Briefs
They seek him here, they seek him there,
His clothes are loud, but never square.
It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best,
cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion
--Dedicated Follower of Fashion, The Kinks
Clean shirt, new shoes
And I don't know where I am goin' to
--Sharp Dressed Man, ZZ Top
______________
His clothes are loud, but never square.
It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best,
cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion
--Dedicated Follower of Fashion, The Kinks
Clean shirt, new shoes
And I don't know where I am goin' to
--Sharp Dressed Man, ZZ Top
______________
Ranger doesn't know much about globalized markets or free trade in a post-national world, but he is aware of his personal clothing and gear.
Following a shopping junket this week, he noticed that none of his clothes are Made in America. Nada. Zip. Not even the BVD's.
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Israel and Romania were represented, but even the American icon Ralph Lauren (nee Ralph Lifschitz) outsources the manufacture of his shirts. How did the industry slip across the borders of the world?
America is building walls to keep illegals out. Why not build walls to keep our industries in?
Following a shopping junket this week, he noticed that none of his clothes are Made in America. Nada. Zip. Not even the BVD's.
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Israel and Romania were represented, but even the American icon Ralph Lauren (nee Ralph Lifschitz) outsources the manufacture of his shirts. How did the industry slip across the borders of the world?
America is building walls to keep illegals out. Why not build walls to keep our industries in?
Labels: "made in america" dead, clothes manufactured abroad, fashion, ralph lauren
posted by rangeragainstwar at 9:49 AM
11 Comments:
Concur heartily.
agree with you fer sher there..... that laissez faire globalization is just part of that laissez faire economics that has been in place for the last 20-25 years..... interestingly that philosophy was called Classic Liberal economics until Liberals figured out it didn't work (FDR), finally understanding the value of a mixed, hybrid economy between the Public and Private sector. It's good to have all that tax-money ready when the laissez-faire private sector falls flat on its collective ass, isn't it?
all it (laissez-faire) achieved was an erosion of our industrial and manufacturing base as the greedy moved abroad in search of less regulation on labor and environmental practices.
of course there was no penalty..... America was milked for its consumer buying power as we became a "service" economy (like an economy that is mainly smoke-and-mirrors actually producing nothing).
of course, the statistics were there for all to see..... the actual wages and buying-power of the middle class gradually eroding to the point where mommy and daddy both have to have high paying jobs to sustain the same quality of life their predecessors sustained with a single-earner household.
so this is where we are, predictably. the name of the game for laissez faire capitalism is not "competition", it is "monopoly". there is no requirement for business to attend to the "common good". the purpose of business is to make money; it isn't even to ensure the best possible service to all. if a buck can be made while delivering as little as possible (medical insurance), then so be it!
so spread the line on the mirror, suck-up a great big snort of Milton Friedman (Chicago School of economics) and enjoy the fruits of his economic philosophy.....
ghost dansing,
Greed is the one constant in any human system. Most sound good on paper, but in their implementation, everyone tries to game the system. The only time the "common good" is tended to is when one can see benefit accruing to oneself by doing so, or if penalties are imposed from without by not doing so.
Hence the occasional value of religious systems, which offer both incentives. Unfortunately, since none of them are truly catholic, benefits are contained within the service population.
You can bet I won't be huffing Milton Friedman anytime soon. . .
the theories of friedman and his acolyte laffer have been "laffed out" of respectable economic thought and discourse.
just as we witnessed the stunned testimony of the randian follower greenspan sitting there stunned, and shocked that the wealthy folks he gave tax cuts and deregulated turned out to be pretty and greedy, that they did not show "natural nobility" and trickle wealth down as they were expected to do.
i would love to see someone taking up the torch of theodore roosevelt. he had a workable mix of free market ideals, but also a decent amount of regulation and policing to keep the playing field level.
the problem with the deregulation of the last twenty years and the half heartedly inept enforcement of what little regulation was left in the last eight has dirtied the pool for everybody.
until the playing field is level and fair there cannot be the competition that the free market needs to thrive.
a mixture of keynsian interventions to re-establish a flow of goods and service along with a healthy supervision might forstall a worldwide collapse.
we shall see. so far, i have been heartened by both the studiousness of the obama group, but also their patience.
sometimes doing nothing at all economically is preferable to doing stupid shit.
MB,
You confer upon Greenspan perhaps more nobility and sensibility than he merits when you say he appeared shocked or stunned at his policy failures.
You see the patience that Obama appears to demonstrate as a positive, and acknowledge that sometimes doing nothing is preferable to knee-jerk reactions. While I agree, I also acknowledge that one can afford to operate from such a position when one's back is not against the wall.
A leader must know when to stop being deliberative and to take action, as well. We shall see.
"Should I hate the people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never know want, they'll never know need
Their shit don't stink and their kids don't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in their damn little wars
And we can't make it here any more"
James McMurtry
We Can't make it here
BTW a great song from one of the best writers of the current lot out there.
Well, everything would cost more if it were made in the USA. And we couldn't have that. We have a right, a right I say, to cheap Chinese / Thai / Malaysian / Vietnamese cr*p at Wal-Mart!
Seriously. It's this way because the average American wants it this way. Don't delude yourself about that. The average American values having cheap cr*p at Wal-Mart more than he values American manufacturing jobs. It's not as if there's a lot of people involved in manufacturing in America anymore, after all. 15% of Americans, at most, are still involved in, like, actually making stuff. The rest of America? They don't care. The other 85% just wants their cheap cr*p from Wal-Mart. And they get what they wanted, good'n'hard, just as H.L. Mencken predicted.
- Badtux the American-observing Penguin
This comment has been removed by the author.
badtux, I'm not talking walmart-my cmt will be directed at Ralph Lauren.His stuff is made in sweatshops worldwide and sell for less than bargain prices.They are top dollar AND don't even have a pocket.Now that's capitalism exploitation at it's best. He's screwing everybody. jim
Ya gotta shop at the thrift shops to find American made, Brother. I often shop at the Vietnam Veteran's Thrift Shop here in Albuquerque. Fuck Wal-Mart.
MC,
I second that emotion. Lisa and I are both big thrift shoppers. In central FL. there are boutique thrifts.My only disconnect is that i feel funny wearing a Rolex President in a Goodwill.:) jim
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