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60,000 Manufacturing Plants Closed Since 2001

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posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 08:46 PM
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This equals 4.2 million high paying jobs lost.

Now, I'm sourcing an article from 2013 but I believe the topic is very poignant with election season now here.

Source


"Free trade" is not free. Our free trade policy encourages production to leave the country. We've lost millions of manufacturing jobs. More than 60,000 manufacturing plants were closed between 2000 and 2010 as production moved overseas. These costs are real.


This is the biggest issue in America right now. Cities are crumbling across the country, I know, I've seen it with my own eyes. More people in prison than ever, the middle class is shrinking faster then ever and we have no purchasing power which means we have no leverage as a population in the markets to call any shots.

edit on 6/16/2015 by onequestion because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 08:54 PM
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a reply to: onequestion
So True. They have been harvested and now are the Grapes of Wrath.


+6 more 
posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 08:56 PM
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Yeah you know what bugs me too.

When people come on here saying that people in St Lious and Baltimore need to go get jobs or that college kids and my generation cant create any wealth or buy houses or cars is because were lazy or lack drive.

Drives me crazy.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:02 PM
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a reply to: onequestion

Sucks it does. Worse it will get.

They started outsourcing jobs where I work a few years ago (software engineering)... it's turned out to be a massive cluster #. But you know what? Nobody in charge cares because it has "saved" money. I'm waiting for the day it all falls apart and I have to find a new job.

Oh joy.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:04 PM
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a reply to: onequestion

Everyone wants cheap goods. This is the high cost of low prices.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:13 PM
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I was against the free trade agreement back in the Clinton administration. I knew then what would happen, except it is only being made worse by all the new crap they keep piling on the situation.

They knew what they were doing then, and they know what they are doing now. We awoke from the American dream into an American nightmare. If only I could fall asleep. "To sleep, perhaps to dream."



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:13 PM
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I totally agree, this is the biggest threat to the security of the United States that we have. Along with the jobs leaving so has our money, China and other countries are taking it away a penny at a time. We are in an Economic disaster, we can not possibly have a functional consumer based society this large. We would have to enslave every country in the world to accomplish this. These other countries are very powerful if you combine them into allies.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:14 PM
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Exactly what the TPP is set to do with more job losses. All the while there's a cry for $15.00 an hour and or living wages due to the downturn in the economy, etc. Goodluck there if the bill passes companies will have to move factories overseas to compete or go out of business. Why pay Americans $15.00 an hour or even min wage in some places when you can pay workers in other countries overseas 75 cents?



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:16 PM
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a reply to: dreamingawake

Theres no manufacturing jobs left to go overseas.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:28 PM
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The idea was to become a "service industry", the problem is most of our service is to feed ourselves. Hell of a lot of mcDs and FiLa.

I think maybe they thought we'd keep the crown and churn out the best CS and EE students through the information age, but the reality is many of the best minds aren't born here, and no longer come here for an education.

Whooops!



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:35 PM
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originally posted by: onequestion
Yeah you know what bugs me too.

When people come on here saying that people in St Lious and Baltimore need to go get jobs or that college kids and my generation cant create any wealth or buy houses or cars is because were lazy or lack drive.

Drives me crazy.


I think colleges have bamboozled your generation. They tell people a degree is worth 100k on the outside, so a kid spends 4 or 5 years and 60k to get it just find out their new degree is worth head cashier at BK.

I told my son, if you do not have companies actively recruiting you by your Junior year your in the wrong degree.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:37 PM
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originally posted by: dreamingawake
Exactly what the TPP is set to do with more job losses. All the while there's a cry for $15.00 an hour and or living wages due to the downturn in the economy, etc. Goodluck there if the bill passes companies will have to move factories overseas to compete or go out of business. Why pay Americans $15.00 an hour or even min wage in some places when you can pay workers in other countries overseas 75 cents?


I agree with your concerns about the TPP deal. It could be the final nail in our economic coffin.

I just got laid off from a plastics shop that manufactured and assembled parts that could be done much cheaper in Mexico or China, but they were here, a mere 20 minutes away. Too bad I was employed through a staffing service or I could still be working right now. So, even though it is slightly off topic, the temporary employment agencies are part of this growing problem by being a temporary stop gap measure.

They will rotate their laid off workers around to another crappy shop soon (I hope) but I can't afford to find out. I may have to take a crappier job, but at least I'll be displacing some third world competition, if I can find such a job at any rate. Probably have to go through some other parasitic employment agency and have them suck off my paychecks only to get laid off again in a couple of months. Growing up in the hay day of Detroit's auto industry has given me high expectations like having a job I can keep, earn a living wage and then retire. Job security is certainly a thing of the past in the U.S.A.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 09:37 PM
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a reply to: onequestion

I worked in a factory back in the 90's. It wasn't long after NAFTA. Whole departments started disappearing. POOF! Gone. I got out while I could but my brother stayed. He was eventually forced out. Hell, hundreds of people were from that one factory. With that happening all over the place, is it any wonder why people are on welfare and it's hard to find a good paying job? If TPP passes the US and whatever other countries that are in on it are going to be screwed.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 10:28 PM
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Worse, the couple of previous generations probably still think that way, go to school and everything will be fine, God will take care of everything else.

Thing is about them is that they obviously weren't that exposed to technology as todays where you would have hundreds of workers doing something compared to a small group of works and a few large machines. Where as it would be much cheaper and less time consuming, where the one paying their payroll would save a couple.

And then computers and microchips came out which was the next biggest market for a good long run, but then, computers were getting to good at being computers. Then you got machines that are connected to computers, and over the years, machines were getting better and better.

But then these machines are responsible for affecting the ecosystem, and long before the age of the computer, others said so, but then the older generations didn't know how to save money and time...Or even their childrens future by sticking with the Electric Car and going to outer space by spending money!

Then Skilled Trades somehow became small time millionaires, when everyone thought a computer would and refused to get dirty or just do a few days of studying...Like with a computer job. And todays children are viewed worse then all the rest as being to unkept or too sissy when computers can do things for them, like long division or laundry.

And whats worse, everyone still expecting God or a Computer too take care of everything.

edit on 16-6-2015 by Specimen because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 10:38 PM
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a reply to: Specimen
Huh?



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 10:41 PM
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originally posted by: Xtrozero

I told my son, if you do not have companies actively recruiting you by your Junior year your in the wrong degree.



I'd agree with this. The US is not like India who has far too many advanced science degree holders. If you really were meant for a higher education, you'd have a clue before entering of what you wanted to be, and how it would practically fit into the job market... again, advanced engineering, and computer sciences can guarantee you a good career. If you show sufficient interest as a teen you can intern on while still in high school.

I had the mind for it, but have more of an entrepreneurial spirit and wild streak that defies the corporate culture, so college made little sense. It also makes little sense for 90% of the youth, best I can tell.
edit on 16-6-2015 by pl3bscheese because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 10:45 PM
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a reply to: pl3bscheese

How can you expect someone coming out of highschool to know what the market is or how it works and what's actually in demand?



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 10:57 PM
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a reply to: onequestion

Don't miss the point. The majority aren't meant for college. Not sure why you want everyone to go to college, when you are under the impression nobody is ready for it.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 11:01 PM
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a reply to: pl3bscheese

I am under the impression many aren't ready for it especially at 18 with little to no experience in the real world. I think thats bs that the majority aren't meant for college where does that thought even come? Do you have any reasoning behind that statement?

Our high school education system is completely failing everyone and the kids who choose the right careers usually have a good family helping them along the way which is not the rule anymore but the exception.



posted on Jun, 16 2015 @ 11:06 PM
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originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: pl3bscheese

I am under the impression many aren't ready for it especially at 18 with little to no experience in the real world. I think thats bs that the majority aren't meant for college where does that thought even come? Do you have any reasoning behind that statement?


I'd start with IQ, then move to historical use of higher education, then end with the inevitable dumbing down and business-like nature that has evolved from attempting to really feel like everyone should be super-smart, when they never were or could possibly be. Seriously, it makes no damned sense whatsoever.


Our high school education system is completely failing everyone and the kids who choose the right careers usually have a good family helping them along the way which is not the rule anymore but the exception.


You sure about that? The one's who often make good use of their education seem to come from low-income families, not be spoiled rotten rich kids, and know exactly what they want to be before ever touring their college which gave them a scholarship.

I mean seriously think about what you're saying here for a minute. People aren't ready for college, and yet should be given the chance to go into serious debt for no good reason, or we should pay the bill, just cause... feelings or something. Seriously?
edit on 16-6-2015 by pl3bscheese because: (no reason given)



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