Local carpet mill loses state job to foreign manf.

WilliamM2

The only reason I'm going to Walmart from now on is to hopefully have 2 hot babes offer to wash my windshield...

Why is Walmart always blamed for Chinese goods? Sears, Target, Home Depot, Kohl's, Best Buy, and almost every other retailer I can think of sell mostly Chinese goods these days. Most of the items we buy for day to day living no longer even have a US made option.

cnh

WilliamM2 is right and here are a few interesting things.

1. There are 3 major Walmart-like Dept. Stores (maybe 4) in Beijing China.

Walmart, WuMei (also Known as WuMart Hypermaket), the French Carrefour, and Lotus Markets.

2. Both WuMei and Carrefour seem to outsell Walmart?

3. I'm pretty sure that Carrefour is the biggest retailer in the City. Of couse the products of all 4 stores are Chinese made--I bought a set of dumbells from Walmart to work out with and I had to air the plastic/rubber hand grips because they smelled like toxic Vinyl/chloride!

4. The Chinese Economy is recovering much faster than the U.S. economy...reason....they are still one of the largest MAKERS of GOODS are we are NOT. So who are you going to buy from? And 2, a domestic market within China is developing....in other words, fueled by foreign capital China was able to catipult itself into the 21st century, to create an urban middle-class that now numbers MORE than the entire population of the U.S. and thus a NEW country of CHINESE consumers??? Consumption here is off the charts...it rivals the heyday of U.S. shopping and consuming even as American workers continue to lose their jobs with unemployment topping 10 percent 'officially' but probably close to 13 or 14 percent unofficially!

Forget about Walmart, the Chinese already have. And BTW...Walmart is one of the few employers here which is UNIONIZED! How's that for IRONY!

So yeah...the goods are 'here'....the retailers are in the U.S. and made in China is everywhere.

What's next?

5. The Chinese Auto INVASION!!!! The vehicles made in China are getting better and better in quality...soon they will approach what Hyundai was a few years ago...and then watch out because they'll be coming your way..

There is NO way the American Auto Industry will survive this next wave! The Chinse auto industry will also be MORE resilient because it has MILLIONS of cars to sell right here in CHINA to its over 300 million middleclass citizens....so foreign growth and domestic sales...the industry looks like the U.S. in the 50's and 60's?

Wish I had something better to report from here economically? Sorry guys!

cnh

BlueFox

WilliamM2 wrote: »

Why is Walmart always blamed for Chinese goods? Sears, Target, Home Depot, Kohl's, Best Buy, and almost every other retailer I can think of sell mostly Chinese goods these days. Most of the items we buy for day to day living no longer even have a US made option.

Aren't the LSis built in China? My PSB Synchrony Ones are. That is how they can sell a great speaker so inexpensively.

That said, I wish we would slap a tariff on all Chinese goods, and tax the crap out of companies that outsource jobs to China. When the Chinese government stops enlisting engineers to steal US company's intellectual property, and lets their currency balance with the rest of the world then we can level the playing field.

inspiredsports

sucks2beme wrote: »

Gosh, it's all very logical. I can hardly wait to become a third world country.
I'm glad we can al help in the cause of all the other countries to become equal.
I'll be looking forward to making $145 a month and moving my family under a bridge.
Is there anything else I can do to help the top 1% of Americans to go from
making 95% of all the money to 99%?
But never fear, the stock market is back up there. Nobody knows why,
but if it's up around 10k, the economy must not need any jobs to survive.
It's magic, I tell you.

I don't disagree with what you are saying, but I do wonder if you have ever thought about what really wealthy people do with their money?

They pay a high percentage of taxes, spend their money on lots of goods and services (perhaps goods or services that fund your livelihood), donate to churches and charities, and invest the rest in stocks which funds business growth.

The majority of you voted for the current legislative branch members and executive branch member that has tipped the balance with a recent appointment to the judicial branch so the majority of you will get f***** up the financial and social a**.

cnh

No one disagrees with that...But that sector is shrinking even as it expands in China? There will be fewer wealthy Americans in the future and it has 'little' to do with politics.

There are some very 'nice' Google and Microsoft towers in Beijing...in a number of parts of the city. There will be more.

Global economics are a new playing field my friends....leave your politics at the door and open it. They don't apply at the Macro level.

Take China for example....Free Market Economy but State Political Control of certain things that would not be acceptable to either party in the U.S.? And yet it prospers?

Hmmmmm? That's a tough one to explain using American models--it defies them. I see no simple answers here. And I see almost 'nothing' the U.S. can do in response?

cnh

kevhed72

WilliamM2 wrote: »

Why is Walmart always blamed for Chinese goods? Sears, Target, Home Depot, Kohl's, Best Buy, and almost every other retailer I can think of sell mostly Chinese goods these days. Most of the items we buy for day to day living no longer even have a US made option.

I only named Wal-mart because they are the easy, obvious target. They can operate on razor-thin margins on some products, which drives smaller, regional retailers out of business. On other items, they really don't have the "lowest price". Yes, many of the things we 'need' for day to day living are only supplied from China. But, on the flipside, much of the stuff made in China in non-essential and the companies themselves create the demand for...stuff that is basically disposable when in breaks or becomes obsolete. I think Americans would be better off saving a higher percentage of their income than just buying the next, new electronics gadget or toy every 2 years or so. I am personally tired of buying cheap stuff that I know will end up in a landfill in the near term vs. looking for an alternative that will be around for the long-haul. Many times that alternative does not exist, but maybe it could be produced in the US...

tonyb

China's growth can be attributed to alot of things,one being cheap labor. Not exactly a model we would like to see here. One thing is for sure,they can't sustain that growth with out expanding the country. Maybe thats why they have been building up their military at record levels. Also quality of life,again,not exactly something we would want see here. Consumption makes the economic wheels turn,we all know this,but here in the states and in europe the message is consumption is bad. Two different models for sure. Question is,as an invester,where would you put your money for the best possible return ? In a stagnant economy here,or a growing one in china ?

apphd

BlueFox wrote: »

Aren't the LSis built in China? My PSB Synchrony Ones are. That is how they can sell a great speaker so inexpensively.

That said, I wish we would slap a tariff on all Chinese goods, and tax the crap out of companies that outsource jobs to China. When the Chinese government stops enlisting engineers to steal US company's intellectual property, and lets their currency balance with the rest of the world then we can level the playing field.

The value of the RMB has hurt us, and is stacking the deck so to speak. But the Chinese gov. is doing what's right for them. Ours is not, in my eyes, I hope in the long run I am the one that's wrong.

As far as the industrial espionage, many many companies try to do this to some extent, in one form or another. Even U.S. companies attempt this against other U.S. companies. Just if they are big enough that the cost of getting caught would severely hurt them they take less overt risks. And the overall integrity of those that sign non disclosure agreements seems to hold here with employees. I believe the Chinese (and others) business mind set is: "it's up to you to protect your intellectual property, it's up to you to make sure we use the ingredients and materials you specify. If you don't and our business benefits from it then we are the better/smarter business".

Remember the Chinese have been profiting from doing business with the west since Marco Polo.

Norm Apter

apphd wrote: »

It's probably 15 -20 years away but Africa will become a player in this economic shift as well.

Yes, but this is already going on in Africa...to the benefit of the Chinese. The Chinese government / private entrepreneurs (there is a very blurry line between the two) have already invested a tremendous amount of capital in developing infrastructure and exploiting the resources of Africa, kind of right under our noses so to speak. It basically works out as a quid pro quo with poorer African governments. We'll help you develop economically if we get access to what you have in the ground.

In the U.S., when we think of Africa we think of poverty, starvation, AIDs, apartheid, and corrupt governments. The Chinese have put all of those ideas aside, and many of our assumptions about human rights, and are using Africa as an extension of their economic development at home. I don't think there is too much discussion or knowledge of this, but when one of my buddies in the U.S. army was stationed in Africa he observed a tremendous amount of Chinese activity there.

madmax

What an effed up mess we have made. We outsource everything, allow illegals in to do the low end jobs and are allowing foreign countries to pass us by in education. That was just the start. Now we outsource stuff like software and other educated development activities. The only thing left to do is to go broke now that we have nothing to offer. And hey, lets make it so we pay fines to other countries if we want to actually use power to make anything ourselves. Even China laughed at that last one and told us to do what ever we want, they will have no part of it. If all that isn't enough then why don't we rename global warming to global change so we can steal the rest of the economy away from ourselves. Oh wait, we did that already. Is everyone ready for the takeover?

danz1906

MacLeod wrote: »

Simple solution - the corporate tax rate in the US is the 2nd highest (by less than .5%) in the world at 40%! What company would want to stay here and be forced to pay nearly half their profits in taxes. Look at the Exxon. I remember reading that one quarter this year they made 11 billion - but they paid 30 billion in taxes the same quarter! Regardless if you think Exxon is an evil corporation with obscene profits or not, paying 3 times more in taxes than your take home pay is just wrong on any level!

Who has one of the fastest growing economies? Ireland. Who has the lowest corporate tax rate in the world? Ireland.

Slash the corporate tax rate to 10% and then get out of the way of the flood of overseas businesses that will come back to our shores. Then watch unemployment drop to about 3%.

Agreed, great point!

apphd

Norm Apter wrote: »

..........In the U.S., when we think of Africa we think of poverty, starvation, AIDs, apartheid, and corrupt governments. The Chinese have put all of those ideas aside, and many of our assumptions about human rights, ..........

It was easy for the Chinese to put all of those aside, because they are nothing new to China. But they are minor issues compared to making money (in there eyes).

Another reason manufacturing is moving to these places is environmental. It's not just the U.S., businesses from around the globe were tripping over each other trying to get into, and manufacture in China. Pollution laws are limited or of little concern, because: they don't exist, are not enforced, or the gov. official in the area is easily bought off. So manufacturing does not face the added costs of meeting gov. rules on, or possible liabilities, regarding numerous environmental concerns.