On Dec 27, 11:20*pm, F. George McDuffee gmcduf...@mcduffee-
associates.us wrote:

The sell-out of Baldor, and the loss of yet another unique
domestic economic asset, specifically the manufacture/design
of large [c. 100 HP] high efficiency electrical motors for
the short-term gain of the financial speculators and
manipulators and the long-term loss for the country, is
another indication of how "globalization" is not in the
interests of the huge majority of the American people. * *


-- Unka George *(George McDuffee)
..............................

So do you expect Baldor to move offshore? And what if it does? The
world is not the same as it was. Shipping by container ships,
shipping by air freight, and communication by the internet has changed
the world. The physics of high efficiency motors is something that
other companies can and will learn.

What is in the interests of the American people is the increase in the
living standard of the whole world. You can not keep foreign
companies from competing. You can not keep American companies as
strictly American, manufacturing only in America, selling only to the
American market, having no competition other than American companies.

It is useless to try to separate America from the rest of the world.
Technology prevents that. The only solution that I see is to grow the
economy of the whole world. When all the workers in India and China
make good wages as measured in what they can purchase, then the
American workers will also make good wages.

Dan

On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:32:25 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:
snip
The only solution that I see is to grow the
economy of the whole world. When all the workers in India and China
make good wages as measured in what they can purchase, then the
American workers will also make good wages.
snip
==========
Which is where the problem lies.

If the US were truly committed to making sure the workers in
all the countries got what they deserved, i.e. good wages
and working conditions, we would be another ComIntern
spreading revolution as in most cases the problem is the
oligarch/plutocrats and kleptocrats, with the solution being
their removal from power/influence.

The US can't even get their next door neighbor Mexico to
raise their standard of living and improve their working
conditions enough to stop the flood of illegal immigration
and continuing rise of narcotics financed revolution.

Since it is impossible for the US to raise the living
standards of the entire world, what you are saying is that
the majority of American workers/citizens are screwed and
their living standards/quality of life of the US must fall
to third world levels.


-- Unka George (George McDuffee)
...............................
The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there.
L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author.
The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

F. George McDuffee wrote:
On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:32:25 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:
snip
The only solution that I see is to grow the
economy of the whole world. When all the workers in India and China
make good wages as measured in what they can purchase, then the
American workers will also make good wages.
snip

from CBS News:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...tionContent.10


Where the Jobs Are


AP) Corporate profits are up. Stock prices are up. So why isn't anyone hiring?

Actually, many American companies are just maybe not in your town. They're
hiring overseas, where sales are surging and the pipeline of orders is fat.

More than half of the 15,000 people that Caterpillar Inc. has hired this year
were outside the U.S. UPS is also hiring at a faster clip overseas. For both
companies, sales in international markets are growing at least twice as fast as
domestically.

The trend helps explain why unemployment remains high in the United States,
edging up to 9.8 percent last month, even though companies are performing well:
All but 4 percent of the top 500 U.S. corporations reported profits this year,
and the stock market is close to its highest point since the 2008 financial
meltdown.

But the jobs are going elsewhere. The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington
think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million jobs overseas this
year, compared with less than 1 million in the U.S. The additional 1.4 million
jobs would have lowered the U.S. unemployment rate to 8.9 percent, says Robert
Scott, the institute's senior international economist.

"There's a huge difference between what is good for American companies versus
what is good for the American economy," says Scott.

American jobs have been moving overseas for more than two decades. In recent
years, though, those jobs have become more sophisticated think semiconductors
and software, not toys and clothes.

And now many of the products being made overseas aren't coming back to the
United States. Demand has grown dramatically this year in emerging markets like
India, China and Brazil.

Meanwhile, consumer demand in the U.S. has been subdued. Despite a strong
holiday shopping season, Americans are still spending 3 percent less than before
the recession on essential items like clothing and more than 10 percent less on
jewelry, furniture, electronics, and big appliances, according to MasterCard's
SpendingPulse.

"Companies will go where there are fast-growing markets and big profits," says
Jeffrey Sachs, globalization expert and economist at Columbia University.
"What's changed is that companies today are getting top talent in emerging
economies, and the U.S. has to really watch out."

With the future looking brighter overseas, companies are building there, too.
Caterpillar, maker of the signature yellow bulldozers and tractors, has invested
in three new plants in China in just the last two months to design and
manufacture equipment. The decision is based on demand: Asia-Pacific sales
soared 38 percent in the first nine months of the year, compared with 16 percent
in the U.S. Caterpillar stock is up 65 percent this year.

"There is a shift in economic power that's going on and will continue. China
just became the world's second-largest economy," says David Wyss, chief
economist at Standard & Poor's, who notes that half of the revenue for companies
in the S&P 500 in the last couple of years has come from outside the U.S.


(considerably more...)


--

Richard Lamb
email me:
web site: www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb

And all that means what?

Nation on Edge of Double Dip

CNN

http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/28/real...dex.htm?hpt=T2


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices took a shockingly steep plunge on a
monthly basis, an indication that the housing market could be on the verge of --
if it's not already in -- a double-dip slump.

Prices in 20 key cities fell 1.3% in October from a month earlier, an annualized
decline of 15%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Prices
were down 0.8% from 12 months earlier.


Month-over-month prices dropped in all 20 metro areas covered by the index. Six
markets reached their lowest levels since the housing bust first began in 2006
and 2007. They were Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Miami, Portland, Ore., Seattle and
Tampa, Fla.

"The double-dip is almost here," said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index
Committee at Standard & Poor's. "There is no good news in October's report. Home
prices across the country continue to fall."

The report was far more dire than anticipated by industry experts, who had
forecast an almost flat market in October. It followed weak September numbers.

_"It was a bit of a surprise," said real estate analyst Pat Newport of IHS
Global Research. "I wasn't expecting it to lag so badly in all 20 cities."_

He, along with many other experts, has been forecasting further price erosion
over the next few months of 5% to 7%, but didn't expect the price drop to hit so
fast and so hard. It's mostly attributable to the end of the tax credit for
homebuyers, the effects of which started to vanish beginning in June.

"The trends we have seen over the past few months have not changed," said
Blitzer. "The tax incentives are over and the national economy remained
lackluster in October, the month covered by these data."

Sales volume continues to lag, off 25% even from last October, when markets
could hardly be described as robust.
Why the housing bulls are wrong

The inventory of homes on the market is up about 50% compared with last year at
this time, and there are millions of potential homes for sale waiting on the
sideline for markets to improve.

Much of that "shadow inventory" is held as repossessed properties by banks, who
will eventually have to release them back on the market.

....


--

Richard Lamb
email me:
web site: www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb

On 2010-12-28, CaveLamb wrote:
And all that means what?
Nation on Edge of Double Dip

http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/28/real...dex.htm?hpt=T2


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices took a shockingly steep plunge on a
monthly basis, an indication that the housing market could be on the verge of --
if it's not already in -- a double-dip slump.

Prices in 20 key cities fell 1.3% in October from a month earlier, an annualized
decline of 15%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Prices
were down 0.8% from 12 months earlier.

All of that means lower housing costs for all of us.

I do not see falling home prices, as such, as something inherently
bad.

i

Ignoramus24647 wrote:
On 2010-12-28, wrote:
And all that means what?
Nation on Edge of Double Dip

http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/28/real...dex.htm?hpt=T2


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices took a shockingly steep plunge on a
monthly basis, an indication that the housing market could be on the verge of --
if it's not already in -- a double-dip slump.

Prices in 20 key cities fell 1.3% in October from a month earlier, an annualized
decline of 15%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Prices
were down 0.8% from 12 months earlier.

All of that means lower housing costs for all of us.

I do not see falling home prices, as such, as something inherently
bad.

And was everyone foolish enough to believe that
the 500% runup in the last 20 years wouldn't have
an eventual payback?

The great lie right now is that we're only seeing
slight inflation. The reality is that in many
sectors we are seeing 20% inflation, but it's
canceled out in the overall statistics because
of the housing deflation....

On 2010-12-28, Jim Stewart wrote:
Ignoramus24647 wrote:
On 2010-12-28, wrote:
And all that means what?
Nation on Edge of Double Dip

http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/28/real...dex.htm?hpt=T2


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices took a shockingly steep plunge on a
monthly basis, an indication that the housing market could be on the verge of --
if it's not already in -- a double-dip slump.

Prices in 20 key cities fell 1.3% in October from a month earlier, an annualized
decline of 15%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Prices
were down 0.8% from 12 months earlier.

All of that means lower housing costs for all of us.

I do not see falling home prices, as such, as something inherently
bad.

And was everyone foolish enough to believe that
the 500% runup in the last 20 years wouldn't have
an eventual payback?

The great lie right now is that we're only seeing
slight inflation. The reality is that in many
sectors we are seeing 20% inflation, but it's
canceled out in the overall statistics because
of the housing deflation....



An excellent point.

i

On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:17:45 -0800, Jim Stewart
wrote:

Ignoramus24647 wrote:
On 2010-12-28, wrote:
And all that means what?
Nation on Edge of Double Dip

http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/28/real...dex.htm?hpt=T2


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices took a shockingly steep plunge on a
monthly basis, an indication that the housing market could be on the verge of --
if it's not already in -- a double-dip slump.

Prices in 20 key cities fell 1.3% in October from a month earlier, an annualized
decline of 15%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Prices
were down 0.8% from 12 months earlier.

All of that means lower housing costs for all of us.

I do not see falling home prices, as such, as something inherently
bad.

And was everyone foolish enough to believe that
the 500% runup in the last 20 years wouldn't have
an eventual payback?

The great lie right now is that we're only seeing
slight inflation. The reality is that in many
sectors we are seeing 20% inflation, but it's
canceled out in the overall statistics because
of the housing deflation....

Another example of what happens when large numbers of people
confuse what something costs with what its worth.

Much of the problem remains hidden as the banks are allowed
to keep the valuation of the repo houses at what the
mortgage was until these go on the market. Be reminded that
the banks will get to deduct about 1/3 of their paper losses
from their income taxes as a "business loss" when they do
write these down, so the taxpayers will bail them out twice.
Another major concern is the CDOs are not worth the paper
they are written on as the underlying mortgages are faulty,
not documented, and from preliminary data, the same
mortgages [or at least with the same property descriptions]
have been included in multiple CDOs.

The housing bubble is far from unique, only the latest and
greatest in living memory.

From the available data it appears that the bubbles
currently being inflated include commodities such as
petroleum and silver/gold, and financial instruments such as
US bonds, although there is some inflation driven price
increases in the commodities.


-- Unka George (George McDuffee)
...............................
The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there.
L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author.
The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

?
"Ignoramus24647" wrote in message
...
On 2010-12-28, CaveLamb wrote:
And all that means what?
Nation on Edge of Double Dip

http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/28/real...dex.htm?hpt=T2


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices took a shockingly steep plunge on
a
monthly basis, an indication that the housing market could be on the
verge of --
if it's not already in -- a double-dip slump.

Prices in 20 key cities fell 1.3% in October from a month earlier, an
annualized
decline of 15%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday.
Prices
were down 0.8% from 12 months earlier.

All of that means lower housing costs for all of us.

I do not see falling home prices, as such, as something inherently
bad.

i

Its bad for government entities that depend on property taxes.
Services that people have taken for granted are seeing cut backs.
Police, fire, parks, medicade etc. are all hurting.

Best Regards
Tom.

On Dec 28, 11:53*am, F. George McDuffee gmcduf...@mcduffee-
associates.us wrote:
On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:32:25 -0800 (PST), wrote:

snipThe only solution that I see is to grow the
economy of the whole world. *When all the workers in India and China
make good wages as measured in what they can purchase, then the
American workers will also make good wages.

snip
==========
Which is where the problem lies.

If the US were truly committed to making sure the workers in
all the countries got what they deserved, i.e. good wages
and working conditions, we would be another ComIntern
spreading revolution as in most cases the problem is the
oligarch/plutocrats and kleptocrats, with the solution being
their removal from power/influence.

The US can't even get their next door neighbor Mexico to
raise their standard of living and improve their working
conditions enough to stop the flood of illegal immigration
and continuing rise of narcotics financed revolution.

Since it is impossible for the US to raise the living
standards of the entire world, what you are saying is that
the majority of American workers/citizens are screwed and
their living standards/quality of life of the US must fall
to third world levels.

-- Unka George *(George McDuffee)

The U.S. ,regardless of how committed it is, can not make sure that
foreign workers get what you believe is good wages and working
conditions. And it is not the fault of oligarch/plutocrats and
kleptocrats. But look at South Korea.
They have worked at educating their people and the results have been
raising the living standards of the whole country. The wages are
probably still below what you consider good, but a hell of a lot
higher than they were thirty year ago.

So what I am saying is that the living standards and quality of life
can not be much above that of the third world countries. So the
solution is to work to raise the third world. Not to have the U.S.
fall to the level of the current third world. The U.S. is not
screwed, but the way to a higher standard of living is to not complain
about companies as Baldor being sold. It is to improve our education
system and the education of the rest of the world. We have let our
education system stay pretty much the same. Other countries have
raised the standards of their educational systems. So we no longer
have the best education system. We have a system that is the same as
the system we had thirty years ago. But other countries have caught
and surpassed us.

Dan