Made in China

[TWOMORROWS]

If the country does not produce anything there will be no high paying jobs requiring an education either. Therefore, those low paying jobs for unskilled illiterates are necessary to keep you employed. We all want the best for our children, but every citizen in the country can not be a boss!!!! A country's economy can not be solely based on consumption.

[BadenP]

john ponz

 

What an arrogant and demeaning post. How many of our grandparents who immigrated to this country worked their butts off working in factories as those were the only jobs they could get, and they performed those jobs with pride. My grandfather taught himself how to read and write English from my dad's schoolbooks and you have the gall to call them illiterate, what a pompous ass you are. Beavah if you truly believe that to be the case then you too fall under the same category as ponz and have lost all credibility with me. This country was built on the backs of immigrants who were more than willing to the jobs that most Americans refused to do.

[johnponz]

The point is in today's economy (not the economy of yesteryear), these lower skilled, lower paid positions can be performed elsewhere leaving the skilled (higher paying) jobs for our children here.

 

There are plenty of manufacturing jobs that require a high skill level especially in industries such as auto manufacturing, high tech manufacturing etc. These manufacturers are having difficulty finding the skilled employees that they need. We should concentrate on getting our children trained so they can do these jobs not be satisfied with a minimum wage job in a low-tech textile factory.

 

The textile industry just does not require that skill level. We should want the right jobs to stay here (the ones that require training and skills) not just any job.

 

[KC9DDI]

We should want the right jobs to stay here (the ones that require training and skills) not just any job.

 

Why??

 

Seems like there's an awful lot of unemployed Americans who would disagree with you.

 

Do we also want only the "right people" to stay here, and be rid of the rest?

 

 

[BadenP]

 

YOU JOHN PONZ have apparently totally missed the point of this thread. There will always be a need for labor intensive jobs in this country because as soon as we stop manufacturing in this country the bottom will fall out of our economy and all those so called "High paying" jobs will disappear. The US thought our Info-Tech technology was going to be the way to get out of the recession our economy was experiencing, but guess what it didn't work, other countries are duplicating our technology and they don't need ours anymore. Now we are in a deep recession/depression worldwide with the experts unable to figure out how to get us out.

 

The USA imports almost all of our electronics, clothing,fuel, a high percentage of our cars, food, and manufactured goods. When we stopped manufacturing in this country we lost our #1 status as the economic world leader, and the problem is getting worse. At one time Made in the USA really meant something, not anymore since we produce so little. Your "from the top down" economic outlook/philosophy is not only severely flawed, but has been proven that it does NOT work.

[johnponz]

YOU BADEN P ARE MISSING THE POINT OF THE THREAD. I never said that manufacturing should not be in the US. Instead I said we need the "right kind" of manufacturing, and textile manufacturing does not fall into that category. I have copied an article from the Huffington Post that explains what I am saying and will post it for you. The author is not talking about textile manufacturing. The following quote is in the article but emphasizes the point:

 

"They may be right, but it is not because we cannot create a new generation of advanced manufacturing jobs. The problem is a workforce woefully lacking in the skills needed to work in modern manufacturing. Right now we have about 600,000 good manufacturing jobs going begging." We need to get the unemployed trained so they have the skills for these jobs not minimum wage textile jobs. The whole story follows (Author attribution is at the end):

 

 

 

 

The U.S. economy is gathering momentum and the key driver is manufacturing. Not only is our industrial sector growing, but after more than a decade of losses in manufacturing jobs, we are actually going in the other direction. We added 50,000 manufacturing jobs in January on top of 32,000 the month before. This is a welcome trend that augurs well for the near term future. As former President of the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturing Institute, I am well aware that manufacturing jobs have a powerful multiplier effect on the economy, supporting jobs in services and other industrial sectors. On average, 100 manufacturing jobs support 58 other jobs.

 

There is no great mystery why this is so. Manufacturing is intensely innovative and dynamic. It pulls raw materials from Mother Nature and transforms them with human creativity and liberal infusions of energy into finished products that enhance the quality of life for all of us. This is why the several states compete so vigorously for new manufacturing plants. State government officials understand that manufacturing is the straw that stirs their economic drink. The comeback of manufacturing is just what our economy needs.

There are cautionary voices insisting that manufacturing will never again become an incubator of millions of jobs. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and more recently former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors Christina Romer have emphasized this view. They say manufacturing jobs have gone away and are not coming back.

 

They may be right, but it is not because we cannot create a new generation of advanced manufacturing jobs. The problem is a workforce woefully lacking in the skills needed to work in modern manufacturing. Right now we have about 600,000 good manufacturing jobs going begging.

 

The big impediment it seems to me is one of perception. Young people have an antiquated perception of what manufacturing is like. Modern manufacturing is not your father's greasy factory floor; it is more like Star Trek - clean, dynamic and challenging.

 

This is not a new problem. For all of my many years at the NAM and the Institute, we heard the same refrain from our members about the skills shortage. It is a major reason many U.S. firms build factories overseas. Some years ago, the Institute launched a visionary program, Dream It! Do It! to attract more bright young people into manufacturing careers, and map out a route for them to follow. This program has been well received and effective, primarily in regions where manufacturing is highly concentrated. But it should be everywhere, coast to coast. This is a program of business, by business and for business. If your company is not on board with Dream It! Do It! it should be.

 

Jerry Jasinowski, an economist and author, serve d as President of the National Association of Manufacturers for 14 years and later The Manufacturing Institute. Jerry is available for speaking engagements.

 

(This message has been edited by johnponz)

[KC9DDI]

NO, IT'S YOU THAT'S MISSING THE POINT.... (yada yada yada)

 

John - I read the article, it's very interesting. But it's not making the same point that you're trying to make.

 

What I'm hearing you say: "We don't need low-skill jobs in this country".

 

What I'm reading in the article: "We need more trained people for high-skill jobs in this country."

 

Similar, related - but not at all the same thing.

[Mr. Boyce]

Rough stab here: take a look at the general population; there will be some very high skill/intelligence/ability people and there will be some very low skill/low functioning people.

 

Most of us are in the middle. The bulk of jobs the country needs are for most people, not the handful of intellectuals/professionals.

 

And such jobs themselves have a much lower spill-over of ancillary, connected jobs.

 

 

[Tampa Turtle]

As current president of the "Guys who think that BSA pants should cost less, and suck less" Association I just to buy some decent pants!

[johnponz]

I believe someone has misunderstood me because the article is supporting my point. We should be concentrating on training workers for the higher skilled, higher paying manufacturing jobs that will take our economy to the next level, not trying to keep antiquated low skill jobs here that can be done with cheaper labor overseas. Let's make the USA great by doing the type of manufacturing that cannot be done in Asia, and letting them do the type that can be done cheaper there.

 

According to that one article, there are 600,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs here now. Lets get people trained for them and back to work, and stop worrying about where our BSA britches are made.

 

[Tampa Turtle]

The original thread was about BSA and manufacture sourcing and BSA and britches are near and dear to a scouters heart -er rear. This is under the "uniform" heading.

[johnponz]

By the way, I like the britches, especially the Suplex (this may be wrong but I hope everyone knows what I mean) ones. They are very comfortable and seem to hold up very well. My only big complaint is that they melt if a spark hits them-but you can't have everything.

 

I really like the new canvas shorts.

[BadenP]

John ponz

 

The so called high level jobs are NOT IN THE MANUFACTURING, but in the research and development of the product. My point was that you still can get competitively priced uniforms made here in the USA and has NOTHING to do with what you are talking about. Yes we still need to manufacture things here in the USA instead of being dependant on foreign goods. The reason the BSA went overseas for uniforms was for one reason and one reason only, more money/profit to line their coffers at National, NOT for better quality uniforms or to pass on the savings to the members, in fact quite the opposite.

[johnponz]

I really do not agree with your premise (and you have shown no evidence to sway me) that we can get US manufactured goods at a reasonable price. You made up a number of $5 more before and $5 more certainly is not competitive with the volume BSA does.

 

I really doubt any US manufacturer could really handle the volume. Even if they could, it would be at a much greater cost.

 

By the way the jobs are not in R and D but rather in the process. Textiles are not the manufacturing that we want to do in this country. WE CAN DO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT!!

 

I guess we just disagree.

[johnponz]

By the way, I do not mind supporting National. Don't you think it costs a little bit to open a new high Adventure base? If I have a choice of buying a non-BSA product or a BSA product, I will buy the one that supports the program that I love so much.

 

I also try not to badmouth the people who are trying to do their best to deliver the program.