I took a look at Gerald Celente’s prognostications and found they ranged from the obvious to fear mongering. The real estate bust seemed an obvious conclusion back in 2002 but those of us who predicted it were laughed at as “nattering nabobs of negativity.” Can I get on television with Oprah with my current prediction? Contrary to Celeste, if there is a coup, it will be an effort to dethrone Wall St from the capital…
Thankfully Celeste was premature in his predictions for Christmas 2012 being bleak.
yes,it was a good thing-but what I like about him is his historical perspective and I think commonsense-the playing field should be leveled,those with all the money shouldnt have all the advantages,most of the time that doesnt work out the greatest-Kevin
Just saying, you may not like unions or GM or management but this is not good for our general population.
In the long run it is. If we keep supporting companies that have poor management and make extremely poor decisions that in the long run effect our economy then we should NOT support them. It’ll ruin our economy.
In the long run it’s good for the sick to be left to die and those who loose their jobs to go on the unemployment rolls, on the street and stop contributing to the gene pool of the unsuccessful. That’s in the long run.
So we interrupted the business evolutionary process too…survival of the wealthy errr…I mean fittest. Japan did this for Subaru…you know the story. To say that they would have survived had we not, is pure conjecture. To say that they have with GM being among the leaders now, with help, is fact.
I thought it was democracy when we the people got to pick the winners through our elected representatives. Would you rather a fat cat on Wall Street did with his pocket and not our well being as his motivation ?
Gee, I agree with dagosa. In the US we let our manufacturers go out of business with the loss of jobs, and the empty plants, and the loss of the support jobs. Tecumseh is a good example. The best little snow engine there was now defunct and made by China. Would I pay an extra hundred bucks for a US made Tecumseh? You bet but it was a holding company decision.
In China though, the industries are subsidized by the government along with the health care. So are we to let our manufacturers twist in the wind while we support Chinese companies supported by their government? Don’t think so. Especially when the decisions are made by a small small group of financial holding companies buying and selling and ripping industries for a few extra dollars. Its a different ball game now and not so black and white.
So are we to let our manufacturers twist in the wind while we support Chinese companies supported by their government?
That’s a completely different way I see it. I had NO decision what-so-ever in many of these companies moving their manufacturing jobs to China. In fact I didn’t even know it happened.
American industry began moving to China more than 30 years ago. Eaton Fuller transmissions incrementally moved production to China beginning in about 1980 and quickly expanded to produce their heavy duty transmissions there. I will assume that Eaton quickly connected with Chinese suppliers of bearings, seals and gaskets. Most parts stores these days may offer a top name brand bearing and seal line but the sales are slow on those brands while the Chinese knock-offs, sold at half the price, are fast moving parts. Often the Chinese knock-offs are packaged and labelled to appear American made and even at half the price of the domestic part they are more profitable. They are that cheap.
If everything we bought was plainly labeled with the country of origin would there be any difference?
@RodKnox
I agree with what you say. But, it doesn’t take much convincing when the middle class in real income continues to fall behind and finds the only way they can have their goods is through the Chinese conduits, the Wall Marts of the world. Now, that is just about all businesses.
When you open third world countries to the world economy, something has to give. It’s a fallacy to say people make money. Only the mint does that. The rest of us are engaged in wealth shifting for goods and services. Unfortunately, enough shifts up without ever coming down and it exacerbates the problem.
The biggest wealth shift to come…IS
BOTH parties are talking entitlement reform. Medicare cuts to middle class benefits while a concerted effort is being made by medical corporations and businesses to continue to fraud billions out of the Medicare fund.
The govt. steals money from the SS trust fund which is in the black and which contributes nothing, nada, zero to the deficit, and puts the booty into the general fund to pay farm and oil subsidies. Now, SS benefits need to be cut to keep from having to pay the lost funds back in benefits.
The bogus arguments ? We live longer. The average SS benefit earner has increased his time collecting by only 4 years in the since it started. There are fewer workers then before for every beneficiary ? What they fail to say is that each worker is many times more productive and should be earning a much greater taxable income that pays for Med and SS. Instead, wages are stagnant with higher profits going elsewhere but not into Medicare and SS. Shafted at both ends.
Stay tuned guys it gets worse if we don’t …stay on top of it !
When looked at objectively it seems all too obvious that this country is moving toward 3d world status. We are becoming a nation of haves and have nots and a great many of the have nots are fighting to help the haves to acquire it all. That blog points out some of the significant, specific issues that have become the forest that is hidden by the trees. Americans are too busy struggling day by day to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table to notice that the roof is leaking and the soup is mostly water but if their credit limit is increased they will take a vacation and visit a casino where they will surely strike it rich.
I used to buy things at Walmart but now I don’t even buy my toilet paper there. My wife still buys groceries there but I’m working on her to shift to employee owned HyVee instead. I’ve just had it with these kinds of businesses. It is not good for the economy, local business, the employees, local home values, and is a drain on government programs. As a patriot, I don’t care if it costs more money in the short term-it’s the long term I worry about.
If a US made bearing costs $5 and a Chinese bearing costs 50 cents, do you think the store will be selling the Chinese bearing for 50 cents? No, they will be charging $3 or $4 to undercut the US bearing. Who got the extra money? I submit the importer did (um, the upper 10%). Contrary to everyone thinking that the price of goods has gone down and this is good for the consumer, I agree there have been some reductions passed on to consumers but no where near the difference.
I just bought a Toro snowblower with a Briggs and Stratton engine because I wanted a US machine. After I got it home I noticed the housing was made in Mexico, and after research, the B&S engine has been made in China for the last few years. Even the retailer said it was made in Minnesota. Had they had an identical machine, all US made for $200 more, I would have bought it. But I didn’t have a choice and the “made in” labels are very small now. I at least want a choice, and if it is US made, I at least know it was heat treated properly, is lead free, not made with child labor, and will reasonably fit the intended use.
@Rod Knox the disappearing middle class statistics bear out what you say. Let us take what hase happened in WI under a tea Party poster child Scott Walker. Unions busted, can only bargain for a cost of living raise. Tort reform limits damages to 150k. No ability to collect monetary damages for discrimination. Child labor law repealed. Massive super Pac funding to prevent recall. A permit needed 72 hours in advance for 4 or more to visit the capitol. that is only the last 2 years and not the complete list. Yes there were hundreds of thousands of protesers, legal challenge, and even the supreme court upholding the challenge to busting the unions as it did not meet requirements, for an open meeting law and the WI supreme conservative court saying they are not required by law to follow their own rules. The corruption and deception is around every corner.
I see that this post has gone way off topic, and I am Ok with that. Sometimes going off topic makes the conversation richer and more interesting. This latest turn on metallurgy of Chinese made products has also been a concern of mine.
My biggest concern is in cookware. It is getting hard to find cookware that is not made in China and I have noticed in some new cookware my wife bought that the so called stainless Steel has a tendency to turn milky with each use. It even happens when you just slightly heat something up, you don’t need high heat or burn anything. Our old cookware did not do this, I still have a little and I checked for this.
I don’t know what the milkyness is, but I bought another new pot that didn’t do this and then I noticed something on the box, it was NSF certified. I sent all the other new cookware to Goodwill and went shopping for replacements. I found that a lot of high end cookware, expensive stuff, did not have this certification and were made in China.
I finally found a mid priced set at Costco that is NSF certified and not made in China, we will see how that does.
I think we are still on topic, except about your cookware, can’t tell you how I love my cast iron skillet, can fry eggs no stick, sure I season it regularly, ok cookware really? Perhaps you are right. Watch the videos I posted above and see how it pertains to topic.
Be careful if you buy any new cast iron cookware. Lodge is made in the US and Cuiset is made in France. All the rest is made in China and there are some questions about what the pre-season their cast iron cookware with.
The French stuff is very expensive, but the Lodge cast iron is about the same price as the Chinese stuff so I can’t see any reason to not choose Lodge. In case it isn’t apparent, I love my Lodge cast iron too.
Kevin…
It’s called compromise. One side wants social programs, cut the military and raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for it. The other side wants to cut sending on social programs, increase military spending and cut taxes. So the compromise IS( or will be) …keep social programs, keep military spending and still cut taxes on everyone. It happens every time ! Therefore, big deficits.
Remember, deficits only matter to those not in office. Keep reminding yourself of that every time a campaign roles around !
