We ALL need to follow this suggestion re "Buy American" -
It's short and sweet, but it certainly makes a point. In the future,
I will be trying to do what the film clip recommends. Hope you do,
too!
Click here:
http://www.youtube.com/v/4FrGxO2Fn_M
While I agree that we need more US jobs, the answer isnt for us to
pay "just a little bit more", its to fix our political and economic
system. I can buy a Volvo heavy excavator for at times 1/3 less than
I can a CAT. Why? Because the average wage at the CAT facility in the
US is more than 3 times the average wage of the people that use them.
Same goes for the manhole covers we use, the raw material that makes
up the PVC pipe that goes in the ground etc. As an employer, I can
tell you first hand why our products are not made here anymore- it
costs too much.
Between the taxes, regulation, unions, lawyers, etc. its better for
the business to outsource it. The consumers aren't going to pay
double for a TV just because some union outfit in the US made it.
And, this goes much deeper than made in the US- It costs everyone
that pays taxes way too much to pay the salaries for the unionized
firemen, police, etc. I know that they have a "dangerous" job but so
do I. I and my employees work in manholes 30 feet deep, I am a
commercial pilot and a commercial diver. All of these jobs are
dangerous, but at the end of 20 years of making 3 times the local
average wage I dont get 100K a year to stay home.
I build a lot of microcontroller systems now, and I buy the parts
straight from the manufacturers if I can- in China. I can buy the
exact same parts from a US supplier for 5 times the cost, parts that
they bought from the same Chinese manufacturers and marked up 500%.
If you pay 500% too much for materials, you are crazy.
Any 4th grade math student could figure out that any business that
pays 80% of its payroll every 20 years to people that arent working
cannot last- after 20 years your payroll is 180% of what it was, in
20 more an additional 80, etc. not counting annual raises and
increases. I dont know about you but I have to hard bid every job I
get, and I dont get to figure in an additional 4 million for
retirement for 45 year old former employees.
My construction business is a few years over 20, my payroll scratched
4 million a year, I was audited on average every 1.3 years at a cost
of over 100K in annual legal and accounting fees, now Obamacare, and
the list goes on. Which is why I retired a couple of years ago and
let go of over 100 employees. Not worth it.
The answer to buy American is to reform the system so that people
like me will take the risk of starting and running a business. I have
a business in a different industry now, and after the next president
is elected I will decide if I should expand it and hire more
employees. If the government is still going to penalize me and harass
me for employing people, then I will stay a retired 46 year old that
retired off of my own earnings not the taxpayers.
Kevin Alderman
Very well stated, Kevin!
Gary Knutson
I am thinking of starting a Corp to make my ignition in Australia.
Paul Lamar
I don't think that is a good idea Paul, we have our own problems in
the areas mentioned.
The current government is trying to relieve some of these
dis-incentives for business, but is being obstructed by the Senate.
John Evans
I would go the KFC route- the 11 herbs and spices are (at least when I
worked there many years ago) at 3 different places so that no one has
the whole recipe. If I were you Paul, I would get with a Chinese company
to make the coils, another for the board, and start a Bermuda or Belize
company to handle the $. Belize has a straight 10% tax rate on money
earned inside Belize, and no tax on $ earned outside. The only issue
will be getting it back here :). Bermuda has lots of incentives to draw
in business. Also, the Freeport Bahamas area is tax free for another 54
years. Start a business there, no taxes for 54 years. There is an ample
workforce to watch equipment, and I am close enough to watch it for you :).
I researched this a few years ago, and if your primary markets are
outside the US, this makes a lot of sense.
Kevin Alderman
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