Mourning/Morning in St. Louis?

HaverDad, they suggested last night that at least 1,000 - 1,200 jobs will be lost almost immediately. I just can's believe St. Louis is getting hit this hard. Chrysler closed it's plant which put thousands out of work. This type of news has been almost daily. Now, the icon of St. Louis has been bought by foreign competitors. At some point, Americans are going to realize that we no longer own America. That our jobs are not our jobs and that we can lose all employment in any given area at the whim of people who understand little about the region. I'm waiting to read a lable someday that will say, "America - Made overseas!"

quote:

Originally posted by CoachB25:
At some point, Americans are going to realize that we no longer own America. That our jobs are not our jobs and that we can lose all employment in any given area at the whim of people who understand little about the region. I'm waiting to read a lable someday that will say, "America - Made overseas!"

What are we leaving our kids as a nation??? Debt up the wazu and ownership of nothing. Are they going to become slaves to some foreign country down the road?????

Has anyone watched the series on China on the Discovery channel hosted by Ted Koppel?

It. Is. SCARY.



The housing industry has been depressed (yes, depressed) for a very long time with no good news in sight. The word is we haven't hit bottom yet. You can believe that there have been a whole bunch of people left jobless in this industry. Where can they go to find a job period, let alone one which pays enough to support a family? There is the ripple effect, too, within this industry---from the home builders to the suppliers to the mortgage bankers and support....

Add to this the auto industry and all of its workers (and suppliers), the beer industry and all of the workers (and suppliers), the airline industry, the retailers and all of the workers..........This is not good at all. Do any of you have teenagers who STILL can't find a summer job?

And taxes just keep on going up. The very corrupt Cook County in Illinois just raised its sales tax on July 1---Chicago now leads the nation not only in sales taxes (10.25%) but in gas prices (due in part because of the taxes on gas). Milk? Bread? Eggs? It's ridiculous.

Still Learning has asked some very good questions. I'm not so sure I really want to know the answer.

I watched the Koppel piece over the weekend. If anyone wants to understand why oil prices will never roll back, its all right there.

One small (positive?)change I've seen in my professional life recently was that several major players have actually closed their Chinese plants, canceled plans to add Chinese manufacturing capacity or will let current offshore manufacturing contracts expire.

The reason (I am told), is increasing speculation, especially by Japanese companies, that severe unrest, sometime soon, will ooze from the great unwashed Chinese masses.

Brutal retaliation, would follow of course.

We must protect our industry and agriculture or yes, our kids will be working for foreign companies and eating food that is not grown here.
I work for a farmer on the west side of the San Joaquin valley. Our valley is the most fertile, most productive farmland in the US and the world. Our climate and soils are perfect for growing a number of fruits (peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, apples, etc) vegetables (you name it - we grow it here), nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pecans, etc) (Fruits and nuts, fruits and nuts - there I have sad it before someone else does!!).
The big issue with ag in our valley is the lack of water, which is tied to the environmental rules and policies in our state. Right now we are in a huge drought. Normally, we get no rain in our area all summer. However, we do get snow melt run off from the Sierra Nevadas and get water from the Delta. Unfortunately, winter precipitation has not been what is needed, and water is scarce. It is expensive and sometimes futile to pump from underground wells. Our state and federal laws protect fish to the point of cutting off irrigation water for food we need to produce.
Where does this take us? If we cannot make our government reverse some of these fish laws, we WILL be eating food ( and feeding it to those grandchildren) that is grown in other countries, and therefore is NOT produced under the strict standards we have in the US. Who knows what is sprayed on your produce, the conditions it is handled and grown in, and who the people are who are growing it. On top of that - we will eat what they tell us to eat, and charge us what ever they feel like for it. (Sound familiar? (gas))
I am convinced that we a regulating ourselves to death - death of ag, of industry and of life as we know it here. Lawyers and lobbyists abound - some do a great job in preserving our lifestyles, others do not. The media plays to the hand-wringing public - if its in the Inquirer style paper (which all of them have become) or on the TV news (is that "24" or the nightly news?)people believe it.
What can you do? Be careful of the organizations you support with donations. Check out their agendas. Ask your lawmakers to consider the laws and funding they give to so-called do gooder "environmental groups" - is it REALLY important to our future to have a particular fish in mass numbers or is there another way to preserve a species?
BE CAREFUL AMERICA. Be careful what you wish for - you may not realize the consequences of your wish!

As for the prices of milk, bread and eggs, consider the
- cost of production: energy, feed (whose bright idea was ethanol from corn?) technical knowledge (you have to be a college graduate and then some to run a farm these days - no more Joe farmer in overalls!)capital investment
- fact that the farmer doesn't get the bulk of the grocery store price. processors and handlers get a big cut.

What has this got to do with baseball? Beer (from St. Louis), and hot dogs (from the midwest (dog)and west (wheat= bun)), cheese (from CA and WI) and nachos (corn - all over), peanuts (south) and sunflower seeds (Dakotas and northern states).

Bottom line - support made in / grown in the US, BY the US

An age old story mikamom. "Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting over." Mark Twain said that, and long before any fish made it to the endangered species list. That was Richard Nixon's act by the way.
We all have our villains don't we? Just seems that in an election year they all get lumped together on one side of the fence or the other. We can't go blame the "do-gooders" for the drought though, can we? Maybe it's best that we not get too involved in politics here, you never know who may be watching.

Just when HaverSon was born, in 1984, we made the comittment to not buy Chinese goods.

It has been a huge pain, in terms of looking at labels.

It essentially eliminates Walmart.

Having now done this for nearly 25 years, I can recommend a couple of affordable sources for indispensible AMERICAN-MADE products:

SHOES

JEANS etc.

Thanks for the links HaverDad. I still drive a Chevy (though I'm sure many of the parts are made in China) and I can't remember the last time I was in a WalMart. BTW, Ringor makes a pretty good baseball cleat right here in the USA, and Nokona gloves are made in Texas.
On the other hand, my cousin (former AF Intelligence) just got back from China and told me we best stay friends with these people. "There sure are a lot of them!" 1.3 Billion and counting.

Living over near the Salinas valley, another great farming region, I echo mikamom's post above.

While I don't work in the ag industry, I sure know a lot of people that do. After talking with them - and living with the issue most of my life - I can say that water policy in this state/country is really backwards - and needs to be sorted out before we destroy all of our farmers.

Yes I am very aware of Mark Twain's quote! And you are so right Spizzlepop! - Except for the part where you are saying that the water issue divides people only in election years! I only hope we can all be do-gooders for everyone's sake - the people, the fish, the environment as a whole. And of course for the beer companies. Anyone know who owns Coors?!

Big Head Koppel piece is interesting but definitely slanted toward the left, he keeps suggesting that capitalism may not be good for them and that their communist system has kept order!

We all listen to the daily dose of bad news, but we still only have 5% unemployment. This all goes in cycles.

quote:

Nokona gloves are made in Texas.

smile..... I've still got my vintage kangaroo Nakona catcher's glove. (I always liked that well-used "floppy" feel.)

Unfortunately though there's no boy at home to use it with.

Is it the same Nokona company that makes boots (cowboy kind?!) I wish I still had my lizard ones!!

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Originally posted by mikamom:
Is it the same Nokona company that makes boots (cowboy kind?!) I wish I still had my lizard ones!!

Nope! These ones catch baseballs.


These will catch cowboys

Oh, yes, well, the cowboy was "caught" 25 years ago, and is still in the corral, but those boots are sure pretty!

This guy puts it all to music! "Kiss Our Glass" on You Tube if the link below does not work.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSnKwp7YVzo&eurl=http://...xml&nocache=0&up_pre


btw Baseball Is in his song!!!