Tires- What we all already knew!

Our unemployment rate is a whole lot higher than 6%- that's a number the current administration has manipulated nearly as much as Chinese have manipulated their currency.

As for more people working so that the government increases taxes- the best way to achieve lower unemployment is to cut taxes and reduce social assistance. Tax receipts would grow significantly if the above was implemented.

As for Chinese quality- the results speak for themselves. Where iso or other production standards are implemented and followed the results are very good. The Chinese are no better and no worse than Americans or any other- However, since they don't have all of the legacy and other costs associated with Made in America they can produce an equal item at a far lower cost.

Love to see made in america but not if it costs a single dollar more than something made overseas. I am sick and tired of over paid under productive union members like teachers, airline pilots, auto workers, electricians, government employees... being way over compensated for below average work the rest of the private sector can get done for less than half the price.

PS- I am not pro-union.

Fly-boy

My sister-in-law used to work for a major airline cleaning airplane toilets.....for $18.00 an hour(member of the union). And this was about 10 years ago!

fj12ryder wrote:
It may be true, but I don't believe very much of what Consumer Reports puts out. Don't read it.

I have to agree with you but only a bit. I gave up on CR years ago because they hated everything American. I remember they hated the Ford Ranger but they loved the Mazda version which was identical other than the badges....built on the same line too. So if anything they are biased against American made. I think if you buy China bombs, then you give up your right to complain about them. I can't think of anything they make that is any good...other than the food that we get here... I have come to realize if it says made in China, it will not last.

proxim2020 wrote:

fly-boy wrote:

Thousands of American companies have production off shore in China and other third world countries- And I don't worry at all about quality. I would have no problem buying Michelin, Toyo, BFG... tires made in China because I would know the quality was there.

Not to turn this into an anti-China thread, but quality can be an issue in that exact situation. Reese began moving more and more of their production offshore. I remember several threads showing up here and other forums over the years with inexplicable failures of components like shanks. Someone would always ask, "Does the box say it was made in China?" The answer seemed like it was always yes. Their lack of oversight and regulation allows for the production of quite inferior materials. Due to the lack of regulations, metals are often created with high levels of impurities which ends up making a soft/inferior product. Reese had pretty good quality before when everything was made in America. Sometimes when a company moves production offshore, quality gets left behind.

My avoidance of Chinese made products goes quite further than just quality. When you buy a Chinese made product, some of that money goes to their government. There's a whole host of ethical issue within the country that the government is directly involved in. The Three Gorges Dam is just one example. There's also a cost to having cheaply manufactured products and we don't see the effects here in this country. Employers cut corners whenever they can to save on cost even if it endangers the workers. Chinese factory workers are 3 times more likely to be killed on the job that US workers. They are also only paid around $1.36 per hour. Yes the cost of living (more like standard of living) in China is much lower, but it's not that low. Sometimes workers are required to live in some pretty sad conditions and abused, all to benefit the factory. The country has deceptive and unfair trade practices like currency manipulation and turning a blind eye to the counterfeit market. The list goes on and on and on.

Our current unemployment rate is 6.2% and Canada has a 7% rate. That's a lot of people who aren't contributing to the tax base. That's money that should be going to schools, roads, and other governmental responsibilities. Moving more production offshore will only increase that number. We talk a lot about oil independence, but we really should be looking at manufacturing independence. That would have a huge impact in this country. Our love affair with offshore production may have peaked as more and more companies move production back to the US. Big names like Dow, GE, and Caterpillar are moving their production back to the US. Bridgestone Golf moved all of their production of golf balls back to the US this year. This is all a big plus for our country.

Proxim for President!!!!

I think the Chinese manufacturers tend to cheapen the quality and you cannot see it until it fails. Hard to tell metal is bad when it is all painted nice but when it breaks and a metallurgical exam is done, then they can see that things were not heat treated correctly, impurities in the steel etc

I do not have a union affiliation and I'm no where near old enough to collect any type of retirement lol. Somewhat anti-union, but that's a whole other rant. They had their time and place in history.

LOL ..... a thread about china made tires and now its hijacked with a bash the American union workers breaks out.

Fly-Boy,

You state that you like to see products made in America, as long as they don't cost any more than products made overseas. The problem with your statement is that the only way for that to happen is for the wages of Americans to be equal to the wages of the other Countries where cheaper manufacturing is accomplished. You are advocating that the average American worker should take a 75 to 95 percent cut in pay. Of course you will be willing to do that as well, correct? That is indeed what your statement entails.

I'm with Fly-boy. If I can buy a product that will suit my needs I could care less where it is manufactured if it is cheaper. China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia DON'T CARE!


There are still American wages that ARE INFLATED for the skill level of the job involved.

The current $15.00/hour movement for fast food workers is a prime example. BUT there are other industries were wages are highly inflated for the job.

The plumbers where I live charge $150.00 for removal and installing a toilet. Not a new toilet YOUR TOILET.

And your right-I can (and do) perform this repair myself. I could probably go down to Home Depot and get someone hanging out in the parking lot looking for work to do the job for $30.00!

DaveF-250SD wrote:
Fly-Boy,

You state that you like to see products made in America, as long as they don't cost any more than products made overseas. The problem with your statement is that the only way for that to happen is for the wages of Americans to be equal to the wages of the other Countries where cheaper manufacturing is accomplished. You are advocating that the average American worker should take a 75 to 95 percent cut in pay. Of course you will be willing to do that as well, correct? That is indeed what your statement entails.

Dave- Your statement could not be further from what I believe nor further from the truth. Wages are only one of the many components that factor into production cost and are never the deciding factor in locating a production plant.
Frankly, most companies err on the side of keeping production stateside at a higher cost for a host of reasons. Partly, it is because it is known. Mostly it is because we care far more about the people we work with than the amount in our pockets. Sadly, many of us are driven to overseas production because we get tired of the regulatory burden and know it is better to have fewer jobs stateside and a solid company than a bankrupt one.
Throw out the current tax structure, lower corporate tax rates, and fire the EPA! This country would see a manufacturing renaissance the likes of which we can only dream!
Dave- overseas workers are not the enemy of the American worker- nor are multinational corporations or big profits. Your enemy is the liberal politician who has created an environment where it makes more sense to make steel in the US, ship it to China, make something with it, and then ship it back. The EPA considered the above just fine but don't you dare burn any coal in this country. We don't want the US anywhere close to energy independent...
Please understand that big government is the single worst enemy of the working man and remember that before your next vote.

JIMNLIN wrote:
LOL ..... a thread about china made tires and now its hijacked with a bash the American union workers breaks out.

CKNSLS may have hijacked it, but that was where it started, no bashing here, though I don't belong to a union now, (I'm a supervisor), I was with the Teamsters for years and a Shop Stewart, then the OCAW and a Shop Stewart with them also when I was an hourly employee..

Don't know how the union got tossed into this by CKNSLS, guess it was his way of promoting China made ST tires, though I have no clue why he would throw that out there.:h