(01-12-2019 02:41 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-12-2019 12:01 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(01-12-2019 11:33 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-12-2019 11:21 AM)Marc Mensa Wrote:  [quote='bullet' pid='15828408' dateline='1547304225']
If the German economy can have manufacturing jobs, there's no reason the American economy can't have even more with our lower land and energy costs.

Americans buy cheap disposable goods which can been made cheaply in China and exported to the US. The European consumer tends to demand quality and value the more expensive goods manufactured in Germany.
Too, the Chinese value german made automobiles and appliances which, sizewise, translates to their style of living.

what in the hell does that have to do with regaining mfg. jobs in America???
oh yeah, not one dayum thing....

Quote:Actually, it does in a way.
Germany doesn't have the resources we do, so they have to make and market based on high quality. Their education system is better oriented toward training skilled workers. While our kids are studying Chaucer and gender studies, theirs are learning how to build engines and run CAD/CAM terminals. We need to reorient our education system to provide a much higher quality vocational education component, and to steer students who are so inclined in that direction, rather than trying to "mainstream" every student. I really don't care if the guy who fixes my car can recite from the Canterbury Tales, but I do care whether he knows how to fix my car.

much of engineering is highly automated these days....the demand for that field will only see further human reduction as tech continually evolves....
I get your point relative to their situation.....however, this isn't about their situation...

Quote:Germany also had, at least until recently, a more favorable tax environment for investors. They have a territorial system rather than taxing world-wide income. Their corporate rate is approximately 30%, including state taxes, win was significantly less than ours until the 2017 act and is now roughly comparable. Germany did not tax capital gains at all until 2009, and now basically taxes stock transactions but not investment in hard assets that are held for 10 years (so it hits speculators like Mach but not true investors).

which is one major reason the US is regaining mfg. jobs....another would include deregulation....
implementing tariffs on raw goods or the threat of, appear to have had little impact to consumer demand as most companies have passed on little to no increase in pricing from US manufacturers.....they have however, given american businesses a better opportunity to compete in the finished goods market which has driven up demand for US labor....
whether it's Germany, China, or XYZ is irrelevant....
setting up and negotiating real fair trade policies that allow the US to compete equitably against those we choose to based on foreign and domestic dynamics is what's relevant....
the bottom line is we now have someone in place that understands this having been roadblock to regaining mfg. jobs.....
it should be obvious his predecessor didn't have a fk'n clue....that was the overall point of the OP....

Te biggest trade barrier we face is the fact that we don't have a national consumption tax (VAT/GST/Fair Tax) whereas every other developed country does, usually in the 20% range. They collect the tax on all imports, without it counting as a tariff. And they get to rebate it on exports. That would level a lot of playing fields, way faster than one-by-one tariffs will.