From the Economist: Manufacturing Blame As the article goes on to relate by pointing the finger of blame on the manufacturing industries that are far more volatile than the services-industries. Which we've known for quite some time. Moreover, in the US, according to BLS figures (here), only about 13% of all jobs are now located in the manufacturing industries. This sad figure is due to the massive investment made in the production processes particularly of robotic-machines and processes. Of course, that means car prices should come down, doesn't it? After all, it costs less to build a car so the savings should see through - at least in part - in sticker-prices. But, alas, that is not the case. So, where do the manufacturing savings go? To upper-income management salaries, I'll bet ...
1) Business is very competitive which is why even Ford will stop making passenger cars. There is no money in it! 2) Why would owners give upper management bigger salaries than necessary when they could keep the money for themselves? 3) Robotics and other efficiencies lower production costs, and thus prices. If you don't pass on lower costs to customers a competitor will and you'll go bankrupt. You exhibit no knowledge of economics whatsoever!!
If there are cost savings this does not appear overnight. Car prices are basically determined by consumer demand. When others automate this forces all competition to automate. Automation and robotics are expensive to implement and maintain. Automation can easily perform functions difficult to humans. IMO automation is partially a response to problematic labor. Upcoming job seekers need more skills. Automation and robotics works great in repetitive high-volume scenarios but not so well in custom and low-volume scenarios so we will always have a need for manufacturing that uses manual labor. Manual labor as a percentage should reduce but this is a good thing allowing people to use their brains and technology to advance society. People, whether they are 18 or 50, who continue to believe they are entitled to middle-class jobs based on low-skills and average performance will continue to be left wanting. Each person has their own set of limitations and potential, and it's quite competitive today, so there's no time for any blame-games...
Speaking of car prices, this is why they havebt gone down, despite more streamlined manufacturing. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/opinion/10lowenstein.html
And consumer-demand is determined by what? Whether wifey likes the choice of upholstery colours? Nope! It is determined by the buyer's ability to purchase, which is a matter of Income. And Income is decided by the type-of-job salary that a car-buyer obtains. (And is the reason why so many Americans drive cars built in the Far East!!!) Oh Wow! Something to agree upon. (Will wonders never cease!?!) The only problem being that the "need for manufacturing that uses manual labor" is diminishing. You are underestimating the impact of Robotic Technology upon manufacturing. Which is both good and bad. That is, I can site several instances where (in France) some highly labor-intensive knitting processes were let go to China - but have come back because Europe has developed the robotic technology to replace human-beings. And such events are happening even on current manufacturing-processes a lot more sophisticated than just painting a car! Perhaps where you live, but not where I live. I asked my dentist the other day how much his degree cost: *He responded, "Around 1200 euros over 4 years). That's around 1350 x 4 = $5400. *That same cost in the US (from here): Uncle Sam must bring down the cost of post-secondary education! And it is NOT Donald Dork who is going to do so ... !
Prices are mostly determined by consumer demand. I don't see a problem with automation/robotics...it's beneficial to mankind. At an individual level where people might be effected directly by automation, etc. they need to retool! Life is not static! Stuff happens and we cannot continue our stroll down easy street. Each of us needs to adapt to changes. No matter if education is paid by government or individuals, the cost is basically the same. In one case the individual takes responsibility to pay and in the other the government will make everyone pay. IMO it is critical to have an education program that matches individual potential so my question is how to qualify a student for more challenging studies? People's aptitude must align with their educational choices. So, for this reason, and many others, for me it's much more complex than simply hoping taxpayers will pay for everything...
The average blue collar manufacturing job in the U.S. still pays substantially more than the average blue collar service job. Though a lot of Americans won't take those jobs because they'd have to take the risk and cost of relocating, and are afraid of long-term job security in that career sector. (Young people in these areas have seen their parents laid off in this industry so don't want anything to do with that)
That is happening all over - both in the US and Europe. I never tire of stating that we are in a process of Fundamental Age Change. Just like the Industrial Age displaced the Agricultural Age, the Information Age will displace the Industrial Age. Yes, so who will bang-out products like pots-'n-pans or cheap plastics? The Vietnamese/Cambodians are already doing both cheaper than China! And China is now producing more cars than is Europe! (Do Europeans and Americans actually LIKE Chinese cars? No, not yet. But when push-comes-to-shove, that will happen when comparable-quality meets with comparative pricing.) Ours is a Brave New World commercially - so let's get off our collective-arses and do what is necessary to compete worldwide* ... ! *And Donald Dork effing-around with Trade Treaties will not change the fundamental process (as described above) one iota. Not one iota! (The US is just one more player in a Much Larger Game of international-trade.)
Chinese don't even like Chinese cars, but for many buyers in China that's all they can afford. Car manufacturing, at least for the time being, seems to be an area of manufacturing where labor costs are not as big of a factor relative to other factors, at least not yet. Perhaps it's because so much of the auto manufacturing process is already automated. Still, Germany still felt like they had to import a lot of Turkish workers from Turkey to remain competitive selling cars to other countries around the world. So maybe labor cost is really not such a small factor. But we may never know what the situation "would have been" without those cheaper Turkish workers.
The Conservative plan (under Bush) to this was to import Mexican workers so U.S. industry would be able to keep labor costs down and remain competive with the rest of the world to sell things to other countries. Trump coming in is resulting in a 180 of that original plan. (I'm sure both of these plans must seem disgusting to the Left)
Oh, then what were the reasons for the 1999 Seattle WTO protests? What was the Left going bezerk about back then? Can't remember?
You tell me! That was two decades ago. How are they relevant today? This is a Debate Forum, NOT A MESSAGE BOARD!!!!
And why were the Mexican workers not allowed the Minimum Wage? What fault of our Legal System let that pass? It's the WTO that decides international patterns of trade. Labor is also a "traded service" when people come, work and go home ...
Oh, come off it. Have you ever met a Mexican worker? They are good at menial tasks and nothing else. It is the poorest amongst the poor to take the trek north. This should have been negotiated a long, long time ago with Mexico, which LOVES to have American companies establish factories (requiring talented Mexicans to run) in order to lower manufacturing costs of parts that go back north and are input to manufacturing systems in the US! Which is often the ONLY REASON that said manufactured items can be sold on foreign markets .... !
Since Mexican worker undocumented, if Mexican worker complain, employer have him deported back to Mexico. So they not dare complain. This is half the reason conservative under Bush keep immigration system broken and not enforce Also great way to destroy worker unions
THE NOTION OF PERSONAL IDENTITY Yes! Any country (worth its salt) should have neither a MW at $7.25 an hour nor the ability of any non-national to enter without either a passport-visa or a work-permit established and delivered in their home country. If both conditions existed in the US, then (1) they should earn a decent MW (around 15$ / hour) and (2) get out of the country when their work was finished, or (3) make a request for a permanent work-permit (that would lead to citizenship if obtained). Regardless of the options above, the ENTIRE PROCESS would be managed by the US government and anyone in the US without a valid work-permit would be required to leave. How does the country ensure the efficacy of all that? By having a National Identity Card that designates who is an American national and therefore pays taxes. No Identity-card and no bank account or ability to undertake a legal transaction; and one lives their life at the bottom of the work-ladder. (That's what happens in Europe - without a VALID IDENTITY CARD no medical attention (presuming the nation had National Healthcare, no schooling or entry to free Postsecondary Education courses, no personal insurance, no driver's license - no nothing to live a decent lifestyle.) Meaning a notion of "personal identity" and its application by means of an Identity Card that Americans cannot seem to understand unless they are required to do so when visiting other countries ...
Trump is an AH - his company hires "maids" in his hotels that have no work-permits! See here. The man is full of contradictions and needs badly a psychiatric help ...
Well, at the very least, by this exchange, we should understand why the EU very often cannot compete with US manufacturing - because it's "foreign-national" labor is employed at the legal rate in each country. (And the same is happening in a great many EU-countries where high retirement rates are reducing local manpower resources.) As it should be. There is no reason why Americans should benefit from lower costs because cheap-labor is employed. So, your apple-pies might cost 30 cents more! So what ... ?
Almost all hospitality businesses in the Southern half of the US do that. They have to to compete with their competitors. I'm sure Trump knows this better than anyone. As long as the law is not being stringently enforced, economic factors are going to compel businesses to do this.
Competition, me arse! If EVERY HOTEL had to pay a MW at $15/hour, then the "competition" would be on the same in terms of upkeep-costs! Trump knows nothing about competition. He knows a lot about promoting what he thinks is best for him. Which is how he built his empire in the minds of the American public - even while failing at most everything else. His list of business failures goes on and on and on ... ad nauseam! See here: A Complete List of Donald Trump’s Business Disasters
There aren't that many coming into the EU anymore. And the EU is doing its best to accommodate those who arrived. In fact, most ask to go back because there are "no jobs for them in the EU"! Many cannot even speak good English, never mind the fact that they don't speak the local language of where they are stuck. The EU should have blocked the Libyan coast from the get-go four years ago. Just turn the boats and rubber-rafts around and tow them back if necessary. That approach, early on, would have been transmitted down the line to Central Africa from where a great many came into Libya. As for the Middle-east, well that is quite a different story. Those that came were largely Sunnites who were being slaughtered by the Syrian Alawite (Shiite) head of government - Bashar al-Assad. If you want to get to the bottom of that pile of Muslim religious-belief shat, then be my guest ... !
Only a small fraction of the migrants were actually from Syria, but the press was playing that up to depict the migrant wave as refugees in the public mind. I don't believe that at all. Maybe you just mean the numbers are a little lower than last year or five years ago. Still a big flow. More like France ran out of housing for them.
I think we should have two years where only female workers are allowed to come, and then two years where only male workers are allowed to come. The females should be inspected regularly and if found pregnant sent back (they can return with child after they give birth, until the two years are up). It would be terrible if they started families in a foreign country and then those families had to be torn apart. So better make sure they don't start families here.
We all wish we could fail enough to have our own fleet of big jets and helicopters and live at Mira Lago! Liberals are pathetic in their utter blindness.
