The Problem with manufacturing jobs, What can we do?

I brought a SLA yesterday. This was from China and it is a Clone of a USA model. Uses the same parts and technology and has the same accuracy but is 4 times cheaper. Only difference is you don’t get the same software so you have to use a free open source piece of software (which works fine and I use for my old printer anyway).

So the question is why would I buy from the USA at 4 times the price when I can buy something from China 4 times cheaper?

Same with EU products or UK products.


And thats the problem. That is why we are losing our manufacturing jobs.


So what can we do?

Ok we can use tariffs. But even if you wacked on a 20% tariff it would still be cheaper.
So ban the products you say?

Ok say the USA bans Chinese products. That only protects US domestic markets. The Eurozone, Canada, Japan, Australia they will still have access to the cheaper products and so the USA will be Prices out of that market and the company will only make a fraction of what it could make. Same for the UK, Europe, Japan ect we would still be priced out the market.

So what can we do?

The only solution I see is full scale collapse leading to completely closed border policy.

a reply to: crazyewok

Inflation.

Just have to wait. When China stops playing around with it's currency and get's serious about what they know they need to do, it'll start to balance out a bit. Of course by that time India will be the next "Manufacturing" place to be, Lather Rinse repeat.

couple of pennies

With most things just wait to see how long it last. We haven't shopped at Wal Mart and such places in many years and the quality is much higher. Our company is advertising Made in America to do that 82% of the product has to be made here. 100% of what we sell here is made here.

originally posted by: Esoterotica
The only solution I see is full scale collapse leading to completely closed border policy.

But in that situation there likely would not be a market.

Collapse of international trade would shrink the US/Western economy’s to a catastrophic level.

We don't make anything in America anymore.

Cities don't want the mess or pollution.

Environmental Laws make it nearly impossible to compete with China.

We exported everything that makes a mess to China.

That's why they can barely breathe in China...

a reply to: whyamIhere

I agree wholeheartedly. Sounds like we need some globalism & one world government. Then we can move citizens wherever we want & set up countries strictly as production countries to be destroyed by industrialization & preserve the rest of the world.

We need to develop new technology to compete on a world wide scale.

But with planned obsolescence, consumerism, and capitalism the operating system in America; the culture won't allow it.

About the only export America has currently is War and War is big business....

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: Esoterotica
The only solution I see is full scale collapse leading to completely closed border policy.

But in that situation there likely would not be a market.

Collapse of international trade would shrink the US/Western economy’s to a catastrophic level.

Short term pain for long term gain. Supply/demand & value would eventually balance out once a new currency baseline & manufacturing/farming is established.

a reply to: olaru12

We need to invent Star Trek style replicators in the very near future. 3D printing is the very beginning of a technology that will one day reform the entire world, assuming we don't destroy ourselves before then.

a reply to: crazyewok

I think one solution is the technology for space travel and mining etc. Not necessarily consumer products.

We should still use tariff taxes though.

a reply to: Esoterotica

It still doesn't create jobs so we need another type of economy.

originally posted by: olaru12
We need to develop new technology to compete on a world wide scale.

But with planned obsolescence, consumerism, and capitalism the operating system in America; the culture won't allow it.

About the only export America has currently is War and War is big business....

We are still the medical research leader. We do need new technology. I pick space based manufacturing and exploration.

From a personal perspective, when I have tried to get garments made here in the UK, I have found the price to not actually be that different once you factor in shipping and import fees/taxes but the skils and setup to do exactly what we need just don't exist. I reckon there could be a decent revival of certain industries with the right investment.

On another note, there are still a number of things we are good at making here and that aren't really matched quality wise so perhaps more focus and investment in those areas.

Don't expect manufacturing employment to ever "rebound" because that's not going to happen. Transoceanic shipping is faster and cheaper than ever and it's only going to continue to get less expensive. If the costs get too high in China, it'll make sense to move operations and then companies will move down the line to the next country where people are prepared to work even longer hours in worse conditions for less money.

In theory, this would continue until there was a complete global equalization of wages (taking into account raw material costs, transportation costs, tariffs, etc).

That's not the worst of it though. Even if we reached a point where there was essentially no profit incentive to manufacturing in any given country, automation is still going to continue to displace human labor.

It's far past time to stop operating under the delusion that we're going to "bring back" manufacturing jobs to grow the middle class.

originally posted by: luthier
a reply to: Esoterotica

It still doesn't create jobs so we need another type of economy.

It will undoubtedly lead to the devaluation of currency & a completely different style of existence than we can currently fathom.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
Don't expect manufacturing employment to ever "rebound" because that's not going to happen. Transoceanic shipping is faster and cheaper than ever and it's only going to continue to get less expensive. If the costs get too high in China, it'll make sense to move operations and then companies will move down the line to the next country where people are prepared to work even longer hours in worse conditions for less money.

In theory, this would continue until there was a complete global equalization of wages (taking into account raw material costs, transportation costs, tariffs, etc).

That's not the worst of it though. Even if we reached a point where there was essentially no profit incentive to manufacturing in any given country, automation is still going to continue to displace human labor.

It's far past time to stop operating under the delusion that we're going to "bring back" manufacturing jobs to grow the middle class.

Amen!

Funny thing is nobody in office is examining this. Some business leaders are because they know but seriously the hunger games isn't so far off.

Make the choice... saw a special on a guy that wanted a home that was 100% made in america, he payed roughly 20 or 25% more but he was able to either purchase or have the parts local manned all in the states.

There are Manufacturing jobs here in the states... something like 100k a year go unfilled, because so many have drunk the koolaid about college is the end all be all of success.

Drifting off into a rant so ill leave it at...

Peace!

a reply to: crazyewok

The quickest and surest way to solve this situation is for the American worker to demand to go back to $2.00/day pay scale and insist upon a eighty hour work week. It would also help if they would stop belly-aching every time somebody got an arm cut off or killed on the job.

This would be very close to the work conditions of the mid to late 1800's; the companies and bosses all made a lot of money back then, so maybe this would bring manufacturing back to this country.

We could also mount a campaign to buy only American made products or buy nothing at all.
Of course, this might mean we could not have a cell phone attached to our ears 24/7; and some of us might miss watching the latest reality shows or seeing when the last time a friend went to the bathroom on a face book or twitter post.

I just had another thought along these lines.
A local dinner has just closed because of low profits. If we had more manufacturing jobs, maybe these workers could better support the service industry jobs we are all supposed to have in the new economy.

All you need is a tariff system based on the standard of living index. Then environmental and health penalties tacked on.