Your Opinion: Why Aren't Things "Made in USA" Anymore?

• ernest_t_bass

  

  This will probably get moved to the politics forum, but I don't feel like waiting for "approval" of getting it on there.
  
  Kids in my class just said "nothing is made in America anymore."
  
  My thoughts... INFLATION (with a little help of unions) has caused our standard of living to climb so high, that our minimum wage is as high as it is. Because of the high minimum wage, and strict labor laws, businesses go elsewhere.
  
  What say you?
• rydawg5

  We make humanity laws but we contribute to slavery for other countries every time we purchase things that were sold from sweat shops.
  
  It's getting to the point where it's an ethics, moral decision.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  OK, but you didn't answer the question WHY?
• gorocks99

  

  Because, for right or wrong, a free market doesn't (or, by nature, shouldn't) support nationality if it's not in the interest of the company
• eersandbeers

  rydawg5 wrote: We make humanity laws but we contribute to slavery for other countries every time we purchase things that were sold from sweat shops.
  
  It's getting to the point where it's an ethics, moral decision.

  
  Its a double edged sword. There are the problems you mention, but on the flip side, we (well not we but private corporations) are also providing those people with an income they would not have otherwise. I agree about the ethical problems, but at least they have jobs.
  

  ernest_t_bass wrote: OK, but you didn't answer the question WHY?

  Its the free market. Those countries can provide services at a cheaper cost to the company. If those services were provided by Americans the companies would be forced to deal with strict regulations, awful unions, and minimum wage laws.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  The high cost of unions ultimately ends up being payed for by the consumer, not the business. Before you know it, people get sick of it, unless of course, you're in the union.
  
  Personally, I wouldn't mind paying a few extra bucks for a tshirt, jeans, blanket, paying people for dangerous jobs, ... whatever.
  But, at the same time, when you add in the fact of tax brackets, EPA, politics, etc., I can see why alot of businesses took their business elsewhere.
  
  Many different reasons, but I think I just named the top two.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Yes, but it is not a Global free market... yet. So, shouldn't the "free market" support it's local (USA) economy?
  
  I will say, that because of our high minimum wage and labor laws... I would go outside the USA.
• Apple

  

  ernest_t_bass wrote: ... (with a little help of unions)...

  There's the FreeHuddle understatement of the day!!!
• 3reppom

  

  Cost. It costs too much money to make many products in this country. For many industries the wage structures aren't set up to be competitive on a global market. For products that have a very low profit margin to start with, the rise in wages makes their business models worthless. But the real clincing factor in the movement of labor markets has been the rise of ability workers in other countires to do that work that years ago could only be performed in this country. What exactly would you do if instead of having your company manufacture its own designs you could outsource the manufacturing of toy X to Taiwan where they could do work at the same level as your current employees but in shorter intervals and at a lower cost? There has been a paradigm shift in the way that consumer products are made in the last decade, companies have two options. Adapt the way they do things to take advantage of opporunities that have opened up in the market, or die.
• dlazz

  3reppom wrote: Cost. It costs too much money to make many products in this country.

  This. End of thread.
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  cuz u love jap shit.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Dynamite drop in, Zwick. Doesn't really answer the actual question, does it.
• dlazz

  Ernest, you must not have noticed that Zwick is a professional troll.
  
  Or just a jackass. I haven't decided yet.
  
  Either way, he should be ignored.
• Rotinaj

  

  
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  Well the obvious answer is competition from foreign markets. Companies can't afford to manufacture products here if they want to stay in business. If X company makes a product for $1 and sells its for 5 and Y company makes its for $4 and sells it for 6, Y isn't long for this world.
  
  Any b/c u buy jap cars.
• gorocks99

  

  And Walmart.
• kritzell

  

  Well, a lot of Japanese/German companies are building cars here now. Even Hyundai is now.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  I don't know, Dlazz. I can appreciate a good jackass, if portrayed properly.
  
  Trolls.... have their moments, I guess.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  dlazz wrote: Ernest, you must not have noticed that Zwick is a professional troll.
  
  Or just a jackass. I haven't decided yet.
  
  Either way, he should be ignored.

  I've been around long enough to know the e-Zwick.
• dlazz

  gorocks99 wrote: And Walmart.

  Cue up Penn and Teller's Bullshit episode on Walmart. It's a good watch.
• Nate

  thank the local unions.
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  In the height of America's manufacturing dynasty, there were no other serious contenders. There was no competition. America had a stranglehold on the industry b/c No one else had the money or technology after WW2 to be any sort of a force.
• I Wear Pants

  "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages."
  
  We do things in our self interest, this includes buying thing which were manufactured in foreign lands with little or no labor laws or respect for workers simply because it makes our iPod cheaper.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  ZWICK 4 PREZ wrote: Well the obvious answer is competition from foreign markets. Companies can't afford to manufacture products here if they want to stay in business. If X company makes a product for $1 and sells its for 5 and Y company makes its for $4 and sells it for 6, Y isn't long for this world.
  
  Any b/c u buy jap cars.

  Glad you at least answered the question there. Our view points are different, and b/c of that, are both valid in our own minds.
  
  I drive Honda (that to which Zwick is referring). I grew up near the Honda plants, so they support that community. In my eyes, I support Ohio labor by purchasing Honda. I will always buy Honda.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  gorocks99 wrote: And Walmart.

  
  I HATEEEEEEEEEEEEE Walmart.
  They don't sell any good jeans in tall sizes.
  And sometimes, I just don't want to wear cotton.
  I don't want to search for a parking space.
  It's not layed out in a good scheme.
  I hate the people that I see there.
  I like to buy groceries at a grocery store, deli, or a market.