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Originally Posted by joeydb
I gotta agree with you there Bob. Almost every consumer will buy a product at the lowest price if the quality is on par with the higher priced competition.
And I understand the desire to do something about job exodus. We need to. But whatever approach is chosen must be in line with the laws of supply and demand, resulting in a manufactured product that has pricing and quality at least on par with the products produced by the worldwide competitors.
This is why some suggest slashing corporate tax burdens and regulation - not to overtly benefit the owners of those corporations - but to reduce their costs so that making things here in the U.S. still makes good business sense. If the costs are too high and would produce expensive items that will not sell, a company must either move to where the costs make sense or shutter their doors. Either of those options leaves American workers without a job.
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We are never going to be competative in meat and potatoes manufacturing of products with heavy labor as a major part of the product cost. Complex sewing garments, intricate detail on jewelry, etc are examples of areas that are gone forever. Even with China labor rates going up 5x over the last 2 years and with most factories supplying US Retailers providing health insurance and unioninzing, there is still too big a gap between the min wage here and what it can be made for there. Even if a US Company takes their manufacturing off shore, they do so to save millions of jobs that would be lost otherwise..Sales, Office, warehouse and distribution centers are positions that can't be outsourced, but that are saved by moving mnaufacturing to remain competitive. I'm sorry...you go to a Target Buyer with a Jacket made in the US at as cost of $30 or the same jacket...with quite possibly better quality that will cost Target $20 but is made in Vietnam....which one do you think they will choose?
One area that we should not lose ground jobs wise though is in the technological fields. We don't do a good enough job making it worth US Companies while not to move research labs and hi tech manufacturing off shore. Cheap labor does not drive the cost basis of a lot of these products and there is a proprietariness to them that allows for a comparison by retailers that isn't all about being the cheapest.