All of this was before the demand for goods got so high that the prices sky rocketed. It was nothing more than supply and demand. I do agree that corporations don't care about anything but the dollar they turn, and they have every right to do so. It's a business. You don't go into business to scrape by. you go into business to make money. The businesses are not the one's to blaim for the inferior products. It's the consumers. We are the one's that are always looking to save a buck, and if that means buying a product that is lower quality, than that's what we have done. Because of this, businesses are not going to continue to stock mass amount of the more expensive items that sell once in a blue moon.

There is two logics in sales. You build a product and sell it for 1000 dollars and you only need to sell 5 to make your bills, or you sell 1000 products at 5 dollars. Both do the same thing, one offers a year warranty, and the other offers none. Which one in todays market is going to sell?

That's not the businessmans fualt, he is doing what the consumers want, and if this means having products made over seas than that's what it takes.

 

X2 White mule

 

I skimmed over all these posts and I can tell you this, if you do not believe competitiion is good, then someone is going to run right over you! I work in the automotive industry (solenoid valve supplier) and us, the consumer, buys primarily on PRICE! Companies, especially the blue collar employees, need to wake up and understand that you have to fight every single day or someone will beat you to the punch. The days of a GM union worker making $60K per year on average is over, there are alot of people down south that would do anything to make half of that. I love it when the detroit auto workers say "I can not find any other job that even comes close to what I was making" My point exactly, if you can't find a job for similar pay for similar work, then you might, just might be OVER paid.

American is great because we are always re-inventing ourselfs. MFG in the USA needs to realize this, invest to become even more productive than the low labor cost countries.

 

Thought I was the only one that remembered the wal-mart bring it home to the USA thing.

 

This worked until everyone left America!


A MUCH,MUCH bigger problem the US and the world in general faces in manufacturing, farming, accounting and many other services is the amazing amount of production an average worker can turn out.

One hundred years ago it took 1000 people to feed 1000 people. Nearly half the country was involved in agriculture. Now it takes one person to feed 100,000 because of tractors, irrigation, fertilizers etc. The yields are amazing. And with 747 cargo planes and refrigeration, food does not need to be local any longer. Grapes from Argentina, beef from b Brazil...no problem!

It took 10,000 people to make the first 10,000 Model T Fords. Now a factory in TN making Nissans has a couple dozen folks and a hundred robots putting out 100 cars a day.

At the turn of the century, Sears had 10,000 folks just in the billing/ accounting department. Now my kid can do it with Quick Books and a laptop.

We were told we will be OK if all our industry moves overseas, because we will become a "Service Nation"......I'm not totally sure what this meant, but if it meant we would all be answering telephones, that is now being done by some amazing automation. Thousands upon thousands of service sector jobs have been replaced by "on-line resolution centers" or exported to India.

Mining, Oil, Lumber......all the same thing. One fellow on a 60,000 pound tree harvester can do the work of thirty men just a few years ago.

Productivity in America has never been higher. But it takes way less folks to accomplish much more work.........this means less jobs. Period!

And the stuff that is now being produced is either very well made and doesn't require much service, or it's disposable. Do you remember when there was a carburetor shop on every corner and tire "re-capping" services were everywhere. Now cars don't require tune ups any longer, tires last 60K miles and a 52" TV cost $600 so you simply throw the old one out after 10 years. When is the last time you visited a cobbler?

Now to really freak you out........Pension plans are the 50,000 pound elephant in the living room. If most cities and towns (if not all), taxed their residents 100%, it still will not cover the pensions of the millions of city, state and county workers that are retiring at the rate of 10,000 a DAY!!!!

Fortunately, we are all living until 80 years old now. When pensions were implemented we were living until 62. And we wewre retiring at 60. The society only needed to carry your a-- for two years. We are living longer and folks are retiring in their early fifties. The average person on any type of pension has put into the system about $125,000. But the pension will need to pay out $1m-$1.5m over the course of the retirement. There is no investment known that will pay out that kind of return, especially with the stock market losing 25% of its value in the last 2 years..........

When retirement systems were first created, there were 7-10 folks working, and paying into the system, for each person retired. Currently it's almost 1 to 1......and within a couple years, there will be more folks retired that actually working. How's that going to work out? I just heard the other day that due to the recession and early retirements, less than 40% of men, ages 50-70 are currently employed. Wow!

So what do we do........Let's put mental patients in office to run the country that want to create even more debt that there is no way in hell we can ever repay..........Ugh!

Have a nice day................

 

Wow this is a thread on ball joints. To make it short, one big problem USA faces is how much of the population knows about any other country? THAT is a BIG problem. USA isn't in trouble because of things listed above, how many other countries are in the same way in that retrospect but economy is fine? Canada, Britian, France, need I go on? Look at how bad China's economy was a few years ago, now they are doing pretty good, because they know how to fix it! You can't fix a economy if you don't know anything about other economies or the past except for your own country. The states has been killing themselves in that way for a long time......and it won't be fixed easily. And all i've got to say is, USA is walking on glass with a lot of other countries right now.....they better tread lightly or they will find themselves in a mess that would make today look like a picnic.

As far as ball joints.....I still can't decide between carli, dynatrac or XRF. I never want to replace them again, not really sure if the XRF or dynatrac are good for like 150,000 miles with big tires.....not sure if I want to find out.

 

This is funny. I just finished reading this thread and was flipping through the tv channels and Glenn Beck was saying that when social security was started the average male only lived to age 58. rebertalotto, you made a very good point!

 

Just wait , when the 3rd world countrys become unionized they will start outsourcing off shore looking for cheaper labor.

 

just got these balljoints in and they are awesome! cant wait to put them in the truck.

 

Great write up Skyd. Simply one of the best explanations I have read in some time. Add to your explanation the cost of US business for regulatory, OSHA, state agencies, IRS, Workers Comp, Insurance, and so on.....regulation, taxes, and lack of/availability of working capital>>> There my friend is where the triple cost of the Dynatracs are over the others!

To stick with the thread, the Dynatracs are miuch sexier and most likely will be the first and only (hopefully) I will ever have to buy. XRP look good too, kinda like a good looking chic next to a super model, they both will do!

 

Yup, and next up after China, Korea and India is Africa............

It took Great Britain 400 years to lose it manufacturing base.....

It took the USA 100 years to lose ours......

It took Japan 35 years to lose the bulk of it's manufacturing jobs.....

And it will take China, Korea and India about 20 years. The exploding middle class in these countries are already wanting shorter hours, more vacations and the ability to buy a $50K car.............

 

Thread topic -

Ball joints are such a PITA to do, I only want to do them once. I think I am going to go with the Carli uppers and lowers. I usually see 300-400K out of a truck, I'd like to get ball joints that could possibly go the distance.

Off topic, but still part of the thread -

Back in the 70's, I worked for a specialty steel manufacturer. They took a few million bucks from a S.Korean company to teach/train the Koreans on the how to's of making steel. Then they sold the Koreans a bunch of really out-dated steel making equipment. Only 3 short years later, the Koreans began dumping chceap steel on the market, tons and tons of it. Jimmy Carter sat on his duff, no support to our steel manufacturers whatsoever, you all should know the story, Allentown PA was one of the steel towns that went down the river . .

This same scenario has happened over and over again until the US has little manufacturing, if much of any manufacturing at all. Our industrial base is gone and soon all the knowledge necessary to pick it back up somewhere along the line will be gone too. The baby boomers are the last generation who knows how to assembly line more than just hamburgers.


CD

 

Good read here, I liked the post about calling Dodge customer service and see where your call is answered. Just food for thought, anyone ever call Toyota, Honda, etc.? Post back your findings, I'll bet you a donut they ARE American and in sunny SoCal.