I guess I missed the part about how thats MY problem to fix. Maybe the parents shouldnt have kids in the first place they cant take care of.

My dad deals with Chinese factories. Their quality control in general is terrible and one reason is because they don't take a long-term view of business: they just don't care about repeat business in many cases. They are in it to get their quick hit and move on.

The best thing to befall Chinese manufacturing IMO is for their currency to appreciate and normalize so that the prices of their products don't permit customers to overlook the terrible Q/A failure rates any longer. Once enough of the Chinese manufacturing gets turned down in favor of competitors with a better offering, the Chinese will be forced to revisit their business strategies.

That's because the government manipulates the official poverty floor just like they manipulate every other "official" number regarding jobs and the economy.

I think the number they need to be screaming from the rooftops are the numbers of Americans on Food Stamps, the numbers on WIC, the numbers on SNAP, and the numbers on any combination of the above.

I have a hard time believing this number. Maybe I would believe it without all the handouts but the poor in this country are really not poor.

Invention without application is useless - literally. Manufacturing is by definition a value-added activity in business as it transforms raw materials into finished goods. The goods themselves are of value according to their use, but of far more value than the raw materials. And how many patents are for improvements to manufacturing technology?

The thing about value in manufacturing is all about how easy it is to copy the process. Why is the recipe for Coke still a hot item? Because no one has figured out how to duplicate it yet! When someone can duplicate a manufacturing process (assuming the means are legal, of course), it means that the intellectual value of that technique can no longer demand a premium price. It is far from being worthless, however.

Minimum wages have never solved any of the problems of business. An interesting thing is to investigate the history of unions and minimum wages in the first place. Look up the history of something called the Davis-Bacon Act (which still governs the prices governments must charge for labor for road construction projects). Black-led companies would underbid the companies who had historically won those contracts (predominantly white companies). These white-run companies had been accustomed to making a lot of money on these contracts because they were largely awarded via cronyism. Instead of trying to present a better bid, they resorted to cronyism and got some of the legislatures to vote in favor of a minimum wage so they could then justify awarding the construction projects to these crony companies instead of the challengers.

Should employees be paid what they are worth? Absolutely, and savvy business-owners know and understand this. But therein lies the rub: it is based on the value the employee brings to the company - not some arbitrary mark set by a bureaucrat.

1 out of every 4 children in America is born into poverty. Even if you think poverty is overstated, that's bad.

The only way that a business gets money is to sell goods and services to customers who voluntarily buy them.

Each employee must do something that helps perform that task and brings in enough money to pay their salary and all the taxes and government mandated expenses associated as well as actual management costs.

You cannot pay someone more than what they bring to the bottom line. If you do, the business is better off without them, so don't hire them. Note this has nothing to do with the overall profitability of the business. The business can be highly profitable but still shouldn't pay individual employees more than they contribute to the bottom line.

A minimum wage is an artificial number that ignores the real value of a worker's time in the global economy for the work they do. The reason wages havent risen lately is that the american workers have been upstaged by people who are willing to work for less, and need the work. The alternative to paying even today's minimum wage is to outsource to a cheaper country OR simply go out of business. The customers here can only pay so much for a product or service, and if we raise the prices they just stop buying.

Setting a $15 minimum wage will just eliminate the jobs that arent worth $15 and hour to the customers. Wages are really set by what the customers will pay , not the business owners.

For example, in my small company of 8 employees, most of them get $8.25 per hour. We are able to compete in the off road lighting market at this rate. Change minimum wage to $15 per hour, and we are just out of business unless we can cut 4 people out and get the remaining 4 people to do what 8 did before. If we cant get the 4 people to be twice as productive, all 8 lose their jobs. Raising our prices is just not an option, as we would lose significant business and some of the people would lose their jobs anyway.

You can blame the government and the federal reserve for the 'costs going up'. In fact, costs are continually going down due to efficiency improvements which go on constantly. Robots do things cheaper, as does automation. Parts get made thinner with cheaper materials too. BUT, the federal reserve prints money, making what we have worth less. Therefore, the prices of things rise in terms of these less valuable dollars. Get rid of the federal reserve's money printing to support Obama's deficits and you would find prices in terms of stable dollars falling, not rising.

Why not have a minimum wage ? Costs keep going up but nt wages! I agree that companys need to make a profit, But do the people who run it need there big wage? the workers make goods and the profit for the company, A simple way would be give a basic wage and the a percentage of the profit to the workers this will help everyone

I already have at least one of just about everything the third world sweat shops can produce. Why buy more? And, I can get it for wholesale on-line.

Simple, we've been doing it for a long time: government steals from the people (taxes), orders from their cronies (government contracts, "stimulus"), feeds itself (bloated beuracracy), including paramilitary forces to keep themselves in power (DHS, FBI, BATF, BLM, etc.) and, finally, throws a bone to those most likely to "vote" for them.

While I agree with your last statement, I don't think manufacturing zealots are Luddites. Perhaps you overstated to make the point clear.
We manufacture a lot of equipment. We have 10 divisions and about $1B in sales. I can tell you one big difference between a financially successful division and a weak one is operations (supply chain and manufacture). We use zero AM processes (3D printing) except for plastic models and some robotic welding. AM is not ready for prime time, being essentially a weak, brittle casting process. Welding and painting are very important. One of our Italian CEOs (we are part of a $30B company) gave a speech at a CTO (me) conference with the point that engineering development is no good unless it makes money. Innovation (cool stuff) is not enough. It needs cost-effectively solve a problem for someone who understands this and can pay for it. I am with Edison (not a role model to be) on this with the 1%/99% assertion. It is very difficult to sell an idea, but it is very easy to sell a well run business, to your point, even better with solid IP. Half the wealth of the companies in the US is laying around on the floor, in inventory, waste or with overpaid suppliers.

What it means is that manufacture will continue to provide less and less value in the economy, just as agriculture did. Manufacturing zealots are the new Luddites. The ultimate value is always in the creation - invention

3D printing is just another technology in manufacturing like standard parts, the assembly line and robotics. It does not make manufacturing irrelevant. It makes it more efficient. Perhaps efficient to the point the US can compete with China et al someday, but not yet.

If you are making the point the only increase in wealth in manufacturing is throgh manufacturing technology, I would argue the organization and process discipline in the company performing the manufacture are equally important.

Korea too, but unlike US guys, Asians will go nuts to do what the spec says. US guys may give you more because they think you need it, or less if they think you don't. The reverse is true if they are the customer as well. Demanding to the letter. Sometimes ask for more, but will back off if pressed.

I agree. normal expected specs on USA things are different from in china

Amazing how that works isn't it?? But, it's for the greater good. If I never heard that line again it would be too soon.

That is fine for spec-ed items, but when if you buy COTS parts or equipment, you rely on the supplier's opinion on details and quality.

Slavery to benefit oneself is illegal. Slavery to benefit the government is somehow OK. Counterfeiting for personal gain is illegal, but when the government does it, its ok

I hear you. I'm supposed to consider myself one of the lucky one's. In Wisconsin, we have headed a little bit in the the right direction (I'm not really sure of that with the all the gimmicks) and by a little bit, I mean a very, very small amount. Yet our governor keeps saying how much they have done to save the taxpayers. We have been used and abused for so long that the cuts are too small to make a difference. All the taxes and fees amount to slavery.