From FinancialTimes -- Mr Buckley, who has run the diversified manufacturer since 2005, said: “There is a sense among companies that this is a difficult place to do business. It is about regulation, taxation, seemingly anti-business policies in Washington, attitudes towards science.”
He added: “Politicians forget that business has choice. We’re not indentured servants and we will do business where it’s good and friendly. If it’s hostile, incrementally, things will slip away. We’ve got a real choice between manufacturing in Canada and Mexico – which tend to be pro-business – or America.”
The US now has the highest corporate tax rate of all industrialized nations. The hyper-regulatory nature of our government throttles innovation, retards expansion, and punishes success. Additionally, political correctness thwarts competition with quotas, set-asides, and preferential treatment for the undeserving. Frankly I'm shocked that we have any companies still doing business here. If the regulations aren't rescinded, taxes drastically lowered, and free-market competition allowed to work it's magic, the US economy is unalterable destined for moribundity...if it's not there already.
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I just purchased a new Martin guitar partially because they are an American company, in business since 1833 - that's BEFORE the Civil War for you math majors.
Well, it turns out this particular model is made in Mexico. With guitars, one often sees the euphenism "Made in North America". What isn't so obvious is that this form of incrementalism (U.S. businesses leaving the U.S.) is all around us. I own five guitars (don't ask) and 4/5s of them are "Made in North America".
Taxes are part of the story - driving businesses outside the U.S. The other part of the story is the interface between (previously) divergent standards of living. Globalization (there's that word again) puts tremendous pressure on the heretofore "local", separate, and isolated markets. For more information, read the book "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman.
About the only thing you can buy that was made in America is the leather comb sleeve you make a summer camp. And the raw materials are likely to be imported.
How can we continue to be a nation of prosperity when we manufacture nothing? We are a nation of consumers of other peoples' labor and we are increasingly reliant on the imaginary information industry to define our wealth. Information is ethereal. It's value is only what someone is willing to pay for it today....tomorrow? Who knows? Light bulbs are real, yet we don't make light bulbs anymore.
I would argue that the value of anything is only what someone is willing to pay.
I would love for "Made in America" to exist, to mean something but we have a long way to go before that happens again. It will start with a reversal of attitudes towards government (bigger is better) and business (profits are bad). Only when this happens will things begin to revert back to whence we came. And then, we must ask ourselves, will out population be too dumb and lazy to capitalize on it?
The situation is bleak for the U.S. If I was King for a Day I could fix it but that's not how our system works. We don't have dictatorship so we depend (heavily) on the dumb masses who are too busy looking for angle to obtain the most for the least effort.
Thomas Edison once said that "opportunity is missed by most people because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work."
Or, as Dean Wormer said,"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life."
I believe things will change but will it be too late?
According to what I find online, the largest manufacturing country in the world is the U.S., with China (4 times more populous) close behind, and Japan and Germany 3rd and 4th. We still make an awful lot here.
This is not a "not to worry" point, because our current administration is doing everything in their power to change this.
Yes fellas, our economy is what, 20trillion a year or something. 20T will take a lot of dismantling over many years, mainly because the American entrepreneur will fight it every step of the way. But at some point you just give up and move your operation north, south, or to Asia/India because even with shipping costs, it's cheaper to make stuff there than here.
Look, I believe we should have rules, regulations, and taxes on businesses but when it gets to the point that the government is stifling industry to the point of unprofitability, our days as an economic power are numbered.
I contend that if Obama lowered corporate taxes drastically, threw out 9 out of every 10 non-safety regulations on industry, told the EPA to take a hike on these environmental impact statements, and guaranteed a free and open market place, he could get re-elected with 75% of the popular vote. Hell, I'd probably vote for him.
He'd have to have a brain transplant to do all that, Ed.
Bill,
Thanks for the does of reality (perspective), as usual.
does not does
or maybe DOSE not DOES! no deer were killed in the typing of this message
You are a worthless dick
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