.....and the ones that are working, are not spending as blindly as before. Seems the only thing people are buying around here right now are guns and ammo.....that's scary.
Until the demand increases we are going to bring them back either. The next 2-3 years are going to be kinda ugly. My problem is I am loosing faith. Pegleg stated it well. Society today is as much to blame. To many people complain instead of doing something about it. To many people believe their problem was created by someone else and they are the victim. Too much litigation because people don't take responsiblity for their own actions. I am only 37, but was raised on a farm. I started walking beans at 6. I started operating equipment at 12. I started to drive a pickup at 14. Semi's at 16. I grew up in a home were you better get it done, because if you don't you were going to get your a$$ handed to you. I work that way today. I personally feel that I need to do my job really well because if I don't sell new products there are support staff, engineering staff and plant personal that will loose their jobs or won't be hired. More people need to feel responsible. I can only hope that the support staff feel that way or the plant people feel that way. If we all just try to take care of the others in out company by doing the best we can we will overcome. If we search for American made products that will help, but it will not be the end all. Just asking the government to protect us isn't the answer. If anything it will just allow us to maintain this bad act we are doing today. We need to be more efficient. We need to work harder. That is what made the US great in the first place. Not government protection. Everyone need to take responsiblity. Everyone need to be better neighbors, parents and friends. We need to change this from the inside out, not the outside(governement) in. We need to elect people that will act like parents to the spoiled brats out there, not be friends and enablers to them.:af: If you don't earn it you have no rights to it, but at the same time those with more have so because of the protection given to them. We need balance. Than we can become a great nation again. Sorry, I just am feed up with the "system" today.
I've been to both countries within the past 3 years. Walking around Paris or Seville, I would never have figured out I was visiting has-been countries. In fact, if I asked the people in the street, I'm sure they would have been surprised to hear they were has-been! Is this the same press that promotes JD Power Vehicle Dependability Studies? The ones that have traditionally shown Buick to be among the top brands? That's a pipe dream straight from the Buy America crowd. You know very well that the value of the Dollar has to do with many factors, including - surprise! - supply and demand. The value of the Dollar goes down if the amount of Dollars floating around is less than the amount of Dollars demanded. What has been contributing to the decline of the Dollar? Of course the trade deficit is one of them. But that weaker dollar will stimulate US exports and have a respective effect on imports. Doing a little research, it seems that the trade deficit has gone down 15% in the past two years (if I want to believe what the media is telling me). And what little economics I know (I failed it twice), I do know that economies go in cycles, so I think the dollar will swing back up. But let's back up a bit - why are you going to blame me for buying things that fit my needs? Do I really need to hear it from others what my needs are? Rather than blame the consumer, shouldn't you be blaming the government that determines our trade regulations? What about interest rates? Inflation? Consumer confidence? The first step in rebuilding our esteem is to end the arrogance that allows us to suggest that certain world powers are has-beens. Then, we need rouse up the ingenuity that has made this country great - we have no entitlements. Why should we shed tears in our lattes and lament how things aren't how they used to be? We need to get off our fat asses, tighten our belts, and work for the same things we had to before; sitting along the sidelines and piping, "Buy American!" doesn't really help the cause, not to mention doesn't address the issues that we need to acknowledge and face in an environment that's much different than it was in the past. Ya mean like GM and Ford? They're different, right? NO ONE should be against overseas products. However, we all should be against poor quality. Anyone making poor quality products will lose in the marketplace, and it is our responsibility to produce good products if we want to succeed.
Umm, I beg to differ with this statement, since my employment is in the freight relocation industry. The manufacturing plants which I've recently visited seem to be doing fairly good business moving product all over the USA and Canada. In fact, one manufacturing plant in central Iowa has been looking for more employees for some time now. I believe it is even a union plant.:shock: The sky is not falling, nor is it likely to in the foreseeable future. I never took economics, but it seems that whenever there is no growth in the GDP, everyone starts panicking.o No: Perhaps this panic is what turns no growth into negative growth. If you want a better, or at least a different look at the economic picture, read a few trucking industry publications. The freight indexes contained therein offer a truer story of what is happening. The latest month to month shipment indexes show the real story. There has been a drop in freight tonnage over tha past 4 months, but to reiterate, the sky is not falling, drooping slightly, maybe, but not falling. The economy will recover again. Read here: > http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2008/11/24/TrucktonnagefizzlesdownwardagaininOctober.aspx On the other hand, let's take the saga of Wang Chung, living in some decrepit shack somewhere in China with his wife, and government mandated single child. There he toils in total obscurity trying to make life just a little better for them, when lo and behold, a new widget and gizmo producing factory is built within walking distance to his little shack. Now being the hard working man he is, obtaining a job at this factory becomes paramount. He knows that this job will offer him the chance to tremendously improve his family's lifestyle. He probably doesn't care about environmental concerns, he only wants a better life. So he gets lucky, and lands a job there. Soon, the money starts flowing, and he can now move his family into much better housing. As the plant continues producing widgets and gizmos for an ever increasing demand, his life gets even better. Maybe a promotion or two come along, and now he can buy his first ever automobile, hopefully a new Buick. More money also means fancier clothes, perhaps a better university education for his government mandated single child. Any of this sound familiar?? Would it not seem that Wang Chung's situation parallels that of many of our own forebearers?? Now lets's substitute Pepe Gonzales for Wang Chung, and move him to Mexico. (Names are fictitious, used solely as examples) The entire point of this diatribe is since when did we suddenly obtain the right to dictate to those less fortunate than us how they should live their lives. We promote human rights to developing countries, yet when it comes to saving our precious jobs, will turn to attack mode, vilifying those who simply want a better life. Perhaps we are the ones who need a good swift kick in the ass.
We also need to shift the focus from in our country from "me" to "we". From a time when we felt good about ourselves, good about our neighbors and fellow citizens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s6U8GActdQ
Wednesday I was in a Chrysler-Dodge_Jeep store, been here forever,,, they sold 9 cars so far this month, they need 80 to break even, usually do 100-110... today I was in a MINI and BMW store, month to date on MINI was 60, BMW was a tad over 300.... how do you convince 360 Euro buyers to buy American against the other 9 domestic sales...?? o No:
Don't you mean, "From a time when we felt good about ourselves, good about our neighbors and fellow citizens . . . as long as they were white?" Sorry, but I prefer to look to the future than the past - it's a different world right now, and one of the problems we currently have is continuing to do things the same as before when the rest of the world has changed.
Check this out, it seems appropriate to what some people believe. > Who Moved My Cheese?? < I thought the book was right on the mark.:TU:
Come back to Michigan and tell me about being worried about Long Dick Dong in the rice paddy living the same quality of life that we used to.....with jobs or the ability to leave the area to a more fertile location except you can't even give your house away anymore...... The objective of any CEO is to maximize the value of the stock. Back in normal times that was one of the objectives. Now it's survival.... Don't ask me for sympathy.
Let's work through these in pieces to allow my old obviously addled brain to answer. A couple hundred years ago those two countries ruled the world, along with England obviously. Is that still the case? Did I miss something. They may well be interesting, civilized places to live, but they no longer influence much in the rest of the world. They are, in fact, second rate countries compared to the US, or China. That is inded the same press that prints the JD Power Study on page D12, while page one explains in lurid detail how the Auto CEO's Flew to Washington in,God Forbid, Corporate Jets! Oh the humanity! I am definitely against "Poor Quality" so are most of us. But I am also against "Perceived Quality" which is often a myth, perpetuated by the press, network television, and even the Auto Magazines. Last, but not to your retort. I do understand the value of devaluing the Dollar, (pun intended). Although it may have gone too far, it's been a useful tool in curtailing the export/import balance and applaud the idea. However, it's also a major factor behind the gas price rise, which has helped hurt the economy. The problem with "the money will eventually come back theorey" is that we will need to have a manufacturing base to provide goods when this magical time comes. Going to be tough to sell McDonalds to everybody. Mr. T has a point, Trucking is down, but not anywhere near what is believed. I am currently on the road three or four days a week and really don't see a large reduction in traffic from a year ago. I know this is anicdotal, but it is an accurate observation. Forgive the gloom, but I live in the heart of the RV industry, which has absolutey come to a complete halt. Nobody's working. I have also spent 35 plus years supplying castings to Detroit as a foundry Engineer/ executive, blah, blah. There were 6000 foundries when I started in the 70's, today there's 2000. It becomes very personal at that point.
Frank, I have some work to finish up, and then I'm going home from visiting my family. I will respond in kind when I get the chance. Until then, have a great rest of the weekend!
