Reply to "Back on the “Soap Box” !"

This all reminds me of a multi level marketing scheme. If I remember the semantics it's called 'free enterprise' (sic)
Do you know that Walmart sends roughly 20% of the US GNP to Japan. Free trade agreements have taken away any duties and tarifs which makes those products competitive. Beleive me those Hondas assembled in America do little else but support assembly line jobs here, contrarily to US manufacturers. In the process it's killing millions of domestic jobs. I'm not defending some of the crap produced by the Big3. Today they are just as good. Always remember you get what you pay for, the quality of many offshore products are inferior to those made at home. Clothing is an example, remember when getting one of you uncle's shirt was a treat. Look at offshore auto parts; rotors used to last a long time now the cheap one either rust or warp at the 1st power stop you do, offshore toys with lead paint, to name a few. How the hell do you decide to put melamine in milk to make it whiter. Money makes the world go round, sorry BIG money makes the world go round = lobbyists. At the same time our parents had much less than we did and we have many people and companies picking our wallets (there were no cell phones, microwaves, computers, coulour tv's, iPods, wine refrigerators, cable, satelite, private school, daycare, restaurant meals several times a week 50 years ago and there was only 1 phone in the house and it was bolted to the wall. Mom was at home and she cooked meals with real local ingredients. the 50's was all about manufacturing, the 90's were about buying products from large scale producers and shipping the products half way around the globe. Call Dell help and you'll call India. Domestic manufacturing jobs supports 5-10 jobs directly or indirectly in your community. The middle class is getting squeezed out of existence, yet it supports the economy. the poor don't pay any taxes (let's say little) and those who make lot's of money have accountants to make sure they don't pay any taxes. In time world's average salaries should stabilise. That assemblyline worker in Japan or Shri- Lanka or India was working for a $1 a day and now is earning $5 a day, in turn they are now wanting more. There are 2 ways to make more profits sell more or cut costs and CEO are making multi million dollars for what, cutting jobs,
My 401K is now in the dump, still I'd rather live in North America.

Denis