Why US manufacturing and proper government regulation are essential for recovery...

[OsO]

this article concerns a number of key points concerning the nature of manufacturing and the importance of good government regulation in an economic system.

http://qz.com/109194/how-to-make-ch...our-workdays-unpaid-overtime-and-no-holidays/


A report out this morning alleges that working conditions at three Chinese factories operated by Pegatron, a Taiwanese manufacturer of Apple products, violate both Apple’s standards and China’s labor laws. China Labor Watch (CLW), a New-York based non-profit, sent undercover investigators to work at three factories in and around Shanghai. Between them, the three sites employ some 70,000 people. Theinvestigators found (pdf) a panoply of illegal and unethical practices, including:

• Work hours in excess of Apple’s 60-hours-per-week standard
• Coercive conditions to discourage workers from refusing overtime or taking days off
• Restricted or non-existent breaks to drink water or use the bathroom
• Discriminatory hiring conditions such as age limits and height restrictions
• Docking of pay for minor rule violations, such as not waiting in line to get food in the cafeteria

Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng promised to investigate the allegations and to “take immediate actions to correct any violations to Chinese labor laws and our own code of conduct.” Apple disputed the findings in a statement issued to the Wall Street Journal. The company said it had conducted more than 15 audits at Pegatron factories since 2007, the most recent of which found employees working 46-hour weeks. It did however acknowledge that some workers’ personal ID cards were being held by labor brokers “as they helped set up bank accounts for those employees” and put an end to the practice.

Reports of grim worker conditions at Chinese factories producing electronics are nothing new, but Apple has had a tough time getting its suppliers to clean up their acts. Apple’s chief supplier, Hon Hai (better known as Foxconn), doubled its minimum wage in 2010 and promised to do so again last year after a spate of worker suicides.

Meanwhile, Pegatron has increasingly come under the spotlight as Apple gives it more orders to so that the iPhone maker’s can reduce its reliance on Hon Hai. Apart from mobile devices and Macs for Apple, Pegatron also makes products for several companies, including Dell, Microsoft and HP. However, CLW’s investigators were all assigned to Apple lines, including one on the “cheap” iPhone expected to debut this fall.

Though a much smaller company, Pegatron has been winning Apple contracts by offering aggressively low prices. That shows in its margins. In the last quarter of 2012, Hon Hai’s operating margin stood at 3.7%. In contrast, Pegatron’s margins were a razor-thin 0.3%, nudging up to 0.8% by the end of March.

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-why is one of our largest technology companies outsourcing its major production to china? why are SEVERAL of our largest technology companies outsourcing manufacturing to china? is this still a non-issue or simple bi-product of globalization?

this is not manufacturing toilet seats folks, these are highly valuable technology contracts that could do a lot to power the US economy now and for many years to come. manufacturing components to sell in Apple products?!?! doesnt get much more major than that.

and this is just one example. think of all the other examples out there that dont get as much press.

the govt has to bring these jobs back home, people ribs is touching out here b

 

[ltheghost]

They are just setting it up so they can do that "Low wage" work here. It's still to early to have those jobs here in America. We need more people with crap or no education and tons of debt. The jobs will come here and when they get here people won't like them. I've seen these working conditions like this in other countries. It's not surprising.

 

[HollowPoints2]

Manufacturing in America is damn near over. most of these corporations have moved overseas. they don't like the high taxes also the pensions/benefits they have to pay unionized workers.

I could go on but that's my take.

 

[Richard Wright]

If it costs less to manufacture and assemble somewhere else, why would you pay more for americans?

 

[HollowPoints2]

If it costs less to manufacture and assemble somewhere else, why would you pay more for americans?

Those same cooperation claim to be blue blooded patriot Americans who wont to see the coutry grow but they wont invest in their own ppl?

Thats not a true patriot.

 

[kickz]

People just gotta get used to there being less jobs, this is a global economy and corporations are global now. People needs to start thinking on a global scale, go teach English at University overseas, or start up a business in Africa.

 

[Richard Wright]

Those same cooperation claim to be blue blooded patriot Americans who wont to see the coutry grow but they wont invest in their own ppl?

Thats not a true patriot.

They dont claim that. And in America, the land of the free, that is patriotic. We were founded on saying fukk government. And paying someone to work a job isnt an investment in them, educating people is.

 

[HollowPoints2]

They dont claim that. And in America, the land of the free, that is patriotic. We were founded on saying fukk government. And paying someone to work a job isnt an investment in them, educating people is.

I agree100%.

However they do claim that. Look at most of the major donors to Republican campaigns(super PACS) during election time. Why do you think most of these corporations are sitting on billions of dollars not hiring? Because their Republican friends told them to go on vacation until the Obama term is over.

This economy is going down the toilet simply because the Republicans don't like the fact Obama is in office. once bama's presidency is over and the Republicans get in office you will see a total shift and lots of money being freed up.

Why?

Because most of the people who run national & multinational corporations are republicans.

But back to manufacturing. The wealth in this country is mainly controlled by ppl who are conservative or republican. The vast majority of conservatives preach how patriotic they are but when it comes to putting the words to action its a different story.

 

[Pimp]

You can fix this by not purchasing goods that are not manufactured in the USA. in NY & NJ the manufacturing jobs that are still here pay over $22/hr. We NEED these jobs here. These companies can afford it but if you let them get away with slave labor more power to you. I will NEVER buy another apple product. About to get that Moto X, made in AMERICA!

 

[Type Username Here]

You can fix this by not purchasing goods that are not manufactured in the USA. in NY & NJ the manufacturing jobs that are still here pay over $22/hr. We NEED these jobs here. These companies can afford it but if you let them get away with slave labor more power to you. I will NEVER buy another apple product. About to get that Moto X, made in AMERICA!

That phone is only assembled in America. Everything else is made from slave or machine labor in Asia, using materials that are sometimes the product of violence and slave and child labor in Africa.

 

[Liquid]

I agree100%.

However they do claim that. Look at most of the major donors to Republican campaigns(super PACS) during election time. Why do you think most of these corporations are sitting on billions of dollars not hiring? Because their Republican friends told them to go on vacation until the Obama term is over.

This economy is going down the toilet simply because the Republicans don't like the fact Obama is in office. once bama's presidency is over and the Republicans get in office you will see a total shift and lots of money being freed up.

Why?

Because most of the people who run national & multinational corporations are republicans.

But back to manufacturing. The wealth in this country is mainly controlled by ppl who are conservative or republican. The vast majority of conservatives preach how patriotic they are but when it comes to putting the words to action its a different story.

It is a different story and they will spin it to whatever sounds like a legitimate argument to the uninformed.

That whole "education" angle is to cover up their real agenda. Why do I say this? Because when companies starting realizing that you can hire thousands of programmers overseas cheaper than you can 100 locally they started to do it HEAVY. To the point in where Computer Science wasn't such a focus by many people growing up since they started realizing that most of the jobs are being shipped out. A result? Now we have programs like code.org trying to influence people to start thinking of putting programming into stem as it is a fundamental change in how the world works. Unfortunately the United States is so damn slow in implementing ANYTHING that we will probably be in our 50s before the change actually happens.

Keep in mind that this country is still what pumps out the best websites, the best programs, the best ideas. Yet, regardless of the loss of quality of the work they still shipped everything overseas. The "not educated" enough argument was their own damn doing and anyone telling you otherwise is either delusional or supporting their agenda into getting x amount of more people per dollar spent.

Take a look at tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Valve, Google, and Apple are all based on ideas that were born HERE. Apple of course went the overseas route when Tim Cook joined apple about 16 years ago to get their prices down, a move which on their end helped save the company. Google and Apple are now trying to bring "assembling" back into the United States because they are now realizing the negative effects of their strategy. All of a sudden the light clicked "Oh shyt, if people aren't making money we might not see as much growth as we possibly can"

Check out this interview with Gabe Newell of Valve, all of the shyt he says in here makes clear sense.


This government has let us down man and its depressing that more people don't see it that way. There should have been some HEAVY HEAVY sanctions against these multi-billion dollar corporations trying to market to the American audience, yet taking hundreds of thousands of jobs away from the market. That is irresponsible leadership and greed that has got us into this position. Don't let the older heads fool you, it is mostly THEIR fault we are in this mess. They love to put blame on the younger people, but the reality of it all is that we work much harder for less pay comparable to what they did back when they were most productive. We need to learn from this mistakes of people born in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The people born in the 80s are the ones who are grabbing the most power now and since most are focused on software, the best ones are based in the United States.

 

[Liquid]

You can fix this by not purchasing goods that are not manufactured in the USA. in NY & NJ the manufacturing jobs that are still here pay over $22/hr. We NEED these jobs here. These companies can afford it but if you let them get away with slave labor more power to you. I will NEVER buy another apple product. About to get that Moto X, made in AMERICA!

Yeah, that's easy for us to say. Most people are not going to care because they can get an iPhone cheaper if its build out there in Foxconn instead of Kentucky. The problem is the government needs to hold these companies responsible, your main target base can be the united states, but you must play fair with the companies that gives our people jobs.

The shyt is easy to understand.

 

[OsO]

we all know the corporations are not going to regulate themselves. if we give companies a choice between lower profit in the states of higher profit abroad, they're going to go abroad every time. so business is not to blame, although they are being "unpatriotic" as the brotha stated above. but ultimately government is mainly to blame because it's the government's job to regulate this shyt and do what's in the best interest of our country. the corporate state has merged with our government, which has led to regulation that has been counterproductive and actually done more harm than good.

but what else is expected when we have virtually no limits on campaign contributions (and thus influence), and virtually no checks and balances of the personnel flow moving back and forth between the public and private sector. half of our government is getting paid off the corporations like while the other half are either too incompetent or too cowardly to address whats going on.

change gotta come yall

 

[Pimp]

Yeah, that's easy for us to say. Most people are not going to care because they can get an iPhone cheaper if its build out there in Foxconn instead of Kentucky. The problem is the government needs to hold these companies responsible, your main target base can be the united states, but you must play fair with the companies that gives our people jobs.

The shyt is easy to understand.

People need to care. People are too stupid in general or just don't give a fuk.

 

[Pimp]

we all know the corporations are not going to regulate themselves. if we give companies a choice between lower profit in the states of higher profit abroad, they're going to go abroad every time. so business is not to blame, although they are being "unpatriotic" as the brotha stated above. but ultimately government is mainly to blame because it's the government's job to regulate this shyt and do what's in the best interest of our country. the corporate state has merged with our government, which has led to regulation that has been counterproductive and actually done more harm than good.

but what else is expected when we have virtually no limits on campaign contributions (and thus influence), and virtually no checks and balances of the personnel flow moving back and forth between the public and private sector. half of our government is getting paid off the corporations like while the other half are either too incompetent or too cowardly to address whats going on.

change gotta come yall

I think it's more wall st than GOVT but whatever.