Do you think America has a chance? | Page 9 | EVERYTHING ELSE OFF TOPIC | Forum

Larry L;5687 wrote: The following are 19 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind....

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.
[FONT=Impact][FONT=Century Gothic][COLOR=red]This is probably true- although some of it due to increased efficiency. But our government definitely has tax and legal policies that encourage offshore manufacturing. [/COLOR][/FONT]

#2 Dell Inc., one of America ’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its opera tions in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.
This is pretty meaningless- it tells us nothing about how many computers Dell is selling in China, for example, what their position is in the overall computer making field is, or WHY its building factories in China.

#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem , North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.
Computers are mass market commodity items. Right now, they make em in China, but as Chinese wages go up, they may make em in Vietnam, or Madagascar, or Cyprus- the only way to make them here would be for us to put such high tariffs on imported ones that US made computers, at, say, $2500 for a laptop, could compete.

#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cell phones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States ? Zero.
Again- this is due to US tax and investment laws- the Finns make cell phones in Finland, and they pay their workers higher wages than we do, with more benefits, and higher taxes. If we want to make cell phones here, we need to adjust our laws to encourage it. Right now, our laws are written to encourage Hedge Funds.

#5 According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.
A fact like this one leaves out about 20 other factors that affect US jobs- like oil prices, internal US and Chinese politics, tariffs, the weather, and lots more.

#6 As of the end of July, th e U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.
Thats because a year ago, we were at the bottom of the worst recession in 80 years. Not exactly the best year to use as a baseline. Again-our laws make it cheaper to buy stuff from China. If we want to change that, we need to change our laws. Unfortunately, the guys who make a huge profit from things the way they are contribute hundreds of millions to keep our laws exactly the way they are.

#7 The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.
Again- how much of this is due to efficiency, how much is the recession, how much is structural? We also used be 90% employed in Agriculture, 100 years ago- now, 3% of us grow MORE food. I think there is a real number of jobs that were lost due to bad trade policies- but its probably not 5.5 million

#8 According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.
This is something I point out all the time- Foreign rich people think America is a good investment, and making stuff here, like steel and cars and wine fridges are profitable. American rich people think its too much trouble to run a business, when the tax laws allow them to make so much more money just shuffling money around in imaginary investment vehicles.

#9 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it rep resented 11.5 percent.
Again- this is because something like 1/3 of US "output" is Wall Street bonuses for foreclosing on people in Phoenix.

#10 Ford Motor Company recently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul , Minnesota . Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford's new "global" manufacturing strategy.
So? Ford makes decisions on where to manufacture based on sales and costs. BMW and Mercedes hire americans to make cars here- and so does Ford- but this isolated fact is pretty meaningless.

#11 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.
[SIZE=3]Again- mere numbers of bodies are irrelevant. How many man hours does it take to make a car now, compared to 1941? Was it better when it took 5 times as long, just so employees could have jobs? We could, I am sure, come up with busywork jobs just to keep people working in manufacturing- but it sounds kind of Stalinist to me. My dad worked in a steel mill in 1948, there were 15,000 employees. Nucor makes more steel today than his mill did then, per year, with around 700 guys. Should we demand Nucor hire an extra 14,300 guys to stand around?

#12 In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.
Simple solution- BUY LESS CRAP! But wait- all the big corporations WANT you to buy crap.My kid was just complaining to me the other day that, compared to all his friends, we didnt buy enough "Random Stuff", and he felt like an outcast.

#13 The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
Again- incomplete information. How did our dollar amount of stuff manufactured change?

#14 In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.
Okay, okay, I will do my best to look at more porn, to do my share for America- I mean, really- this is saying we somehow dont waste enough time online? Give me a break.

#15 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.
[FONT="Century Gothic"]How much of this is a good thing? How much is tax law? How much is the fact that we have moved on to other industries?[/FONT]

#16 Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.
[They get the solvents flushed down THEIR drains now, into THEIR streams. I can live with that.

#17 The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States .
Thats cause we dont make much they want. They do buy Luxury goods from us, about 1 Billion Chicken feet a year, and Hollywood movies.

#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.
DUH. The entire population of the USA is equal to the rounding error in calculating the Chinese population. Their middle class is bigger than our entire population. Its inevitable that they will be a bigger economy than us- we are only 5% of the worlds population- why should we be the top dogs forever. Especially since they are putting their money where their mouth is, and investing in new technologies, infrastructure, education, and a lot of other stuff we dont want to spend money on.

#19 The U.S. Ce nsus Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.
This is disgusting. But we made the laws that make this happen, and we just elected a bunch of goons who want to make it even more this way. You lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

[I am doing my part- I was grinding and welding and making a noisy industrial mess today, Christmas morning, because I believe in doing my patriotic duty.