To keep 20% more US jobs stateside or create 32% more US jobs, what amount of cash would you tolerate in additional spending for Christmas or basic day to day living?

Prices don’t have to go up.

A US assembled Honda Accord doesn’t cost a dime more than a Japan assembled one.

A Canada made Civic is the same price as a UK built one.

But this requires the correct corporate mentality from the top.

Honda has been doing this since 1982

That of course is the Big Question.

Keeping jobs in the US means paying inflated union driven wages (by the world wide labor market standard) and paying the “regulation tariff”.

It also means inhibiting the growth of a global middle class who might buy American goods and services, which means that “demand” will be limited to a small market (the US) as opposed to a larger international market. And to make matters worse, there is the theory that international unrest, terrorism, threat of war etc. is driven by the absence of an international middle class.

The cure for the conundrum is crush the labor movement, lower corporate taxes, and de- regulate.

You decide.

^^ A US assembled Honda Accord doesn’t cost a dime more than a Japan assembled one.
Is that taking into account wages, insurance, fees, and taxes? Are you implying that the shipping cost to transport the vehicles from Japan to the US would eat up any savings in labor?

Or to rephrase the question:

How many Americans do I want to see lose jobs,have their pay reduced, become deprived of health and other benefits, so that the same good can be made in America which can be manufactured more cheaply overseas?

Manufacturers of low tech equipment (some high tech is different) cannot manufacture here competitively. It’s that simple. A Vietnamese person assembling an iPhone works for a couple dollars a day. A person assembling in iPhone in, for example, Omaha, has a minimum wage plus benefits.

So unless the goal is to make all American workers live on a Vietnamese, Filipino, Chines, Korean, or Taiwanese salary, it can’t and won’t be done.

^ A Vietnamese person assembling an iPhone works for a couple dollars a day. A person assembling in iPhone in, for example, Omaha, has a minimum wage plus benefits.
• Well, let’s say for the sake of argument an iPhone made in Omaha was going to cost $950—$1,250 as opposed to the $600ish they do now (if that is even accurate), if you REALLY, TRULY felt you needed to have an iPhone, would that be an acceptable price to pay that it be made in the US creating to keeping jobs stateside? What about a quality US made digital SLR camera, if a startup manufactured a US brand camera equal to the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV EF but it weighed in at $6,700 +/- than the low 4k of the canon, if you truly wanted a US made digital SLR because it would create US jobs, would the extra cost be worth it when you know you could get the same for less?

I am more looking forward to a reduction in cost of goods sold because of tax cuts and reduced regulations that means lower costs on what we buy and thusly we will have more disposable income so we will be able to buy more products and a HUGE win win for everyone involved.

The cat is out of the bag. There will never be mass production of nondurable goods that isn’t food in the United States ever again. The people have voted and they want the cheapest shit they can get. This can’t be undone. It has been in the works forever.

If you want a good job that pays well be a electrician or a plumber or a mechanic that fixes foreign cars. The days of bolting shit together for 25 a hour are gone. Accept it and move the fuck on.

Or give up on paying 2 bucks for a white t-shirt. But I know you won’t do that.

I think this question is about as oblique as things can get. It amounts to assuming that in order to create jobs, those now treading water must somehow spend more. All this hooplah about our stagnant economy and shortage of decent jobs ignores the glaring basic fact that the money to stimulate the economy and expand jobs IS NOT IN THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO REQUIRE JOBS. To put it bluntly, the people with all the surplus money (which once was in the hands of working folks), those people have found more lucrative returns on their money than can be realized through employing those who provide them all that wealth. This is the reality of what concentration of wealth is all about. People are fighting to resist the minimum wage and dog greedy unions, and nobody looks to see or bothers to ask out loud WHERE IS THE MONEY? If the middle class is falling behind, WHO IS IT THAT IS GETTING AHEAD? Do you suppose the 2 facts are somehow related?

In the long run, the so-called low wage countries are suddenly seeing the kind of upheaval the U S. saw in the past. The workers are demanding higher wages, which leads to increased prices. As this become the practice in the developing countries, prices will eventually even out.

@stanleybmanly You are correct in the short term, but that type of economy is self correcting.

Yes and the correction was applied in Russia in 1917 and Germany under Adolf. Is Trump our current “correction”?

Not to mention the U. S. in 1920–30

@YARNLADY What you are saying is that 3rd world workers are struggling to lift their standard of living, while ours must plummet to meet them somewhere far below the level to which we have become accustomed.

^^ Yes, that is exactly what is happening.

@stanleybmanly To put it bluntly, the people with all the surplus money (which once was in the hands of working folks), those people have found more lucrative returns on their money than can be realized through employing those who provide them all that wealth.
If the power of commerce was once in the working man’s hands, then he needs to wrestle it back. After all, he controls his wallet, if he feels he wants a quality Smartphone made n the US but near in price as a foreign made iPhone, he better be prepared to settle for less in the short for major gains in the long run. He (his friends, neighbors, etc.) can say we will not by the iPhone, even if it means settling for a lesser phone and not being able to stream as many videos. If enough people stop buying them or any other widgets, you think the companies making them will not notice?