On 04/02/2016 07:32 AM, trader_4 wrote:
It isn't just that all companies would have to have a loyalty to
creating and keeping jobs here. More importantly, so too would
CONSUMERS. If people are buying the lowest priced product available,
then those companies are finished when lower cost foreign products
are available. And that is exactly what's happening.

While I agree with that, it does have its limits. For example, I prefer
to buy American and prefer the Red Wing styles that are still made in
this country. They are well made, durable -- and go for something over
$100 a pop. Do you think the average Walmart shopper is in a position to
spend that much or are they going for the 'Herman Survivors' at $30?

I wore Hermans for years but then the brand name was sold to Walmart.
Towards the end some some had been made in Poland or PRC, but under
Walmart they're all made in the PRC from cheap materials. Gotta keep the
Waltons in hamburger, do you know.

I lived in southern New Hampshire and the shoe shops in New Hampshire
and Maine supported the local economies. The wages were good, especially
for the specialized operations like the fancy top stitchers. It affected
more than the actual shoe manufacturing. It wasn't the main thrust of
our company but we did supply some hydraulic equipment to the shoe
machine builders like USM. No the shoe machine business, and the machine
tool business in general, is history.

For another example, my mother worked at Cluett & Peabody, the
manufacturer of Arrow shirts, for years. The shirts were made in Troy,
NY which was nicknamed 'the collar city' because of the number of shirt
manufacturers. First the manufacturing was moved to Atlanta to take
advantage of the cheap labor. The price of the shirts did not decrease,
but I'm assuming profits rose. Arrow was a quality dress shirt with a
somewhat inelastic demand. The administrative offices in Troy held on
longer but they eventually moved to Atlanta. As far as the shirts
themselves, bring a world atlas with you if you want to find out where
they are made.

The story is the same for almost every industry. It's somewhat of a
chicken and egg scenario but what American worker whose job has been
outsourced is going to have the loyalty, or the ability to buy American?
Remember the old union labels and the 'buy union' campaign? That doesn't
work today either.

It would not be as bitter a pill if the whole country was in slow
decline, unable to compete in the world market. That is not the case as
wealth inequality grows to the point where it is as extreme as in the
Gilded Age. The purchased politicians have facilitated this buy removing
trade barriers and promoting globalism along with their calls for
diversity. You do realize that in the early days of the nation,
protective tariffs were a source of funding for the government?

sure the peasants are out there with the torches and pitchforks. Some
are in the Sanders camp, some in Trump's, but the message is the same.
They are sick of being screwed by the cabal of 'too big to fail'
corporations and their pet politicians.