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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 5
broadalbin new york | WENT ON FACTORY TOUR AND WAS SURPRIZED AND BUMMED OUT ,HOW MANY PARTS WERE BEING TAKEN OUT OF FOREIGN BOXES, AND PUT ON OUR AMERICAN BIKES. THAT SAID I LIKED THE SPIRIT OF THE FACTORY WORKERS AND ENGINEERING STAFF. NOW IF THE BEAN COUNTERS WILL LET THEM KEEP ON WITH QUALITY, WE WILL BE SET. AND THEY DON'T HAVE TO GET THE SHIRTS THAT YOU CAN SEE THROUGH , AMERICAN HEAVY SHIRTS JUST COST US 2.00 MORE, THAN CHEAP IMPORTED ONES. 2012 VISION 8 WEEKS OLD AND 7300 MILES , SO FAR SO GOOD !! ALSO I LOST CRUISE IN RAIN TWICE , SWITCH ON TROTTLE CABLES , NEEDS WATERPROOFING , SO I'M TOLD. |
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Tourer
Posts: 500
| Welcome to the REAL world of manufacturing...There is almost nothing that is Made in America anymore...It is the way of the world and a fact of life....Look around your house and see how many appliances, phones, computers, TV's , etc. etc. are made outside this country or contain off-shore parts...No wonder we have no jobs so to speak...But it is the way it is.......!!! Good luck with your Vision, I really enjoy mine and would not ride any other bike for now......
Edited by opas ride 2012-08-24 9:44 AM
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | Unfortunately true. Even electronics that are advertised and sold as Made In the USA aren't. My buddy has a Visio flat screen TV that he bought because it is "Made In The USA". It died recently and he took it to a TV repair shop. The repairman told, and showed, him that all the innards are made by a company called AmTran Technologies in Taiwan. He said the only parts actually made in the USA are the outer case and the wording on the label. He did fix it though.
Yes, this matters a great deal. When I got out of school in 1968, everybody was hiring. Most things were made here. If you didn't like your job, you could walk out the door and get another the same day. I did it a few times myself. Today, almost nothing is actually made here and my college educated kids are struggling to find good jobs, and the available jobs aren't paying very well.
This country was still running a trade surplus as recently as 1975, I think (I need to do some research to verify). Bill Clinton and his Party gave us OPIC and a few other time bombs and today we are the World's biggest debtor nation. If real manufacturing isn't returned to the USA, I fear my grand kids have a gloomy future.
All real wealth generation comes from only three things, two of which come from the Earth. They are Agriculture, Mining, and Manufacturing. Manufacturing takes the raw materials from the first two activities and makes value-added products from them. Every other activity only shuffles existing wealth around--it does not create real wealth for the economy as a whole.
Ronnie
Edited by rdbudd 2012-08-24 11:22 AM
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | and if you get a manufacturing job, you have to go through a temp service now! The company is too cheap to pay benefits or full wages to new workers. When I hired in, I came to the facility, not a temp service and I was interviewed , hired at a starting wage with a stepped program to top out, and given a benefit package. Now an apllicant has to go through a temp service , given no benefits , paid a discounted wage , and they are given no clue as to when or if they will be made full time employees with benefits. I feel sorry for them. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | Jimtom, You're exactly right. My son is a case in point. He has gone through six jobs since graduating high school in 2005. Everyone of them were through temp agencies. There was no other choice. All the places he applied required him to go through a temp agency. Apparently, you can't just walk into the personnel office anymore like I always did and apply for a job. In the current economy, almost nobody wants to take on a full-time employee and pay them benefits. They hire temps to take up the slack when they have the need, then let them go when they don't need them. He finally got on with Walmart full-time, with benefits, but the pay scale is pretty sad.
My own current job has absolutely no benefits either, and I drive an 18 wheeler. The company I used to work for that did have benefits went under. The current high fuel prices are going to be the undoing of a lot more trucking companies if they are unable to raise freight rates to cover the increased fuel costs. Raising freight rates in this crappy economy is almost impossible since so many are looking for work. Of course, the increased costs of staying in business must be passed on to the end consumer...........
Don't get me started on the horrendous costs of regulatory compliance in the trucking industry, especially the fuel transportation industry that I was in for a long time. That's mostly what's responsible for the doubling of fuel prices in the past 3 1/2 years. I 'm pretty sure that increased regulations are killing many other businesses too, from what I'm hearing.
Ronnie |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | I think there will come a time that the only jobs you will be able to get in the future USA other than Govt/state jobs are service jobs like;retail department stores, Walmart, food service, health care, will be the bulk. We will always have to have truck drivers, theay are a lifeblood, but manufacturing is dying and we once did it better than anybody |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 785
Mt. Vernon, WASH. | AIRBUS makes parts and assemblies for the Boeing 747 AND 777, most of a new Boeing 787 comes from Italy or Japan, at one time the car with the most American content was the NISSAN ALTIMA. Sort every item in your house into two piles-'made in U.S.A.' an 'Fabrique au Chine' and see which pile is larger.
Buy a new TV and the data from that sale on the bar code clears that item out of inventory with the store, and tells the factory in China to make one more TV of that model for the next palletload getting on tonights FEDEX freighter load to Memphis or UPS freighter load to Looneyville (Lousiville), spend a grundle for new 'GEE WHIZ' NIKES and the sale info tells the factory in Malaysia to make another pair for the next 40 ft containerload-The only thing American Made MIGHT be you, I think............ |
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | jimtom - 2012-08-24 1:15 PM
I think there will come a time that the only jobs you will be able to get in the future USA other than Govt/state jobs are service jobs like;retail department stores, Walmart, food service, health care, will be the bulk. We will always have to have truck drivers, theay are a lifeblood, but manufacturing is dying and we once did it better than anybody
I'm afraid that you may be right. If you are right, it won't be long before this country looks like modern day Greece. If we stay on the taxing and spending course we are on now, and running these huge trade deficits, it's going to be unavoidable. Manufacturing is dying in this country because our own Government has actively encouraged USA companies to move manufacturing offshore (OPIC), and penalized those companies that try to manufacture things here, through excessive regulations and taxes. If we don't change course, we're done for. We won't recognize this country anymore. It will have been "Fundamentally changed" from a society that recognizes and rewards individual initiative and hard work to one that is completely reliant on the All-Mighty Government for everything. What the Government gives, the Government can take away. Look across the pond at Europe if you want to see our future under the current course we are on. That is why I'm worried for my Grand kids' future.
You're also right that trucking is the lifeblood of the nation because everything you buy at the store made at least part of the trip on a truck, but the only way that trucking will survive is to pass the increased fuel and regulatory compliance costs on to the consumer. Those two things are the reason freight costs are going up. Real wages for many truck drivers are going down or staying stagnant in an inflationary environment. I'm making less per year now than I have in several years, and I no longer have any benefits at all. I get paid a straight percentage on the freight, minus the fuel. When the fuel price goes up, my net pay goes down. Fuel prices are another subject that is near and dear to my heart. Fuel prices have basically doubled in the past 3 1/2 years while the price the oil companies get for their oil has stayed about the same. It's not the oil companies that are responsible for the increased prices. It's certain politicians and their policies and regulations.
Sorry for the rants, but this is a subject that is close to my heart. I've walked this Earth for over 60 years and it pains me to see what has happened to this country.
Ronnie.
Edited by rdbudd 2012-08-24 6:04 PM
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | Amen! I'm with you Ronnie. God save our country. |
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Tourer
Posts: 523
seattle, wa | On a lighter note.
It's the way of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=y1JuM8fP2d...
Edited by rwilly 2012-08-25 9:16 AM
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Cruiser
Posts: 219
Pittsburgh, PA | I have posted about the Victory clothing line before. I agree that too much stuff that we need in our daily life is either made of stuff from overseas or is made overseas. However, there are alot of things that we all buy daily or on a regular basis that can be american made. Alot of the Unions have links to help you find Union made and or American goods. They may cost a little more but I for will always be willing to buy Union or American made goods. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | I buy American when ever I can even if I have to pay more. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 219
Pittsburgh, PA | I have, on more than one occassion, went to the Victory web site and went to the "contact us" link and left messages about my desire for them to carry the "American Motorcycle" motto to their apparelline as well. I for one would more willing to buy them if I was getting good old american made products. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | good idea |
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | The real cost of American Made vs Foreign Made isn't usually obvious on the face of it, and I 'm not even talking about the effects on the National economy, just the real cost to the consumer.
I wore a brand of work clothes called Big Smith for many years. They were always very good quality and lasted a long time and were reasonably priced. Even Walmart carried them, but I bought mine from the factory outlet store locally. A few years ago, the company was bought out by a competitor (Walls) and the local factory was shut down. I then went to Walmart to get new Big Smith work clothes, only to find that the price was higher, they were made overseas, and the quality was terrible. A pair of overalls would be worn out in 3 months instead of lasting me literally years. They would literally come apart at the seams and the fabric was a lighter weight.
I finally got pissed off enough to do some research to find quality Amercan made work clothes. I found a brand sold by Cavenders and many others that is made in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and has been since 1903. They are very good quality and last a long time. They are lasting easily 4 times longer than the cheap imported ones, and they only cost $3.00 per pair more than the imported ones. So, I could "save" the $3.00 per pair for the imported ones at Walmart, and have to buy 2 to 4 times as many in a year, or buy the "more expensive" American made ones once or twice a year.
$29.99 X 4 = $119.96 for the imported crappy ones that "save" money vs $32.99 x 2 = $65.98 for the American made ones that last and employ fellow Americans. Not only does buying foreign made stuff hurt our own economy, in many cases it's false economy on the consumer's part.
Ronnie |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | rdbudd - 2012-08-25 11:25 AM
The real cost of American Made vs Foreign Made isn't usually obvious on the face of it, and I 'm not even talking about the effects on the National economy, just the real cost to the consumer.
I wore a brand of work clothes called Big Smith for many years. They were always very good quality and lasted a long time and were reasonably priced. Even Walmart carried them, but I bought mine from the factory outlet store locally. A few years ago, the company was bought out by a competitor (Walls) and the local factory was shut down. I then went to Walmart to get new Big Smith work clothes, only to find that the price was higher, they were made overseas, and the quality was terrible. A pair of overalls would be worn out in 3 months instead of lasting me literally years. They would literally come apart at the seams and the fabric was a lighter weight.
I finally got pissed off enough to do some research to find quality Amercan made work clothes. I found a brand sold by Cavenders and many others that is made in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and has been since 1903. They are very good quality and last a long time. They are lasting easily 4 times longer than the cheap imported ones, and they only cost $3.00 per pair more than the imported ones. So, I could "save" the $3.00 per pair for the imported ones at Walmart, and have to buy 2 to 4 times as many in a year, or buy the "more expensive" American made ones once or twice a year.
$29.99 X 4 = $119.96 for the imported crappy ones that "save" money vs $32.99 x 2 = $65.98 for the American made ones that last and employ fellow Americans. Not only does buying foreign made stuff hurt our own economy, in many cases it's false economy on the consumer's part.
Ronnie
wow! good stuff! |
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VICTORY FACTORY
