Eliacim,
Paul,
all,
I am writing you from Germany and would - for the sake of completeness - just
add some facts to your views.
Boeing is building parts for ALL of their jets in production facilities all
over the world, including China and Japan.
The 179 Airbus Tankers ordered by the USAF will be built in conjunction with
Nortrhrop Grumman in a new Airbus plant to be built in the USA.
BMW has announced a few weeks ago that they will cut 8500 jobs in Germany and
many of these will go to the U.S. where BMW has been operating a big production
plant (mainly making SUVs) in Spartanburg, SC, USA for the past 15 years or so.
When Mercedes had to sell its Chrysler Shares 2 years ago due to bad
performance of this part of the company, more than 8000 jobs were cut in
Germany. The Mercedes production facility in Tuscaloosa, AL, USA was not
affected.
We (and by that I mean "The West" countries) have have all lived very well
and are still profiting from a globalized economy during the past 20 years plus
x. I include myself in that equasion: I work for a British company with
shareholders from all over the world (many of them being American Pension
funds), I fly an Amercian aircraft, I drive a French car, the food sold in my
grocery store includes imported Beef and corn from the U.S., Vegetables from
Peru and Lamb from New Zealand. The clothes I wear (no matter what label,
European or American) are 95% made somewhere in Asia.
Before that background, I think it is obsolete to think in terms of "home
teams". There is no such thing any more in the global captialistic world. Money
will go wherever the return on investment ist biggest, and money has no
nationality. "The Shareholder" is not a person that has a passport. Investment
decisions are made with a blink of an eye.
I am thinking the real commercial challenge of our days is not about such
things as Airbus selling Tankers to the USAF or BMW and Mercedes producing cars
in America. For the West, the real challenge is about Asian factory workers
doing qualified jobs for 2 or 3 Dollars per hour where their European or
American equivalents are making 20, 30 or more dollars for the same work.
If we (the West) can't keep a competitive edge by way of quality, then in 20
years from now maybe not just 95% of our clothes will be made in Asia. And
maybe then, we won't be able to afford to buy Lamb from New Zealand. Think
about it.
Cheers
Juergen
[EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
Think about it. A few years from now the French Airbus tankers will be
refueling our fighters, while the Chinese Cessna Skycatchers will be
training our student pilots!
I know it is not that simple and some of the parts for those tankers will
actually be manufactured in the US. I also know we must be efficient and
compete in a global economy. However, it still hurts to see the home team
lose...
Eliacim
> If anyone would rather the US Airforce bought Boeing tankers, Senator
> Patty
> Murray (D) Washington is collecting signatures.
>
> http://murray.senate.gov/tankers/
>
> Cheers:
>
> Paul
> N1431A
> KPLU
>
>
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