Adventures in Union Marketing
The Asbestos Workers Union (didn’t realize there was such a thing) is taking the shock-and-awe approach to raising awareness for its services by erecting a couple of coffins on Flushing Avenue this morning. Evidently, there’s some contractor or another with headquarters inside the Navy Yard that has yet to see the wisdom of paying top…
The Asbestos Workers Union (didn’t realize there was such a thing) is taking the shock-and-awe approach to raising awareness for its services by erecting a couple of coffins on Flushing Avenue this morning. Evidently, there’s some contractor or another with headquarters inside the Navy Yard that has yet to see the wisdom of paying top dollar for their services. For a view inside the coffins, click through to the jump. Update: A reader sent in a scan of one of the flyers that the protesters are now handing out. You can view it here.
JB and Denton;
Yes, I’m a strong believer in IP protection. And it is for this reason that I think that China will not become the great nation they aspire to be: they are weak on this concept.
If you want to read more on this issue, I suggest that you read the book “Trust” by Francis Fukiyama. Excellent book.
Denton;
Yes, it would be great if those IPODS were made in the US. I’m all for enhancing the competitiveness of our manufacturing sector. I agree with you on that. All I’m saying is that we’re not going to do that by resorting to protectionism, and it seems like we agree on that.
How to increase the competitiveness of our manufacturing sector? Well, allow me to put on my “philosophical” conservative hat and suggest that you take a look at our taxation policy. In some ways liberals amaze me. For 60 years they have been advocating that we increase taxes on the producers (progressive income tax, cap-and-trade) and dole out more subidies for consumption (mortgage interest deductions, food subsidies, medical subsidies, etc.). Then they wonder why we’ve become a country that overconsumes and has trouble competing when it comes to manufacturing.
I have stopped listening to music on my morning commute and when I am running, and now listen to lectures / discussions on various topics that interest me. Recently I have been listening to a lot of panel discussions on trade policy sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It’s a free download on i-tunes. Anyone who has found today’s thread interesting should check it out. There are some very good discussions on China in particular.
“Also, it would seem you are okay with strong intellectual property laws – please confirm.”
Ha, right jessi, this is part of what I was saying about fair trade not just free trade. Isn’t it nice that we make software that we can sell into China, Russia, and so on. But they just steal it. Hard to steal a Boeing 777, easy to make a bootleg of Avatar.
BTW a few months ago I was in the offices of a huge engineering firm, they get bids to do major infrastructure projects in China. They told me the Chinese steal the blueprints, so they always leave out just enuf so that if they actually attempted to build the dam, bridge, whatever, it wouldn’t work. This is a huge internationally known firm. So how do you have free and fair trade when they steal your shit?
Denton – <3 <3 <3
no reason why the approach can’t be a compromise. thanks.
“I say this as someone who is a “hardware engineer”, and has a natural affinity for making “stuff”. Probably the best example of this is the Apple IPOD and IPAD.”
benson, this is not making sense. Yes, it is great that some design geeks are making money. But what would be even greater is if the 40,000 Foxconn employees were in Detroit and not China.
Well, didn’t this turn into an interesting thread!
Lech, I think your 2:20 post is excellent.
Today I was in my office, we shipped American products to Russia and Turkey, and I quoted a very nice piece of business to Japan Steel Works, which I am sure I will get, because I always do.
And I placed an order for some really well built industrial products with China. I pay about 1/20th what I can buy them for here, which means my American suppliers have been ripping us off all these years. Then again, their employees are very well compensated, and if enough people will do what I am doing, they will become less so.
So for sure there are winners and losers, and I try and stay on the winning side, else, like Lech says, I’ll be out trading matches for corn cobs.
Jessi, I do not have a college education, yet I benefit to some extent from free trade, as do any number of truck drivers, dock workers, and so on. I have been involved in the import and export of goods for at least thirty years, in the international marine, petrochemical, motion control/friction, and fluid sealing markets, so I think I speak from experience. I would certainly characterize myself as a free trader. I have sold to every continent in the world other than Antarctica, and have bought from every continent save Africa and Antarctica (no, I don’t do African fair trade coffee, sorry).
Nevertheless, there are some issues that make me uneasy. The first and most obvious, and which no one has mentioned, is that the concept of real free trade and competitive advantage exists only in theory. In theory, we buy all our straw hats from China, and they buy all their airplanes from us, and we come out the same in the end. In actuality, there are imbalances. If, as is the case currently, we import more than we export, we end up with a trade imbalance. We can argue that this is good, since we are trading paper (dollars) for goods (straw hats). But not many countries can sustain a massive trade imbalance.
Second, since no one wants a trade imbalance since it can result in problems, countries, including ours, close certain markets to protect their domestic markets, therefore making the concept of ‘free trade’ more of an academic exercise than a reality. And/or, as China is doing, they manipulate their currency to accomplish the goal of having a positive trade balance. Japan is the other classic example, very hard to sell into Japan. Try selling rice there, for example (a product that we grow very competitively). They have set up all kinds of barriers to prevent you from doing so.
And one thing that every developing country understands is that manufacturing is to be protected, so they do. Why? Because it employs all those uneducated people that Jesse mentioned. And keeps them off the street and out of trouble.
I’m not so happy to see manufacturing disappear from the US, and it worries me. In past wars, we kicked butt cuz we had an amazing industrial capacity that kicked ass. Today we don’t. I know, all the future wars will be fought with robots and computers. We’ll see about that.
BTW, there is no longer any company in the US that can supply certain reactor containment parts.
I guess that makes me a worried free trader.
“Guvna, don’t you think that the IPOD and IPAD have created alot of middle-class jobs here in the US (software engineers, product designers, etc.)?”
Benson, stay focused – we’re looking to save *working class* jobs. What happens to those without a college education? Also, it would seem you are okay with strong intellectual property laws – please confirm.
I HAVE to see your soccer team Lech.