Quote:
Originally Posted by NewNick
Manufacturing output moving to China has nothing to do with Clinton, Bush, Obama, or the corp tax rate.
There is only one reason to manufacture in China and that is unit cost. Labour is the lions share of that saving, but factor in cheap land for factories, cheap utilities, zero health and safety, no unions, no employee rights, and a burgeoning middle class to buy your consumer goods, then you begin to understand China.
The idea that something should or could be done simply is not viable. Are you going to slash the salaries, employee rights, and living standards of the average voting american down to Chinese levels ?
Whether you like it or not all mature industrial nations have the same problem when a low cost manufacturer comes along. The answer is not to go down to meet them at their level, you have to raise your standards, you have to manufacture goods and services that are beyond their technical level. You have to move ahead and stay ahead. More R & D, and a better educated and skilled workforce producing goods that are advanced and superior. Going backwards is not the answer. Not in a democracy at least.
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The Federal government could level the playing field very quickly . . . if it really wanted to:
1) Apply big (as in very big) tax breaks for companies that keep jobs in the USA and/or bring jobs back to the USA.
2) Apply big (as in very big) tax increases on companies that ship (or have shipped) jobs overseas.
3) Selectively apply significant tariffs onto goods produced by companies that evade #2 by moving their corporate HQ overseas.
End result: Goods will cost a little more at your local Walmart, but individual earnings will go up (on average), unemployment will go way, way, way down and the government will reap a windfall collecting taxes from all those newly employed people.
Obama mouthed some words to this effect during the campaign, but I rather doubt that he has the balls to really go for it.