POST BY "GRITS"/2000

[alma]

"I received this in my email and it's so true that it makes you think. Thought I would share it with y'all.

MADE IN AMERICA
Joe Smith starts the day early, having set his alarm clock
(made in China), for 6:00 A.M.
While his coffee pot (made in China) is perking, he puts his blow dryer (made in Taiwan) to work, and shaves with is electric razor (made in China).
He puts on a dress shirt (made in Taiwan), his designer jeans (made in Singapore), and a pair of tennis shoes (made in Korea).
After cooking up some breakfast in his new electric skillet (made in Phillippines), he sits down to figure out on is calculator (made in Mexico), how much he can spend today.
After setting his watch (made in switzerland), to the radio (made in China), he goes out, gets in is car (made in Germany) goes looking, as he had been for months, for a good paying American job.
At the end of another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decides to relax for awhile.
He puts on a pair of sandals (made in China), pours himself a glass of wine (made in France), and turns on his TV (made in Japan), and ponders again why he just can't seem to find a good paying American job."

--and now, I hear, he is up against an influx of 12,000,000 illegal mexican aliens, filling jobs in the building industry where he used to work, getting paid under the table.

[MNMOM]

Hi Alma, Nice to see you posting!

This article is so profound, show's just what has happened to our country and all the outsourcing that they have done.

[TNDadx4]

Very true! It seems so hard to find items that are made in America anymore.

[MissouriFree]

Very telling . a lot of us here understand to bad orthers don't

[GREEN_ALIEN]

Sometimes posts like this just piss me off.

Do any of you really know how much it costs to manufacture an item in the US? I am not talking about a silly mom and pops craft item, I mean a consumer item?

I do! I manufacture and market an item, several in fact, all made right here in the good old US. Do you know that it costs me (or my customers) 60 extra dollars for the privlege of saying US Made? Thats right, I can have the same product made in China and shipped back here for 60 dollars less per. Why you ask? Well I will tell you. It is all because American workers are about the biggest bunch of whining crybabies that have ever existed. Fat, lazy and generally dumb. We always want more... and of course we want to do less.

Do you really think buying American will save us all? Are you that naive? Here is what will really happen if this wonderous change took place. The American worker will not take a pay cut, oh no. The company is making a profit so I need MORE. The company will have to raise the product prices because of the fat, lazy dumbs and then no one will be able to afford their crap. Company closes, lays off the fat, lazy dumbs and people being who they are still buy the China product.

There is absolutely not one thing wrong with a global economy except for the American worker...

Good example, personal experience. Company makes big profits, workers strike because they want more, Company caves in this time. Who made the rule that if the company makes more you deserve more? Are not the companies in business to make money? If you want the big bucks take the risk, start a company.

Best thing to save us all is to work hard, keep yap shut and perform at 100%. Thats why we have been so successful!

Ted

[Winston_Smith]

American workers make me sick too with their OSHA and "human rights". Ugh. And all these lazy dumb 5th graders- too good to work in a sweatshop 15 hours a day? What your fingers are bleeding? Keep your yap shut and make more soccer balls!

[GREEN_ALIEN]

Got to love a post from someone who has obviously spent a bit of time in China looking over the facilities where his product could be made.

I have been there Winston. Here is what I saw. Workers in meticoulously clean plants all doing their jobs like they were on fire. They were paid above the national median wage. They were allowed a few pee and food breaks throughout their 10 hour day. There was no talking or general chit chat going on, just work.

The difference is the willingness to work. They got it, we don't.

Ted

[GoodDaughter]

OMG, talk about naivete!

I've been in a communist country, in the day when it WAS still communist. Spent considerable time in Novosibirsk, Vladivostok and the Astrakhan. Not China, but communist.

Did it ever occur to you that many of those workers so very happy to work 10+ hours a day in sweatshops (or metal factories or mining etc.) HAVE to do so because the government has ORDERED them to work at the risk of their very freedom and lives, and the freedom and lives of their families? Dude, you need to have spent time in places like those, or the Ceaucescu era Romania to know that to tell the gvmt. no, I don't want to work in a sweatshop (or anything else for that matter they are being government ordered to do) often meant a midnight visit from the local constabulary and sometimes even meant people disappearing in the night to never be seen again. Go to Novosibirsk, take your know-it-all smart a$$ over there and talk to some of the people walking around the streets. Lots of them over age 40 or so came from families that were 'resituated' because they said or did something the gvmt. didn't like. Maybe they were told when they were 10 what their job was going to be when they were an adult, and when they became an adult decided they wanted to do something different. I know a lady who taught physics and calculus at the local high school. She was told at age 10 that would be her life's work. Yes, she did it (before defecting to the US at the risk of her life) but once she was here, she decided she wanted to be a florist. She tells me she is much happier.

For having spent time in other countries (China?) you have an astoundingly near-sighted and incomplete grasp of why those countries have the job markets they do. I have been some of those kinds of places, and I can tell you that with complete confidence. You're not the only one with firsthand knowlege, so don't act like it.

[GREEN_ALIEN]

Isnt it fortunate that 'that' communist country never has been an international manufacturing hub. Maybe your post is the reason why? Who knows.

I do know this, nearly every post to topics like this will always be about how 'other countries' are so bad and we are so much better. Rarely will anyone defend the fat, lazy dumbs because down deep they know we aint got it any longer.

Sure there are places that there is actual abuses, we all agree to that and I would never choose to use a facility in a place such as that and would encourage others in the same.

Ted

[fnfredux]

Sometimes posts like this just piss me off.

Do any of you really know how much it costs to manufacture an item in the US? I am not talking about a silly mom and pops craft item, I mean a consumer item?

I do! I manufacture and market an item, several in fact, all made right here in the good old US. Do you know that it costs me (or my customers) 60 extra dollars for the privlege of saying US Made? Thats right, I can have the same product made in China and shipped back here for 60 dollars less per. Why you ask? Well I will tell you. It is all because American workers are about the biggest bunch of whining crybabies that have ever existed. Fat, lazy and generally dumb. We always want more... and of course we want to do less.

Do you really think buying American will save us all? Are you that naive? Here is what will really happen if this wonderous change took place. The American worker will not take a pay cut, oh no. The company is making a profit so I need MORE. The company will have to raise the product prices because of the fat, lazy dumbs and then no one will be able to afford their crap. Company closes, lays off the fat, lazy dumbs and people being who they are still buy the China product.

There is absolutely not one thing wrong with a global economy except for the American worker...

Good example, personal experience. Company makes big profits, workers strike because they want more, Company caves in this time. Who made the rule that if the company makes more you deserve more? Are not the companies in business to make money? If you want the big bucks take the risk, start a company.

Best thing to save us all is to work hard, keep yap shut and perform at 100%. Thats why we have been so successful!

Ted

p[ssst. ted, the Americanstandard of living is higher than the Chinese standard of living for the working stiff. of course the Chinese BOSSES and factory owners live like kings.
Maybe you think the American standard of living should be lowered so you can pay people less? Then whom, may i ask will BUY your products?

[alma]

--but, you see, I DON'T WANT TO WORK.
I LIKE staying home.
I LIKED staying home and taking care of my kids, and then my grandchild, and lots of other kid along the way.
I LIKED taking care of the old folks when i was young and, now that i m old, my daughter takes care of me and my hubby .
I LIKED nursing so many of my family members when they were sick, and so many others over the years.
I thought that i was being a responsible citizen, friend and neighbor, as well as caring for my own, free.
I LIKED helping my hubby and daughter in their businesses for many year.
I LIKED being on call 24 hours day for a long, long time.
Like i said, i don't WANT to work.
Ain"t just being a dedicated woman enough!
In my book, women are worth their weight in gold.
There can be no price put upon the worth of a good woman, and most women ARE good, or desire to be good, all over the world, governments be damed.
Bosses be damned. Tyrants be damned. love, alma

[GoodDaughter]

Alma, all those things you did WERE work. You don't have to justify it to anyone!

Edited to add... I was standing there washing the dishes just now, thinking about this thread.... Alma, I bet you know about what it costs these days to have someone come in and sit nights with a critically ill person. Last I heard it was something like $75/day, and that is not even for a nurse---that's just for someone to come in and watch. And how much is daycare, or babysitters going for these days? Couple hundred a week per child if they give them meals? You have probably 'earned' several hundred thousand dollars in your life by the things you have done for your family and friends. Think how hard it would have been for them to have paid to have hired out those tasks. It's hard for anyone that's not really well off. You're right--there is no 'price' for a good woman. ;)



When I was married, I was blessed with a husband (rest in peace) who was a natural born busy body. He was always busy. I could either work or stay home and he never cared either way because he wanted me to be happy. I did a bit of all of it over the years--stayed home, worked away from home and even worked a home based business. *When we had money, we were fine. When we wanted to take a couple of months off and travel, we did that too, and enjoyed the life that God gave us. *Sure, we didn't have much money when we would take off work for a couple of months, but that was also our choice, and we understood it and didn't seek to blame anyone else for what we freely chose to do. Nor did we act hateful to those who chose to live differently than we did. Yes Alma, damn the tyrants and government and bosses. What we choose to do with our lives is no one's business but our own. And if snotty, hateful people attempt to heap their denigration on us... well.. it shows exactly who is full of hate and anger, doesn't it?

Alma, you go, girl ;)

[GREEN_ALIEN]

Ted, the American standard of living is higher than the Chinese standard of living for the working stiff. of course the Chinese BOSSES and factory owners live like kings.
Maybe you think the American standard of living should be lowered so you can pay people less? Then whom, may i ask will BUY your products?

LOL Well, here is my entertainment for today. Another person recounting what someone else told them they should believe. The truth is out there, just go and look for it. I think AA still flys to China, go see first hand.

1 - Do you hear the news? Do you digest what they say? Do you seek it out and form your own opinions? How many companies right now are in the news due to the extreme saleries of their CEO's? Dozens? Hundreds? I would say making 50 or 100 million a year qualifies as living like a king. I don't know we could all vote on what level of wage is kingly? If someone is too low we will call that knightly ok. Good grief CB.

2 - Of course the Chinese SOL is lower than ours, it is not based on plastic where ours is. We all know that we as a whole have reduced spending in the last year so maybe our artificially elevated SOL will drop some?

3 - Lets take a look at the American SOL for a minute. Do we need homes that are larger than we can even use? Do we need brand new SUV's? Do we need a plasma in every room? A cell phone in every hand? As far as NEED, nope we do not. Most of those that have MORE, MORE, MORE are losing it daily because they cannot pay the plastic bills at the end of the month. So yes, we have a high standard of living and it is a house made of ice... too bad it is a mother of all hot days!

I for one could care less what the standard of living is here versus there etc... I in addition I could care less if it is high or low. Will it change my life? No! I still get up and feed the stock, sell some, buy some whatever it takes to eat at the end of the day. Maybe I am the closet guy rooting for this to be the big crash, I do not know. I do know that in the long run a big crash will get us all back on track. Maybe we will realize what is truely important. I can ******* guarantee you without a shadow of a doubt that what matters is not where something is made!

Ted

[GREEN_ALIEN]

--but, you see, I DON'T WANT TO WORK.
I LIKE staying home.
I LIKED staying home and taking care of my kids, and then my grandchild, and lots of other kid along the way.
I LIKED taking care of the old folks when i was *young and, now that i m old, my daughter takes care of me and my hubby .
I LIKED nursing so many of my family members when they were sick, and so many others over the years.
I thought that i was being a responsible citizen, friend and neighbor, as well as caring for my own, free.
I LIKED helping my hubby and daughter in their businesses for many *year.
I LIKED being on call 24 hours *day for a long, long time.
Like i said, i don't WANT to work.
Ain"t just being a dedicated woman enough!
In *my book, women are worth their weight in gold.
There can be no price put upon the worth of a good woman, and most women ARE good, or desire to be good, all over the world, governments be damed.
Bosses be damned. Tyrants be damned. love, alma



Alma,

Good on you! I agree with most of your post with a small edit.

edited--> and most PEOPLE ARE good, or desire to be good, all over the world, governments be damed.
Bosses be damned. Tyrants be damned. love, alma


Ted

[pinetreefarm]

Hi Alma,

Long time seeing you. BTW...good post.
G-A thanks for the information, much of which I was unaware.

Pine

[flatwater]

Green allien , I have to agree with you on most points. I was taught as a child to work hard and do whatever was requied of me. Started working full time when I was 15. Graduated from high school with some college. I have what I have now because of hard work and doing what it took to make a living. Some jobs had unions and others didn't. Some unions were hiway robbers to the company some were not.All countries have products from other countries , it's called trade , get used to it or make your own stuff. And for Gods sakes quit your whining and do something about it because right now we have a bunch of lazy , I want top dollar to start , don't make me do anything icky , Kids out there that will be running the country soon if they haven't already.

[GREEN_ALIEN]

EXACTLY Flatwater! Thank you! If people would spend more time working, with their yaps shut and their hands on their work and not the companies wallet we would all be better off.

The problem is that the hand out generation is getting their turn and the work hard generation is on the way out! We taught them, one way or another, now we pay the price!

Hey ya ptf, been a long time.

Ted

[kaijafon]

when we 'out source' our own responsibilities; we loose. whether within a family or country

[gump]

Green allien , I have to agree with you on most points. I was taught as a child to work hard and do whatever was requied of me. Started working full time when I was 15. Graduated from high school with some college. I have what I have now because of hard work and doing what it took to make a living. Some jobs had unions and others didn't. Some unions were hiway robbers to the company some were not.All countries have products from other countries , it's called trade , get used to it or make your own stuff. And for Gods sakes quit your whining and do something about it because right now we have a bunch of lazy , I want top dollar to start , don't make me do anything icky , Kids out there that will be running the country soon if they haven't already.

No offense FW but being a younger person I get tired of hearing the blanket statements. There are plenty of motivated, hard working young people out there. I bet every
generation has heard the same complaint from its predecessor.

[flatwater]

I didn't want to offend and I didn't want it taken as a blanket statement. I don't like blanket statements either. And yes there are alot of good hard working kids but the numbers seem to be smaller then the others. One of my jobs is to hire for the company I work for. when I discribe how dirty the job can be , most of them leave. What can I say?

[anna]

Government rules and regulations have caused many companies to give up trying to do their manufacturing in the USA. OSHA is .gov not labor.

I think as the job situation becomes more dire a lot of people will be more willing to get their hands dirty. When they realize its that or go hungry, they will work.

[Maranna]

Somebody sent me that same email last week lol.

[gump]

I didn't want to offend and I didn't want it taken as a blanket statement. I don't like blanket statements either. And yes there are alot of good hard working kids but the numbers seem to be smaller then the others. One of my jobs is to hire for the company I work for. when I discribe how dirty the job can be , most of them leave. What can I say?

Point taken :)