When I get down thinking about how the US has lost so much manufacturing to China. I stick to my thought and prediction.
As the UK has evolved away from heavy mass production and more into small high end boutique design and manufacturing. I hope the US will evolve in the same way.

 

IMO - Here in the UK and within my memory, we closed the coal mines following industrial dispute and relied on offshore natural gas exploitation. We are told that the offshore gas has now all but run out so now we import gas, at great expense, from Russia to fuel our industry. Without our own (cheap) natural resources we cannot compete in world markets so UK industry has gradually died (there are still a few stragglers, clinging on, but their time is limited).
Without industry our future does not look good, commerce alone will not support the mass immigration of a (relatively) low skilled workforce which seems to be clogging up our welfare system and jobs market at the moment.
Just glad I don't have to plan the UK economy because it does not look too good from my viewpoint.

Tweakie.

 

What happened to the trend in the UK with small entrepeneurs turning things around? I read an article a few years back that was the trend.
My dad is a Contract Engineer and had worked for several years in the UK. He says things have slowed down but, most of his offers in Europe have been from the UK. He is heading back to work in the US now as he has a good offer here.
Shame..English manufacturing and Engineering has been top notch over the past decade.

 

Hi Guys,

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the UK immigration policy or the people concerned - anyone who comes to the UK to work, pay their taxes and respect the flag is OK with me.

IMO - It is the cost of raw energy which is making UK industry non-competitive on world markets. There are many small emerging businesses but it is the large industry closures which are creating the overall decline in manufacturing.
Unfortunately I am not clever enough to even be able to guess at the solution.

Tweakie.

 

Right now it doesn't seem like anyone is clever enough to find a solution for any of the worlds economic woe's.

NPR had a interesting analogy about Italy becoming economically unstable for no real apparent reason as they are actually running a budget surplus. They compared it to a residential neighborhood where Italy is the nice house and it is surrounded buy bad houses. The bad houses being Greece and other surrounding failing countries are dragging down the value of the nice house.

2012 is right around the corner so smoke em' if you got em'

 

Interesting topic.

As long as there is GREED, progress and prosperity will suffer.
Business here in the U.S. tends to be stubborn when it comes to change.
There are many example of this in our history.
This is caused by fear of the economic bottom line, and fear seeded by special interest.
As long as there is a commodity like oil and natural gas, and an infrastructure to support it,
people will resist change even if it is truly good for them.

As long as the politicians are financially fueled by big business, you can expect change to be resisted.

I have read several articles posted on various BB's about 3D lithography.
The trend seems to be that big business is already trying to lobby for strict laws on the
manufacture and sale of such equipment. Because the patents are expiring, the folks
that have had the industry pretty much under their control are now worrying about profits
instead of inventing the next great thing in 3D lithography.
They don't want small inventors stealing milk from their cash cows.

I don't know what else to say here folks. I realize that this topic is about the loss of jobs and talent.
But as long as the lawyers and policy making politicians in governments like ours only see money first instead of their people. They wont care about loss of knowledge, talent, jobs, or innovation.

Hope you guys enjoy this disjointed rant. :girl_cray2:

Cheers.
GHB

 

Something I can't quite get my head around.....

Surely there is no future in countries like Greece borrowing money to pay off debt

Tweakie.

 

GREED, I see that word a lot on the forms I go to. Most of the time the person using it is referring to big business. Yes depending on the type of business they can be slow to change, but then if I had 100 million dollars in equipment that had 10 years of life still left in it I think I might be a bit hesitant to change it out. But WHY would I be hesitant other the the obvious....immediate cost and throwing good equipment in the trash. Considering most big business are publicly traded it's called responsibility to the shareholders. Shareholders want the biggest return for their investment, no descent return then little interest in investing in that company. That mindset can be called a number of things and GREED is one of them. Inverters want a return on their money and to keep inverters happy companies do many things to get this return for them. So in the end it it the average investor that is GREEDY, stockholders, people that have 401K's etc, etc.

Boom line when you stand back and look at it who really is the GREEDY ones. The end user, the typical American consumer in this case. Most want the item at the least cost to them. Good example you see everyday on many forums dealing with cnc/manual type mills, lathes etc. Look at all the machines on the Grizzly site. Looks to me like all are imports and most likely from China or counties in that general area. A lot of the equipment they sell you can also find being made in the US or Europe. Good example is cnc routers. Many companies in the US make very nice cnc routers starting in the $3000 range and going as high as you want to spend. But people still buy from off shore manufactures, why?
Most likely 9 times out of 10 (more like 10 out of 10 IMO) it is lower price . Trying to get the best bang for you buck can be called “smart shopping” or many other things but it can also be called GREED in that you want to save a buck.

If Americans were no so greedy we would not see so many GREEDY companies charge what they do or head off shore. People can put the blame on many things but in the end it is the person who wants higher pay, better benefits, less work hours and a lower cost of things they buy. Can't have it all and expect a business to be around for long.

 

Speaking of greed, how much equipment is invested in Micky Mouse, and yet only Disney has the copyright. Disney uses expired copyrights, to make millions, but has its own extended. I predict it will be extended again. Many other smaller companies would like to have this oppurtunity.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary ... igman.html

Drug companies modify their drugs, often in a minor way, repackage and resell it. Viagra was developed not for a problem for men, but for another use. Only during drug trials did they find out that it had another effect. I know of a drug that was in use for so long it's cost was pennies to produce. A drug company convinced the FDA that they and only they should make this drug...todays cost is over $7.00 a pill. No change to the drug, no research done...billions of dollars for the company, excessive expense for the users.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archive ... companies/

From the article:

"As hard as it is to believe, only a handful of truly important drugs have been brought to market in recent years, and they were mostly based on taxpayer-funded research at academic institutions, small biotechnology companies, or the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The great majority of “new” drugs are not new at all but merely variations of older drugs already on the market."

People have gotten used to getting products from China and elsewhere that cost less. When it breaks throw it away and replace it with the next, newer upgrade.

It is never a one way street.

 

If I invented the wheel and patented it, eventually the government would take it away and say that I can't have the patent on the wheel because its an important necessity "for the good of society".
Mickey Mouse and boner drugs on the other hand are not necessary for society to progress forward.
Important common life saving drugs can be had for pennies because the government allows non-important drugs like Viagra to be sold for $7. That way the drug companies can make up for there loss.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to emphasize a boner drug. But I did mean to point out that the problems of society is not just a one way street. Companies are not looking out for your interests, they are only looking out for their own interests. Government should exist to counter the greed of business. Unfortunately, too many politicians have been bought by businesses and no longer work for the benefit of people.

My example is not of a boner drug, it is for a life saving drug, the drug is for gout, gout kills people.

 

You are correct..public interest is not always priority one.
My wife is a doctor, so I get quite a bit of info on how drug companies work. Pricing on drugs is an interesting subject. The quantity sold, how many people are inflicted etc. I believe its two years before the drug company has to make the drug available for generic. So until that happens, pricing can be set at whatever the drug company wants.
Gout may not be common, say as common as diabetes or high cholesterol. Therefore the price of the drugs may be high because it will take a long time to recoup the cost of R&D.

Anyway you look at it, its a bummer.

 

Just recently read an artcile about a drug used for such a long time that it was never approved, but a drug company came in and now only this company can make it in the US. Price change...2600% increase.

 

LOL! Capitalism at it's finest.
People around the world are going to be spending most of there time avoiding getting screwed by entities looking to make up for there losses. bank of America charging $5 a month for ATM usage is a good example. My wife is considering dropping B of A over it. I hope B of A goes under for there greed.