zorbas's Blog

We are living today in a world vastly different and changing faster  than that I have personally have ever known. We are in a time that we have more information thrown at us in any given moment  that we can ever absorb  and we are as people  dumber and less informed generally than ever before. Responsible for this of course, is the internet and  it is alarming to realize that the now generation and  that next in line are becoming automatons, totally incapable of comunicating eye to eye , face to face and  utilizing their  thumbs to remain in contact with others in their world. No verbal intercourse .Not only is this sad, it is also a grave and dangerous circumstance that most young folks should be made fully aware of.

To make a point, if I may. Two weeks ago, we went to a football camp at a major big ten  university. Over 600 juniors and high school seniors from all parts of country showed up to show their athletic prowess. They were informed that all 14 scholarships were already  given out at this time but if any of the attendees were accepted to the university they could compete as walkons for the team.

Most all of these in attendance were exemplary young men with great academic scores. well qualified  but all were at heart in love with football and the thrill of playing in that league
It was an experience for me as a grandfather to see my grandson compete and he plays more than well. That being said we all walked away from there far more impressed  with the final speech made by the head coach than the camp itself..He directed his words to the boys and the subject was the Face book and Twitter and   how singularly dangerous the use of same could be to these young people lives in the future.

He was remarkably candid when he mentioned that when he was in high school  he did things without aforethought as most teenagers do,  but  said there was no record of this behavior on Face book or Twitter  or any video.They did not exist He emphasized  that had any of these childish acts, none of great seriousness,been known,  he would not now be the head coach  of that team. He stressed more than once that anything  that goes on the net stays there forever and can be searched and resurrected at will by anyone including  a future employer.
The camp was nice but his message was right to the point and  many young men walked away, with a warning  that there are consequences to consider in this  media world.

During a recent conversation , more of a discussion really, several comments were made about our exporting American jobs to oversea sources. It was the contention of several at the meeting that we have shortsided the American worker. While much of this true, I had to remind those that how it all first transpired years ago.

Our need at that time was the pressure brought to bear on us to bring products to the market place within a price range that the consumer could afford. All product, as everyone knows,  has an intrinsic value in the mind of a consumer. That is true of both you and me. We simply will not pay for anything we feel  is overpriced. It is we who dictate  that value.

Consequently we had to do one of two things. Either cheapen the product by use of inferior components or reduce the cost of manufacturing that product, which was at the time labor intensive.

 Most of us in our industry couldn't reduce labor costs sufficiently,for varied reasons,  so we started this pell mell rush overseas looking for a competent labor force to bring the product in line with a price that would be favorable to first,  the buyer and then ultimately the rdiscerning retail consumer.

We first went to Mexico , then to the Phillipines, Indonesia, Korea and of course Japan. None of these appealed to us favorably. We finally settled on Hong Kong. We found there, eager workers and sufficient quality. We hated to start importing from there but had no choice if we were to survive. Although we were fully aware that we were placing American jobs on the line we began to notice sublimly at first the absolute happiness in those Chinese women and men at merely the  joy of having work.

One day while visiting a plant of about 8700 employees, some 800 miles up country and during a tour  of the factory, at  the women workers dormatory, I noticed ten pair of sandals neatly placed at the entrance of a room barely 8 X 10 feet. I turned to the owner and accosted him about the size of the room made to accomodate ten people and he retorted angrily,

" You Americans will never understand that the conditions you see here are a thousand time better than those experienced  by these girls in the villages  they came from. Here they get three full meals a day, are paid for the first time in their lives and housed better then at the hovels they came from.. To them this is a God send." You forget,  he continued" That everyone everywhere wants a better life for themselves  and their families. Americans may want a second car and home but here a father merely wants just enough rice for a meal a day for him and his familiy"

Times have much changed since that time and we now have exported our manufacturing overseas to a point where we no longer produce anything here at all. Wal Mart still is the biggest choice of American shoppers and they are the biggest importers in the land and it is now the Chinese families looking for the second home and car.

However, China now is suffering from the same malady that we once were ,with the added problems of extensive pollution , perceived poor and dangerous products and sagging exports. Also wages have risen to a point that the advantages that were there before have somewhat narrowed, when freight charges are taken into consideration.

This could be the time now to regain some of our manufacturing bases with the help of industry and labor and force Wal mart and others to seek out sources here as we did in China years ago. We helped China,  but can't expect anything in return,. However,  what we did there for those people we can certainly do here again for our own with a little co-operation and compromise.