Is China our daddy?

[boatnam2]

Usally not to political, but took my daughter to the mall to but her some let her go on a little shopping spree.Every store we went in the stuff is made in china,she wanted a pair of vans i thought to myself finally something made in the the good old USA wrong friggin vans are made in china.

 

[OCMerrill]

This China thing already is taking a toll. In the next several years it will become devastating. Right now greed is in the way of the average American seeing it.

I lost an entire career to China manufacturing at 1/4 cost.

 

[TBI]

Once apon a time, there were two Chinamen...........














now look at em!

 

[OCMerrill]

Once apon a time, there were two Chinamen...........


now look at em!

March them 10 wide and they can circle the globe. :swear

On Edit...
I hope that fawkin globe isn't Made in China? Awh WTF I just pissed myself off. Dammit. :swear

 

[shueman]

March them 10 wide and they can circle the globe.

#1 demand in China is automobiles. Once they start driving, there goes the world's supply of fossil fuel...

 

[RitcheyRch]

Isnt that the truth. Arent they supposed to start importing cars to the US soon?

#1 demand in China is automobiles. Once they start driving, there goes the world's supply of fossil fuel...

 

[OCMerrill]

#1 demand in China is automobiles. Once they start driving, there goes the world's supply of fossil fuel...

I guess the days of the rickshaw are numbered.

You do make a good point.

 

[AzMandella]

You can't blame anybody but ourselves. Until we quit letting unions force us to pay peons like they are college grads and liberals continue to make everyone think that there should'nt be any poor or lower middle class it will continue. I bought a handcart the other day that was made in China. It cost 40.00 bucks. If it were made here it would be more like 70.00 bucks. good thing McDonalds isn't unionized or a meal deal would be $12.00 because they would have to pay the booger picken fry cook $70,000 a year.

 

[Gramps]

#1 demand in China is automobiles. Once they start driving, there goes the world's supply of fossil fuel...

They already started. From what I have read there is a WHOLE BUNCH of oil going there now.

 

[Lue]

It was surprising to see how much shit is made over seas now.

At my last job, we were seeing a ton of work go over there. I am talking about production lots that were maybe 200 pieces a year per part number. They were negotiated on a huge purchase order I'm sure but they were taking it on. I think it's only a matter of time before most if not all of the production of that place goes over seas. A new big focking dickhead over there prided himself on how much money he was going to save the corporation. Stupid ass didn't stop to think what he was going to do to the people already doing the work here.

 

[Parker Dreamin]

Keeps the Ports busy....

 

[Faceaz]

A buddy of mine is there about 10 months of the year & tells me some interesting stories. The pollution is really bad in the inner cities & the govt. is actually making companies move outside the city to clean up the pollution for the olympics. They're enforcing laws to limit driving for the same reasons & they're running a bunch of propoganda adds to get there citizens to be a bit more civilized. Basically a shit hole & the govt. is cleaning it up just for presentation @ the olympics.

But their property values are going up drastically & the govt. is taking a bigger portion of the revenues from companies. It's still really cheap compared to American labor, but going up. India is slowly becoming the new slum lord cheap labor & poor living conditions.

America excells in high end electronics & innovation. Niether China or India are on the cutting edge of development, that's still Japan & America.

 

[Nord]

Let me be the first to tell you. Speaking in generalities, we have done this to ourselves. I have a Western Store and you would think everything is made in the U.S. Slowly but surely almost every on of my vendors have switched to making their products in China, Mexico, India, Bangladesh, and so on. My high end stuff is still made here in the good ol' USA but the prices have gone way up (relative to material and labor).

Most people have two problems when they are a "American Made" wanting consumer. 1) They want it made in the US. 2) When they find the item, it is too expensive.

This is why I say we have done this to ourselves. To make MOST items in the US, the material is only half of the price in building a product. Materials here are very expensive......Sometimes higher quality, but more expensive. Then you have the labor portion......I don't think I need to explain that.

I deal with this problem every day with customers. When I show them my Lucchese Boots that are "On Sale" for $269 they look at me like I'm crazy. Then I show them a Tony Lama or Justin boot that is "On Sale" for $129.90. They love the boots, then ask where they are made. Mexico, or China is the answer. Then they go on and on about how nothing is made here anymore. I JUST SHOWED THEM THE MADE IN THE USA BOOTS.....However they didn't like the price so they resume their rant about everything made overseas.

I sit there and wonder if they will ever grasp whats going on.

 

[Debbolas]

I am constantly shocked at the amount of goods sold here in the USA that are made in China.

I think a great store would be one that could boast "All items made in USA"

Even at my store Williams Sonoma, a lot of our stuff is from China (and we charge a lot!)

Remember when Walmart's claim to fame use to me "Made in the USA"

 

[Flyinbowtie]

I deal with this problem every day with customers. When I show them my Lucchese Boots that are "On Sale" for $269 they look at me like I'm crazy. Then I show them a Tony Lama or Justin boot that is "On Sale" for $129.90. They love the boots, then ask where they are made. Mexico, or China is the answer. Then they go on and on about how nothing is made here anymore. I JUST SHOWED THEM THE MADE IN THE USA BOOTS.....However they didn't like the price so they resume their rant about everything made overseas.

I sit there and wonder if they will ever grasp whats going on.

Nord, I just checked out your site, the next time the wife forces me to go down south I am a'comin to visit your place. I have been promising myself a set of Lucchese boots for 20 years, and it is time. I have weird feet, so mail order isn't right for me. We will try them until we get The Ones.

 

[foxfam312]

Hey azmandella, dont blame unions, its every middle man wanting their 40 or 50% profit, Think pal before you speak.

 

[Bobby V]

Hey azmandella, dont blame unions, its every middle man wanting their 40 or 50% profit, Think pal before you speak.

I know this first hand. My boss just told me to up the profit margin back up to 50%. We are union. We were 60% a for awhille 6 months ago. Then went down to 40% to get some more work. The owner says it takes 18% to run the company. :hmm

 

[OCMerrill]

I am constantly shocked at the amount of goods sold here in the USA that are made in China.

I think a great store would be one that could boast "All items made in USA"

Even at my store Williams Sonoma, a lot of our stuff is from China (and we charge a lot!)

Remember when Walmart's claim to fame use to me "Made in the USA"

Sam Walmart. Period. 100% American Made.

Then he died and his greedy kids and stock chairs focked America royal. We had two American Made products in Walmart for a short stint. That company is 100% Evil. I could tell some stories.

 

[G-Body]

Remember when Walmart's claim to fame use to me "Made in the USA"

Yep, Sam must be spinning in his grave now

 

[Nord]

Nord, I just checked out your site, the next time the wife forces me to go down south I am a'comin to visit your place. I have been promising myself a set of Lucchese boots for 20 years, and it is time. I have weird feet, so mail order isn't right for me. We will try them until we get The Ones.

You let me know when your coming and we'll make an appointment......

 

[G-Body]

its every middle man wanting their 40 or 50% profit

Yep, I heard a couple years ago that in the 50`s-60`s when everything was american made manufacturers were thrilled if they made 100% profit on an item. (IE: cost 2 bucks to make and they sold it for 4). Now if they are not making 300-400% profit they are unhappy.....and where could that extra profit margin come from???? lower salaries for the workers.

If you look at the average since the early 90`s people are making more money now, but the percentage of americans who are considered middle class has decreased

 

[Nord]

Like I said

 

[TPC]

Another eye opener is that China is holding most our credit in their hands.
If they call in all the money owed to them by the US, you'll really see the US dollar tank, and interest rates hit Jimmy Carter double digit highs for a long, long time.

 

[TPC]

Nord, I just checked out your site, the next time the wife forces me to go down south I am a'comin to visit your place. I have been promising myself a set of Lucchese boots for 20 years, and it is time. I have weird feet, so mail order isn't right for me. We will try them until we get The Ones.

Me too. I'll be spending the day.
Ex-girlfriend threw out all my cowboy boots.

I have really hard-to-fit hooves so that evil act really hit hard.

Wife needs extra long jeans that she can usually only find at Western stores if she's lucky.

 

[WTRR]

China is driving the world wide demand for steel, copper and petroleum products. In the last year 300 million Chinese have moved from the interior to the coastal areas to seek employment. That is equivilent to the entire U.S. population. They are in the driver's seat.
And yes, we've done it to ourselves. Buying cheap shit made in China from Wal-Mart on credit. How fucked up is that?

Nord, you have any Lucchese boots in a 14 EEEE ?

 

[sorry dog]

A buddy of mine is there about 10 months of the year & tells me some interesting stories. The pollution is really bad in the inner cities & the govt. is actually making companies move outside the city to clean up the pollution for the olympics. They're enforcing laws to limit driving for the same reasons & they're running a bunch of propoganda adds to get there citizens to be a bit more civilized. Basically a shit hole & the govt. is cleaning it up just for presentation @ the olympics.

But their property values are going up drastically & the govt. is taking a bigger portion of the revenues from companies. It's still really cheap compared to American labor, but going up. India is slowly becoming the new slum lord cheap labor & poor living conditions.

America excells in high end electronics & innovation. Niether China or India are on the cutting edge of development, that's still Japan & America.

I lived over there for 4 months and from I've seen I'll second your buddy's opinion. Shanghai looks just as trendy and high tech as New York, but you don't have to go very far to find stone age shit going on in the country side. I would bet my overpaid American salary that at least half of the population in the country has never seen or used a sit down toilet to take a shit. It's pretty common to see a squatter taking care of business 5 feet off the highway.

...and speaking of highways... they don't really have'em. Not like interstates that we are used to. It's train or air for most folks because of the hassle for traveling between different gov't districts. The local govments got more in common with 1960's Mississippi Justices of the Peace (JP's) than anything else I've seen.

Anyway... the hope of our future economic competiveness will be determined a great deal by innovation and invention rather than old school manufacturing.


...one more note to take... if the dollar tanks more (which is NOT in china's best interest) then that should take care of that pesky trade imbalance that everybody bitches about.

 

[Luckie Stiff]

I touched on this on Hot Ban just before the meltdown, the Unions are not solely to blame, most of us earn a living wage, we're not all like the UAW that inevitably priced itself out of the market. The reason for the influx of foreign made materials, offshore customer service operators, etc is simply GREED. Why make a measly 60 or 70% profit when you can get it made cheaper somewhere else and make 300 or 400% profit! Levis, Vans, Carhart, Wranglers, Pendleton, GM, Ford, Craftsman power tools, you name it, it's probably made somewhere else. You can thank your government and NAFTA for that!
Rant over

 

[Luckie Stiff]

A little on Wal Mart for those that are interested.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/

 

[Skyskier]

You can't blame anybody but ourselves. Until we quit letting unions force us to pay peons like they are college grads and liberals continue to make everyone think that there should'nt be any poor or lower middle class it will continue. I bought a handcart the other day that was made in China. It cost 40.00 bucks. If it were made here it would be more like 70.00 bucks. good thing McDonalds isn't unionized or a meal deal would be $12.00 because they would have to pay the booger picken fry cook $70,000 a year.

Stopped at McDonalds in Parker yesterday, ( grandkids choice ) $3.59 for a frickin 1/4 pounder w/cheese :swear NO DRINK, NO FRIES, a microwaved sandwich only. And it was served up by a toothless chinaman :hmm

 

[TPC]

Stopped at McDonalds in Parker yesterday, ( grandkids choice ) $3.59 for a frickin 1/4 pounder w/cheese :swear NO DRINK, NO FRIES, a microwaved sandwich only. And it was served up by a toothless chinaman :hmm

Last time we ate there tribal kids arrived in a CRIT van, entered the playland slide, all took a crap at the top of it,, then they threw their food at the McDonalds employees because the quality sucked,,,,

To keep with the thread though:

Stuff for local consumption in China is increasingly made in Viet Nam, the next BFD cheap place to MFG, which is now about 1/3 the cost of labor than Red China according to Fox biz news.

 

[VoodooMedMan]

Sometimes you can only do so much though. I buy American when I can if there is an American made product of similar or better quality and I don't care if it costs a bit more. But when you are talking about $140 difference for a pair of boots that seems a little extreme. It sucks though. I need to be getting some and a hat and I was thinking I'd go spend a hundred something for some good quality American boots instead of $50 bucks for some import crap. I guess I have the prices wrong.

Let me be the first to tell you. Speaking in generalities, we have done this to ourselves. I have a Western Store and you would think everything is made in the U.S. Slowly but surely almost every on of my vendors have switched to making their products in China, Mexico, India, Bangladesh, and so on. My high end stuff is still made here in the good ol' USA but the prices have gone way up (relative to material and labor).

Most people have two problems when they are a "American Made" wanting consumer. 1) They want it made in the US. 2) When they find the item, it is too expensive.

This is why I say we have done this to ourselves. To make MOST items in the US, the material is only half of the price in building a product. Materials here are very expensive......Sometimes higher quality, but more expensive. Then you have the labor portion......I don't think I need to explain that.

I deal with this problem every day with customers. When I show them my Lucchese Boots that are "On Sale" for $269 they look at me like I'm crazy. Then I show them a Tony Lama or Justin boot that is "On Sale" for $129.90. They love the boots, then ask where they are made. Mexico, or China is the answer. Then they go on and on about how nothing is made here anymore. I JUST SHOWED THEM THE MADE IN THE USA BOOTS.....However they didn't like the price so they resume their rant about everything made overseas.

I sit there and wonder if they will ever grasp whats going on.

 

[VoodooMedMan]

Me too. I'll be spending the day.
Ex-girlfriend threw out all my cowboy boots.

I have really hard-to-fit hooves so that evil act really hit hard.

Wife needs extra long jeans that she can usually only find at Western stores if she's lucky.

J. Crew. You can order tall and short sizes from them. Not usually in the store but she can try on for the number size and then just order them in that size but tall. There is a black phone in the store for ordering from the catalog or you can just go home and do it online or whatever. My wife wears a tall size.

 

[ElAzul]

Also what about all the lead in our kids toys? China does not give a crap about rules or regulations. I also blame the American CEO's that make hundreds of millions a year + bonus. They dont give a damn about American jobs etc. If they keep costs down and profits up they win.

I saw a report about CEO salary somewhere. In the last 50 years it has multiplied thousands of times.

Hell even our Hershey Chocolate plant moved to Mexico

I have a family member who lost his job of 24 years at Modine Radiator when they moved to mexico as well. And all there steel and lead parts are imported from China.