Maxprop wrote:
"katy" wrote in message
...

Maxprop wrote:

"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
om...


In article . net,
Maxprop wrote:



"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
news:270220062239050541%peter_d_wiley@hotmail .com...




So - tell me why you own a French yacht when there are so many more
expensive and inferior US made ones available.


She bought her boat used, Pete. It was the best boat available in her
price
range at the time.

Oh, I don't doubt it. Point is, tho, that Katy coulda bought a new US
made boat for a higher price and thereby supported US industry. It
might have been a smaller boat, or a worse equipped boat, or whatever,
of course.


They had just sold their smaller, US-built boat, and another smaller
US-built boat before that, IIRC. Chanteuse was a substantial size
upgrade.

27 feet to 30 ft and 4 inches is a substantial size difference? And both
the previous boats were very old...the upkeep on them was horrendous and
the 27 had an atomic 4 that was going to need to be replaced...Neither had
any great value and the 22' sailed for crap (shoal draft)...we upgraded to
a boat with diesel and a wheel (27 was a tiller boat and Mr Sails has had
rotator cuff surgery...)


Sorry. I was just being kind.


The major problem is that American manufactureres ignored the fact that
this was going to happen.


American manufacturing only? Doesn't American labor play a role in this?


When Mr Sails worked for Steelcase, his team dragged in a desk made by HON
to a presentation and indicated that that was the future of office
furniture and that tghey should eatablish a competitive line. But the
PTB's said "absolutely not". We would be lowering our standards. Problem
was, though, that unless they bought used, the average small business
owner, which is still the heart of America but is fading fast, could not
afford Steelcase furniture. The average doctor could not decorate his
waiting room with Steelcase designs. So they ignored the American public,
holding out for governemnt contracts. And then 9/11 hit and it was all
over. America has sold herself out by not having the foresight to change
with the changing world.


America can compete nicely with just about anyone, but some changes are
necessary. To compete with one's competitors, one must at the very least
emulate them. Better yet one should create a cost advantage for the same
quality, or create a quality advantage for the same cost. The US is capable
of doing either, or both. But labor is going to have to recognize some
major realignment, along with top-heavy industry. The $30 per hour jobs are
vanishing faster than spotted owls, and until organized labor acknowledges
that low-paying jobs are better than NO jobs, the situation will exacerbate.
And CEOs and other top-level execs are going to have to face the fact that
multi-million dollar annual salaries and golden parachutes aren't compatible
with the world economic markets of the day.

My take? Neither side will give an inch before the whole thing collapses
into a ruined American economy. I hope to be sailing somewhere in the
Caribbean with my money in offshore banks by then.

Max


Yep, Unions helped build manufacturing in the US and now they're
tearing it apart....