Is WalMart killing America

[Theluckys]

Originally Posted by henderson

Just one question, what happens when we no longer have the skills and machinery to actually MAKE things.

SERIOUSLY

It's called a book with instructions - they work they really do. I'm a perfect example, I've trained myself to chage the oil in my MH and I wasn't born with that talent.

BTW I didn't get the replacement oil from Wal-Mart

[Theluckys]

Originally Posted by jamesgr81

But you still didn't say how moving manufacturing offshore has made us a better nation. So we point and click to order semiconductors made in China. And then have the parts assembled in China. Where can you buy quality made toasters today? My last pair of Levi's button lasted 10 seconds before the plastic stud pulled out. And people still toil in unconditioned sweatshops, only they're Chinese. My job as a WalMart greeter didn't exist when I was a kid.

Great points - both of our original posts were dealing in generalities rather than specifics so lets get down to brass tacks shall we?

Most, not all but most, manufacturing jobs involve changes to the surrounding environment and unless strict regulations are in effect those plants are not environmentall friendly. However saying that the newer plants that use robotics, lasers, etc., are much better. Therefore if you want good/better higher quality you want newer plants and standardization.

Plants in Mexico were terrible polluting and poor quality. The newer plants going up are better but still not as environmentally friendly. In the US the newest manufacturing plants employ less workers, are more productive and better for the environment.

Specific examples are auto manufacturers. Today's cars last longer and are better built then they were in the 1950's and 1960's. Sure there were some great older cars but the adage of never buy a car built on a Monday or Friday were around for a reason; no standardization and reliant on workers.

If you purchase jeans with plastic buttons well that's just cheap materials and shame on the manufacturer. However just like there are different levels of MH's there are different levels of clothes - not everyone can wear $1000 suits (I sure don't WANT to wear them).

Originally Posted by jamesgr81

Is the future of America as a service economy going to be better than it was as a manufacturer of the world's goods? Just look where China's economy is versus the US for the answer.

That question is really at the root of this thread and the question, "Is Wal-Mart killing America?"

A service economy allows for a more varied, environmentally friendly higher economic potential economy rather than a manufacting economy. Why?

Thanks to technology we can invent machines to replace humans. The machines are more reliable, don't call in sick, work 24-7, don't request smoke breaks, produce consistency and improve productivity, so why wouldn't you want to evolve from manufacturing to a service industry providing services that machines can't?

The difference is this - most old time manufacturing jobs didn't take much education &/or training. Today's manufacturing jobs require a higher standard of knowledge. Personally I'd rather let China do the grunt work while the US concentrated on innovation, research and service - just like I prefer my automobile over a horse and buggy.

[bachler]

With out rambling on and on, Or pretending to be writing a book;;;;; For a business to succeede it must be customer supported; And IT would be good to Let all the wallmart customers be happy , And you all QUIT making them out as Villens For trying to survive and get the most for there hard earned doller;;I'de like who is the judge For condeming them for living..

[henderson]

Originally Posted by Theluckys

SERIOUSLY

It's called a book with instructions - they work they really do. I'm a perfect example, I've trained myself to chage the oil in my MH and I wasn't born with that talent.

BTW I didn't get the replacement oil from Wal-Mart

So if China says one day we are cutting you off what do we do? Where is the instruction book entire industries? China is now trying to take over our telecommunication industry, fortunately the government has awakened to the threat losing entire industries pose to national security and are shutting them out. So what's the answer, I don't know but it's not running after the lowest price!

[MRBB]

If china wanted Japan and the USA how would we fight them? We have no steel mills, no rubber mills to speak of, no semi conductor plants, hell, we can't even produce a computer, Etc. We don't have a million man army. China now owns us and can have us anytime they want us. All this happened on our watch. Our fathers are rolling over in their graves...

[JJH3rd]

The real un-asked question is what kind of country do we want? Do we want a Mexico north, where a few families control the government & economy (many are now fleeing to the U.S. to escape the drug lords who are taking over the economy) and the rest of the people live on $6,000/year? Are we a society that loves our neighbors as we love ourselves, or is it every man for himself and devil take the hindmost?

No society & government that is based on top-down control and privilege has ever lasted for long, not the USSR discatorship, not the Nazis, not the Fascists. Sooner or later the people overthrow the despots.

The last point I want to make is that our perception of work & workers has moved from 'honest' and "honorable;e" labor to "lazy, stealing, unmotivated bums". Moreover we look up to and give special allowances to those who have built their wealth by legal tricks and loopholes and outright theft. Right now Wall Street is above any law while Main Street and RR1 are left on their own. This amounts to socialism for the rich and Ayn Randism (objectivism) for the for the rest of us.

Always take free advice for what its worth. JJH

[jamesgr81]

Just a report...

"China will overtake the US to become the world's largest economy by 2020, which in turn will be overtaken by India in 2050," said the report.

Economic centre of gravity to shift eastward

The US — currently the world's largest economy — is expected to have a GDP of $39.07 trillion by 2050.

In terms of growth from 2010-2050, India would be the second fastest with its economy growing at the rate of 8% annually during the period.

"We believe the cities to watch in 2050 are the 400 emerging market middleweights — fast growing cities with populations between 200,000 and 10 million. This dynamic group includes many cities that are not household names today: Linyi, Kelamayi and Guiyang in China; Surat and Nagpur in India; Concepcion and Belem in Latin America," it said.

Citing calculations by London School of Economics professor Danny Quah, the report predicts that the world's economic centre of gravity, a theoretical measure of focal point of global economic activity based on GDP, will shift eastwards to lie somewhere between China and India. Professor Quah calculated that in 1980, it was in the middle of the Atlantic.

The growing importance of Asia is also reflected in the rise of the super-wealthy population in the region. For the first time, the number of Asians with at least $100 million in disposable assets has overtaken those in North America. "There are now 18,000 centa-millionaires in the region covering South-East Asia, China and Japan. This is more than North America, which has 17,000, and Western Europe with 14,000," the report says.

South-East Asian deca-millionaires (those with $10 million or more in assets) outnumber those in Europe, and are also expected to overtake those in the US in the coming decade.


Some of this is due to the sheer number of people living in these areas but you see what one future could be.

[roaminranch2]

Maybe the thought of better working conditions for people in other countries was one selling point for the push towards a global economy. But it seems now that what is actually happening, is that U.S. workers are expecting less and less from their employer, and their government. I recently saw a documentary called "The Money Masters" that tells how the money system has been created by foriegn bankers. The DVD is available at Amazon. The power center is in Switzerland. Hope our kids can have a good life like us. It's not lookin very good right now, but things do change.

[Theluckys]

Originally Posted by MRBB

If china wanted Japan and the USA how would we fight them? We have no steel mills, no rubber mills to speak of, no semi conductor plants, hell, we can't even produce a computer, Etc. We don't have a million man army. China now owns us and can have us anytime they want us. All this happened on our watch. Our fathers are rolling over in their graves...

How did the discussion get from Is Wal-Mart killing America to China killing America?

Easily distracted are we?

America rose to the challenge during WW II and guess what? We could rise to the challenge again; let's just hope and pray we never have to.

[Theluckys]

Originally Posted by jamesgr81

Just a report...

"China will overtake the US to become the world's largest economy by 2020, which in turn will be overtaken by India in 2050," said the report.

Economic centre of gravity to shift eastward
.

Brought to you by the same people who told you to buy mortgage backed securities in 2007

But seriously I'd rather live in the US and 'tolerate' Wal-Mart then moving to India or China any day. Yes the US has problems in 2012 much like we did in 1912 and 1812 but I'd still take this over other countries.

Maybe we should encourage Wal-Mart to set up shop in China to kill them too? (insert heavy sarcasm)

[soundman7]

Originally Posted by Paul R. Haller

I do not shop at Wallmart. I try only to support companies that employ union workers and pay a living wage while offering benefits to their employees. Yes they charge more but at least the employees there do not have to go to the county hospital for service if they get sick. I do not support greed while taking advantage of employees to maximise profit. I also have never parked overnight in a wallmart parking lot. I pay to go to a campground.
-Paul R. Haller-

Have you ever taken a look at the profits your union is making and even better where all the profit goes I mean really now. Take good honest look.

[Boeing Guy]

The US exported 1.285 trillion dollars worth of goods last year. We must be doing somethings right. The facts are, many foreigners want our products. If the jobs won't go to you, go to the jobs.
I know this walmart killing thread has somehow taken a turn to a China killing America thread.
So lets suppose you buy Chinese products at Wal Mart and send green pieces of paper to China. What can they do with them. They can't eat, drink or smoke them. They can't demand gold, since Nixon took us off the gold Standard 40 years ago. So what can the Chinese do with those green pieces of paper? They spend them. And where do the spend them. Right here in the US. There are a billion Chinese who will soon enter the "middle class". They have dollars to spend. If you are ready, you can "catch the wave". Sooner or later, all those dollars will come back. Unless of course, I am wrong and the Chinese start eating, drinking and smoking them. Egg Foo dollars any one? Tastes like chicken. Cats will celebrate

[jamesgr81]

Yes the Chinese will have money to spend. And they will buy. But what can will sell them beside cigarrettes?

I'm not sure what industries will survive until then, Boeing is doomed unless the military spending continues to keep it afloat. I see Airbus killing off whats left of Boeing once their factory in Oklahoma opens. Caterpillar? While it survive the Korean and Chinese competition?

How did this get from WalMart to China? Because WalMArt is China. Beside the money taken as profit and expenses the majority is sent to China to pay for all the things WalMart sells .

For better or worse you can see here at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach the thousands of containers arrive each week. You can see them head down the road to the WalMart warehouses. Yet I don't see much except empty containers, except for a few stolen cars, going the other way.

If your interested check out the stats PortofLA

[MRBB]

Originally Posted by MRBB

If china wanted Japan and the USA how would we fight them? We have no steel mills, no rubber mills to speak of, no semi conductor plants, hell, we can't even produce a computer, Etc. We don't have a million man army. China now owns us and can have us anytime they want us. All this happened on our watch. Our fathers are rolling over in their graves...

Originally Posted by Theluckys

How did the discussion get from Is Wal-Mart killing America to China killing America?

Easily distracted are we?

America rose to the challenge during WW II and guess what? We could rise to the challenge again; let's just hope and pray we never have to.

Try reading my quote again. We can't rise above it because we have no resources left like we did in the 40's.

Easily distracted? Open your mind to maybe Wal-Mart started all this with China and is killing America along with all the other big box stores.

Easily distracted? Try reading this:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/11...est=latestnews