End Of an ERA.

[winchester21]

I remember when they sent the Evinrude outboard boat motor manufacturing to Mexico. Outboards have extremely close tolerances and have to be assembled in a very clean dust free enviornment. The motors from Mexico were locking up and failing due to dirt in the internal components. It drove the company- OMC to near or complete bankruptcy. I think that Bombardier or somebody bought what was left of them. I try my best to buy nothing from Mexico or China.

[sheltie dave]

Doc, just wait until Shure moves all their production to Mexico - you may start singing a new tune.

Followed by Klipsch.

[Romak]

Its like September 4, 1949 all over again.

The maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon?[ap]

[DrWho]

Doc, have you looked outside lately?

What am I supposed to focus on? The big fat lazy greedy Americans, or the poor but hardworking people of the world?

I believe all people are "created equal"...not just Americans, and I have absolutely no problem supporting a world economy and breaking down these stupid barriers that some like to call patriotism.

I also think the captalist economy is very not Christian and leads to all sorts of problems that the American culture tries to hide from the public view...which is only encouraged by our media driven society blah blah...I'll get off my soapbox now.

[DrWho]

Doc, just wait until Shure moves all their production to Mexico - you may start singing a new tune.

Followed by Klipsch.

I'm not at liberty to share my true opinion about production in Mexico vs America at Shure, but I can assure you that my opinion is not what you think it would be. I am extremely pleased so far with the production facilities in Mexico...and we pay those workers extremely well. I've not been there personally (yet), but I expect the facilities and quality of life for those workers to be very on par with our facilities in America. I will say though that the workers in the American facility are very nice people and work very hard and take their job seriously.

The difference between Shure and many other companies probably comes down to the fact that our owner (Ms. Rose) takes great care of her employess and takes her responsibility very seriously. I wouldn't work for Shure if we were treating our factory workers like crap just to take advantage of cheaper labor.

[DrWho]

Well Mexicans are people too and they need to eat....

Too true,,,but at the expense of American workers??

So it's better for the Mexican workers to go without jobs? Or pick any country of your choice...

I simply can't agree with the notion that someone is better or more qualified based on where they live, or where they were born.

[djk]

"JBL will close its factory in Northridge Calif,,, And will open a new factory in Mexico. Sad"

Maybe many of the Mexicans that work there now will move back to Mexico with JBL. Their cost of living will be lower, they may come out ahead on the deal.

In the 70s, friends of mine that worked at JBL pronounced it yea-bee-ell, or Juan B Lopez. JBL had a very 'diverse' workforce, even back then, and the wages were fairly low.

[Hifi jim]

I simply can't agree with the notion that someone is better or more qualified based on where they live, or where they were born.

I can. Buy American made products and support your fellow neighbors. Or buy Mexican made products of inferior quality and support people that are not your neighbors, friends or relatives. Why wouldn't I want to support my fellow Americans first?

[DrWho]

Why would Mexican made products be of inferior quality?

And why would I support a person based on nationality or race? Isn't that the same mindset that is at the heart of racism? The majority of Americans are no more my neighbors, friends, or relatives than the majority of the people in Mexico (or any other country).

I am not at all a fan of abusing moral arguments to justify power struggles.

[oldenough]

Well Mexicans are people too and they need to eat....

Too true,,,but at the expense of American workers??

So it's better for the Mexican workers to go without jobs? Or pick any country of your choice...

I simply can't agree with the notion that someone is better or more qualified based on where they live, or where they were born.

I suspect you may change your mind should your own job fly south next week. Also I suspect that the companies that do move their manufacturing outside of the US don't do it out of a sense of compassion for the workers either there or here. It's to MAKE MONEY.

[JL Sargent]

Remember this:China and Mexico can make any quality we are willing to pay for.

We as a nation have done this to ourselves.

Our politicians most recent answer? Raise the debt 1.9 trillion dollars. This will only serve to lower the value of your dollar and your savings.

[sheltie dave]

Doc, you are a young kid just out of college, so we can cut you some slack. As you grow older, you will realize there are a finite amount of production jobs in the world. The worldview you pick up in college, when you are playing games and chasing after beautiful girls, is often radically different than the world when you switch over to changing diapers and chasing paychecks.

At some point you will realize that every job at your Shure plant/R&D facility, EVERY JOB, can be done better and cheaper somewhere else. As your life responsibilities grow, and your job permanence becomes liquid, and our government actively supports foreign industrial job growth, you also may begin to realize your nascent beliefs need refinement.

JBL shutting down their California plant will predate Klipsch shutting down the Hope plant by five to ten years.

As a fan and collector of JBL products, I am in mourning. One of the greats, an icon of America, has closed shop in America.

[kevinmi]

I remember when I worked at Delphi, they started sending their work to Mexico. The Mexicans were getting paid about $1.50/hr compared to our 26.00/hr. the Mexicans were happy to do our work for a lot less money. After a few years, Delphi decided to move it's manufacturing to China, where they could get labor much cheaper. The Mexicans were very upset that they lost their jobs to "cheap labor" overseas! Will it never end? It used to be that the American Worker would support the company they worked for by buying the products they built. How many Third World laborers can afford to buy what they build? Actually, it's getting to the point where Americans can't afford to buy what Americans build! Corporate Greed is killing off the middle class in America.

[twistedcrankcammer]

Grasshopper,

My main problem is that these companies are doing this for the almighty dollar, not for some higher calling of helping those less fortunate. It is also true, that while you are very smart, if we could wave a magic wand and everything was done where it could be done the best and the cheapest, I am sure you would have dificulty finding a job, and your own means of living would be drastically reduced. If your parents did unskilled labor, then you never would have made it to colledge in the first place.

Having said the above, I will flip the script and challenge the rest of you here that unless you can raise your hand and state for a fact that you and your family have NEVER, ever bought anything from Walmart, you are just as guilty of the sin of helping these companies in undermining American jobs and have absolutely no buiseness picking up a stone to throw at the greedy SOBs that are moving these jobs in the firstplace let alone throwing a stone at Grasshopper for his views, myself included.

Roger

[Groomlakearea51]

That sad situation started back in 2001. I had a bunch of JBL-4311's and 4312's from back in the day. All of the woofer and midrange surrounds had started to detriorate, and when I called JBL and they advised me they no longer made the drivers.... Nice folks but recommended I buy new studio monitors.... [:|]. That was the end of that. all of them left for eBay. All sold nicely to folks in Taiwan and Hong Kong. I was left with my original pair of K'horns, Heresy's and LaScalas.. Klipsch wooofers don't have the "rot" problem and I vowed from that day on I would only have Klipsch Heritage (because even I can fix them if something goes south...)

[ZAKO]

Twistedcrankcammer,,,,, I remember when WalMart,, stated in there ads "made in USA",,, Sam Walton lived only 5 miles from here He wasnt a greedy SOB,,, As far as throwing stones,,It wont be long before we all will be eating stones.

[JL Sargent]

If you only buy 100% made in the USA with USA materials I suspect you will be walking around barefooted in newspaper diaper.

[Invidiosulus]

Twistedcrankcammer,,,,, I remember when WalMart,, stated in there ads "made in USA",,, Sam Walton lived only 5 miles from here He wasnt a greedy SOB,,, As far as throwing stones,,It wont be long before we all will be eating stones.

When there was no meat we ate fowl.

When there was no fowl we ate crawdads.

When there was no crawdads we ate sand.

You ate sand?

We ate sand.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

So it's better for the Mexican workers to go without jobs? Or pick any country of your choice...

Yes.

Our economy is in severe danger of collapse (more so). How long can we sustain on services, farming and homebuilding, and buying everything else from overseas?

FWIW, your job can be done by anyone with training, a computer and an internet connection. What happens when all of the engineering companies decide that paying $60,000 to $150,000 is just too much when there is a guy in India willing to do it for $10,000 a year in a boiler room?

Our local industry is homebuilding (which is scary) and I have a lot of friends who are engineers who are out of work. Its a disaster and very sad. Professionals are not immune to this, don't kid yourself.

[oldtimer]

Very true Chris. Some lawyer tasks are already being outsourced to places like India. Germany has kept a fairly strong manufacturing base, and we pay dearly for German products. Strong unions are a part of that equation, which seems counter intuitive since the unions here get so much blame. Their laws are more labor friendly than ours. US corporations are driving labor down to the level of subsistence while reaping giant bonuses for management. Shareholders don't fare as well either. Germany though has had much higher unemployment (which we now have matched) for years. There needs to be a balance and right now the US is out of balance. I was considered an outlier when in business school I stated that despite the shift to a service economy, we still will need to make things if we are to remain competitive.

Not in our lifetime, but ultimately, labor will need to be just as globally organized as corporations are. As standards of living raise from jobs bouncing across the globe, this will become possible.