Originally Posted By fkurucz Perhaps the one thing we still have going for us that makes us attractive is that you lay people off at the drop of a hat. In many other countries (like Mexico) this is much harder to do.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <In a few years, maybe this offshoring fad will be abandoned< Actually Jonvn that' old news-- most companies stopped off shoring positions to India 3-5 years ago for exactly the reason you stated, the cost savings were not enough ( still way ahead of keeping jops here )- when there were other 'low cost' countries to puruse. Most jobs now go to Brazil or Thailand. The trend will not stop until they have reached the lowest cost possible, with some level of productivity maintained. HOWEVER, those jobs are never coming back here.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>It's time the government did something to help the people of this country.<< Actually, I agree with you, up to a point, but I just don't see this as something the U.S. can deal with alone. It's a global problem, and will take a global solution--something like getting the WTO to enforce minimum wage and working condition standards on all member countries. Call me a dreamer, but I'd like to think we'll get there some day.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Lots of companies have already reincorporated into places like Bermuda because of tax reasons. If a company does that, they can and should be hit with a wallop of taxes. < try and find a cruise ship registered out of the US
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Actually, I agree with you, up to a point, but I just don't see this as something the U.S. can deal with alone. It's a global problem, and will take a global solution--something like getting the WTO to enforce minimum wage and working condition standards on all member countries. Call me a dreamer, but I'd like to think we'll get there some day.< Alex, I do not disagree with you, however someone needs to start the ball rolling, and with us losing 10 million jobs in 7 years, one would think it would be us. I also am not naive enough to know this won't be easy, but if we wait too much longer, the damage will take much longer to fix.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>try and find a cruise ship registered out of the US<< talk about slave wages. most of the crew on those ships desperately depend on tips to survive.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>It's time the government did something to help the people of this country.<< Unfortunately they have no incentive whatsoever to do so. The billionaires of the world have them in their pockets.
Originally Posted By DAR <<talk about slave wages. most of the crew on those ships desperately depend on tips to survive.>> When I was in Mexico I found out that the housekeeping staff at our hotel literally was making change during their work day. We were told that any tips they receive are like a Godsend.
Originally Posted By jonvn You should always tip people who do service for you. It's what many people depend on to live.
Originally Posted By cmpaley >>>>Then you raise the fines until it is no longer economically feasible to do such a thing.<< And then the company re-incoporates itself in Liechtenstein or wherever.<< Sorry to say this, but then they can leave. Someone else who wants to do business and is patriotic can take their place.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Sorry to say this, but then they can leave. Someone else who wants to do business and is patriotic can take their place.<< Most likely a new company will form and buy their products and resell them here. Really, what if Intel and AMD packed their bags and left altogether? All those PC's and laptops that are assembled in Asia would still have their CPU's in them. Its very unlikely that a 3rd company would rise from the ashes to compete with them. If anything its been the opposite. Motorola, HP and IBM have been quietly getting out of the CPU business.
Originally Posted By jonvn We should also not have any of our defense products built in any other country. That's a major hole in our defense. We should be totally self-sufficient in that. That alone would be the first place to start.
Originally Posted By cmpaley >>Really, what if Intel and AMD packed their bags and left altogether? All those PC's and laptops that are assembled in Asia would still have their CPU's in them. Its very unlikely that a 3rd company would rise from the ashes to compete with them. If anything its been the opposite. Motorola, HP and IBM have been quietly getting out of the CPU business.<< And Motorola, HP and IBM would probably see the market potential and pick up the slack again. Heck, Motorola was way ahead of Intel back in the 80's when they were building the CPU used in the Macintosh. The intel 80X86 chipsets were built primarily for text based computing (DOS) while the Motorola (and later IBM's PowerPC) CPUs were made for primarily a GUI based OS (MacOS). While today things are pretty much even (after all, the Mac I'm typing this on has an Intel CoreDuo CPU), Motorola and IBM do have the capabaility doing the job if they were called on to do it.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Motorola and IBM do have the capabaility doing the job if they were called on to do it.> really ? you'd be surprised
Originally Posted By jonvn I believe motorola imports most of their electronics from outside the country now. For them to restart, they'd first have to hire a bunch of people, and take a couple of years to gear up to be able to produce products again. This doesn't happen overnight.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>And Motorola, HP and IBM would probably see the market potential and pick up the slack again. << HP sold its CPU business to Intel. It no longer has the know how. >>Heck, Motorola was way ahead of Intel back in the 80's when they were building the CPU used in the Macintosh.<< The 68000 is long gone and the PowerPC is on the ropes. The new Macs use Intel CPUs.
Originally Posted By Beaumandy I know, we are doomed. But for the people who are not willing to throw themselves off a bridge, here are the real numbers that matter. If a guy like me can have multiple job offers even while I am not looking, anyone can get a good job in this economy. <a href="http://www.kudlowsmoneypolitics.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://www.kudlowsmoneypolitic s.blogspot.com/</a> The Magic Numbers Democrats told us three years ago that we could not afford President Bush's tax cuts. With a straight face, they told us that none of them were affordable. They told us none of them creates jobs. In fact, they actually warned us that tax cuts would do damage to our long-term economic growth and contribute to the national deficit. That's what they told us. Well, the facts tell us something different. Just look. Since President Bush's 2003 tax cuts we've witnessed: -34 consecutive months of growth. -GDP growth has averaged 3.7% a year. -5.7 million new jobs have been created. -unemployment has fallen to 4.7%, (lower than the average of the past four decades when it averaged 6%) -tax cut revenues have increased 36% Just in case you were wondering.
Originally Posted By fkurucz Ford just announced that they are cutting another 75,000 jobs. <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/14/news/companies/ford_changes/index.htm?postversion=2006091415" target="_blank">http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/1 4/news/companies/ford_changes/index.htm?postversion=2006091415</a> Another great example of what's going on in the boardrooms of America is the current imbroglio at HP. Once considered the gold standard of ethics practices, HP's chair and other board members will soon be charged for criminal practices.
