Steve Preston <steveophonic@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Jon,I cannot,I repeat,CANNOT accept your
> propagandizing! :) Why try to confuse me with facts??
Fair enough, all I ask is that you don't accept the media
propogandizing either. ;-)
> No,seriously,over the last thirty years I have seen so
> many factories close and move to China (or wherever.
> Mostly China.) Factories that used to make
> boots,glass,TVs,shelving,clothing,etc. all GONE.
No doubt about it, although this isn't *necessarily* a bad thing -
if its better for them to do it in China than in the US, it makes
sense for them to go there. Frankly, I think that for most of the
jobs that are "lost" overseas, a huge portion of blame can be placed
squarely on conditions which make it unfavorable for those jobs to
remain in the US, such as opressive taxation, regulation, a tort
system run amok, etc.
> And these are people unable
> to get a job on Wall Street or get a great education
> and go work for Intel. Many are in their fifties,and
> they've been doing their type of work their whole
> life. Now they have to flip hamburgers or mop floors
> at the mall and make nothing.
That's an unenviable position for those people to be in, but
people must evolve with the times or they will find themselves in
those circumstances. In a time of automobiles, there is not much call
for buggy whip manufacturers. I know it sounds harsh, and I suppose
it is in a way - life is not fair. Just because mankind taught itself
to build luxury condos and airplanes does not mean that they are not
living in the same harsh environment as the wolf or rabbit trying to
find shelter from the storm and simply stay alive through one more
day. Fortunately, there are always opportunities, and more than most
people might think. There are countless stories of people who lost
their jobs and thought the world was coming to an end, but found
something else or started their own business and ended up several
orders of magnatude happier, healthier and wealthier than they ever
would have been had they stayed in their old job.
> But I can't see
> how a country that doesn't manufacture anything
> anymore can last,and the menial,monotonous jobs that
> used to employ millions of people who,shall we say
> "aren't highly educated" haven't really been
> replaced,esp. with anything substantive.
Don't raise the white flag just yet. :-) You've made several
references to the demise of US manufacturing, but the US manufacturing
sector alone is larger than China's *entire* economy, possibly twice as
large, depending on which figures you believe. (Economists seem to be
falling all over themselves lately to come out with adjustments saying
that China's economy is larger than we thought, then the next week its
smaller than we thought, etc. so even when you get solid numbers, they
seem to still be something of a moving target.)
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder, Miscellaneous Mopars |
`-------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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