Bullitt68 wrote: Wed May 08, 2019 2:17 pm
Well I have to say we all buy to much crap from China. I used to rant about that before Trump got on the scene. To many aged factory's shut down and moved to sparkling new ones in China instead of reinvesting in America. It's a corporate American greed problem. I always wondered about the corporate model in sending all the manufacturing jobs to China. We were sold on the idea America would substitute those jobs for "Tech" jobs. That was Bush and Obama. Does not seem to materialize. Like if all the jobs are at Walmart, who is going to be able to afford a new car or a new house? That said, he is a hypocrite.
I'm always willing to pay more for Made in U.S.A! So, tariff or not I'm going to pay more. And hopefully our great manufacturing industry will come back.
That has been going on long before we had trade with China. I remember in the 1950s people complaining about stuff Made In Japan and how it was taking our jobs. Starting after WWII Japan exported cheap metal toys to the US. Then cheap plastic toys. That drove many of the old line toy makers out of business. they moved later into electronics such as the pocket transistor radio. Old line names like RCA, Philco, and Motorola ether quit the market or just rebranded TVs made in Japan. They went on to make high end consumer goods like cameras, stereos, VCR and continued to innovate and attract more business. We can blame two Americans for theJapanese success, Douglas MacArthur and Edwards Deming. MacArthur invited Deming to Japan to help rebuild Japanese industries. Deming had been appointed to run the US War Production during WWII and did a job that most thought was impossible. He did that by creating the Deming Method of TQM (Total Quality Management). Even today the Japanese Government awards the Deming Prize. (BTW I was certified as a TQM grad after training by our CEO at the hospital where I worked. Dr. Gonzales PhD had been trained by Deming in TQM.) The Application of TQM gave Japanese companies a huge advantage over American manufacturing. The American companies operated on the Deming system during the war but reverted back to the old management style after the war.. The Chinese have adopted much of the same techniques the Japanese used and that is why we are now buying Made In China goods. While the American companies like GM, Sears continue on going out of business.
I would love to by American goods, But they are few and far between. Clothing from American companies is made in Bangladesh or Indonesia because the sweatshop labor is cheap. Levi Jeans are made all overseas except for some 501s made in USA but they are $88 a pair at Amazon.
Same with other goods. When could you buy a TV made in the USA? The last US made TV was Curtis Mathis and they went under in the 1970s.
Trade wares just cost us money and the jobs aren't coming back.