Repro Corvette Tri-Power Units

[Belair62]

OK...novel idea...screw the Chinese cars...don't let them come here...sell them to all the people who can't afford to buy them in China...at what point do we stop selling all our technology , all our old companies and prime real estate to foreign concerns ? Sorry..I'm sick of it. We sell the technology , they do it cheaper with what amounts to slave labor and our places go out of business..a little protectionism is long overdue...global economy my ass

[jbclassics]

Amen brother

[nuch_ss396]

Bob,

Well said! But, it gets a little deeper than that I think.

We as a country need to realize ( remember ) that the
manufacturing base is what made the USA what it is today.
No one wants to get their hands dirty once they go through
college it seems. They want MBA's and quick profits. That
line of thinking is what got us in this pickle. Enough !

We have lost much of our great spirit to thinking like the
Clintons used with NAFTA and the like. Remember, we were
going to re-train all of the displaced manufacturing
workers for "hi-tech" jobs. MY ASS! Those people are out
of work - period.

I changed from a Design Engineer to a Manufacturing
Engineer many years ago because I believe in the mfg. base
as our future competitive advantage. I get sick every time
I hear about the Chinese this, the Chinese that...... The
Chinese not know s**t. Only what we taught them and what
the stole. Sorry if that offends anyone here. I deal with
this every day. Clients tell me, "If I send this mold
project to China, we can get it built for 1/3 the cost."
Quality is not nearly as good there, but they are getting better.

We need to start thinking about the United States of
America as just that - UNITED! We need to unite as a
country to build the good products we need as a country,
and at a reasonable price. Note that I mentioned
reasonable, not the cheapest. If Americans can be "taught"
to realize that our future depends on our collective
success, then we will be far better off.

Sorry for the rant...... Now, back to SHP BBC's !!!!!

Steve

[firstgenaddict]

I am not in favor of all the globalization unless it is done on equal footing. China's currency manipulation is BS plain and simple... when they finally let their currency float to market they are in for a whole lot of financial pain... just look at Japan during the late 90's.
Just think they peg their currency to the dollar. (well it floats 3% now) If I were a country let's just call me the Republic of First Gen. I could issue my currency... Fgen's.
Peg it to the dollar... and print as much as I want with out having to worry about the amount of currency in the market... I could buy new state of the art equipment with my money because the manufacturers of the equipment could trade the Fgen's for Dollars or whatever.
Now that I have new machinery, plants and slave labor I can produce everything cheaper than everyone else.
This is China's situation... very few legal hurdles to jump tthrough and very little regualtion in order to build manufacturing plants be it Papermills, Foundry's, etc.

They also do not run to demand they run as much as they can possibly produce...They have done it in my industry (the paper business) They come to our market with their product and price it under the current rates. They get as many orders as they can at the price and then when they can not sell any more at that price they DROP the price and sell to everyone who will buy at the next price and then they DROP it again. They flood the market with product and drive out the competetion... when they no longer have any competition we are in for a world of $h!t because then they will have market leverage and be ableto set their own pricing... that is what they are after... drive out the competition then hold us hostage for everything that we need to run our country.
We have let them become a manufacturing powerhouse, because like someone said "we don't want to get dirty any longer."
WELL maufacturing builds wealth... when we no longer have enough manufacturing in the US to be self sufficient then we will be beholden to the Chinese for our goods, that will be a sad state of affairs... they will then have the upper hand, if they don't already.
What needs to happen is say alright... the real value of your currency is 20% lower (or whatever it may be) than what you let it fluctuate to. So we are going to add a 20% tarrif to all of your goods coming into the US.
Now the people of the US are going to whine... and WAL MART is going to RAISE HELL!!!
Mark my words it will come to this... we need to bite the bullet and nip this in the bud while we still have manufacturing left in the US!
A good way to begin to equal the imbalance with out imposing tarrifs is to do away with corporate and personal income taxes. Go to a national sales tax... that way anything that is sold in the US is taxed at the same rate... thus everyone doing business in the US is paying taxes, that would begin to level the playing field..

We also need to encourage capital investment in our manufacturing base. Do away with the red tape and insane regulations...
To build a new papermill in the US it takes 10 years worth of Environmental studies and 100 million dollars before you turn the first shovel of dirt.
We are no longer competitive and it is because we don't want to be...

[PeteLeathersac]

A lot of great points....the sad thing is and like the Tanya Tucker song goes, 'It's a little too late to do the right thing now'? . Even if everyone 'got it' today and there was a massive North American revolt, the systems in place to make the politically connected fat cats fatter at the long term cost of North America itself could never be unwound in enough time? . The WalMarts are just a glimpse of other offshore manufacturing footholds in place already and too deep to change fast enough? .
Why we make manufacturers here comply to environmental regulations yet purchase from others who don't is insane? . The same w/ the import/export ratios....why do we buy from China if they don't buy enough from us? .
When thinking of our manufacturing going away I always remember GM's 'Boss' Kettering statement of how we won WW2 because our main manufacturing being used to changes to auto production yearly knew how to alter capabilities quickly. . The result was billions in war equipment produced in record time and a lot given to Russia in the 'Lend-Lease' program to fight Germany instead of sacrificing our own soldiers. . Without it all, we would've lost the war and this site could be about Hi-performance Horch & DKW's? .
Sorry for the rant....I just feel sicker every day as I flow a higher percentage of Chinese product too and have no choice as I'm not cost competitive if I don't. .
We're stuck in the bowl of a Chinese toilet....the water's rising and the only way out is climbing a rope that's connected to the flush handle?
~ Pete

[budnate]

you got that right!!! Amen again.

[nuch_ss396]

Did we digress - or what?

OK, so what can we do to stop this offshore invasion? Honestly!

Steve

[firstgenaddict]

Unfortunately I think that it will take something big to awaken most people.
At some point I believe that Wally world will be hurt... the factory workers they are putting out of jobs are the same ones who love Wal Mart's low prices... The terrible thing is that most of these people have no idea that they caused their own job losses.
I personally do not go to Wal Mart unless I absolutley have no other choice.
It has been at least a year since I have bought anything in there..

[nuch_ss396]

[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately I think that it will take something big to awaken most people.
At some point I believe that Wally world will be hurt... the factory workers they are putting out of jobs are the same ones who love Wal Mart's low prices... The terrible thing is that most of these people have no idea that they caused their own job losses.
I personally do not go to Wal Mart unless I absolutley have no other choice.
It has been at least a year since I have bought anything in there..

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes James,

But in respect to Walmart, this is the dilemma. They have
effectively run the competition out of busniess and hooked
the country on Walmart prices ( non-US goods ). As the
jobs disappear, people have less to spend. Hence, Walmart
looks even better to them..... The cycle is scarry

Is Chinese Communism going to beat us from the inside?

Steve

[BARRY]

HI WHEN IS GM AND FORD AND CHRYSLER GOING TO WAKE UP YOU CAN;T BUILD A CAR OR TRUCK AND HAVE 10 DIFFERANT BUMPER COVERS FOR THE SAME CAR OR TRUCK IS THAT CAR MADE ON JANUARY 01 2006 OR JANUARY THE 26 2006 AND THAT IS JUST ONE PART