SNIP
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>And the home company of Greensboro, NC, CONE Mills, is filing Chapter 11 because of this. Levi-Strauss is a large buyer of the textiles produced here. A lot of people here are fearful of losing their jobs during this time. Heck, we have lost about ALL of the textile producer's here (and furniture producing industries).

That's sad to hear, Tommy, but not at all surprising. Another person here, last year, explained how his once thriving textile company that made premium product went belly-up in the second year after Walmart reversed its "buy American" policy!
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>It is just a lot cheaper to produce the goods overseas. Why? Because it costs less (salaries are far less, raw materials are less....). The only solution I see is for people here to take big salary cuts and to buy American made, even if it is more. As they are quickly finding out, we live in a global society, and buying overseas merchandise can quickly bite back with a vengence.

Sure wages are cheaper. And there are virtually no labour laws protecting workers. And there is virtually no regard for environmental contamination. And bribes ensure that things stay precisely that way.
Some of us call this EXPLOITATION and some of us do not like to see our fellow humans treated that way.
Funny how taking big salary cuts is usually the first option named. I wonder why taking a "reasonable" profit and showing that workers are valued as prime assets never come up?!?! I wonder why our system ENCOURAGES EXPLOITATION OF WORKERS (foreign for sure, but working its way inexorable into the domestic scene too)?

Buying American made is a good idea but how much American made is actually left (besides cars/trucks)?
I have a "RCA" television that actually came in a box marked with "Thomson Consumer Electronics" on it. The label on the TV itself has the words "printed in Canada" on it, no doubt to let a quick glance at it lead the reader to read it as 'made in Canada' (because who would ever care where the label was printed???). The label has an Indiana address for "Thomson Consumer Electronics" and the same label notes that the unit was assembled in Prescott ONTARIO. It doesn't state where the components are made. And, to top it all off I believe that "Thomson Consumer Electronics" is actually a French-owned company.
A whole lot of brand-named stuff that I buy now says "imported for < brand name > Canada" on it and fails to mention where it was actually made!

Exploiting foreign workers and casting aside our own workers is no moral/legitimate way to run any company, but it generally accepted that "business decisions" and "profitability" are immune from morality. THAT IS WHAT BADLY NEEDS FIXING!

Jim

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>Tommy