Closing of Allentown Metal Works represents the end of the era
January 7th, 2011

Every book has an ending and the same is true with corporate success
stories. In America, the endings for books are much easier to accept
than the end of a company, but in both cases they are inevitable.

Allentown Metal Works, a 100 year old plant in south Allentown, will
close its doors for good sometime in 2011.

In 2005 it was used a gritty backdrop in the city’s mayoral election
and was held up as a symbol of bringing manufacturing back to the
region. It also was a stop on President Barack Obama’s tour of the
Lehigh Valley in a recent visit.

However, it more accurately represented a bygone era of when
manufacturing was king of the economy in the Lehigh Valley and around
the country.

Unfortunately, the manufacturing cycle has seen its boom in America,
and while not necessarily in the bust phase of the cycle, the
landscape has changed drastically for American manufacturers.

While some may choose to lament the closing of a chapter in the
history of Allentown business, the city is prepared to move on by
closing the book on this era, and assist some company in utilizing the
space for something new and productive as soon as possible.

More than likely it will be used by some sort of Service Company,
which is currently in the boom phase for the local and US economy.

http://www.examiner.com/business-com...end-of-the-era

"Boris Kapusta" wrote in message
...

More than likely it will be used by some sort of Service Company,
which is currently in the boom phase for the local and US economy.

http://www.examiner.com/business-com...end-of-the-era



Information age, service industry, etc. I still do not understand how
service, information, or luxury businesses can thrive long term without an
underlying framework of production and wealth building businesses and or
other types of entities that provide the same function in the economy.

Wealth of course refers to actual tangible assets, not just currency which
may or may not represent actual physical assets. I didn't get it back when
I was studying economics in college and I don't get it now.




As a side note:
I only took two economics classes in college. I did ace both of them and
was asked (and got paid for it) to tutor the other students in those classes
in the college tutoring center. That just means I had a firm grasp of the
basics for those classes. It certainly does not mean I have any keen
inherent grasp of subtle economic principles.

I am wondering about something. 50 years ago, most people worked in
agriculture or trades supporting agriculture. Now it is something like
3% of the population and makes more food than ever before, due to
industrialization of agricultural processes.

Perhaps, as manufacturing becomes more automated, manufacturing has
the same fate, which is that more stuff will be made by fewer people.

So, I wonder, as people were displaced from agriculture, were there
similar complaints as we hear about closing factories?

i

On Jan 9, 2:53*pm, Ignoramus26282 ignoramus26...@NOSPAM.
26282.invalid wrote:
I am wondering about something. 50 years ago, most people worked in
agriculture or trades supporting agriculture. Now it is something like
3% of the population and makes more food than ever before, due to
industrialization of agricultural processes.

Perhaps, as manufacturing becomes more automated, manufacturing has
the same fate, which is that more stuff will be made by fewer people.

So, I wonder, as people were displaced from agriculture, were there
similar complaints as we hear about closing factories?

i

Sure there was, just a lot fewer people complaining. A good share of
the small farmers went under because of government subsidies that went
to the big corporate farms giving them an unfair advantage.
Steve

On Jan 9, 1:53*pm, Ignoramus26282 ignoramus26...@NOSPAM.
26282.invalid wrote:
I am wondering about something. 50 years ago, most people worked in
agriculture or trades supporting agriculture. Now it is something like
3% of the population and makes more food than ever before, due to
industrialization of agricultural processes.

Perhaps, as manufacturing becomes more automated, manufacturing has
the same fate, which is that more stuff will be made by fewer people.

So, I wonder, as people were displaced from agriculture, were there
similar complaints as we hear about closing factories?

i

The displaced farm worker became last century's piece rate factory
worker at better wages. Today's former factory worker becomes what?
Besides living off the public purse, that is... "40 acres and a mule"
doesn't work anymore.

Stan

On 2011-01-09, Ignoramus26282 wrote:
I am wondering about something. 50 years ago, most people worked in

I meant 150 years ago

agriculture or trades supporting agriculture. Now it is something like
3% of the population and makes more food than ever before, due to
industrialization of agricultural processes.

Perhaps, as manufacturing becomes more automated, manufacturing has
the same fate, which is that more stuff will be made by fewer people.

So, I wonder, as people were displaced from agriculture, were there
similar complaints as we hear about closing factories?

i

On Jan 9, 5:38*pm, Ignoramus26282 ignoramus26...@NOSPAM.
26282.invalid wrote:
On 2011-01-09, Ignoramus26282 wrote:

I am wondering about something. 50 years ago, most people worked in

I meant 150 years ago



agriculture or trades supporting agriculture. Now it is something like
3% of the population and makes more food than ever before, due to
industrialization of agricultural processes.

Perhaps, as manufacturing becomes more automated, manufacturing has
the same fate, which is that more stuff will be made by fewer people.

So, I wonder, as people were displaced from agriculture, were there
similar complaints as we hear about closing factories?

i- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

150 years ago, when folks were booted off the land, they came here. A
lot of the west was settled that way. A lot of factory workers turned
up that way, too. America had a perpetual shortage of labor, was one
reason the factory use of powered machinery and interchangeable parts
got its start. England was the other way around, too many folks
booted off the land crowded into cities, so lots of really cheap hand
labor. Lots of complaints over there about the lower classes and the
way they behaved if you read the period literature. Wasn't
mechanization of agriculture over there, but sheep. Landowners could
make more off sheep than tenant farming, so they booted the
tenants.and installed sheep. There was NO chance of the evicted
tenants ever owning land in England, that's the reason a whole bunch
emigrated here. No aristocracy owned all the land over here, which
was generally the case throughout Europe. If you're interested, look
up "England" and "Enclosures".

There was a whole bunch of factors reducing manpower requirements
for farming, mechanization was only part of it, and the "family farm"
that's so beloved of our farm state politicos really didn't start
disappearing until the '60s in the Midwest. Out west, like in CA, the
corporate gigafarm had been around for decades. Was one of the first
places a crawler tractor was developed and used, too. There was and
still is, a whole bunch of "farmers" that have full time day jobs
somewhere else. They do their farming on the weekends and after
hours. Farming used to be sunup until can't see, 6-7 days a week. If
you're a corn and bean farmer, you can take advantage of no-till and
Roundup-ready crops and spend your time making a wage somewhere else.
You'd have to be crazy to do otherwise, commodity prices have been
flat for 40 years, in real terms.

Stan

wrote in message
...
There was and
still is, a whole bunch of "farmers" that have full time day jobs
somewhere else. They do their farming on the weekends and after
hours.

One of my fishing buddies is a full time Fire Captain. He farms for
himself, leases land, and does contract farming for others. I'ld have to
ask to be sure, but he's managing a couple thousand acres, and he is a small
farmer.

On 1/9/2011 12:53 PM, Ignoramus26282 wrote:
I am wondering about something. 50 years ago, most people worked in
agriculture or trades supporting agriculture. Now it is something like
3% of the population and makes more food than ever before, due to
industrialization of agricultural processes.

Perhaps, as manufacturing becomes more automated, manufacturing has
the same fate, which is that more stuff will be made by fewer people.

So, I wonder, as people were displaced from agriculture, were there
similar complaints as we hear about closing factories?


No, you didn't. That's because it was different when America went from
an agrarian culture to an industrial society. It was our success at
agriculture that allowed that to happen. Once people were freed from
working in agriculture it allowed them to move to every different
vocation you can think of. This fostered industry because lots of smart
people who used to work on farms then put their brains to work on other
things. That is what enabled the country to industrialize and it was a
good thing because that is what created a lot of our wealth. America was
not a rich country when it was predominately agricultural.
Industrialization is what brought the wealth for the middle class.

What's happening now is that the good, well paying jobs that allowed the
middle class to have a high standard of living have been shipped to
Asia. In effect, what American business did was to fire all its high
paid American workers, shut down its American factories and set up again
doing exactly the same business but with Asian workers that they only
paid a few dollars a day. This allowed them to exchange a high paid,
unionized, work force, set up in an ecologically sensitive country, for
a non union work force in a country with no environmental concerns at
all. So what business did is they finally triumphed over American labor.
They did this by firing them all and replacing them with people who
basically work for nothing.

All those jobs are going to stay wherever the pay is lowest and so are
the regulations. Since those jobs are the ones that produce the most
value added products that leaves the U.S. with little else of value to
do except for service jobs. So in the long run business wins,
bondholders win, and so do stockholders. The losers are the Americans
who used to get paid a good wage for their job because these days an
Asian is now doing that job for ten times less pay. The bottom line is
the middle class is on its way out and America is becoming Mexico. You
can blame that on letting the corporations rule the country. And on the
republicans.

Hawke

On Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:47:26 -0800, Hawke
wrote:

On 1/9/2011 12:53 PM, Ignoramus26282 wrote:
I am wondering about something. 50 years ago, most people worked in
agriculture or trades supporting agriculture. Now it is something like
3% of the population and makes more food than ever before, due to
industrialization of agricultural processes.

Perhaps, as manufacturing becomes more automated, manufacturing has
the same fate, which is that more stuff will be made by fewer people.

So, I wonder, as people were displaced from agriculture, were there
similar complaints as we hear about closing factories?


No, you didn't. That's because it was different when America went from
an agrarian culture to an industrial society. It was our success at
agriculture that allowed that to happen. Once people were freed from
working in agriculture it allowed them to move to every different
vocation you can think of. This fostered industry because lots of smart
people who used to work on farms then put their brains to work on other
things. That is what enabled the country to industrialize and it was a
good thing because that is what created a lot of our wealth. America was
not a rich country when it was predominately agricultural.
Industrialization is what brought the wealth for the middle class.

What's happening now is that the good, well paying jobs that allowed the
middle class to have a high standard of living have been shipped to
Asia. In effect, what American business did was to fire all its high
paid American workers, shut down its American factories and set up again
doing exactly the same business but with Asian workers that they only
paid a few dollars a day. This allowed them to exchange a high paid,
unionized, work force, set up in an ecologically sensitive country, for
a non union work force in a country with no environmental concerns at
all. So what business did is they finally triumphed over American labor.
They did this by firing them all and replacing them with people who
basically work for nothing.

All those jobs are going to stay wherever the pay is lowest and so are
the regulations. Since those jobs are the ones that produce the most
value added products that leaves the U.S. with little else of value to
do except for service jobs. So in the long run business wins,
bondholders win, and so do stockholders. The losers are the Americans
who used to get paid a good wage for their job because these days an
Asian is now doing that job for ten times less pay. The bottom line is
the middle class is on its way out and America is becoming Mexico. You
can blame that on letting the corporations rule the country. And on the
republicans.

Hawke


That's pretty much it, and not long ago they ok-ed unlimited corporate
backing of candidates and I still haven't heard anyone even talk about
it, little alone doing anything. They already own the press...

The new mexico, there's a scary one. Super rich or super poor
basically. I noticed when I moved back north that hardly anyone has
animals anymore or they never get out, and a lot of fields are just
that. I went to Allen Town back in '87 and I got the impression that
all the factories where gone then. Some PA. towns looked virtually
devoid of people like those last man alive movies. In the 70's I
remember bluish pink foaming rivers in SC. As a kid I remember
watching film of people rolling barrels off ships and being perplexed
that adults have to know that the metal will rust and screw up the
spot they landed in.

SW

On Jan 9, 11:47*pm, Hawke wrote:


What's happening now is that the good, well paying jobs that allowed the
middle class to have a high standard of living have been shipped to
Asia. In effect, what American business did was to fire all its high
paid American workers, shut down its American factories and set up again
doing exactly the same business but with Asian workers that they only
paid a few dollars a day. This allowed them to exchange a high paid,
unionized, work force, set up in an ecologically sensitive country, for
a non union work force in a country with no environmental concerns at
all. So what business did is they finally triumphed over American labor.
They did this by firing them all and replacing them with people who
basically work for nothing.



Hawke

Bull****!!! I have given up on educating you, Hawke. But I do not
want such ignorant thoughts left lying around where other not too
intelligent people read them without a rebuttal.

Your portrayal of the American Business leaves out the real world.
There are thousands of non American Businesses in the real world that
are competing with the American Businesses. Companies as Panasonic,
Siemens, Hyundai, Samsung, Komatsu , Hitachi, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes
Benz, Isuzu, Volkswagen, Toshiba, Volvo, Arcelor Mittal, Zenni
Optical, and thousands more.
It is now a global economy. Container ships and fiber optic
communications have ensured that. The US no longer has a work force
that is better educated than other countries. Four of the top ten
colleges as ranked by US News and World Reports are not US colleges.

So your dumb ass idea is that the American Businesses should continue
to pay wages that are higher than the wages their competitors pay,
and pay more for environmental issues than their competitors, price
their goods and services higher than their competitors, and go out of
business.

You may have gone to college, but they did not teach you to think.

Dan

On 1/10/2011 6:50 AM, wrote:
On Jan 9, 11:47 pm, wrote:


What's happening now is that the good, well paying jobs that allowed the
middle class to have a high standard of living have been shipped to
Asia. In effect, what American business did was to fire all its high
paid American workers, shut down its American factories and set up again
doing exactly the same business but with Asian workers that they only
paid a few dollars a day. This allowed them to exchange a high paid,
unionized, work force, set up in an ecologically sensitive country, for
a non union work force in a country with no environmental concerns at
all. So what business did is they finally triumphed over American labor.
They did this by firing them all and replacing them with people who
basically work for nothing.



Hawke

Bull****!!! I have given up on educating you, Hawke. But I do not
want such ignorant thoughts left lying around where other not too
intelligent people read them without a rebuttal.

Your portrayal of the American Business leaves out the real world.
There are thousands of non American Businesses in the real world that
are competing with the American Businesses. Companies as Panasonic,
Siemens, Hyundai, Samsung, Komatsu , Hitachi, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes
Benz, Isuzu, Volkswagen, Toshiba, Volvo, Arcelor Mittal, Zenni
Optical, and thousands more.
It is now a global economy. Container ships and fiber optic
communications have ensured that. The US no longer has a work force
that is better educated than other countries. Four of the top ten
colleges as ranked by US News and World Reports are not US colleges.

So your dumb ass idea is that the American Businesses should continue
to pay wages that are higher than the wages their competitors pay,
and pay more for environmental issues than their competitors, price
their goods and services higher than their competitors, and go out of
business.

You may have gone to college, but they did not teach you to think.

Dan



I'm sorry that I have to be the one to inform you as to the facts of
life but it appears that if I don't no one else will. The first thing
that you overlooked when you mentioned the global competitors of
"American" corporations, and I use that term very loosely, is that they
are headquartered in other countries. Many in countries that do not
allow them to call the shots in their home nations. We have a government
that is up for sale to the highest bidder. That means corporations rule
the roost here. That is not the case in Europe.

You mentioned three German companies; Siemens, Volkswagen, and
Mercedes-Benz. In that country the workers for those companies get paid
around fifty bucks an hour. They have heavy environmental controls, and
the government tells them what to do not the other way around. So it can
be done very successfully in a different way than we do. The other thing
you notice about those other companies is that in their home countries
the people are well cared for by the government. All of them have
national health care, many have free education. None of them are
involved in useless and unnecessary wars, and most of them are planning
for the future by limiting greenhouse gasses and are switching to
alternative fuels. In those countries they also have not allowed the
income and economic disparity we have here. They don't allow any company
that wants it access to their markets and they have not closed down
their factories and reopened new ones in Asia. You don't think
Volkswagen or Siemens could shut down in Germany and reopen in China and
make the same things cheaper? But if you cared about Germany you
wouldn't do that. It's clear the "American" companies don't give a crap
about America. You and many others just can't see it because of your
preconceived ideas. If you look at the facts objectively you would see
that what I say is true. You ever see the movie Jerry McGuire, where the
guy says "show me the money"? Well, you "show me the facts" that prove
me wrong. I'd love to see them.

Hawke

On Jan 11, 3:19*am, Hawke wrote:


You ever see the movie Jerry McGuire, where the
guy says "show me the money"? Well, you "show me the facts" that prove
me wrong. I'd love to see them.

Hawke

I have never seen that movie. But if you bother to look instead of
dreaming, you will find that VW , and Siemens both have manufacturing
plants in China. I believe most VW's imported into the US are made in
Brazil.

Dan

On 1/11/2011 4:12 AM, wrote:
On Jan 11, 3:19 am, wrote:


You ever see the movie Jerry McGuire, where the
guy says "show me the money"? Well, you "show me the facts" that prove
me wrong. I'd love to see them.

Hawke

I have never seen that movie. But if you bother to look instead of
dreaming, you will find that VW , and Siemens both have manufacturing
plants in China. I believe most VW's imported into the US are made in
Brazil.

Dan



I'm sure they have but they can't just shut down production in Germany
and build everything in Asia. Either the government won't let them or
they care enough about the German people not to do that. Unfortunately,
"our" companies don't have a lick of loyalty to America. They have shown
they couldn't care less about American workers. The bottom line is all
that matters. They see the potential market of billions of people in
Asia and have all but forgotten about the American people who used to
have the best lives in the world but are now going down to a much lower
standard of living because the companies who provided their livelihood
have left them high and dry and have given their jobs to Asians who work
for slave wages.

A big business is nothing but a machine for profit making. It has no
loyalty to anyone but its stock and bond holders. It either controls
governments for its benefit or governments control it. In America with
republicans in charge, the corporations tell the government what to do.
The people suffer because of it. Can you see how many Americans are
suffering and how few are prospering? I'm sure you can. So after seeing
that our way of doing things doesn't help the majority, why is it that
you still think it's such a great system? From what I see it looks like
the Chinese authoritarian system works even better. At least it's people
are moving up. Not like Americans who are moving down.

Hawke

My shop is about a block away from there. That place was fairly
small around here, around 150 employees at its peak. Now Bethlehem
Steel and Agere Systems (AKA: Western Electric, Lucent, A.T & T.) both
employed thousands here and are now completely gone. OK, Agere does
have a few dozen people working for LSI which bought what was left of
Agere.

Beth Steel, now the Sands Casino .

Agere was bulldozed for the Iron Pigs baseball stadium. I used to
work for Agere, and have yet to go to a game. Building 60/61 where I
was is now the outfeild. Former coworkers who went say it's
depressing as hell.













On Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:56:27 -0600, Boris Kapusta
wrote:

Closing of Allentown Metal Works represents the end of the era
January 7th, 2011

Every book has an ending and the same is true with corporate success
stories. In America, the endings for books are much easier to accept
than the end of a company, but in both cases they are inevitable.

Allentown Metal Works, a 100 year old plant in south Allentown, will
close its doors for good sometime in 2011.

In 2005 it was used a gritty backdrop in the city’s mayoral election
and was held up as a symbol of bringing manufacturing back to the
region. It also was a stop on President Barack Obama’s tour of the
Lehigh Valley in a recent visit.

However, it more accurately represented a bygone era of when
manufacturing was king of the economy in the Lehigh Valley and around
the country.

Unfortunately, the manufacturing cycle has seen its boom in America,
and while not necessarily in the bust phase of the cycle, the
landscape has changed drastically for American manufacturers.

While some may choose to lament the closing of a chapter in the
history of Allentown business, the city is prepared to move on by
closing the book on this era, and assist some company in utilizing the
space for something new and productive as soon as possible.

More than likely it will be used by some sort of Service Company,
which is currently in the boom phase for the local and US economy.

http://www.examiner.com/business-com...end-of-the-era
Thank You,
Randy

Remove 333 from email address to reply.

On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:23:31 -0500, Randy wrote:

My shop is about a block away from there. That place was fairly
small around here, around 150 employees at its peak. Now Bethlehem
Steel and Agere Systems (AKA: Western Electric, Lucent, A.T & T.) both
employed thousands here and are now completely gone. OK, Agere does
have a few dozen people working for LSI which bought what was left of
Agere.

Beth Steel, now the Sands Casino .

Agere was bulldozed for the Iron Pigs baseball stadium. I used to
work for Agere, and have yet to go to a game. Building 60/61 where I
was is now the outfeild. Former coworkers who went say it's
depressing as hell.

Hey Randy, do they still have those signs on the main drag that it is
unlawful to pass the sign twice in an hour? If so can you get a
picture of one?

I've got a picture of a school sign somewhere that had about 6
different times that you do have to slow down to 15 mph, I had to stop
just to read it and took a picture.

SW