Tariffs hitting Leica May 1st

[gbflyer]

Good. Maybe they will learn a lesson about customer service.

 

[ericmcd]

Most people think their American brand scopes are still made here. With the FTC rules "Assembled in the USA" vs "made in the USA" is very different but most don't know it. I even see a lot of Chinese scopes advertise "designed in the USA". It's unfortunate but why would a company pay more to build here when most their customer base believe they already are anyway.

 

[TaperPin]

The same people that are using the tariff excuse to primarily pay for a huge tax cut for corporations and the ultra rich, are also anti union. If good paying manufacturing jobs was the goal, more of the money from those jobs would go to the employees.

We’re at full employment now, so the idea that new manufacturing jobs will create better paying jobs must also include the loss of jobs where those folks were taken from, and training. In the move to eliminate government spending and gut federal education initiatives, it’s unlikely more new money will be spent on any kind of retraining including apprenticeships. Actually read the big nothing burger executive order and there are a lot of big sounding words, and nothing concrete, let alone funding sources like it will magically happen. False hope sprinkled with glitter doesn’t count as honest effort.

Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.

www.whitehouse.gov

We had an interesting conversation over dinner with a top economist from a big corporation that was in town giving a presentation on a different topic, and it was interesting to get his personal insight on his and fellow corporate economists’ view what’s going on. He said it’s chaos pure and simple. Months of chaos have pegged the meter on the likelihood of chaos for the next 3.7 years, so nobody is spending money on capital projects unless they were in the works already or it’s done as temporary triage. That’s the view from the guys providing advice to Fortune 500 CEOs.

 

[Poser]

I know of a small American manufacturing company that sources all of their materials from the US and they just laid off 7/16 employees and moved 2 to part time. Their American suppliers source their raw materials from China which raised the price of their components significantly. Furthermore, all of their orders from Canada, Australia, Africa, Germany, South Korea and a handful of other countries which account for 20% of their customer base, just cancelled all of their orders due to tariffs. One of their popular products typically sells for $50 in the US and they are saying that with their existing American supply chain, that same item will have to sell for almost $200 which, given the item, is entirely untenable as its 3-3.5x the price of the imported and tarriffed competition.

 

[woods89]

The same people that are using the tariff excuse to primarily pay for a huge tax cut for corporations and the ultra rich, are also anti union. If good paying manufacturing jobs was the goal, more of the money from those jobs would go to the employees.

We’re at full employment now, so the idea that new manufacturing jobs will create better paying jobs must also include the loss of jobs where those folks were taken from, and training. In the move to eliminate government spending and gut federal education initiatives, it’s unlikely more new money will be spent on any kind of retraining including apprenticeships. Actually read the big nothing burger executive order and there are a lot of big sounding words, and nothing concrete, let alone funding sources like it will magically happen. False hope sprinkled with glitter doesn’t count as honest effort.

Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.

www.whitehouse.gov

We had an interesting conversation over dinner with a top economist from a big corporation that was in town giving a presentation on a different topic, and it was interesting to get his personal insight on his and fellow corporate economists’ view what’s going on. He said it’s chaos pure and simple. Months of chaos have pegged the meter on the likelihood of chaos for the next 3.7 years, so nobody is spending money on capital projects unless they were in the works already or it’s done as temporary triage. That’s the view from the guys providing advice to Fortune 500 CEOs.

This, to me, is what is going over so many people's heads. We can hardly hire competent help for existing openings, often at pretty good wages. Where is the labor coming from?

And why would you invest massively in manufacturing infrastructure when your market may dry up after the next election?

 

[Backyard]

Most people think their American brand scopes are still made here. With the FTC rules "Assembled in the USA" vs "made in the USA" is very different but most don't know it. I even see a lot of Chinese scopes advertise "designed in the USA". It's unfortunate but why would a company pay more to build here when most their customer base believe they already are anyway.

^^^This^^^
With an emphasis on ‘most people’. Sadly true.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Poser]

Of course, no reasonable person ever expected to see IPhone production in the US. The phone has about $500 of material cost. Estimates on US production are in the $3500 retail range.

 

[taskswap]

It's easy to forget that some things are about skill, not just random hands on tools. Many of these companies have decades of embedded knowledge and experience in their senior staff and you can't just replace that by hiring a few more folks. We don't lust after Argentinian cars, Ugandan watches, or Turkmeni lenses. Japanese lenses aren't great because they're Japanese. It's because many of the people who have mastered the techniques for making precision glass happen to live there, because that's where their factories are. They get jobs there and learn from more experienced folks how to master the same skills.

We don't just need to "open more US factories" to replace what we're losing. We need the skills and expertise to do these things right - and we're not exactly making a good global case to encourage those folks to want to move and live here. A very high percentage of our best scientists and engineers over the past century or so were immigrants. That's what we're really losing right now.

 

[Weldor]

Tariff's, Have not seen one take effect yet? Just talk. Seem's like a good ploy to raise prices. If they do go through, just don't buy the product. The price will drop. Consumer driven economy right.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

We don't just need to "open more US factories" to replace what we're losing. We need the skills and expertise to do these things right - and we're not exactly making a good global case to encourage those folks to want to move and live here. A very high percentage of our best scientists and engineers over the past century or so were immigrants. That's what we're really losing right now.

You think we're losing engineers and skilled workers due to cracking down on illegals?

 

[Bugger]

Most people think their American brand scopes are still made here. With the FTC rules "Assembled in the USA" vs "made in the USA" is very different but most don't know it. I even see a lot of Chinese scopes advertise "designed in the USA". It's unfortunate but why would a company pay more to build here when most their customer base believe they already are anyway.

Yep, it’s a shame how originally American companies have outsourced their manufacturing yet maintained their “# years proudly American-made” slogans only because they are required to build their military NSN lines in the states.

 

[Poser]

Tariff's, Have not seen one take effect yet? Just talk.

There's almost no trade at the moment between the US and China as a result of tariffs. Anybody on here in the trucking industry want to provide an update on the proverbial ledge the entire industry is on the verge of plummeting?

If they do go through, just don't buy the product.

What happens when your vehicle needs a new alternator, battery, starter, or purge valve?

 

[Marbles]

If people actually though this would be long term, that would happen, but literally no one thinks that. At most it'll be ~3.5 years.
The capitol expenditure to do that has to look at a much longer term than presidential cycles. And what capitol absolutely abhors is instability. This is the definition of instability. If we start having wildly different economic policies every 4 to 8 years we'll eventually get capitol flight to safer places, unless no safer places exist, but I'd argue at the moment they do.

Black Magic (maker of high end video cameras), had been planning a factory in Texas for the past year, they put thos plans on ice due to increased supply chain costs making it more expensive to manufacture in the US than just paying to import the finished product.

Policy change in 4 years? It has changed twice this month and there is already talk of cutting the 90 day pause short (the pause that left 10% on everything in place).

It's easy to forget that some things are about skill, not just random hands on tools. Many of these companies have decades of embedded knowledge and experience in their senior staff and you can't just replace that by hiring a few more folks. We don't lust after Argentinian cars, Ugandan watches, or Turkmeni lenses. Japanese lenses aren't great because they're Japanese. It's because many of the people who have mastered the techniques for making precision glass happen to live there, because that's where their factories are. They get jobs there and learn from more experienced folks how to master the same skills.

We don't just need to "open more US factories" to replace what we're losing. We need the skills and expertise to do these things right - and we're not exactly making a good global case to encourage those folks to want to move and live here. A very high percentage of our best scientists and engineers over the past century or so were immigrants. That's what we're really losing right now.

Yep, we fail to grow the skill, importing it has been a great strength of the US.

Somehow, I don't see slashing education spending as the answer to growing skills.

You think we're losing engineers and skilled workers due to cracking down on illegals?

You think all the green card holders, to include employed medical doctors and scientists, that have been denied reentry after traveling should be defined as "illegals"? Do you think that make people feel safe as a green card holder and want to stay?

I mean, semantically you can say that once denied entry they would be illegals, but the very structure of your statement implies that illegals are not skilled workers with jobs and green cards.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

You think all the green card holders, to include employed medical doctors and scientists, that have been denied reentry after traveling should be defined as "illegals"? Do you think that make people feel safe as a green card holder and want to stay?

I mean, semantically you can say that once denied entry they would be illegals, but the very structure of your statement implies that illegals are not skilled workers with jobs and green cards.

People with skills come here legally and they're not worried.

 

[wyosam]

You think we're losing engineers and skilled workers due to cracking down on illegals?

Absolutely losing some skilled workers (particularly in the trades). More about those highly skilled/educated people losing interest in coming here legally due to the chaos.


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[HairyScandinavian]

Absolutely losing some skilled workers (particularly in the trades). More about those highly skilled/educated people losing interest in coming here legally due to the chaos.

I'm in tech so lots of the workforce is on work visas, they haven't skipped a beat and are still happy to work in the US of A. Nobody seems worried that I've seen. I don't do HR so maybe true that people are waiting but these companies don't seem to be having trouble hiring.

 

[TandKHunting]

You can help those people by putting them in a position to make more and catering to the amounts while their skills grow. Once they are at a level where they can earn more than wages plus assistance, you give them a big pay jump that gets them over the hump.

We have done that. I think a lot of it comes down to government conditioning. My parents were on food stamps for a while when my sisters were little. My mom was pretty surprised when she found out how much she was getting to buy groceries. She had a hard time spending it all. This is a form of government conditioning, just one example mind you, that American manufacturers are struggling to overcome.

Manufacturing in the US stands a chance if our government can get out of the way for lack of better terms.

Incentivizing people to not work, while shipping jobs to China has gutted thousands of industries. Tariff's can help, but we need less government if we want generational changes.

 

[Marbles]

People with skills come here legally and they're not worried.

That doesn't align with what I have been hearing the past month. Nor with corporations advising their green card and visa employees not to travel outside the US as they may not be allowed reentry. The list of companies includes Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

That doesn't align with what I have been hearing the past month. Nor with corporations advising their green card and visa employees not to travel outside the US as they may not be allowed reentry. The list of companies includes Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft.

None of which would ever gaslight their employees due to political bias lol.

 

[mostlybirch]

People with skills come here legally and they're not worried.

Over 1000 international students have had their visas revoked recently without charges.