't look for the Chinese to open factories
in the US.
IF CHINESE PRODUCTS WERE ABSENT, THEY COULD.
Having a trade surplus is not the same as a trade deficit
no matter how you want to understand it.
Balanced trade is what needs to be sought, You act
as if it isn't possible.
Look it up I am right.
No they are not, but a minimum wage earner in 1970
only had to work a year (excluding taxes) to pay for
an average midsized american car. Now it takes
nearly 2 years of minimum wage pay (excluding tax)
to pay for that same avg. american car.
You were refering to the past in the US with
present day China. So I don't know what kind
of point you are making with all this talk.
Many things have gotten better no doubt
but they should because people have been
working and progressing all along. What you
need to compare is the cost of housing,
food and health care in the past with today.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:33:46 -0400, Bob LeChevalier <...@lojban.org
It isn't. Unless we stop importing oil, we won't ever come close.
lojbab
---
Bob LeChevalier - artificial linguist; genealogist
lojb...@lojban.org Lojban language http://www.lojban.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Fri, 01 May 2009 16:37:53 -0500, Day Brown <...@gmail.com
Agreed, but most of the thread compares different things poorly. A 1970
car polluted, was dangerous to crash, had poor milage, and was usually
worn out at 100,000 miles. If it didnt rust out first.
Part of the problem the auto industry has now is that vehicles last so
much longer. In my senior year, 1958, I bought a 1949 duckback chev for
100$. Ten year old vehicles sell for much more real money now.
I made about 3 or 3.5 gallons of gas on minimum wage. My used TV cost
30$. And so it goes, better more durable goods in some cases, worse in
others. I dunno how to sort it all out.
But plainly, the per capita carbon footprint of the nuclear family home
is no longer affordable on middle class incomes. If we see more failed
states, then more oil can be redirected to developed economies- which
will hold that price down. But for sure, if consumption rose, so would
the price, which would strip out the profits from investment. Which we
see, is holding down stock prices. Naomi Klien has some insights....
http://www.wowowow.com/politics/naomi-klein-no-logo-shock-doctrine-wall-street- bailout-greatest-heist-monetary-history-278740
She mentions ccops a few times, which is one trend that minimizes the cost
of management. But the coops would do far better to invest in real
estate to buy living space at wholesale, rather than retail, prices in
order to lower the cost of living.
Corporate culture has a word for it:"Vertical Integreation". To own an
urban apartment building for the staff as well as a truck farm to raise
their own food. Likewise, installing alternative energy at the communal,
rather than single family household level, is far more efficient. There
is no way, what with global competition, to pay higher wages, but there
are ways to reduce the cost of living so that the global market income
level is comfortable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:15:08 -0400, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
There is no market for well made goods at a a premium price, no matter
the manufacturer. US factories making those products are closing because
of a lack of sales,and investors see the handwriting on the walls.
WE used to make high quality textiles here in teh Carolinas. Cannon,
Springmaid, and others were national, quality brands made within a few
miles of my home. Gone, replaced with crap made in South America and
Indonesia.
High quality denim is no longer available in anything but a few
remaining brands of work clothes. Jeans are now made of crap.
A few years ago Walmart shopper flocked to stores over christmas to buy
cheap, chinese made 19 in flat screen tvs rather than the twice as
expensive US made 30+ in conventional tvs.
Quantity over quality is the american mantra.
Larry
>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:22:59 -0700 (PDT), Dave Fritzinger <...@hotmail.com
On Apr 30, 4:15 am, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
That's not quite true. You see it in the car business, where premium
products like BMW, Mercedes, Acura, Infiniti, Lexus, etc. have done
quite well, though they have suffered in the very poor car market. You
can also see it in electronics, where, if the products have a cachet,
they will sell well, even if they are premium priced (iPhone and
iPods, for example). It is a matter of marketing, and reputation. If a
product has a good reputation, and is marketed successfully, it will
still sell at a premium price. However, I will agree with you that
this doesn't work for many goods, such as textiles, etc.
[snip]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:14:56 -0400, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
Luxury and snob appeal sells. But luxury is not necessarily quality
Y
ou
There is no real competition for he iphone and the ipod, yet. It is
building, and knockoffs are selling well, but they do not provide the
same functionality the way a Brazilian made bath towel substitutes for a
Cannon towel.
It is a matter of marketing, and reputation.
It is a matter of market. You will never sell a BMW to the average wage
earner.
If a
Thousands of quality, respected products are no longer made.
Larry
However, I will agree with you that
> [snip]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 30, 10:15 am, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
Well this is true, they have a hard time competing. However, the
middle man or retailer isn't making these products available to
the conusumer because they don't make as much money.
Also other US manufactures will buy the cheaper Chinese
product and then sell their product at the same price for
a hight profit. This needs to stop.
I know people that have driven all over a large city just to
get domestic shrimp and were unsuccessfull and this was
in FLORIDA!
Other times people don't know they are getting
Chinese product because it isn't labled as such.
I know they were high quality and the furnitiure is too and
I hate to see this go away. But then you have companies like
Levi's that start doing all their manufacturing overseas.
People don't have a choice in what's being offered if the
manufacturer or retailer has found a way to lower their
cost while charging the US consumer the same price,
or higher.
I know workers that get tired of reinstalling heavy
steel parts on machinary. They know it is spending
more money in the long run even though it is
cheaper up front. But they can no longer
find hard steel that was once common.
I think the US should govt could at least
require some standards in what they buy
and this in itself will exclude a lot of the cheap
asian crap without violating any trade agreement.
But this scenerio is only part of the problem, it isn't
THE problem.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:09:04 -0400, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
Competition is a function of demand *and* price. With little demand no
price will serve a market.
However, the
Because there is no demand.
Another example. I had a friend who made handmade adn sold stoneware
dinnerware , along with middle- to high end housewares. She made a good
living. But cheap foreign goods flooded the market, driving her out of
business. Cost was not an issue for her stuff, in that her prices were
reasonable for the quality. But why pay her $7 for a soup bowl when
Walmart sold a soup bowl for $2.50? Now, the Walmart bowl's glaze peeled
so you got bits of grit in your soup, and they cracked in the
dishwasher. But as she told me, people could buy three pieces of crap
for what they paid her for one quality piece.
???
Strange. Domestic shrimp, although the catch is dwindling, are still
available. COme up here t o South Carolina, they are sold head on off he
back of trucks as well as in seafood shops. The large chain stores
prefer the fully processed frozen foreign stuff.
Unfortunately, yes.
A lot of the perceived lower cost of foreign ownership is either
corporate mismanagement of management incompetence. Two examples:
I worked for IBM's pc manufacturing division. They never could get it
right with frequent assembly line stoppages, parts flow problems, etc. (
they were trying to copy the Dell build to order model). Sold the
division lock stock and barrel to the Chinese. Dell remains profitable.
Texas Instruments needed to expand chip production a couple of years
ago, and their knee jerk reaction was to build a new plant in Cina. But
a VP got in touch with a green engineer who helped them redesign their
manufacturing plant so it used far less energy, wanter, and machinery
while significantly increasing output. They found the new plant cheaper
to operate in the US with their trained, expensive work force than the
cost of building in CHina and shipping to the US.
Sorry, I don't believe that. We still have a steel industry, and it
concentrates toward the high end specialty products. You want rebar, go
to Mexico.
I have seen maintenance companies using cheap crap parts to "save" money.
Absolutely. I see no problem with a buy american policy, especially for
defense purchases.
The problem is the american consumer's obsession with more.
Larry
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anonymous Wrote:
On Apr 30, 6:09 pm, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
Demand can be the same and the price of the US and
Chinese product can be the same, but the profit margin
on the Chinese product is higher so this becomes the
only one offered.
This is why many places no longer offer the domestic
product.
The point is that not every product is an off the shelf Wal-Mart
item. There are many products manufactured in the US that
don't use parts manufactured in the US the way they once did.
They increased their profit by buying from cheaper asian
suppliers.
Those chains prefer the foreign stuff because they make more
selling it.
It may be strange for Florida but it isn't strange for the rest of
the country. I was simply visiting there and noticed what was
already common in much of the rest of the nation. I have
gone to coastal Carolina and I always try to bring back as
much shrimp as I can carry. You may have not noticed it because
of where you live but is practically gone from most other
places. .
It is a lot more common that most anybody knows.
Sorry but you better believe it. You are right we still have steel
industry that concentrates toward high end steel. I should
know I grew up and lived in a city that produced the best
steel pipe made in the world. The problem is like you say
it has become more concentrated and not all products once
made are still being made today. The specific case mentioned
had to do with parts suppliers no longer carrying the US made
parts, either because they don't make as much selling them
or because they are simply no longer made in the US
because the factories are now located in Asia.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Sun, 03 May 2009 12:52:36 -0400, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
But this is usually not the case.
Walmart's profit margin, for ex., is not that great anymore. What has
happened is that prices have fallen/gone up slower, and Walmart survives
on volume (which is why the small retailer is dying, they cannot
generate the volume they need to survive even using Walmart's suppliers).
Walmart *does* offer domestically made products, and even on those they
have forced the price down and have cut the profit margin so low
competitors cannot survive --- witness the squeeze they put on groceries
in small towns. Exact same source for food, but they can afford to sell
it at the lower profit margin.
Consumer "demand" for lower prices has driven retailing lately, the
demand for more more more. The economy has been geared to more more more
as consumer spending has grown in dominance and capital investment has
fallen.
This fall in capital investment is, in large part, responsible for a lot
of the loss of American manufacturing. In the earlier mentioned steel
industry, for ex., we had an aging infrastructure with a very large
number of foundries built in the middle of the last century. I grew up
in Baltimore, and Bethlehem Steel, for ex., shut down its huge Baltimore
steel _and_ shipbuilding operations because they were not willing to
invest. Now they (may still, I moved years ago) have no more than small
specialty operations.
The shutdown was not because of cheap foreign steel, but because they
found more profitable ways to use the money, the types of investments
that recently crashed. IOW, they stopped making things and chose instead
to become speculators.
Springs Industries moved their basic textiles (the high end stuff is
still here) to Brazil as much because the domestic plants were built as
much as 150 years ago as for the labor. They had subsidiaries go out of
business that left behind 4 contaminated brownfields here in my town
alone that are costing taxpayers millions to clean up rather than clean
them up and expand.
We have also lost manufacturing jobs here in South Carolina because the
public infrastructure is incapable of meeting demand. We have lost
plants in my county because of restricted bridges that can no longer
handle the truck traffic, public displeasure that an expansion would
increase traffic on Sundays (yes, no jobs so we can have a peaceful
drive to church), an unstable electrical grid, and even a lack of
snow/ice removal. Yes, we get snow and ice storms here, and the region's
emergency plan is to shut down for 3 days. Keeps taxes low. No, really.
We lost a large financial company's telephone center because of this.
More likely they used the lower price foreign parts to meet demand for
lower cost products while keeping profits stable, their domestic
supplier shut down because profit margins were not high enough and they
found other ways to make more ( at least before the market tanked) money.
No. They sell it because that is the only source of product. Our
domestic ocean shrimping capacity is maxxed out, there ain't no more
that can be pulled while keeping the supply sustainable. The imported
shrimp are almost all farm raised while the US has little farm raised
shrimp industry.
We farm raise everything from mussels and clams to catfish and salmon,
so labor is not the issue.
I suspect it is a regional taste issue. Heck, when I moved down here
head on shrimp took some getting used to, even though I had been
deveining fresh shrimp since I was a kid (a job a lot of people will not
do). I have always lived in coastal regions where fish were a big part
of the diet. My nephew now lives in Wisconsin and is sad because aside
from a few freshwater species little seafood is available. People didn't
eat it growing up so they don't eat it now. The idea of eating a whole
crab turns them off, for ex. Even happens here. 75 miles from the coast
and you cannot find a live crab, and even fresh crab meat is rare.
Frozen crab cakes, though, are available (but you have to be careful,
"krab" cakes are more popular, yuck).
That I believe. And that is no excuse for using cheap crap rather than
cheap foreign made quality parts. But as I mentioned about Beth Steel,
the reasons for shutting down foundries are rarely simple.
The problem is management's pursuit of short term profits, not labor costs.
A major quality men's outerwear company where I grew up moved to Alabama
for cheaper labor, then to Mexico, then went out of business, not
because of competition but because of management incompetence. A very
popular brand of sunglasses was made near me, they moved to Kentucky for
cheaper labor, then Asia. They are no longer sold. Same reason.
Our tax and financial structure is designed to churn production. I
learned long ago, for example, that despite it being more expensive that
you lease rather than buy, and you outsource rather than lease. Yes,
despite the fact that net profits are lower stupid management tricks
push jobs and production out from under the company's control.
Why?
Taxes and the way the balance sheet is scrutinized. And no, I don't
mean taxes are too high.
For ex, leasing equipment is the preferred method for business in the
US. Take a computer (big one) for ex. I used to manage a data center in
a bank, and I had to lease my systems in spite of the fact that they
cost more over the lifetime of their use than if they were bought
outright. But if I bought them then they would appear on the ledger as
an expense, and expenses were bad. They would increase the bank's asset
base, a bad thing. Management also liked the fact that leases costs were
stable over time and purchase costs were'nt. That is, if I bought them
depreciation would _decrease_ their cost over time, and with resale
value totaling less than leasing, but management preferred the same
price over time model.
Investors scanned the balance sheet and if certain totals seemed too
high then they would not buy stock, even if the bottom line showed more
profits.
One of these line items was the "expense" line --- not total expenses
but what was bought for ownership, everything from pencils to
mainframes. Too high, and investors got hinkey. Why, I don't know.
And taxes was another line item. We were compared with other like banks,
and if our tax rate was higher investors fled. So we joined a race tot
he bottom, even thought he bottom line was hurt.
Senior management lived, breathed, ate and drank stock price. A single
dime lost in our Dow price sent panic rippling through the company with
demands to shift costs.
FWIW, the bank went bankrupt. Yep, once the 12th largest bank in the
country Maryland National Bank went bankrupt in the first Bush's
recession because of the desire to maximize short term profits by
pushing risky loans, play games with the balance sheet, outsource
assets, and cut labor. The FDIC and OTC sold what was left to what is
now Bank of America.
Sound familiar?
Larry
>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Sun, 03 May 2009 13:20:05 -0400, Beam Me Up Scotty <...@Talk-n-Dog..com
The picture Framer stores compete and seem to survive... and Plant
Nurseries do well against Wal-Mart. SO there is busines beyond
wal-mart, they just raise their price and sell less and offer better
service.
But again the quality isn't there, I refuse to buy some food things in
Wal-Mart.
Regulations create new paths of least resistance. When investing(like
water) we tend to take the paths of least resistance, the harder you are
forced to work to earn money, the less likely you are to take that path.
> them up and expand.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Sun, 03 May 2009 20:42:55 -0400, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
Yes, and a lot of other market lines like pets, furniture, fine
clothing, art, liquor, books, and a host of others.
Unfortunately, others enter those markets and do to them what Walmart
has done to general retailing. A Barnes and Nobles and a Starbucks came
into my town, and two small privately owned bookstores/coffee houses
went belly up. I miss hte one that was near me --- good coffee, good
food, easonablel prices (buthigher than "them", plush cahirs and sofas
to read or play cards with friends,music Saturday nights.
Now we have an over-airconditioned building with hard chairs and a tile
floor. But books cost about a buck less.
But when Walmart wants to compete in a market it controls that market
--- witness the effect their $4 prescriptions have had on that market.
I do, too. And believe it or not, their prices aren't that good. They
never have sales, and if I shop sales I can beat their prices.
But buyers flock there anyway, especially for their store brand crap.
Walmart is building a new store in my county to replace one of the 4
existing stores. With fewer than 125,000 people in the county their
IMpact statement said their are more than 650,000 store visits a year in
the old stores,and they expect that to go up when the new store opens in
a new population center. At xmas time busloads of shoppers from adjacent
small, rural counties come in to shop, some at night (2 are 24 hr
stores). we have lost 2 of the conventional anchors at "my" mall, one is
still vacant, one has a t-shirt and sports team wear store instead of a
department store.
Regulations prevent abuse. It was deregulation that allowed MNB to fail,
and deregulation or a lack of enforced regulation that allows companies
to make risky short term decisions.
Larry
>> clean them up and expand.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anonymous Wrote:
On May 3, 12:52 pm, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
Yes, and Americans get bombarded with advertising that they
have to go out and spend spend spend. That is part of the problem.
Their jobs don't pay enough for what they spend so credit
becomes the driver of the economy. US companies locate
in asia to cut their cost and grow their profits. This further
suppresses US wage earners. If debt as a percentage of
income can remain constant then fine but that keeps
growing and it seems the world wants to bring the credit
gravy train back to the way things were a short time ago.
This is bad news.The US consumer should not be
responsible for driving the world economy.
Well I will agree with you on some things like electronics and
lawn equipment and some furniture like you find at Wal-Mart but
the cost on autos, tractors and heavy equipment keeps
going higher the way I would expect it to if these things were being
totally manufactured in the US.
Well I am unaware of domestic shrimping being maxed out. I know
starting sometime in the 1980s? US shrimp could be found
in Kentucky where I am, but over the last 3 or 4 years it has
disappeared. I will no longer buy any from asia so I don't get it
often. I will buy US farm raised seafood.
Now what does this mean "krab". Is this some imitation crab
meat thing?
I bet those companies you mentioned relocated to those states for
approximately 5 years. AI big part of the reason they located to those
states is the way these states tax business. During the early 90s
Alabama copied Kentucky's relocation incentive for companies locating
there. I think Ohio actually started something like this first. But
this is why
Kentucky got the largest Toyota plant in the US. Alabama got Mercedes
to locate their US manufacturing plant there and then also got a
Hyundai
and Nissan plant that Kentucky couldn't get. The way it works is the
state
forgives certain taxes on the new operation for 5 years. I am not sure
what
taxes they are but during negotiations they sweeten the pot with even
more
breaks. The idea is that the gain from payroll taxes from new jobs
being
created at the new plant as well as other areas more than offsets any
expense the new operation may have placed on the state. Alabama
probably benefited more because property tax in Alabama
is either the lowest or next to the lowest in the nation.
However, the tax incentives that Kentucky gives only applies to
new companies. So what about the ones already there, is it fair?
Fruit of the Loom is headquartered in Bowling Green, KY. During
the early 90s they had a mill or plant in quite a few little towns
in central KY, but no more. All of these plants are gone. Not
just some but all relocated out of the US during the late 90s.
This is a classic example of the race to the bottom. That loss of
income from those jobs I am sure increased the demand of
cheaper foreign made products.
Oh I know what you are saying is true. It is very true, this is the
way
so much of it is done. The next quarter is the most important one
and accounting tricks have become too much like science.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Sun, 03 May 2009 21:43:36 -0400, Larry Hewitt <...@comporium.net
yes
yes. But tat is their fault, because they don't *need* what they buy,
they *want* it.
Notice th4e proliferations of self store units?
I had neighbors, many neighbors who rented a unit solely to hodl holiday
decorations. They went nuts, Tim the toolman nuts. There is even a town
ner here, McConnells, that goes so far overboard people travel from
miles around to creep at 5 mph through the town, gawking at Easter,
Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas decos.
Do you go to a laundromat? I do. There are women there who take up 6 or
more washers --- the big commercial ones, not the household sized ones
--- for clothes, dozens of tshirts, jeans, towels for a family of 4.
The store manager where I go has had to limit the number of machines you
can be using at the same time, else some of these women would use them all.
US companies locate
No. They go there because they perceive that it will increase short term
profits, or because it will enhance their balance sheet, not necessarily
profits.
Yhe stock market is irrational. Witness recent events where the market
went up because the drop in GDP was "only" 6.2%.
Incredibly bad news, yet investors surged to buy stocks.
Bank of America shareholders just "half-fired" Ken Lewis for poor
performance resulting in a loss of 37% of stock value in the last year,
removing him as chairman of the board but leaving him as ceo. Huh? Leave
him in control of operations adn on the board, just not cahir of the board?
This further
No. The suppression of US wages is complex, and includes factors like
illegal immigration, loss of union membership, stagnant employment
growth (actually a loss, as a percentage of population under Bush), loss
of benefits, increasing numbers of elderly and teenagers (because of
relaxed employment laws) in the workplace at a minimum wage that has
been allowed to stagnate, loss of higher paying jobs for high school
dropouts who are now working fro minimum or near minimum wage (and the
corresponding acceptance of continuing high dropout rates), and many
other factors
If debt as a percentage of
Unfortunately, yes. Bankers rule.
Agreed
Costs are going up because of new features, not higher manufacturing costs.
My first car had a 4 cyl, 70 hp engine yet could go over 100 mph and got
40 mpg, manual steering and transmission, hand cranked windows, push
door locks, floor mats (no carpet) a heater (no a/c) and the only luxury
was an am/fm radio --- not stereo. $1700 then, about $4000 today.
Try to buy that today.
Now everything is motorized, half of new cars seem to come with heated
seats, am/fm/cd/tape surround sound, dvd player, gps, bluetooth, IPod
connectivity, plush carpeting, computerized high performance engines,
trip computers, etc Heck, even the rear view mirror has a computer and
display for compass direction!!
Profits lie with the add-ons, not the wheels.
All coastal fishing int he US has controlled catches these days.
As I noted, part of the problem is that consumers prefer the flash
frozen, split shelled, deveined model to the fresh stuff.
Me too. I love the farm raised blue mussels from New England adn farm
raised catfish from the south (fresh catfish often tastes muddy)
Yeah, processed arctic pollack.
How did you know?
AI big part of the reason they located to those
Yep. In the short term the tax forgiveness and the free rent in state
owned industrial parks ruled, not hte labor savings.
During the early 90s
Yeah, South Carolina (where I now live) does it,too. We got a BMW plant,
a Cummins Allison engine plant, and some electrical manufacturers, and
even a hospital here instead of 5 miles away in North Carolina.
Larry
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Mon, 04 May 2009 00:20:08 -0500, Day Brown <...@gmail.com
Gies, "Life in a Medieval Village" shows us a post crash economy when
trade was often cut off entirely for months at a time. But they report
many villages were specialists- foundaries, tanneries, potteries,
weaving, whatever. When trade stopped, they fell back on just the local
market, growing their own food, raising their own livestock, cutting
their own firewood, and got by until things picked up again.
Many were defacto coops cause the lord only came by once a year to
collect taxes. And if the taxes were too high, they went on strike. And
won often enuf to keep the cost of management lower.
The Chinese began building apartment blocks in rural villages, moving
everyone into the building, then tearing the village down to make the
land available for gardens. The building has central heat, electric
lites, modern plumbing, even broadband and air conditioning, but the per
capita carbon foot print is so low it is sustainable and people can
afford to live in the building without having 40 hour/week jobs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|