OK, I'm about sick of hearing all the whining about lots of things.

First, gas prices. We complain about high gas prices, then go fill up our gas-guzzling Exursions and get 10mpg.

We complain about "losing jobs to China", then we go shop at Wal-Mart where it seems almost everything in the store is made in China.

Some people push "buying American", and then go buy a Ford or GM made elsewhere while slamming an American-made Toyota, Honda, or Nissan.

We complain again about unemployment, but we tolerate unions that use extortion tactics to demand a wage far above market value (thus increasing product cost and unemployment).

We say that Americans deserve a "living wage", then define the poverty line such that you can have a 42" plasma in your house in be living "in poverty" (yes, you can have all kinds of possessions, but if you have a low INCOME [i.e., you are the idle rich], then you are in poverty). Then we create a minimum wage which hurts American global competitiveness and causes unemployment by driving up wage costs.

Now I don't care if you love or hate unions, or favor imports or domestics. It doesn't matter.

JUST DON'T COMPLAIN WHEN YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.


Justin

 

Isn't this kind of like the pot calling the kettle black?? Heck....you come on a public forum to COMPLAIN about everyone else that is complaining.

 

Uh-oh, someone peed in Hohn's cornflakes again...

 

your right for the most part, but when you dont have much money where are you suppose to shop? i live in the U.P. of michigan, they all whine and say purchase locally, but when you go to buy a car from a local dealr, you get a price $2000 more than if you drive 100 miles to green bay. two of my friends wanted to buy snowmobiles this month, local guy was $500 each more than the wisconsin guys, and wouldnt come down. sure i can go to the downtown place and pay more for the same thing i can at wal-mart, BUY WHY? its the big rich boys that need to change the country, not us poor slobs trying to pay our bills and hold on to what we have worked for the past twenty years. yes i like snowmobiling, my nice 2002 truck the 02 durango, but i have worked hard for that stuff, i am just scraping by. but thats the choice i have made.

 

Let's see, where are the Fritos, the nacho cheese dip and that Diet Pepsi ( )? This oughta be GOOD!

Rusty

 

The Fritos can be found in the cupboard next to where Phox keeps the locks.


Rich

 

phox

 

I'm curious as well!

 

Hehehe....Phox doesn't know I took all his locks and hid them.

 

Is this forum American Made???

Grabs a Diet Pepsi and a Pretzel and watches the show..

Oh by the way I Dont do Wally World if I have any option same goes for Fred Myers and the rest of the import merchants.

 

When your salary just barely covers the bills and living expenses, you shop where you get the best deals and prices. If it's Wall-Mart, so be it. Many of us don't have the luxury of being able to forego one store over another because of where things are made.

 

I can't say that I disagree with Hohn on much - but what is the solution? As that great philosopher Pogo once said "I have seen the problem and he is us"

Some observations from someone looking back over his shoulder at hill.

Gas prices adjusted for inflation are actually lower than they have been at other times in our history. The early / mid 70's come to mind.

Drive around your neighborhood. Many people cannot get their cars in their garages because of all of their stuff. Mini storage is a booming business. I believe if we all lived off of the stuff we already have the economy would really slow down.

I was at a meeting last week. We had a well respected economist speaking to us. It was a small group so we could ask questions. At some point, he made the point that inflation was in check and he didn't see it rebounding soon.

I asked him about the recent increases in commodity prices, specifically the price of oil, concrete and steel. He asked where it was going. I responded that there was more global demand, but specifically China was using a large share of it. He asked what China was doing with the resources, to which I responded running their economy, driving more, building dams and housing. His response was that the China is building more capacity to produce more and were in effect exporting deflation because of their excess capacity.

The problem is I don't want another pair of tennis shoes, a set of cheap tools or something else to put into my garage. But I would like to build something that will use concrete and steel.

Other suggested topics: Workers comp and how the high workers comp rates actually take money out of the pockets of the guy doing the work.


Pass the Fritos !

 

Whether you buy American or not, it's simply good business to pay the lowest price for the best product. Quality however is a subjective term. If American workers weren't so bent on getting top dollar for their work and the EEOC/OSHA/unions/etc... didn't make U.S. companies cost of production so high we could afford to buy American.

The bigger problem however is the amount of credit floating around these days. Most of the credit is being financed by foreigners. The Chinese are financing our purchases of their products. We have a housing price bubble and a stock price bubble in the process of being deflated while a commodities bubble is forming.

Things are way out of whack and eventually they will come back into whack and swing the other way. Stocks will tank, house prices will crash leaving thousands of mortgagees upside-down and foreigners will stop lending us money to buy gas, diesel, bread, meat and other commodities.

Depression is coming folks...and nothing will stop it. The question is when, not if.

Edwin

 

In the "Olden Days", you bought a new whatever when the old one broke beyond repair.

Now people routinely discard items and purchase new items (usually on credit) because a new one is "Bigger-Better-Faster".

We have met the enemy and he is cheap credit.

Every action has a consequence.

 

Unfortunately the company I work for has been forced to start importing lots of the equipment we sell because our customers want the cheapest thing regardless of quality. Of course, when the cheap piece breaks they want to complain and get a new one too. We've gone as far as buying our own factory in China to produce some of these products. I almost quit a couple years ago because I was tired of explaining how these products were as good as the domestic stuff we used to sell when I knew inside that most of it was junk! I don't know the solution but I make very good money selling the imported stuff so I'll live with it as long as I can stand it.