(04-18-2014 09:46 AM)Jerry Falwell Wrote:  

(04-18-2014 06:41 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  The last textile plant in my area announced a 2 million dollar equipment upgrade. Guess what the equipment is? You can almost bet they are going to have a workforce reduction coming. People are expensive to maintain. Equipment isn't.

Yeah, actually it is expensive to maintain after the first couple of years.

Equipment is more dependable on a daily basis and doesn't form unions.



As far as going to Mexico - it beats China. I source from Canada fairly regularly because most of their raw materials come from the US.

This is the point. A plant that goes to Mexico because of NAFTA was going to go anyway. The impact of NAFTA is that it goes to Mexico instead of China.

(04-17-2014 10:50 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Gentleman,

These are not situations where illegal immigrants are taking jobs. These jobs are moving to areas where 9 dollars an hour is a healthy wage.

Exactly, but at least they're in the U.S helping the economy somewhat. Which capitalist would not favor paying 35 to 40 dollars a WEEK? Yes, that's what workers in maquiladoras get paid. Unbelieveable. A maid will make that much in a day in the U.S. that's why you see these Gatas (that's what they're called, don't ask me why) getting off El Paso buses every day. But, they're doing what we as Americans can't do or hate to do that is clean our homes. They're providing a service with their sweat. Who wouldn't rather do that then labor in a humongous factory and getting paid peanuts?

I know that the Christians(?) here groan and mumble about illegal aliens but you my friend if you had been born of a different circumstance would be doing the SAME thing. Educate yourselves and find out why YOUR ANCESTORS left their native countries. Yes, some of them were illegal too but now you have it made and you close your eyes to that. Don't be a hypocritical Christian and just pick and choose which verse you like.

(04-18-2014 12:45 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  I know that the Christians(?) here groan and mumble about illegal aliens but you my friend if you had been born of a different circumstance would be doing the SAME thing. Educate yourselves and find out why YOUR ANCESTORS left their native countries. Yes, some of them were illegal too but now you have it made and you close your eyes to that. Don't be a hypocritical Christian and just pick and choose which verse you like.

When most of our ancestors left their countries, this was a land of expansion and opportunity for those willing and brave enough to do it.

If we were thinking about annexing Mexico as we would have been in our early years, I think most of us would be fine with it... the problem is we have solidified our borders and voted ourselves all sorts of benefits of citizenship and now some don't want to limit those benefits to citizens.

Christians are more than happy to let you join their team (become citizens) and if you do so, you will share in all of the benefits...

but there are still rules you have to follow.

Clearly a metaphor, but You can't become a 'Citizen of Heaven' if you don't do what our faith requires. Many Illegal aliens are coming to Sunday school for the donuts and sending them back home to feed their atheist children... affirming them in their own 'faith'. You can take the donuts, but you need to take the Gospel back to them as well.

(04-18-2014 12:45 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 10:50 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Gentleman,

These are not situations where illegal immigrants are taking jobs. These jobs are moving to areas where 9 dollars an hour is a healthy wage.

Exactly, but at least they're in the U.S helping the economy somewhat. Which capitalist would not favor paying 35 to 40 dollars a WEEK? Yes, that's what workers in maquiladoras get paid. Unbelieveable. A maid will make that much in a day in the U.S. that's why you see these Gatas (that's what they're called, don't ask me why) getting off El Paso buses every day. But, they're doing what we as Americans can't do or hate to do that is clean our homes. They're providing a service with their sweat. Who wouldn't rather do that then labor in a humongous factory and getting paid peanuts?

I know that the Christians(?) here groan and mumble about illegal aliens but you my friend if you had been born of a different circumstance would be doing the SAME thing. Educate yourselves and find out why YOUR ANCESTORS left their native countries. Yes, some of them were illegal too but now you have it made and you close your eyes to that. Don't be a hypocritical Christian and just pick and choose which verse you like.

Jerk is indeed the word that comes to mind.

(04-18-2014 02:00 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(04-18-2014 12:45 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 10:50 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Gentleman,

These are not situations where illegal immigrants are taking jobs. These jobs are moving to areas where 9 dollars an hour is a healthy wage.

Exactly, but at least they're in the U.S helping the economy somewhat. Which capitalist would not favor paying 35 to 40 dollars a WEEK? Yes, that's what workers in maquiladoras get paid. Unbelieveable. A maid will make that much in a day in the U.S. that's why you see these Gatas (that's what they're called, don't ask me why) getting off El Paso buses every day. But, they're doing what we as Americans can't do or hate to do that is clean our homes. They're providing a service with their sweat. Who wouldn't rather do that then labor in a humongous factory and getting paid peanuts?

I know that the Christians(?) here groan and mumble about illegal aliens but you my friend if you had been born of a different circumstance would be doing the SAME thing. Educate yourselves and find out why YOUR ANCESTORS left their native countries. Yes, some of them were illegal too but now you have it made and you close your eyes to that. Don't be a hypocritical Christian and just pick and choose which verse you like.

Jerk is indeed the word that comes to mind.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to strike any nerves.

(04-18-2014 06:35 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  2. We are already trading partners with those countries, and we are running huge deficits with them too. This is really the elephant in the room here. For your suitable trading partners model to work, we have to find ways to win with them. Right now, we don't have them. Our net imports are roughly 1/3 related to oil, 1/3 from low wage countries, and 1/3 from countries that would be your suitable trading partners. Our model a generation or two ago was that we were self-sufficient in energy, we imported cheap consumer goods and raw materials from undeveloped countries, and we were an exporter of food and top-end producer goods to both the developed and undeveloped worlds.

We are not competitive with China on the low end, and we cannot be. But Germany is not competitive with China on the low end either, and they do okay because they win on the high end. Not competing with China on the low end is not a fixable problem. Not competing with Germany on the high end is fixable.

Totally agree. It's all about comparative advantage and the U.S. simply won't be able to compete with China (or Mexico or India) on the low end. This isn't just about blue collar manufacturing, either. Fields that we have traditionally looked at as white collar professions that need a substantial amount of education, such as computer programming, accounting/finance and even legal review, are increasingly having standardized work getting sent overseas.

Whether we like it or not, though, (1) economic isolationism won't work in practicality (and it has always been a disconnect in my mind that many liberals that preach global kumbaya unity on national security issues suddenly become inward-looking protectionists on economic issues) and (2) Americans need to adjust to where they aren't providing commoditized services that can easily be shipped overseas just as previous generations had to adjust to their own economic changes. Some people might benefit from such changes and others might not - that's what happens when there's a free market.

NAFTA has now been in place for two decades, so globalization isn't suddenly going to come to a halt. Unions and other groups that claim to protect workers would have been better served using the past 20 years to prepare their people for what the world is today (because it was 100% foreseeable with anyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics) as opposed to fighting every single trade pact and leaving their people unprepared and out on a lurch. Globalization isn't good or bad. Instead, globalization is the REALITY. Either adjust or die (in the economic sense).

(04-17-2014 08:02 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Lower cost parts mean cheaper cars to buy. The cost and quality of cars go down, and the standard of living goes up.

??? How do low quality cars improve the standard of living?

(04-18-2014 06:25 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 08:02 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Lower cost parts mean cheaper cars to buy. The cost and quality of cars go down, and the standard of living goes up.

??? How do low quality cars improve the standard of living?

More money to blow on drag slicks and superchargers!