GM and others shutting down production.

BenK wrote:
Lost that battle...several times while still working...

When the corporation was noodling outsourcing manufacturing (a $17billion per year revenue corp)...argued to executive staff that we were paying them to build up their infrastructure & become a competitor...lost that one.

Next battle was when they were noodling outsourcing manufacturing design...lost that one too.

CEO came over to my office (around the corner from his) and sat down...oh, oh...he said keep up the good work, but he (was also the board chair) said the stockholders demand reducing cost...added: "at any cost" and he got it, but said "they don't care, nor do they understand"...

Next was over outsourcing our engineering design...this time made a HUGE stink and almost got fired (divisional GM's yelled at my boss), but the CEO and I had another talk...and his comment was that the executive bonuses were based on quarterly performance. Both revenue growth and stock market performance...while 'they' had an outlook farther than the current or next quarter...years outlook vs our stupid quarterly outlook

Then the huge manufacturing campuses were built by our money...they switched location on us and forced us to build another one 'over there' and took over that first campus.

"We Americans" paid 'them' to become our peers. First in manufacturing, then design, then in raw everything from initial conception to shipping finished products to 'us' over here.

All the while paid them to build & produce things they would have taken several decades to get up to that level.

Too many...most...blame the US Government, but so misplaced...it is the shareholder demanding the "cheapest at any cost" and "higher stock prices"...which is "us" the citizens of America...

BobsYourUncle wrote:

RetiredRealtorRick wrote:
Too bad we don't have the know how/technology/workforce/ability/desire to produce these chips in the US.

Sadly, one of the biggest reasons they outsource a lot of these parts is the cost. I'd love to see 100% of our products made on our own turf, but the costs would skyrocket. We think prices are high now.....
I'm sure they have the technology but let's face it, local labor costs a lot more than foreign labor.

I have been there too but I disagree on the role of the government. All costs "here" make producing products "there" more attractive. Those costs include EPA compliance, OSHA compliance, taxes, Social Security "contributions", financial audit compliance, etc. I was working for Ingersoll Rand when they moved their legal headquarters to Bermuda and with a stroke of a pen saved themselves $160 million/year in taxes. Outsourcing cast iron production to China saved about half a million per years in EPA compliance but the environment gets polluted even more.

There were a lot of other factors but the government was no small contributor to the eventual closing of the plant that I worked in.

I do agree that Americans in general are too focused on the next quarter instead of long term. I have noticed that in the automobile industry the companies under foreign management have been gaining against American managed companies for the last 50 years, even with production facilities in the U.S.

I am not saying that the government requirements are bad in themselves. But, if we allow countries that don't have those costs built into their products to undercut American workers we can expect to be unemployed. And unemployed people don't pay taxes to support our government programs.