OBOF SS & MORE PART 23

WELCOME TO OPINIONS  BASED  ON FACTS (OBOF)

Name	Published
OVERVIEW	Dec. 28, 2010
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 1	Dec. 30, 2010
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 2	Jan. 10, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 3	Jan. 17, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 4	Jan. 24, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 5	Jan. 31, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 6	Feb. 07, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 7	Feb. 14, 2011
SPECIAL ISSUE	Feb. 18, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 8	Feb. 21, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 9	Mar. 01, 2011
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 10	Mar. 07, 2011
SS & MORE PART 1	Mar. 14, 2011
SS & MORE PART 1A	Mar. 21, 2011
SS & MORE PART 2	Mar. 25, 2011
SS & MORE PART 3	Mar. 29, 2011
SS & MORE PART 4	Apr. 04, 2011
SS & MORE PART 5	Apr. 11, 2011
SS & MORE PART 6	Apr. 18, 2011
SS & MORE PART 7	Apr. 25, 2011
SS & MORE PART 7A	Apr. 29, 2011
SS & MORE PART 8	May 02, 2011
SS & MORE PART 9	May 09, 2011
SS & MORE PART 10	May 16, 2011
SS & MORE PART 11	May 24, 2011
SS & MORE PART 12	Jun. 06, 2011
SS & MORE PART 13	Jun. 20, 2011
SS & MORE PART 14	JULY 05,2011
SS & MORE PART 14A	JULY 18, 2011
SS & MORE PART 15	JULY 19, 2011
SS & MORE PART 16	AUG. 03, 2011
SS & MORE PART 17	AUG. 15, 2011
SS & MORE PART 18	Aug.  29, 2011
SS & MORE PART 19	Sept. 12, 2011
SS & MORE PART 20	Sept. 26, 2011
SS & MORE PART 21	Oct.   10, 2011
SS & MORE PART 22	Oct.  24, 2011
SS & MORE PART 22 EXTRA	Nov.  04, 2011
SS & MORE PART 23	Nov.  07, 2011

IN  THIS  ISSUE

1.  Introduction.
2.  What has happened to our industrial base?
3.  What factories closed and why.
4.  Some have their head in the sand.
5.  Without a significant industrial base, what do we have?
6.  More factories closing.
7.  Interesting comments.
8.  A parting thought.

"VOTE  AN  EDUCATED  VOTE"

What is an educated vote?  It is one that has been made with as much knowledge, based on facts, not misinformation, that an individual can obtain.

~~~

INTRODUCTION

I try to start writing about one week before my posting is suppose to be printed.  I don't always get it done that way, but I am getting a start this time.  WHY?  As I have explained in the past, I read a lot, and I listen to a lot, and I spend a great deal of time on the internet.  I don't recommend anyone to do what I have been doing.  WHY?  Because it is very depressing.

 

Again, I ask WHY?  At this age I have seen quite a bit of change and also back when I was in school you were taught a lot of things that our students don't get today.  In my High School year of 1939 - 1940 there was a song published that was originally sung by Paul Robinson.  He was a black man, known in those days as a Negro.  He had a wonderful voice and also was a wonderful man.

It was a long song with a Baritone lead and a large chorus.  It depicted the history of our country up to that time. It took about 20 minutes to complete.  It was a real production.  The title was "Ballad For Americans."

Believe it or not, I happened to have an acceptable voice, back in those days and our school music teacher decided that our school was going to do that production.  It was a small school in a town of about 2,000.  I don't remember how many were in our school, but I think it was about 400 to 500.

  I was chosen to sing the lead and we had about 50 in the chorus.  As I recall, we worked on that for about six months.  After it got to the point that our teacher thought we were ready, we presented the production to a number of groups in our community and it was very well accepted.

 

There is no way for me to give you the flavor of that production, but it has come back to my mind now, because of all the changes that I have witnessed since 1940, and what is happening to our wonderful country now.  The song told of every era since the Pilgrims to the Industrial Revolution.

~~~

WHAT  HAS  HAPPENED  SINCE,  TO  OUR INDUSTRIAL  BASE?

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself.  That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group."      Franklin Delanore Roosevelt   Above from OPC 11-2-11.

HOW'S THIS FOR A BEGINNING AND AN EYE OPENER.

SINCE 2001, THE U.S. HAS LOST 42,400 FACTORIES.  AS OF DECEMBER 2009 THERE WERE AN ADDITIONAL 90,000 MANUFACTURING COMPANIES AT RISK.  THE INDUSTRIAL BASE IS DISAPPEARING.

  

I have 28 pages of material about the plight of American Manufacturing, about 3 hours of recording and countless time on internet, about this subject. 

From all this, it becomes clear, that almost ALL our problems are because of the, as one paper called it, The Death of American Manufacturing.  When your manufacturing base is gone it takes a lot of other things with it. 

A once booming manufacturing, with traditional engineering, the invention and design of products has been replaced by financial engineering.  Without vibrant manufacturing sector, Wall Street created money it did not have and Americans spent money they did not have.

Parts of the following are from the Washington Post, December 21, 2009.  Written by Richard McCormack.

"America's economic elite has long argued that the country does not need an industrial base.  The economies in states such as California and Michigan, that have lost their industrial base, however, belie that claim.  Without an industrial base, an increase in consumer spending, which pulled the country out of past recessions, will not put Americans back to work.  Without an industrial base, there will be no economic ladder for a generation of immigrants, stranded in low-paying service-sector jobs.  Without an industrial base, the United States will be increasingly dependent on foreign manufacturers even for its key military technology."

The decline of the manufacturing base started almost two decades ago.  President Reagan was a strong believer in Free Trade.  As it has turned out, many today feel that our Free Trade Agreements have been a big contributor to the decline of our industrial base.  It might be fine, in my opinion, if we were on a level playing field, but we are not.

~~~

WHAT  FACTORIES  CLOSED  AND  WHY?

The reason for the closing of these factories was not because they weren't competitive.  Actually, U.S. factories are, and have been, the most efficient in the world.  For example, U.S. steel industry produces one ton steel using 2 man hours while China uses 12 man hours to produce the same one ton while producing three times as much carbon emissions.

The real problem is that American factories cannot compete, and this gets to the reason Free Trade doesn't work for us. 

Foreign countries undervalue their currencies, pay health care for their workers.  They provide subsidies for energy, land, buildings, and equipment. They grant tax holidays and rebates and provide zero-interest financing.  One of the biggest differences is that they pay their workers poverty wages that would be illegal in the U.S. and they don't enforce safety or environmental regulations.

The U.S. Machine-Tool industry - the industry that's the backbone of an industrial economy and the means by which all products are manufactured.

 

This industry, in 2008, produced $4.2 billion in equipment, but that is only 5.1% of the world output.  The machine-tool industry fell apart, at the same time manufacturing dropped almost out of sight.  Since 1998, U.S. consumption has fallen by 23 % while China increased by 714%.

OTHER INDUSTRIES ALMOST GONE.

The U.S. luggage companies now only produce 1% of the American market and almost all Americans have some type of luggage.

U.S. manufacturing of high-performance outwear used by skiers, hikers, mountain climbers, bikers, police officers, and military personnel accounts for less than 1.7% of all the outerwear sold to Americans.

With regard to ceramic tile that you use in the kitchen, baths and many other places, the U.S. has ONE major manufacturer left. The Summitville Tiles of Summitville, Ohio.  David Johnson, CEO, says that the industry has been "virtually wiped out."

The furniture industry has lost, at least, 60% of it's production capacity in the U.S. from 2000 to 2008 with the closure of 270 major factories.  Imported wood furniture accounts for 68% of the U.S. market in 2008.  That is up from 38% in 2000.

~~~

SOME  HAVE  THEIR  HEAD  IN  THE SAND.

BALANCE  OF  TRADE.

Proponents of free trade and outsourcing argue that the United States remains the largest manufacturing economy in the world.  (These are the ones with their head in the sand.)

Yet, total manufacturing gross domestic product in 2008 (at $1.64 trillion) represented 11.5 percent of U.S. economic output, down from 17 percent in 1999, and 28 percent in 1959.

As for our balance of trade, U.S. imports of goods totaled $2.52 trillion in 2008, while exports came to $1.29 trillion -- creating a goods deficit of $821 billion. Those imported goods represented 17.6 percent of U.S. GDP. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services in 2008 stood at $700 billion -- or more than $2,000 for every American.

Our trade deficit will not diminish absent a significant increase in domestic manufacturing.

~~~

WITHOUT A SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL BASE, ALL WE HAVE IS FINANCIAL ENGINEERING FOR THE WEALTHY ELITE.

Executives of U.S. manufacturing companies understand that they are up against not just foreign companies but mercantilist nations. As Wayne Johnson, director of worldwide strategic university customer relations at Hewlett-Packard told a 2008 conference sponsored by Bush's Office of Science and Technology Policy, "We in the U.S. find ourselves in competition not only with individuals, companies, and private institutions, but also with governments and mixed government-private collaborations."

What domestic manufacturers want is for the United States government to shift its economic policies away from consumption to incentives that favor investment in new factories, equipment, and jobs in the United States. They want the United States to abandon policies that favor geopolitical global interests that have no regard for the economic health of the United States and its millions of taxpayers and retirees.

To the disappointment of the domestic manufacturing community, the Obama administration has yet to devise a strategy aimed at creating the industrial jobs needed in America to generate trillions of dollars of tax revenue. Without a surge in U.S. production and exports, how will the United States pay off its mounting debts and cover the retirement and medical costs of the largest generation of Americans in history? Creating more jobs for dental hygienists, health-care workers, retail clerks, and bartenders will not do it.

There is little time to waste.  "We need a modern-day Paul Revere," says Brian O'shaughnessy, chair of Revere Copper Products, the oldest industrial company in the United States.  "We all need to wake up and understand the forces of foreign mercantilism that are waging an economic war against us."

~~~

MORE  MANUFACTURING  LEAVING

JUST  IN  RECENT  MONTHS

Whirlpool, who purchased Maytag in 2006, is hard at it.  Maytag has been the golden company making appliances.  For years they have built the very best.  Soon after they bought Maytag, they, Whirlpool, shipped 5,000 jobs overseas. 

Fort Smith, Ark. is the next victim to feel Whirlpool's corporate greed.  Whirlpool has announced that that plant will be shut down.  They have done the same thing in Evansville, Indiana and in Newton, Iowa. 

In Newton, a town of 15,000, there are 700 homes for sale and they have seen 70 foreclosures in the last 24 months and 4,000 jobs lost.  Whirlpool was so nice, they gave the people one year notice that they were going to close the plant and they did.  They are moving these plants to Mexico.  That is 9,000 jobs lost, from Maytag and Newton, Iowa.  I don't know how many jobs were lost in Evansville, Indiana or Fort Smith, Ark.  

HUMMER  H1  GOES  TO  CHINA

Edward Niedermeyer  ~~  May 14, 2011

In the 1980's AM General tried to sell the HMMWV to lthe people's Liberation Army (PLA).  That is the military version of a Hummer.  They were not interested until after the Gulf War in 1991 when the papers and television was telling all about how the HMMWV performed in the desert. 

AM General had left on in China back in the 80's hoping that the Chinese might change their mind.  After the Gulf War the Chinese got the one that had been left with them, out of storage, cleaned it up, and took it apart, right down to the last bit. 

In the mid 90's Chinese oil companies bought several, supposedly for oil exploration, but they actually ended up in PLA's laboratories and were taken apart as well.  The PLA now wanted them and two Chinese companies bid for the order.  A company by the name of Dongfeng got the contract.

THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS IS THAT HERE IS ONE OF OUR OWN MANUFACTURERS, FOR THE SAKE OF MONEY, WINDS UP GIVING AWAY THEIR OWN MANUFACTURING  ABILITY.  MOVES LIKE THIS JUST CAUSES FURTHER DECLINE IN OUR INDUSTRIAL BASE.

~~~

INTERESTING  COMMENTS

The following are comments made by people all across the country.  I have not changed anything.  They are just as the people wrote them.

 

I am an ex-Republican. I am

Permalink Submitted by lettherebelight on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 2:38pm

I am an ex-Republican. I am an ex-Independent. I am a Democrat. The Republican's do not believe in a Democracy. This President is hitting each issue head on and the people are not seeing any result of his efforts because the Republicans are blocking every action he makes on the American peoples behalf. It is as a result of the Republican Party that we are now at war, it is as a result of Republican Party that our Constitutional rights are being violated. The Republicans want to print more money which will in fact collapse our economy.

The Democratic party is coming up with long term solutions to our national deficit. If the average person in America would be presented with the facts behind the obvious war that is going on between parties, We The People could change America. President Obama, you should use the media as often as possible to make America see that you are trying to get Americans back to work, you are trying to pass Health Care laws to enable all Americans the right to medical treatment. You are trying to hold onto the Government programs that sustain and enable American people to thrive.

The real problem is that there is a war going on between parties where by which the Republican Party is destroying America, while the Democrats are trying to sustain the American people. This President is being blocked at each and every attempt he makes to improve and sustain the laws by which we are governed. I am tired of these unintelligent Figure Heads in the Republican Party running for Congress. Mr. President, you must use the media to to make Americans aware of this war and how your effort is being thwarted by the Republican Party. My own personal story is a prime example of how the Republican Party can take a person down. I stand behind my President, Barack Obama.

intilements

Permalink Submitted by ktone90 on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 3:34pm

Stop spending all the money on the war and defence...bring all the troops home from around the globe...obama should tell the world we are not going to enter or interfer with any other countrys afairs. "THE PRIME DIRECTIVE"...this will save millions and ss and medicare don't need to be touched...also will bring down the def....tax the people who make a million or more...god nows i don't and i have to pay the price with lower ss benifits?...i think not....some one eles said it best...it time for all americans to stand up and vote the republicans outNOW!!!!!!!

But in the US, hate is much easier, and prejudice is more instinctive, running rampant. (see the video currently shown, of what is possible by an AMERICAN judge beating on his sick child for seven minutes.)

Cheap goods are bought at Walmart where the American Owners are UNDERCUTTING ALL prices - putting out of existence ALL OTHER AMERICAN STORES - is hailed as the American way of life - supposed to be a good thing --- goods made in china are ok, but disrespect and envy and hate for the Chinese is now being preached by all - Hatred gallore... where will it end?

Do you really think this kind of 'thinking' is what will make the US great? I don't think so. I was never ashamed to travel with on American passport, but with the current Republican hate mongers I am ashamed now.

The next vote is not about the President alone.. IT IS ABOUT Republicans wanting to make sure that Democrats can never GOVERN again - any place! It is about the next crop of Republicans wanting to STACK the COURTS with like minded people.. (see the 'Family Court' judge above who thinks he is right) and see all the laws being past that are against womans RIGHTS... The Tali-ban would not do worse! Look at the movie on HBO to understand oppression of women. The fight for justice has to be every where. Democrats and woman need to 'get it', that it is about the long term future of ever person, starting with every local politician who might influence the laws or appointments to the courts for decades to come. (Look at the recent NEW laws to see how serious understanding THIS is.)

I stand with the 99ers, as they are the only chance at creating A good day - AFTER the last day shown in Atlas Shrugged. Learn from that book to create a better new day. I wish us well.

~~~

AN  OCCUPIERS'  DECLARATION

We have been made mere “occupiers” in a nation owned by others who have used their wealth to corrupt our government and create conditions which deny us a reasonable chance of participating in the American dream. We are not asking for handouts, only for a fair chance...a secure job at a decent wage, good affordable education and healthcare for our families, an equal voice in our government.

THE TEN POINTS
Our demands of Wall Street and the Congress:

1. FAIR ELECTIONS.  Get your corporate billions out of our electoral process. Government has stopped working because it represents money rather than people, whose voices are drowned out by lobbyists and wealthy contributors. For most Americans this effectively results in taxation without representation (something which should be of interest to the Tea Party movement). Reverse "citizens united" by constitutional amendment if necessary.

2. BRING OUR JOBS BACK.
End trade policies which have sent our jobs overseas and install policies which will return them. Our government has failed to protect us in recent decades. That must be reversed.

3. SHARED SACRIFICE.
Tax the rich appropriately. Return to the tax structure and progressive brackets, adjusted for inflation, of the 1950’s--our most prosperous decade.

4. BRING OUR TROOPS HOME.
Discourage military adventurism by making it illegal to ever again engage in an un-paid-for war.

5. END THE WAR ON WORKING PEOPLE.
Americans of past generations have fought and died for the right to organize in the workplace. We are prepared to do so again if necessary. Without that right we are no better than serfs--slaves to corporate masters.

6. PAY YOUR DEBTS.
Corporations must be required to pay back TARP money and any future bailouts.

7. FAIR PAY FOR ALL.
Limit executive pay to no more than 50 times that of the lowest-paid employee. Tax any amount in excess of that at 100%

8. TURN OFF THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE.
Reinstate the fairness doctrine--propaganda from any quarter should not be allowed to go unchallenged. “Free time for opposing political viewpoints” would put neither Fox news nor the "liberal media" out of business. An informed public is necessary for our Democracy to work. To be informed, one must hear both sides of issues.

9. TRUTH IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE.
Expand libel and slander laws to include public persons. It should not be possible for public figures to lie about the president or any other public figure with impunity. Make it a crime to tell untruths on the floor of congress.

10. STOP PUNISHING THE VICTIMS of Wall Street treachery. Require lending institutions, who caused the financial collapse and were bailed out with public funds, to refinance home loans to make payments affordable.

~~~

A  PARTING  THOUGHT

It is an accepted myth that when people grow older they fall apart and don't do anything.  I don't think that is altogether true.  I think it is absolutely up to the individual.  I mean, if you feel over the hill, you are over the hill.  Each of us must do whatever we have a passion to do.  It is our decision.        Jessica Tandy

~~~

If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'll talk with you again on November 21, 2011, but maybe before with an EXTRA.

Floyd