The China Syndrome.

[pinkiewerewolf]

This is a very touchy subject and everyone needs to be careful what is said in this thread.

I'm not sure what this implies, but everyone has been very civil so I believe the thread was on the right track.

It seems China is the one being put in question more than any other country

Exactly. China IS poisoning people in countries that they export to, Chinese officials are looking the opposite direction to illegal practices, humanitarian, and environmental issues.
Companies in the US aren't perfect, and we all know it, but let one of them poison dozens or hundreds of people in another country and see what happens.
Look at the plywood in the trailers that FEMA was using in Louisiana, the toys with lead that have been imported to the US and the other incidents that I brought up earlier.
All in the name of saving a buck.
Japan is starting to get the message regarding doing business with China and We should take heed also.

Why did Bosch decide to start making their jigsaws in Europe again?
They used to be made in China.

[a1gutterman]

Woodburner
For the most part you have a point. However China unlike most other countries we trade with is a declared enemy of the US. The have sworn they will destroy us. And for some reason everyone has forgotten that threat.

Either they forgot, they didn't care, or they think China is bluffing. Personally I think China is getting us right where they want us, by our financial throat and then they will slowly choke us to death.

I may be wrong but I they start offering Chinese language training class it might not be a bad idea to take them.

Ed

I concur, Ed! You put into understandable words exactly what is going on. Like you, I also have stated, in another thread, that China has sworn to be our enemy. We ARE at war with the Chinese government as we speak]..........Can we blame our Govt? Yes, but because of the election costs that required the use of lobbyist $. Lobbyists, representing many corporations, although not elected, have a lot of power. (How did NAFTA get drafted and approved?) Can we now ban goods from foreign countries? No way! Because foreign interests OWN too many things, including land in the U.S.A. - There is too much power here to overcome without a complete overhaul! Don't think that will happen very soon! And I really can't say the import/export tariffs/laws/changes have in total, been a bad thing. The World economies are changing and so are we. It really had become a World economy. We are only starting to see the migration of manufacturing from place to place. There is a lot more to come! Have we lost jobs? No!! actually the number of jobs in the U.S. has increased during the past years. There is just different folks doing different things............[/quote]
Chuck, I do not propose that we BAN products imported from China, rather we need to have an equal trade balance with them: Our government needs to make it as difficult (financially) for Americans to buy product from China as the government of China makes it difficult for citizens of China to buy products from the USA.

Good paying manufacturing jobs in the USA are being replaced by low paying service type jobs. Social Seurity is based on a percentage of a wage, that percentage of a low paying service job is not the same amount of dollars as that percentage of a high paying manufacturing job. The Social Securiy part of your retirement income will cease to exist.

[charlese]

Tim - contrary to more popular opinion, annual Social Security revenue is not lower than earlier. This revenue is increasing each year. Meaning that there are country wide, more wages paid every year. The reasons SS pensions are dangered are many fold. Medicare, Medicaid, welfare type expenses (even to non-citizens both legal and non-legal), and the high number of retiring boomers, have increased faster than revenue. I believe Medicare, Medicaid and family support is now costing us much more than the SS pensions. Illegals in the U.S. can make a better living on welfare here than they can by laboring in their own Country. It may interest you that a County Commissioner in L.A. County announced that L. A. county supported Illegal aliens last year to the tune of more than $5,000,000,000. That's Billion with a "B"! Since we, as a nation, feel we must care for the treatment of all people in the World, I hope these tax dollars have been well spent.

Back in the 60s we wrote to Mike Mansfield about what would happen in Congress passed Medicare and Medicaid. Mike wrote back saying we made good points, but the poor folks needed it. Was this the start of thinking that the Nation owes us a living? Incidentally, did you know that retirees pay for Medicare part B? This of course has to be supplemented with private insurance. In our case it comes to over $4,800/ year.

Not to worry, The present retirees will not have their pensions reduced. (Politically very unwise) even if it has to come from the general revenue. It is the future generations that will pay for this folly!

[Bruce]

The reasons SS pensions are dangered are many fold. Medicare, Medicaid, welfare type expenses (even to non-citizens both legal and non-legal), and the high number of retiring boomers, have increased faster than revenue. I believe Medicare, Medicaid and family support is now costing us much more than the SS pensions.

If the government had invested our SS deposits in good interest bearing securities instead of borrowing them for other programs, the SS system would be going strong and retirees would be living a much better life. We could all do much better for ourselves if we were allowed to invest those SS deductions for ourselves. The government has shown us time and time again that it is a lousy money manager.

[wa2crk]

I have read most of this thread and concur with most of the comments. I have also read other threads and have heard complaints that things made in America cost too much.
Currently I bel;ieve that the cost of anes MkV model 520 is around the $3500 mark. Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but compare it to the following.
I also have a Sears Craftsman drill press that I am the second owner of and I have a copy of the Sears catalog from 1950 that shows this drill press selling for $97.45 cash. There were no credit cards then but Sears would provide "terms".
The machine also appears as early as the 1948 catalog.
In 1950 people were buying homes in Levittown L.I. for about $8,000 and working in factories and take home pay was about $55 per week or less.
Just about two weeks pay for a drill press !!! GOOD GRIEF CHARLEY BROWN!!!
Doing a bit of quick math that drill press would cost somewhere in the range of $3500 today. Any takers ? Don't bother, I'm not selling it.
One of the woodworking club members in my retirement community here in Florida was drooling over it so I did the "nickel" test.
I stood a nickel on edge on the work table and turned the machine on and the nickel didn't even flinch. I don't think I would be willing to try that test with any machine on the market today !!
Oh yeah, my twenty five year old Shopsmith and the 50+ year old drill press have not had ANY mechanical failures in the time that I owned them, and before anyone asks, Yes I do use them.
Bill
Stamp out red sawdust!!!!

[dusty]

In 1950 people were buying homes in Levittown L.I. for about $8,000 and working in factories and take home pay was about $55 per week or less.
Just about two weeks pay for a drill press !!! GOOD GRIEF CHARLEY BROWN!!!
Doing a bit of quick math that drill press would cost somewhere in the range of $3500 today.

I agree with the points that you are trying to make but I need one of those jobs; $1750 a week take home, wow!

[timster68]

Many of you may not of heard of this recent story but at the Port of Seattle on some cartons imported from China they found 3 different species of bugs within them and if they got loose would destroy many hardwood trees. A snippet of the article:


Call them micro-terrorists. Bad bugs are stowing away on container ships, ready to destroy trees and eat crops, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection is out to stop them. Many of the bad bugs have arrived here from China.


Wow.

[a1gutterman]

Many of you may not of heard of this recent story but at the Port of Seattle on some cartons imported from China they found 3 different species of bugs within them and if they got loose would destroy many hardwood trees. A snippet of the article:


Call them micro-terrorists. Bad bugs are stowing away on container ships, ready to destroy trees and eat crops, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection is out to stop them. Many of the bad bugs have arrived here from China.


Wow.

Ok, this is one that I had not thought of:eek:

................There are many, many reasons to NOT buy Chinese. I will not even go into them here.....................

[a1gutterman]

................................Wal Mart sells many American made products. They sell many products made around the world, including China. That goes for Sears, K-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Schuck's, and just about all retailers. And, yes, it also goes for our beloved ShopSmith. I am pretty sure that the assembly of the Mark V is 100% American, but just how many of the parts that go into a Mark V are American made? I do not know. It wood be nice if the answer is "100%". It wood also be nice if someone (Nick?) chipped in and told us, just for our own satisfaction. Silence speaks for itself. I do know that some of the product that I have received from SS IS made in China. One example are the small roll-a-round tool boxes that they sell................

I hear silence.

[wa2crk]

Dusty;
You got my point. The price of goods produced in this country have outpaced
the ability of the American worker to afford them.
Shopsmith should move to another state and get some of those 5 and 7 year tax breaks that the states give to companies that move.