The tide is turning, You can only screw your workers for so long. Lets hope this is the start of China unionizing, Reminds one of how unions came

be in America.http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Companies-brace-for-end-of-apf-2437567795.html?x=0

this news seems... to good to be true?

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

It's good news for the chinese workers. Obviously the displaced jobs won't go to the US, they will go to the next cheap labor market. China has been outsourcing some work to Africa for years, I assume they will increase their outsourcing as their labor costs increase. This is similar to what japan experienced about 40 years ago.

Increased Chinese labor costs, in addition to their agree mention to let their currency float should result in higher consumer prices in the west (which might not be a bad thing).

gee, what will walmart do now? i'm going to be up all night worrying about them. those poor waltons - let's hold a bake sale for them.

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Walmart will do just fine, their primary advantage is that they control the entire supply chain. Their prices have more to do with cutting out most of the distribution "middle men" than buying goods from china. You will probably see more in pact on high end goods, computers and tv sets, with major componets made in china.

actually, walmart dictates prices to its suppliers, and has lately tried to get lower prices by taking over transportation entirely and, with some "funny" math, reducing prices, er, disproportionately, we might say. which will affect the suppliers own economy of scale, when it comes to transportation costs to non-walmart retailers. there's articles all over the business pages from may of this year about this latest quest for retail domination. anyway, they'll probably make factories move to some other third world hellhole, just to make a few more bucks. one must never be responsible or moderate in business, i guess. otherwise, those hardworking walmart children might drop on the forbes 100.

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Yup, I think that's what I just said. Do we agree that these production jobs will not return to the US?

Do you think the next third world hellhole will maintain even better quality than China The tide is slowly turning Craig-y you just don't have enough sense to realize it. What part of the article that said company's were bringing manufacturing back to the states did'nt you understand
If one company comes back that is a victory, others will follow suit the same way they left. This won't happen overnight nor did their exodus, but it's happening.
By the way Craig-y you once told me Ford was going to fold along with GM and Chrysler. Coul be why their adding 1500 UAW workers to the payroll in their Torrence avenue plant in Chicago, yep, failure is iminent.

With the decline of the dollar back in 2008, there were a few manufacturing jobs returning to the US.

I'm posting this on a blackberry so I can't give any links, but a lower dollar makes exports cheaper.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

The article said;

"Many companies are striving to stay profitable by shifting factories to cheaper areas farther inland or to other developing countries, and a few are even resuming production in the West."

Not exactly a trend to move to higher cost labor markets, is it?

Regarding ford, as you said; nothing happens overnight. I understand that everything looks like a nail when you're carrying a hammer, but you should take a trip to Detroit and take a long look.

Yes, there will always be a limited number of manufacturing jobs in the US, primarily items that are expensive to ship or have high margins. The marginal jobs will move back and forth as the currency fluctuates, but I think the long term trend is obvious.

craig (and peggy sue): have you always disliked unions, or is this something you just grew into? (serious question)

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Lots of things can be made more efficiently by automation. Such factories, with fewer and more skilled workers, can be set up anywhere. As such, production will move closer to the end consumer, because transportation costs, i.e. fuel for big ships, will cut deeper into profit margins.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

inflation :Imports decrease, exports increase

deflation :Imports increase, exports decrease

I paid attention in Macro.. I think

I spent too many years trying to get work accomplished on large union construction projects. It was a lose/lose arrangement; cost/schedule overages, shoddy work, sabotage, and some good workers being prevented from doing good work.

I do think that unions had a place in the US during the early 20th century. They caused many labor law reforms that were needed at the time; that time is over in the US. FWIW, I think unions could serve a similar function in the developing world today.