| 08 September 2010
I'd like to highlight how Congress and specifically liberals and liberalism has conspired to kill manufacturing in the United States. We have seen a massive drop in manufacturing jobs in the USA that is destroying the middle class. Politicians on both sides of the isle bear the blame, but many of the laws and regulations that are destroying industries are from liberals.
The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison's innovations in the 1870s.
The remaining 200 workers at the plant here will lose their jobs.
What made the plant here vulnerable is, in part, a 2007 energy conservation measure passed by Congress that set standards essentially banning ordinary incandescents by 2014. The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs.
Jobs at the plant have been prized locally for years: They pay about $30 an hour.
If you support Environmentalism, you are anti-jobs. It is really that simple. The free market was doing just fine allocating resources in the light bulb industry. Then the Enviro-assholes got involved and destroyed an entire sector of the industry and the jobs that went with that sector. Now Americans are forced to buy a more expensive, inferior product that is manufactured in China.
If you have ever wondered why I hate the environmental movement so viscerally, it is stories like this one and many other that show that breathtaking ignorance, arrogance and stupidity of the tree-hugging fucktard set.
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written by Barthélemy Barbancourt , September 08, 2010
"Under the pressures of globalization, the number of manufacturing jobs in the United States has been shrinking for decades, from 19.5 million in 1979 to 11.6 million this year, a decline of 40 percent."
People are saying that Obama's plan to accelerate capital equipment depreciation might boost the economy since it worked for Reagan in 81'. It won't. Today, the only capital equipment many people need is a laptop (Usually made overseas). In a service economy, people are more likely to spend on advertising to boost growth than a new drill press.
written by Hans , September 08, 2010
The 200 workers will be redeployed cleaning up mercury from all those dropped and broken energy efficient light bulbs...
written by Kermit , September 08, 2010
You ever worked a drill press? It's work "Americans don't want to do". Much better doing energy audits of your neighbors.
written by Kermit , September 08, 2010
Yeah, I meant punch press. Spend 8 hours punching holes out of aluminum castings some day and then tell me how much you love it.
written by TomC , September 08, 2010
It may not be a job you would love, but mankind have done those kinds of repetitive jobs throughout history to support themselves.
If it is something that requires precision and volume, then a robot should be doing it. If, on the other hand, it is running a drill press in the process of constructing different and varied items, that makes it a little more engaging job.
I love my current job, but have stoked a wood grinder for 8 hours a day to earn the money for an education to get to that point. Intelligent people who do good work do not do the repetitive jobs for very long.
Most of us have done the long repetitive type jobs at some point. You make the best of it by enjoying the paycheck and relating to the others who are doing similar jobs.
written by Barthélemy Barbancourt , September 08, 2010
I worked on the production line of a plastics factory and at a factory that made lead battery posts. I have also made my living many times as a pizza cook, which is basically doing the same thing with small variations 200 times a night. These are the closest to repetitive production jobs I have done and I can share one universal fact about them, I was damned glad to get the money!
I have relatives where a repetitive job that pays well would be ideal. They don't want to think at work and they'd rather do as little as possible. I can assure that there are tons of people like this in America.
You are correct that I would hate that job, but I hate jobs, which is why I consult. I require a large amount of chaos and unpredictability to stay interested. I also like the compensation that comes with dealing with chaos. My idea job would probably be ER doctor or EMT. I can also assure you that most people would hate doing what I do and as such, very few people actually do what I do.
K, at risk of giving a compliment, you are too smart to stare at a punch press for 8 hours, but as I again hate to admit, there are plenty of people dumber than you. Don't assume to know what kinds of jobs they would want.
Finally, have you been in a modern machine shop lately? It's all CNC computer controlled manufacturing to exceedingly tight tolerances. Machinists are computer programmers with micrometers. I assume that the GE plant was probably highly automated. The article pointed out that CFL's are cheaper form China due to the hand labor involved. The 200 people that lost those jobs probably had a higher skill level than you expect. The issue isn't the US worker, it's the lost of opportunities for them to work.
written by Kermit , September 08, 2010
Compliment appreciated. It was a long time ago. I didn't do it for very long. When I was a teenager I only lasted 1 1/2 days at the fiberglass manufacturer. I threw up and the manager told me I wasn't cut out to be a fibergalss worker. I agreed.
written by Nobody , September 08, 2010
Yes I have run a punch press for 8 hours at a time. It bought me a semester of school. Manufacturing in the US is not like the '50's. Lots of robotics, automated everything.
Not unlike Bart, I hate a "job", a lunch bucket, time clock, kind of job. The things I consult on are projects that last less than 6 months usualy. It's not chaos, mine are more like some black magic and I get to be the wizzard.
written by TomC , September 08, 2010
Good points Bart. The US industry is highly computerized and the American worker outputs more per worker than any 3rd world country.
The problem is government and the overhead government forces on industry. It's not usually wages. It is the taxes, employment, income, property, payroll, etc that make employing someone unreasonable expensive.
People will do the mundane jobs. But companies still have to overcome the costs with product output. This administration does not seem to be smart enough to figure that out.
It drives me nuts when I hear union members of someone recently unemployed talking about some evil manufacturer taking "their" job and giving it to someone overseas. They do not understand the concept of the job belonging to the company that created it, not the worker that filled it.
written by Kermit , September 08, 2010
It's not just the taxes, employment, income, property, payroll, etc. Add in workers comp. social security, insurance and all of the accounting involved in a single workers employment.
It's a wonder anyone in America has a job.
written by tim-The Dyslexic Blogger , September 08, 2010
I have never liked a regular 9 to 5 job and have been in computers one way or another ever since I got my head back on straight after finishing up in the army I like the ability to make my own hours and days when I really had to work. I am now running the IT department at the company I am now working for and it is a job I can really enjoy doing. I'm in charge of all purchases and designating what equipment we standardize with.
