Pointless debating when the obvious has been obvious for years, now its imperative we as the people and our government as our representative and also responsible for our well being listen to Andy Grove, as not listening to him is continuing committing suicide. We've been fed a myth and Mr. Grove refutes it, baring the truth, that outsourcing manufacturing is not a panacea that it's made out to be but a guillotine that we created and use daily to kill our jobs and standard of living. So listen to Andy Grove, and Make it in America and buy Made in America, and also question (the motives and loyalties of) those who advocate job exports in today's day and time.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_28/b4186048358596.htm
"Clearly, the great Silicon Valley innovation machine hasn't been creating many jobs of late—unless you're counting Asia, where American tech companies have been adding jobs like mad for years.
As time passed, wages and health-care costs rose in the U.S. China opened up. American companies discovered that they could have their manufacturing and even their engineering done more cheaply overseas. When they did so, margins improved. Management was happy, and so were stockholders. Growth continued, even more profitably. But the job machine began sputtering.
That means for every Apple worker in the U.S. there are 10 people in China working on iMacs, iPods, and iPhones. The same roughly 10-to-1 relationship holds for Dell, disk-drive maker Seagate Technology (STX), and other U.S. tech companies.
But what kind of a society are we going to have if it consists of highly paid people doing high-value-added work—and masses of unemployed?
How could the U.S. have forgotten? I believe the answer has to do with a general undervaluing of manufacturing—the idea that as long as "knowledge work" stays in the U.S., it doesn't matter what happens to factory jobs. It's not just newspaper commentators who spread this idea. Consider this passage by Princeton University economist Alan S. Blinder: "The TV manufacturing industry really started here, and at one point employed many workers. But as TV sets became 'just a commodity,' their production moved offshore to locations with much lower wages. And nowadays the number of television sets manufactured in the U.S. is zero. A failure? No, a success."
I disagree. Not only did we lose an untold number of jobs, we broke the chain of experience that is so important in technological evolution. As happened with batteries, abandoning today's "commodity" manufacturing can lock you out of tomorrow's emerging industry.
The rapid development of the Asian economies provides numerous illustrations. In a thorough study of the industrial development of East Asia, Robert Wade of the London School of Economics found that these economies turned in precedent-shattering economic performances over the '70s and '80s in large part because of the effective involvement of the government in targeting the growth of manufacturing industries.
Levy an extra tax on the product of offshored labor. (If the result is a trade war, treat it like other wars—fight to win.)"
Showing posts with label American. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American. Show all posts
Friday, July 2, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
Two Streets of America
Mr. Robert Reich
" The real problem was on Main Street, in the real economy. Before the crash, much of America had fallen deeply into unsustainable debt because it had no other way to maintain its standard of living. That's because for so many years almost all the gains of economic growth had been going to a relatively small number of people at the top"."As long as income and wealth keep concentrating at the top, and the great divide between America's have-mores and have-lesses continues to widen, the Great Recession won't end -- at least not in the real economy". Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration
Main Street is hungry, broke, and in a bad shape that keeps getting worst as Wall Street bounces along.
The readers of this blog will know my belief that the Wall Street American Dream is the Nightmare on Main Street of America of outsourced jobs; capital without boundaries pitting personal and corporate gain versus patriotic national interest:
Salon, The New Republic - keep talking as this is the gospel that will harrow our hell.
" The real problem was on Main Street, in the real economy. Before the crash, much of America had fallen deeply into unsustainable debt because it had no other way to maintain its standard of living. That's because for so many years almost all the gains of economic growth had been going to a relatively small number of people at the top"."As long as income and wealth keep concentrating at the top, and the great divide between America's have-mores and have-lesses continues to widen, the Great Recession won't end -- at least not in the real economy". Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration
Main Street is hungry, broke, and in a bad shape that keeps getting worst as Wall Street bounces along.
The readers of this blog will know my belief that the Wall Street American Dream is the Nightmare on Main Street of America of outsourced jobs; capital without boundaries pitting personal and corporate gain versus patriotic national interest:
- Wall Street self interests are in direct conflict with American quality of life interests - better wages, decent health benefits are costs which erode profits, therefore sending jobs abroad boost earnings, so damn the American worker is the evident Wall Street premise.
- Wall Street earns billions creating bubbles - 80's real estate/ S&L crash, 2000 .com bust and recent/ current CDO and Toxic asset catastrophe - 3 cataclysmic events in less than 25 years pillaging America and pocketing billions in proceeds, and because frail, powerless governments have watched as impotent voyeurs, it likely will at will do the same anytime it can create a situation of profit.
- Dow Jones highs do not meant more money in the average guy's pocket. Though it's lows equate to job losses and benefits cuts.
Salon, The New Republic - keep talking as this is the gospel that will harrow our hell.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Why is Manufacturing Essential for American Well-being
Noam Scheiber - The New Republic
Noam Scheiber's "Why we should cry for our shrinking Manufacturing Sector" should be required reading for Policy Makers and All Americans - as many if not most (Americans) do not realize the impact of globalization and loss of manufacturing jobs on everyday life in America.
Since coming to the US in mid 80's I've personally experienced and observed a steady decline of income across mature industries. Each closed factory means not only displaced workers but also factory owners, who cannot or have not been able to make a transition from making towels and nuts to building a Google. I am not sure if there is an agency counting numbers like me who once were American middle class and now struggle to find jobs, but I know there are many treading bleak spaces, which will remain bleak unless we start making more things locally for our own consumption and ALSO sell in world markets because selling Boeing is not enough to offset the American trade imbalance.
Trade imbalance is a threat because in our case it equals shrinking employment base.
Wine, cheese, fashion, iPod, iPhone, small batch Bourbon prove that there is a whole lot of American enterprise and creativity creating products that China and India cannot make based on knowledge and cultural factors, therefor the key to is to develop small manufacturing across sectors to repair and rebuild the American Dream.
The proof that manufacturing and economic growth thus prosperity are related is India reporting 7.9% growth in its economy for 2009; and China going gangbusters, in these hard times - both large, diversified manufacturing nations.
Since coming to the US in mid 80's I've personally experienced and observed a steady decline of income across mature industries. Each closed factory means not only displaced workers but also factory owners, who cannot or have not been able to make a transition from making towels and nuts to building a Google. I am not sure if there is an agency counting numbers like me who once were American middle class and now struggle to find jobs, but I know there are many treading bleak spaces, which will remain bleak unless we start making more things locally for our own consumption and ALSO sell in world markets because selling Boeing is not enough to offset the American trade imbalance.
Trade imbalance is a threat because in our case it equals shrinking employment base.
Wine, cheese, fashion, iPod, iPhone, small batch Bourbon prove that there is a whole lot of American enterprise and creativity creating products that China and India cannot make based on knowledge and cultural factors, therefor the key to is to develop small manufacturing across sectors to repair and rebuild the American Dream.
The proof that manufacturing and economic growth thus prosperity are related is India reporting 7.9% growth in its economy for 2009; and China going gangbusters, in these hard times - both large, diversified manufacturing nations.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
What's wrong with America
If you ask me the biggest wrong with America after Wall Street greed is the archaic, bureaucratic and expensive education system that has continuously failed to live up to the demands of new American economy led by technology and healthcare companies.
India on the other hand has hundreds of schools offering current Computer/ IT courses at prices Indians can afford, churning tens of thousands of qualified Indians every month. So US companies have to shop or set-up shop abroad for skilled staff since there aren't enough qualified Americans with up-to-date knowledge application skills, hence the large number of foreigners in Redmond - obviously foreign education systems are good enough for trend setting companies.
Elite US Colleges are too busy chasing Nobel Prizes arguably transcending the mundane for pursuit of knowledge, but still elitist and pompous since they do not let their knowledge flow freely to lift the masses out of this hellish morass of misery which US is because US doesn't know anymore how to compete and these colleges don't teach US how to compete.
While the non elite colleges are busy trying to become elite forgetting that the basic reason for education is to equip and prepare students to succeed.
Most at risk are American kids because they are not being adequately prepared to compete with their foreign born and educated counterparts for basic technology jobs that pay $30-100 per hour middle-class wages.
American Colleges are directly responsible for the failure of the nation to produce the required programmers and nurses and the decline in American middle class. Bellevue College, WA charges $3,400 + the cost of electives for a Project Manager Certificate course. An Indian can learn that same course for a quarter of that cost.
Education is too expensive in America and traditionally out of reach for average American. High School was good enough in good old days, BUT NOT ANYMORE. American colleges have no sense of sensible spending. Their campuses are ostentatious, they overpay their staff, and despite huge endowments give little to welfare of America, yet lose billions on Wall Street. American Education System seems to be an extension of the Wall Street - greedy and unconcerned about the average American.
Like everything else Education too has to be globally price competitive or more and more Americans will be left behind.
The President should do something directly to help America by helping Americans acquire new world skills. He should subsidize continuing, technical, vocational education.
Following suit Bellevue College should make knowledge affordable so the unemployed in the State feel they have hope rather than hopelessly wait to be stampeded by foreign educated foreigners.
India on the other hand has hundreds of schools offering current Computer/ IT courses at prices Indians can afford, churning tens of thousands of qualified Indians every month. So US companies have to shop or set-up shop abroad for skilled staff since there aren't enough qualified Americans with up-to-date knowledge application skills, hence the large number of foreigners in Redmond - obviously foreign education systems are good enough for trend setting companies.
Elite US Colleges are too busy chasing Nobel Prizes arguably transcending the mundane for pursuit of knowledge, but still elitist and pompous since they do not let their knowledge flow freely to lift the masses out of this hellish morass of misery which US is because US doesn't know anymore how to compete and these colleges don't teach US how to compete.
While the non elite colleges are busy trying to become elite forgetting that the basic reason for education is to equip and prepare students to succeed.
Most at risk are American kids because they are not being adequately prepared to compete with their foreign born and educated counterparts for basic technology jobs that pay $30-100 per hour middle-class wages.
American Colleges are directly responsible for the failure of the nation to produce the required programmers and nurses and the decline in American middle class. Bellevue College, WA charges $3,400 + the cost of electives for a Project Manager Certificate course. An Indian can learn that same course for a quarter of that cost.
Education is too expensive in America and traditionally out of reach for average American. High School was good enough in good old days, BUT NOT ANYMORE. American colleges have no sense of sensible spending. Their campuses are ostentatious, they overpay their staff, and despite huge endowments give little to welfare of America, yet lose billions on Wall Street. American Education System seems to be an extension of the Wall Street - greedy and unconcerned about the average American.
Like everything else Education too has to be globally price competitive or more and more Americans will be left behind.
The President should do something directly to help America by helping Americans acquire new world skills. He should subsidize continuing, technical, vocational education.
Following suit Bellevue College should make knowledge affordable so the unemployed in the State feel they have hope rather than hopelessly wait to be stampeded by foreign educated foreigners.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Dow Jones at 10,000 = diddly-squat
The Dow closed at 10,092.19.
It doesn't mean that all's well on Main Street. It wasn't all well on Main Street when the Dow was at 14,000.
Dow Jones and Wall Street have been disconnected from average America and American for a long time, so we need new indicators and benchmarks linked to jobs, income, consumer confidence, savings, home ownership because our leading indicator is a false indicator.
Cost Savings is another name for staff attrition, so each job sent abroad means lower cost for companies, and lower income for America, proving what's good for Wall Street is bad for Main Street.
So either Americans need to move abroad so they can be employed which is impractical, or they should stop buying products and services from companies that send jobs abroad, which should be easy as there are many American firms who would rather have access to American markets than not.
Instead of celebrating Dow's return to 5 digits, which benefits hardly anyone except Capital without Boundaries guys, let us instead celebrate 1 day a week of boycotting job exporters and product importers.
Because at some stage what's good for Main Street has to count more as most of America lives there.
It doesn't mean that all's well on Main Street. It wasn't all well on Main Street when the Dow was at 14,000.
Dow Jones and Wall Street have been disconnected from average America and American for a long time, so we need new indicators and benchmarks linked to jobs, income, consumer confidence, savings, home ownership because our leading indicator is a false indicator.
Cost Savings is another name for staff attrition, so each job sent abroad means lower cost for companies, and lower income for America, proving what's good for Wall Street is bad for Main Street.
So either Americans need to move abroad so they can be employed which is impractical, or they should stop buying products and services from companies that send jobs abroad, which should be easy as there are many American firms who would rather have access to American markets than not.
Instead of celebrating Dow's return to 5 digits, which benefits hardly anyone except Capital without Boundaries guys, let us instead celebrate 1 day a week of boycotting job exporters and product importers.
Because at some stage what's good for Main Street has to count more as most of America lives there.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Think of Americans FIRST - a Note to Policy Makers
Once again everyone - the Politicians, the Economists and the Bankers - miss THE key point that unless the benefits of tax cuts reach the Main Street and the American Consumer our economic recovery will splutter and fail.
72% or is it 76% of the US economy is consumer (spending) driven, so unless that majority feels secure to spend and earns enough to spend nothing will change.
Bailing out the banks while the American consumer bleeds to death by high credit card interests is a national shame and a Pyrrhic hypocritical effort to save those whose greed drove this great country and the world into this peril.
Solution is simple:
- Lower credit cards rates while freezing spending limits until balances get reduced to avert credit card defaults which hurt banks
- Work with home owners who have lost jobs or earnings to save their homes from foreclosure
These 2 alone will boost Consumer Confidence (CCI) and with reduced interest rates and security and peace of being able to keep their homes Americans will go out and shop again and things will improve with more money in circulation.
Messers Bush, Paulson, McCain, Obama, think of people before you think about financial institutions and the results will surprise you. THINK OF AMERICANS FIRST IF YOU WANT AMERICAN ECONOMY TO IMPROVE.
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