Recommended reading: "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman. Global competition is a reality that isn't going away. I lead a product development group in a manufacturing plant. I have to work hard every day to maintain a competitive edge, stay profitable and keep customers from switching to overseas producers. I use my stereo to come home and unwind when I can get the chance. We use overseas suppliers ourselves. I don't always agree with it, but it is over my head. I have been in cities in the US that straddle state lines and seen incredible differences in prosperity on one side vs. the other. So I know government has a huge impact on the economy. Not just at the federal level, but at the state level too. I'm convinced too many of our government leaders play to the lobbyists funded by special interest groups and big business. It is frustrating to me to see CEOs making thousands of times their workers' average salaries (in the 60s CEOs made about 30x their average workers' pay) and yet they will close a US plant and ship the work overseas to gain a 1-2% margin. In the end, those companies still fail. Look at how many big corporations these days have let their CEOs earn more than the companies themselves earn. It is crazy. They dismiss their talent and then run the company into the ground trying to cut costs by shipping manufacturing out of the country. (I am sensitive to this because it has happened to me in the past.) We need government leaders to stand up and put communities first and jobs first.
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Tonyeinsc, well said. I have a brother in law who used to work at Imagineering for Disney back in the day. He's headed projects in Japan, Florida, and almost went to France. One day the department heads at Disney held a meeting and told them if they could get rid of all of them that day, they would. As you can guess, they were farmed out to sub contractors who used to work at Disney to do the same work for less and without benefits. He did that for a few years until he got some backers he met in China to fund his company to compete with the guys who screwed him out of his job. It's really off putting to think that he had to get Chinese backers to do American work, but it freed him up to do it his way. I would say it's a funny way to do things but it's really sad that it has come to this. All the best, Nonoise |
Not audio related, but an interesting story about a classic product reinvented to still be made in America. |
All it takes is the will to do it. There's no magic to it. Ideology can be a dangerous thing when not thought through. The answer can be staring you right in the face (and it is: we've been here before, many times) but a belief system based on "gut feelings", preconceived notions, and mob mentality can derail any sensible and non threatening solution. Nowadays, people will most certainly cut off their nose to spite their faces. They'll tell you it was due to the principle of the matter. A principle that exists only in their head and not in reality. All the best, Nonoise |
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