Great topic to discuss! I lived through the trickle down economics of Regan and our first mortgage was around 10-12%! My husband and FIL worked at the local GM plant. Last month the demolition crew started tearing it down:( Most of the factories in our area are shuttered and rotting away. I worked at several of the smaller factories for 40 years , the pay wasn’t great but it helped build a mC life along with my husband. I will listen now! Great work Greg your guests are always interesting!
I'm about to listen, wondering...what about the long-touted concept of the U.S. having moved past manufacturing to dealing in ideas and information? We'd have enough to trade for manufactured goods if other countries weren't supplying their own info/ideas/IT?
I think the biggest problem there is that other countries, specifically China, already steals as much of our tech and intellectual property as they can, and then sells it to other countries as its own, so to try to sell it to them is probably a non-starter.
The most unfortunate thing about all of this (jobs going overseas, manufacturing taking place in Far Eastern countries with their ability to hire and keep cheaper labor) is that Americans are now drunk on the idea that our goods should cost what they cost, and even that is too high. Basically, I'm sure that everyone would buy American-made products wherever and whenever they could, if they can afford it, but the sad reality is that a lot of people simply can't. I bought a Hanes Ultimate® full-zip hoodie in deep red, a few years ago from Amazon for $29.20, which, for Hanes, is a pretty good deal. The same hoodie, American-made by union workers, with American-sourced products, is $108 at American Roots. I would LOVE to be able to purchase a new hoodie from there, especially since Trump has simply RUINED the color red, but I can't. Therein lies the problem; we all WANT to support American-made products, but they're also expensive, and in some cases, a justification to buy them is too hard on the wallet.
I hear ya Steve, $108 is too steep for a hoodie, for that I expect it to wash, fold & put itself away. The issue of American made goods costing more has been going on for a long time, just seems that lately the difference is astronomical, like your example. How do we fix that? Competition? Consume/buy less? After the shocks in lack of supply of basic goods during the pandemic, we're going to have to pick & choose what to make here, starting first with what we need, rather than want. T shirts and hoodies are way down there on the list of what I need but I did buy a T shirt just to support American Roots, feeling really happy I found one for under $50 for crying out loud, but the shipping was outlandish at $8.81 for a T shirt you could slide into a bubble mailer envelope and pay a couple of bucks to mail. Thanks a lot DeJoy Boy!
I certainly wasn’t aware of our government’s decision to help Japan’s economy, in order to prevent another war, by offloading manufacturing to Japan. It appears that the decision started a snowball effect, spiraling downward our worldwide standing as a manufacturing economy. Has it taken this long for us to have sufficiently understood what we need to do to reverse the trend and restore our manufacturing status?
There was a time when the “Made in Japan” sticker seemed to be on almost everything. Now it’s “Made in China”. I also did not know that this was done on purpose to bolster Japan’s economy.
Great topic to discuss! I lived through the trickle down economics of Regan and our first mortgage was around 10-12%! My husband and FIL worked at the local GM plant. Last month the demolition crew started tearing it down:( Most of the factories in our area are shuttered and rotting away. I worked at several of the smaller factories for 40 years , the pay wasn’t great but it helped build a mC life along with my husband. I will listen now! Great work Greg your guests are always interesting!
Our rate was 15%, also during trickle-down.
I always try to live sustainably, which includes avoiding foreign imports whenever possible. #BuyLocal
I'm about to listen, wondering...what about the long-touted concept of the U.S. having moved past manufacturing to dealing in ideas and information? We'd have enough to trade for manufactured goods if other countries weren't supplying their own info/ideas/IT?
I think the biggest problem there is that other countries, specifically China, already steals as much of our tech and intellectual property as they can, and then sells it to other countries as its own, so to try to sell it to them is probably a non-starter.
The most unfortunate thing about all of this (jobs going overseas, manufacturing taking place in Far Eastern countries with their ability to hire and keep cheaper labor) is that Americans are now drunk on the idea that our goods should cost what they cost, and even that is too high. Basically, I'm sure that everyone would buy American-made products wherever and whenever they could, if they can afford it, but the sad reality is that a lot of people simply can't. I bought a Hanes Ultimate® full-zip hoodie in deep red, a few years ago from Amazon for $29.20, which, for Hanes, is a pretty good deal. The same hoodie, American-made by union workers, with American-sourced products, is $108 at American Roots. I would LOVE to be able to purchase a new hoodie from there, especially since Trump has simply RUINED the color red, but I can't. Therein lies the problem; we all WANT to support American-made products, but they're also expensive, and in some cases, a justification to buy them is too hard on the wallet.
I hear ya Steve, $108 is too steep for a hoodie, for that I expect it to wash, fold & put itself away. The issue of American made goods costing more has been going on for a long time, just seems that lately the difference is astronomical, like your example. How do we fix that? Competition? Consume/buy less? After the shocks in lack of supply of basic goods during the pandemic, we're going to have to pick & choose what to make here, starting first with what we need, rather than want. T shirts and hoodies are way down there on the list of what I need but I did buy a T shirt just to support American Roots, feeling really happy I found one for under $50 for crying out loud, but the shipping was outlandish at $8.81 for a T shirt you could slide into a bubble mailer envelope and pay a couple of bucks to mail. Thanks a lot DeJoy Boy!
I certainly wasn’t aware of our government’s decision to help Japan’s economy, in order to prevent another war, by offloading manufacturing to Japan. It appears that the decision started a snowball effect, spiraling downward our worldwide standing as a manufacturing economy. Has it taken this long for us to have sufficiently understood what we need to do to reverse the trend and restore our manufacturing status?
There was a time when the “Made in Japan” sticker seemed to be on almost everything. Now it’s “Made in China”. I also did not know that this was done on purpose to bolster Japan’s economy.