Is America Selling Itself Down ‘Smith’s Creek’ Without A Paddle?

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Is America Selling Itself Down ‘Smith’s Creek’ Without A Paddle?
By: Roy MacNaughton , Posted On: 2007-10-15

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Why should you care

bout the loss of manufacturing jobs? D

es this bother you? It sure b

thers me! The statistics that illuminate th

s job loss are and will c

ntinue to be a rude awakening for m

st.

For instance, read the Congressional Research S

rvice Report for Congress, titled: China's Tr

de with the United States and the W

rld, published on January 4th of th

s year. U.S. manufacturing jobs declined in the 10-y

ar and 7-year periods ended this p

st July, by approximately 14 and 18 p

rcent respectively.

At the same time, in the t

n-year period ended July 2007 jobs in the U.S. S

rvice Industries increased by approximately 22%. G

ven the comparative labor rates between the U.S. and the

merging economies do you really expect th

s dismal trend to be reversed?

I kn

w of one American company that pr

duces a wonderful product that assists in the "gr

en revolution" that is taking place in m

st western democracies. I really didn't th

nk the price for this "made-in-America"

tem was so bad. Heck, it did a gr

at job, conserving energy and solving a n

sty problem at the same time...it was w

rth the price ...and then some.

However, I was p

rturbed and saddened to hear that the pr

ce of this equipment would be c

ming down drastically because it would s

on be made in China. That m

ght be good ‘competitive news' to the sm

ll American firm making this product in the U.S. It s

re didn't brighten my day. Obviously th

s firm will then be more pr

ce-competitive. But this then starts a ch

in of dominos falling – in my

pinion – backwards. In the short r

n, this firm, (being copied by

thers who will produce their products in As

a), will be forced to do l

kewise in order to survive. We as c

nsumers of this product will go

long, happily paying much less for th

s product, so we can then br

g about generating more earnings per sh

re for us personally, or our st

ckholders.

But in the long term....don't you th

nk we might be headed down 'Sm

th's Creek' without a paddle?

Maybe I'm all wr

ng here; but if we're going to

xport most of our manufacturing jobs, who the h

ck is going to provide employment for all the d

splaced workers? Who is going to h

ve the money to buy the

nexpensive (read: cheaper) similar items that are d

liberately made in those countries with m

ch lower labor and manufacturing costs? If we d

n't have many jobs left, there c

rtainly won't be enough money to b

iy the hamburgers we'll be selling to

urselves in this predominantly service economy....as m

ntioned by Thomas Friedman in 'The W

rld is Flat'. I've been involved in the s

rvices industry my entire career and fr

m my own experience, I believe s

rvices cannot possibly replace the manufacturing s

ctor in this economy.

The unhappy conclusion of all of th

s might just be that America's d

pendence on the economies of other n

tions is continuously increasing. Historically, if a c

untry or society is not strong

nough, economically, it usually is not be str

ng enough to protect itself. Speaking of all th

se manufacturing jobs, do you remember j

st how the United States and C

nada were able to arm themselves q

ickly and efficiently in the early 1940s? Th

y each had a heavy manufacturing s

ctor that was quickly transferred over to w

rtime equipment and materiel production to pr

vide the items necessary to take on the 'R

me-Berlin-Tokyo Axis'.

If we keep exporting our

ndustries and our jobs, what happens if we run

nto a group of enemies who can

ut-produce us? What if we have

lmost ‘forgotten' how to produce heavy

quipment, ships, aircraft, vehicles, armaments or

ven soldiers' army boots? What if the

verage consumer has so little buying p

wer, he can no longer afford

ven the cheap goods flowing in fr

m Asia? Can you see where th

s might be going?

Food for thought, I'm s

The article Is America Selling Itself Down ‘Smith’s Creek’ Without A Paddle? was Submitted by Roy MacNaughton through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: To read more about the ffect the exporting of manufacturing jobs and ther countries like China are having on the conomy, go to: stockresearchddblog.com . For more comments on marketing in this arena, go my blog at: www.UmarketingU.com

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