Labor Pains In Colorado

You don't care what happens to other human beings?- Oni

This is uninformed nonsense. Too much wrong with all of that to even begin to go through it. But let me just ask, who is the Top Dog now? And why?- Oni

Frako's comment was a mess, and I really didn't find anything that he was "getting at" other than misinformation. I was going to circle back to this very point, once I had a response from Frako to see what exactly he was trying to say.The US has never been Top Dog in ALL industires. So to say that we aren't Top Dog now in many industres is a strawman. Thing is, that's what you have to do to have a free market. You need to allow other countries to flourish.But it's also fair to point out that, at any point, the US can gain control of any market it wanted to given that that was the goal. But in the interest of profit (of course) and a balanced market, it makes no sense to do that.I find it funny though, Frako is talking from a purely jealous POV. People love to point out that the US is falling apart, or that we are some how poor now, or that industies have fallen apart or that we are in a debt crisis... It's nonsense. And it bothers me to read that because it's utter bullshit.- OniEdited by onifre, : No reason given.Edited by onifre, : No reason given.Edited by onifre, : No reason given.

Our butt kicked? In what specifically...AND, how did it lose top ranking? Poor product? Low quality product? Or, not being able to keep up with low to extremely low wages in 3rd world countries who's workers are being exploited?In other words, sure other countries are "beating" us in TV production, for example. But then again those countries aren't winning because of a better ability to create a better product but because of shitty wages paid to workers that make their products cheaper.It's not fair to say you're making more TV's than the US and thus have kicked the US's ass in it when your workers are below the poverty line and some are starving. No, I was looking for an actual answer. I did NOT expect someone from Slovania to brag about anything to me unless their point is to make me laugh hysterically. A different one. No he doesn't. The US was NEVER Top Dog in ALL industries as he claimed, so the rest is irrelevant.And again, boasting about 3rd world countries who are exploiting workers as being better at producing products is a tad bit sickening.- OniEdited by onifre, : No reason given.

And thus my point in the statement you quoted. We could, at any point, top any country. We lack zero resources. There is nothing stopping us, except one thing, there is a value placed on the American worker. Funny, that seems to be everyone's opinion here. Sure you do, it's the same reason YOU get paid a decent wage and work a reasonable amount of hours. It's the same reason our 8 year olds don't have to work in a sweat shop or lose a hand in a manufacturing plant. I wouldnt call that an "excuse." We absolutely could, and DO have all the necessary tools for it. What we don't have is children ages 8-12 willing to lose an arm for it.- Oni

Didn't mean to make it specific to LCD manufacturing in Korea.However, while there may not be children in the LCD plant specifically, there ARE children in other plants in Korea. Also, the adults are ridiculously over worked and extremely under paid. Further more, how do the workers even get to work?For more: The World's Hardest-Working Countries

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If you thought you worked long hours, consider 39-year-old Lee from South Korea. A civil servant at the ministry of agriculture and fisheries, Lee gets up at 5:30 a.m. every day, gets dressed and makes a two-hour commute into Seoul to start work at 8:30 a.m. After sitting at a computer for most of the day, Lee typically gets out the door at 9 p.m., or even later.

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By the time he gets home, it's just a matter of jumping in the shower and collapsing into bed, before starting the whole routine all over again, about four hours later. This happens six days a week, and throughout almost all of the year, as Lee gets just three days of vacation.

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That's right. Three days.

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Point is: we DO have the means to make anything and be on top, and that was my point. But we don't work our workers to death, under terrible conditions. And even under normal conditions, the wages are fair, the hours are fair and the vacation time is fair.

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Of course in the US, any attempt to pay similar wages will simply result in attorneys and engineers finding other places to work.

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Which, having friends who are both engineers and lawyers, the money they get here isn't ALL that much either. So less is clearly unacceptable for someone who has a degree in either profession.So, it's again nothing to say that you're on top when everyone bellow you is suffering. And boasting such success is a cheap victory.- Oni

No, you said LCD's AND smartphones. When I gave you my reply you focused only on LCD's. I guess because you know full well that phones DO employ child labor. And I take it your argument does not apply to smartphones? Again you focus on just one portion of it. What about vacation time? Wages? I'm sure you could have afforded a car? Or maybe you were in your air conditioned car? How nice were your lunches? How nice was your office? Etc...- Oni

I don't even know what we're debating anymore.My point was that the US can be on top of any industry but, worker conditions prevent us from doing so and NOT that we are just not that good anymore.Also, the US was never leading in ALL industries so that original point is moot.Anything else we have been discussing has completely side-tracked that.- Oni