[Jewelry making - Article 00133] - Re: [Orchid] Handmade vs mass-produced

[Ken Ferrell]

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    Anil; I believe most of our problems began when we allowed strong
    armed tactics to be used in Force Feeding trade unions down our
    throat, It seems to have created a class of people that either had
    the money to buy the products which had become so over priced, by
    necessity for the unionized companies to remain in business or the
    other class of working slob that still had the minimal wage jobs,
    remember at one time, in not too far distant times the United States
    Of America was the most powerful nation in the world in regard to our
    industrialized sector, 

    Unfortunately as has been stated before "No one can compete with
    things like Wal-Mart" that's because the people that aren't employed
    courtesy of the Unionized trades can't afford to shop many other
    places, and the ones that can afford the other places usually shop at
    the GIANT any way. We as Americans have collapsed our once beautiful
    house of cards right down on our own thick headed selves. 

    Once major manufacturing companies including Auto makers found that
    there were people that could be trained to do the work that was
    necessary to build their product, for 1/10th the salary of an
    American Worker, well DUH would you continue to pay someone 28.00 an
    hour to do something that you could get someone else to do for 1.75
    an hour? The actual reason we are in the shape we are in, is that we
    had it too easy for too long! That and we showed by example what
    could be done if industrialization and wage could meet at a
    reasonable level price wise. In other words we taught the third world
    how to conquer the top, Now we get to sit and whine because our
    Government is allowing American Entrepreneurs to go off shore and
    bring their product back into the U.S. with out taxing the living
    #### out of them. The small town I live in had 2 large garment makers
    and 10 or more places that cut and sewed for them, the total work
    force of this sector was over 3,000 people, now there are 3,000 more
    employed, in Mexico and Honduras and 3,000 here that will do just
    about any thing they can to earn a dollar because their unemployment
    ran out long ago. 

    I think the worst thing that has happened to America wasn't the
    attack of 9-11 it was the attack of N.A.F.T.A. Personally though I'm
    not schooled in the finite strata of economics unless we are willing
    to drop our economic standards to that of = Mexico, Honduras,
    Guatemala and the other nations we sent our manufacturing plants to
    or gave our technology to that we are in for worse times. We may
    possibly become a nation that is totally based on consumption rather
    than manufacturing and agriculture. Granted I would rather see most
    Jewelry hand crafted, I would even like to see it if it were
    manufactured in Providence RI. But that and wanting clothes made in
    New Hampshire and shoes made in Massachusetts. Isn't going to happen
    any more so who do we throw rocks at for these problems? We are all
    guilty, how many on this board that live in the U.S. drive cars made
    by Ford, GM, or Chrysler, NOT imported by them but wholly made in
    this country. I'm just glad they haven't found a way to import houses
    yet. 

(Putting soap box away now)
Kenneth Ferrell
www.shadras.com


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