I just read where Apple has built their second American plant in the US. One is making computers and the other is making new screens for tablets and phones. GE has brought back all their major appliances to America. Plus their hybrid hot water heaters. Whirlpool has brought back their hand mixer plant. This week Motorola Mobility, owned by Google, became the latest company to bring manufacturing, and hence jobs, back home with plans to open a plant in Texas, Ford has brought the Fusion back from Mexico to Detroit. Master Lock brought it's plant back from China Remember these companies when you go shopping. The more we support American products, the more jobs we'll create.
Meh, I support the free market. I would prefer buying what I like, and doing so based on it's quality (if it is something that I need for a while) or it's price (if it is something I need once). I refuse to buy American made simply because it is American. Seems silly to support a company that may be poorly run, or use poor engineering, or produces poor quality out of some sort of interpretation of patriotism.
No one is saying buy American only because it's American made. Of course if quality and price isn't close, buy something else. But I think in most cases you'll see price and quality is close and buying American brings in jobs and taxes. It brings up the Middle Class and cuts down on welfare. All pluses for our economy and America. I think most can agree, Apple products are first class and so is GE.
Absolutely! I sure hope this is happening - was surprised to read about GE..... The appliances/products I've bought thru out the yrs that were American made were of good quality and lasted..... the cheap China. Bangladesh, etc was nothing but junk......
I don't think the point was to buy junk if only because it's US made. Too many argue against Manufacturing going overseas, so here is a chance for quality stuff to get made at home while stimulating the economy at the same time.
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY Faced with rising costs, General Electric is moving production of its new energy-efficient water heater halfway around the world. The country it's leaving? China. The one it's bringing 400 jobs and a newly renovated factory? The United States. A small but growing band of U.S. manufacturers including giants such as General Electric (GE), NCR (NCR) and Caterpillar (CAT) are turning the seemingly inexorable offshoring movement on its head, bringing some production to the U.S. from far-flung locations such as China. Others that were buying components overseas are switching to U.S. suppliers. Ford Motor said Wednesday that it's bringing nearly 2,000 jobs to its U.S. plants by 2012 from suppliers, including those in Japan, Mexico and India. Experts say the initiatives could moderate job losses that have dramatically shrunk the U.S. manufacturing industry. "I think we're going to start to see a slowing of lost jobs, and we'll see some jobs coming back," says Simon Ellis, an analyst for IDC Manufacturing Insights. "At some point, it will balance out, and we'll reach an equilibrium." There are myriad reasons for the shifts, often called "onshoring" or "reshoring." Chinese wages and shipping costs have risen sharply in the past few years while U.S. salaries have stayed flat, or in some cases, fallen in the recession. Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturers have been frustrated by the sometimes poor quality of goods made by foreign contractors, theft of their intellectual property and long product-delivery cycles that make them less responsive to customer demand. WHERE ARE THE JOBS? Latest forecast for 384 metro areas and all 50 states RECOVERY WATCH: Tracking the economy; index shows slowing growth Several cite the drawbacks of tying up valuable capital in huge overseas shipments, and want to bring assembly closer to engineers, suppliers and customers, concerns that mounted as makers slashed costs in the downturn. Others are simply weary of midnight phone calls and multiple annual trips to Asia. "A lot of companies who have gone there to take advantage of cheap labor are starting to tell us that if you (calculate) total ... cost and don't just look at wages, it's actually not worth it," says Jeremy Leonard, consultant for Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, an industry-funded research group. To be sure, examples of companies moving production to the U.S. are dwarfed by the many more still shuttering U.S. plants and moving to China, India or elsewhere. No one tracks such data, but one glaring, if imprecise, barometer is the U.S. trade deficit, which hit an 18-month high of $42.3 billion in May. Onshoring "is a trickle; it's not a flood," says Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a trade group. "There's still more going out than coming in." Products that are labor-intensive and churned out in high volumes, such as apparel, textiles and TVs, will likely continue to be made overseas. So will those that are relatively inexpensive to ship but high-priced, such as laptops and cellphones, Ellis says. Goods are increasingly being made near customers, a trend that's driving U.S. makers to build factories in fast-growing China. Still, says Jim Campbell, CEO of GE's appliance unit: "The biggest difference is the U.S. is in the game now." Read much more http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-08-06-manufacturing04_CV_N.htm
Apple will replace as many of those workers as possible with machines. Apparently the screens are primarily related to bigger screens for apple TV which are more difficult to ship from Asia for some reason.
It's good news, but I don't see this being a huge trend in terms of American companies. Still, I'll take what we can get.
Funny you should mention this. I test drove a Ford Fusion hybrid the other day, sweet little ride. Won't be anytime soon but when wife retires and we go down to a single car I am keeping this one in mind and I have been a diehard Honda fan for 20 years now
They are doing this because it makes sense from a cost perspective. I'll buy American when it is competitive, otherwise I'm supporting a lost cause at my expense.
Regardless, this is one reason manufacturing jobs have left. It's not exactly fair when China manipulates their currency to make their products cheaper, and show a complete disregard for the environment and labor rights (child labor, slave labor, poor conditions, etc). Of course, how could we compete with that? Why would we? Unfortunately it's a problem that will continue to get worse.
It's odd that libs don't mind supporting Americans who are out of work. Is it because Obama voters really don't want to work in the first place? - - - Updated - - - You compete by putting tariffs on Chinese products.
