Cornel West nails it on Obama and the banks.

[Soul Crusher]

I always respected this guy since he speaks his mind and is honest about his beliefs.

Jobs jobs jobs!!!!He is dead right - we need manufacting back.

[240 is Back]

how in the world do we compete in manufacturing?

People in mexico and China will work for a tenth what Americans require.

And if you go adding tarriffs on import to even out the price, you piss off china and they stop lending us money... plus, are people really willing to pay triple the prices for the same goods they're used to getting from china?  The rest of higher prices is that american stores suffer.

What can americans manufacture at a sustainable competitive advantage? 

Anyone?

[Soul Crusher]

how in the world do we compete in manufacturing?

People in mexico and China will work for a tenth what Americans require.

And if you go adding tarriffs on import to even out the price, you piss off china and they stop lending us money... plus, are people really willing to pay triple the prices for the same goods they're used to getting from china?  The rest of higher prices is that american stores suffer.

What can americans manufacture at a sustainable competitive advantage? 

Anyone?

Get rid of the EPA, change th tax laws to allow companies to write off capital investment sooner, drastically cut employer mandates, etc.

[240 is Back]

I gotcha on those moves.

But what physical goods can american firms produce and remain competitive with China, Mexico, India, and 3rd world shitholes where kids are working 15 hours a day for peanuts?

[Soul Crusher]

Get rid of the EPA, change th tax laws to allow companies to write off capital investment sooner, drastically cut employer mandates, etc.

[Soul Crusher]

I gotcha on those moves.

But what physical goods can american firms produce and remain competitive with China, Mexico, India, and 3rd world shitholes where kids are working 15 hours a day for peanuts?

We need to produce more what we consume, appliances, electronics, etc.   

[240 is Back]

Dude, we can specialize in high-end appliances, but isn't that almost considered a service and not a good?  And the volume is nothing when you compare it with the amount of chinese crap flying off shelves at walmart.

I'm talking among equal quality commodity goods, how can an american firm compete pricewise with China?  Where in the USA can you build a VCR or a remote-controlled car for the same price as it would cost to make in china?

What youre saying is nice, but in reality, we cannot compete.  Their labor input cost is WAY lower than ours.  That ain't gonna change.

[The True Adonis]

how in the world do we compete in manufacturing?

People in mexico and China will work for a tenth what Americans require.

And if you go adding tarriffs on import to even out the price, you piss off china and they stop lending us money... plus, are people really willing to pay triple the prices for the same goods they're used to getting from china?  The rest of higher prices is that american stores suffer.

What can americans manufacture at a sustainable competitive advantage? 

Anyone?

High Quality Shoes, but Americans are too cheap to buy the wonderful American made shoes.

We used to also make the highest quality clothing.  Stuff that would last and you could pass down generation to generation, but the meme these days is to dress like a slob and throw away and buy new.

There are a few good manufacturers left such as SchottNYC (I can`t tell you how many vintage Leather jackets I own its an addiction) 

There are only two dress shoe manufacturing companies left in America, but they make the finest shoes.  I have several pairs of Aldens, one from 1962 which I wear on occasion and they look as good as brand new.  Alden still makes the best shoe and its 100 percent AMERICAN MADE.  I encourage everyone to buy a pair as they will last you a lifetime literally and you can send them back to Alden anytime to get refurbished if needed.

America could lead the world in Shoes as they once did (HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of Manufacturers until about the 70s.  Strong Union Labor from the early 1900s to about 1975) and America COULD lead the way in clothing, however that would require a change in the zeitgeist of actually caring about ones appearance which nobody does anymore.

I think I am the only one that walks around with high polished handmade American-made shoes anymore. 

[The True Adonis]

A little bit about Alden.  I really can`t say enough about this company.  I hope some on this board will pick up a pair.  As I said, it will cost a few hundred dollars, but you will have these shoes the REST of your life.  Plus its the shoe all the Presidents wear. (JFK, Nixon, Roosevelt etc...)




          The Alden Shoe Company, founded in 1884 by Charles H. Alden, is a shoe company that makes dress and work shoes primarily for men. Based in Middleborough, Massachusetts, it is the only original New England shoe and boot maker remaining in business to this day.


The film series of Indiana Jones saw Jones wearing a pair of brown Alden 405 work boots. The shop where Ford bought his first pair was Fredrick's Shoes. Legend has it that Ford had a preference for the Alden boots because he had worn them while working as a carpenter in Los Angeles in the years before Star Wars and stardom. Ford originally purchased his boots from a local shoe store in Sherman Oaks, California named Fredrick's Shoes, run by a German man named Fritz. When the time came to source multiple pairs of the boots for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ford insisted the boots be purchased from Fritz's store and the production team honored his request. Fritz sold a number of pairs of boots to the production for use in the film. Alden shoes are also known for their dependability.

[Soul Crusher]

A little bit about Alden.  I really can`t say enough about this company.  I hope some on this board will pick up a pair.  As I said, it will cost a few hundred dollars, but you will have these shoes the REST of your life.  Plus its the shoe all the Presidents wear. (JFK, Nixon, Roosevelt etc...)




          The Alden Shoe Company, founded in 1884 by Charles H. Alden, is a shoe company that makes dress and work shoes primarily for men. Based in Middleborough, Massachusetts, it is the only original New England shoe and boot maker remaining in business to this day.


The film series of Indiana Jones saw Jones wearing a pair of brown Alden 405 work boots. The shop where Ford bought his first pair was Fredrick's Shoes. Legend has it that Ford had a preference for the Alden boots because he had worn them while working as a carpenter in Los Angeles in the years before Star Wars and stardom. Ford originally purchased his boots from a local shoe store in Sherman Oaks, California named Fredrick's Shoes, run by a German man named Fritz. When the time came to source multiple pairs of the boots for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ford insisted the boots be purchased from Fritz's store and the production team honored his request. Fritz sold a number of pairs of boots to the production for use in the film. Alden shoes are also known for their dependability.

Do some research TA - the government has made manufacturing for consumables in this country near impossible.

[George Whorewell]

Hey!

I have an idea!

Lift the trade embargo against cuba, legalize and de-criminalize all drugs, charge a 100,000 buy in for citizenship for all illegals and then build a wall with shoot to kill orders around the Canadian and Mexican borders, end all immigration for the next decade and make the hiring of undocumented workers a mandatory felony with a minimum of one years jail time.

 

[George Whorewell]

Intelligent guy, although I disagree with his politics 100%.

The only thing that made me cringe was his constant references to "Jamal" and "Leticia".