"Charlie Self" wrote in message
...
Manny Davis responds:

wrapped a couple hunnerts up and sent them off to (insert
your favorite emerging third world country here) to help pay
for their own operations based in that country.

sigh!

I mean, what's a body to do?

Understand that buying "American" is no different than buying
"white", and realize that supporting inefficient producers (American
or not) results in ****tier, more expensive goods for all of us.

Really? Damn. Last real production lines I saw, some few years ago, were
B&D in
Maryland and Makita in SC. Lessee. Also GAF near Baltimore, too. Checking
personnel there, I saw probably 40% were colors other than white. Checking
company ownership, I'd have to guess, but Makita is part of a Japanese
conglomerate, while B&D is owned worldwide, so while U.S. management MAY
be
"white" (neither you nor I know for sure, though), lots of the owners are
particolored. Be durned if I know who owns GAF now, but it is a
multinational,
so I'd guess ownership is spread widely over various nations and colors.

Let's not add excess bull**** to the baggage this problem already carries,
especially in response to a humorous question.

Inefficient production is only a part of the equation. We're looking at
factories that can pay their laborers something on the order of 5 bucks a
day,
or less, with which those laborers live better than almost all the others
in
their block(s). In the U.S., five bucks won't buy most hamburgers,
especially
after tax.

There's a leveling taking place, and my guess is that over the next decade
or
2, the U.S. and its counterpart nations are not going to be very joyful
about
jobs. Almost every 15 or 20 buck an hour job that is replaced these days
is
being replaced with a 6-7 buck an hour job. Eventually that will mean that
someone else is going to buy the products these emerging "efficient"
producers
are making.

Charlie Self
"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less
we use
our power the greater it will be." Thomas Jefferson


It's not quite that simple. A good many of the jobs are not "moving",
they're disappearing. Robotics is the main reason for this. I don't think
anyone has quite figured out what to do about the looming underemployment
problem. (I just heard an advertisiment for a Bernelli (sp?) sewing
machine that has a full Microsoft-driven, Intell microprocessor installed in
a HOME machine. Install enough micro-power and I might even be able to sew
a new shop apron. Stop laughing. It could happen!)

But there is another problem that's just now beginning to appear on the
horzion. One of the factors involved with the movement of raw manufacturing
into foreign environments, is the extremely cheap transportation costs of
moving the completed product(s) back into local markets. Fossil fuels are
NOT going to get any cheaper, and if you listen to some, the era of
(relatively) cheap energy is drawing to a close for everyone. (I don't
quite believe it myself, but some relatively rational people are predicting
that the peak oil production has already been reached and *no matter what*,
oil production world wide, will very gradually begin to decline.

Right now, labor costs are a prime consideration on manufacturing location.
However, if, as I suspect, we begin to see a increase in fuel costs, the
pressure to re-locate manufacturing much closer to target markets, is going
to become increasingly more of the mix. (None of this will happen
overnight, to be sure.) I very much look for a return to 19th Century
economics where it might be feasible, even desirable to to centralize around
specific transporation (railroads), or maybe a nuclear driven power grid,
but the very idea of loading a gigantic container transport, and then using
millions of gallons of diseal fuel to move relatively low value commodities
across the Pacific just, will become a thing of the past.

The increased energy costs alone are going to drive up the manufacture of
most tools. Right now, I can buy a quite acceptable Grizzley (Chinese)
cabinet saw for $1000. I assume most of those $1800 Powermatics are made
overseas, but let's assume that they're made in New Britain, Connectiucut.
It doesn't take much of a jump in trans-Pacific transportation costs for
that Powermatic, to become much more attractive. ESPECIALLY if Powermatic
would decentralize it's operations and begin manufacturing those Powermatics
in three, (or more!) smaller, but still efficient manufacturing centers
located around the US.

To be only somewhat facetious, this opera isn't over and the fat lady hasn't
even appeared on stage yet.

James....