Made in America textiles - a refocused thread

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WKR
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when the blue collar middle class was cancelled is when the country started the slide...robots making clothes in america with robot made materials will not alter that.
 

Yoder

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Something to consider with an "awful" job like sewing clothing. There is a large part of the population that has a lower than average I.Q. They aren't bad enough to be considered disabled. Millions of people fall into this category. They need jobs too. Many aren't capable of much more than repetitive tasks. I have a family member that falls into this category and he has managed to support himself this way for years.

People have been concerned with automation taking away jobs probably all the way back to when the wheel was invented. I work in a fully automated factory with a lot of robots. You still need people. We have operators that monitor the machines, maintenance to repair the machines then engineering when we have some kind of process or quality control issue. A fully automated factory to make clothing would provide a lot of decent paying jobs. Most of the jobs in this country are all about consumption. Creating something is always better. I used to have pride in the fact that my employer created something made in America. Now I'm completely disgusted with the woke ideology that is constantly crammed down my throat. It gets worse every year.
 

BarCO

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when the blue collar middle class was cancelled is when the country started the slide...robots making clothes in america with robot made materials will not alter that.
I think meth cancelled them.
 

Jimbee

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In my area it seems that a lot of older folks worked for some extra cash and quit because it's no longer worth working a job where you might not feel appreciated and don't really need the money. It's also an agricultural area and the profitability of it has allowed spouses (wives) to help out instead of needing a job in town. Lack of daycare is also greatly affecting people's ability to work. I don't buy the "nobody wants to work anymore" bs.
 

BarCO

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In my area it seems that a lot of older folks worked for some extra cash and quit because it's no longer worth working a job where you might not feel appreciated and don't really need the money. It's also an agricultural area and the profitability of it has allowed spouses (wives) to help out instead of needing a job in town. Lack of daycare is also greatly affecting people's ability to work. I don't buy the "nobody wants to work anymore" bs.
My father in law was hired by companies to help save factors while keeping people employed. From Carson city to NH, the biggest obstacle was labor. Paying unskilled machinists wages with the offer to train and develop went vacant . Mention drug testing, interview over. Opioids and meth wiped out a generation of blue collar workers.
 
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Brings up the question: is it really helping to manufacture jeans here if it's all done by robots and very few jobs are actually created? It would say Made in USA, but who would it be benefiting in reality? Just a thought.

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yes, still machine maintenance, programming, tax’s, building support(HVAC) etc.

no different then the Automobile industry. When you look at Toyota trucks built in San Antonino, it is a huge influx to the local economy even though most of the build process is automated. Even being a foreign company most of the money stays in the US
 

Jimbee

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My father in law was hired by companies to help save factors while keeping people employed. From Carson city to NH, the biggest obstacle was labor. Paying unskilled machinists wages with the offer to train and develop went vacant . Mention drug testing, interview over. Opioids and meth wiped out a generation of blue collar workers.
Where do those folks get money for their habits? How much were the factory jobs paying? I don't understand how young people starting out can afford a house or rent, a car, food, daycare, medical bills, etc., even on $20/hr. without a lot of help.
 

Maki35

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For the CEO/ owners of these companies... automation/ robots are the way of the future. Think about it... Robots can run 24/7. They don't require a salary, a paid vacation or health benefits. And they don't call in sick. Sure. they will require maintenance, programing and monitoring, but how look at many jobs they will eliminate. A factory full of workers will be scaled down to a few.
imo, it's just a matter of time before robots are used to stock the shelves in the market. That part time job that we had as a kid stocking shelves at the market will be gone.
I remember when I saw the first self check-out machine at Home depot. I said to the cashier that's going to eliminate jobs. What use to be 6 cashiers is now only 2.



 
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BarCO

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Where do those folks get money for their habits? How much were the factory jobs paying? I don't understand how young people starting out can afford a house or rent, a car, food, daycare, medical bills, etc., even on $20/hr. without a lot of help.
I don’t know those answers. I do know for example there were 2 factories 30 miles apart, they needed to combine into one. They were offered more to keep jobs and work at the factory 30 miles away and not a single person accepted. They took severance. I am not sure everyone will be able to own a house in the USA. That is a pretty short time period in our history.
 

Jimbee

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If automation takes everyone's job we won't have any income to buy the products made or to pay our taxes.
 
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If automation takes everyone's job we won't have any income to buy the products made or to pay our taxes.


...we found that the impact of automation on employment is positive and increases over time: a 1% increase in automation in a plant today increases employment by 0.25% after two years and by 0.4% after ten years. The effects are similar on both the industry and company level. It is especially noteworthy that this effect is positive even for unskilled manufacturing workers. In other words, automation creates more jobs than it destroys, contrary to preconceptions.
 

Yoder

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Where do those folks get money for their habits? How much were the factory jobs paying? I don't understand how young people starting out can afford a house or rent, a car, food, daycare, medical bills, etc., even on $20/hr. without a lot of help.
I watch my step son. He's 22 and still lives at home. If he was my own son, he would be out the door. He makes about $20/hr basically stocking shelves for Pepsi. Union job, with benefits. He works about 35hr a week. When I was his age a short week for me was 60 hr and I was making. From the time I was 19-25 I probably averaged 70 hrs a week. My record week was 115 hrs. My father who is retired works harder and more hrs than him. Here's how you survive: Get TWO jobs.
 
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If this is accurate should we go back to "the immigrants are going to take our jobs"?
We need those immigrants to take those jobs if domestic workers are unable or unwilling. They have always been a significant portion of the labor force. If my company could do an extra $50 million a year in work that we turn down now for lack of labor, a significant portion of that would end up in the domestic economy. This in turn would have a net positive impact on the easy service jobs ability to pay the "living wage" that so many are demanding to work. These immigrants also understand that multigenerational housing, and other ways to compensate for a lack of child care, affordable housing, transportation, etc are a necessity when starting out in the workforce.
 

BarCO

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We need those immigrants to take those jobs if domestic workers are unable or unwilling. They have always been a significant portion of the labor force. If my company could do an extra $50 million a year in work that we turn down now for lack of labor, a significant portion of that would end up in the domestic economy. This in turn would have a net positive impact on the easy service jobs ability to pay the "living wage" that so many are demanding to work. These immigrants also understand that multigenerational housing, and other ways to compensate for a lack of child care, affordable housing, transportation, etc are a necessity when starting out in the workforce.
Very hard to manufacture without workers and hard to have growth without population.
 
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Where I think the US kind of went awry on manufacturing and maintaining people in labor jobs is that easy profit was put ahead of taking care of employees. If companies would have stayed with hiring someone to sweep floors or work an unskilled position and move them up, and incentivized them to do so, the industrial complex would still be working, or at least better. If someone knows they will be able to move up and make more, and not just 0.50 an hour more, and into easier jobs, people will tend to stay. They will also start to take more pride in their work and the company. If the worker is always held at fault for every little thing that goes wrong then who cares what really happens to the company. If someone starts a sweeper and is doing a decent enough job, pull them off and have them shadow a line or machinery worker now and then. Have the old timers mentor the young people. It is not always on the shoulders of the new/young people to have to go seek out learning. I am back in school and some of these younger people are working more than I do, to make ends meet and go to class, clinical, kids at home, etc. Sometimes it just isn't worth their time and stress to work for $10 - 15 an hour with everything else and then not qualify for any assistance while on school other than student loans.
 
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