Nothing against Germany, Airbus, Boeing or the products involved - which I will admit that I know little or about.
However it seems to me that having essential components of our military infrastructure supplied from overseas runs a very serious risk of stretching the supply lines just a wee bit if (when) the next real global conflict erupts. It also seems to me that historically the outcome of wars has also been dependent to a large degree on the industrial base, and logistics & (re) supply, both to off-set real world losses & attrition (Napoleon & Hitler know that routine). While there are certainly economic arguments to be made, having critical resources / materials supplied from outside of your own borders, direct sphere of influence, or half way around the globe; sometimes even from potential adversaries (China), makes NO sense to me from a defense perspective. At least German labor costs are somewhat comparable to US labor costs. How can the west compete with well educated college graduates who work for $1.00 an hour in China???? Is that really possible? I have serious doubts. Meanwhile our industrial base is being moved overseas, much of it to China. Japan was much smaller than the US and is an ally; while China is many times our size and could well be a potential long term threat. Is anyone else concerned about this, or is it just me being nuts? Dan Hall N3968H ----- Original Message ----- From: Jürgen P. To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 3:06 AM Subject: Re: [ercoupe-flyin] OT Airbus Tankers 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 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Telefonieren Sie ohne weitere Kosten mit Ihren Freunden von PC zu PC! Jetzt Yahoo! 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