Quote:
Originally posted by Ockham's Razor
It's hard for me not to want some legislation to protect workers. I'm the son of a Union Man. I understand your position, and on all economic levels it is factually sound. I honestly can't give you any personal stories from my region about this being a bad economy and that things look glum. In fact, I can point to quite the opposite. We are doing very well in New England. My concern lies with those folks who have at minimum a HS education and found solid pay in the manufacturing sector. There are quite a few of them.
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My mother lives in rural Mississippi. There used to be 7 small factories in her community: 2 furniture, 1 beef jerky, 1 glove, 1 children's clothing, and a couple other textile factories. A majority of the people that worked in these factories were former farmers, wives of farmers, children of farmers and people who used to work for farmers. The big corporations moved in on the farmers, and these folks could no longer make a living farming. They swallowed their pride and went to work in town. Now 6 of the factories have closed due to outsourcing. What are these people to do? They are now driving 1 1/2 - 2 hours for a job paying less than what they were getting locally. Some of the young move closer to the work. Others simply cannot afford the expenses of moving and all that entails with higher rent, etc. The older folks want to hang on to their land for several reasons: it's one of their assets, it's been in their families for years, and if all else fails they will still be able to feed themselves and their children off of the land.
The children's clothing company sold to stores competing with WalMart. Their jobs were outsourced by companies trying to beat WalMart. Believe me, they see the irony of now having to shop at WalMart or drive a couple of hours to the city. Others refuse to step in the door -- but they're usually the ones who can afford to shop elsewhere.
Image is important to the consumer if you can afford it to be. When you are trying to clothe your children, your priorities change. That's how many of them ended up in the factories in the first place. But the feeling that these companies are leaving in these folks is not good.
You say that the service industry will replace manufacturing. I can see that, in the big picture. What worries me, is that this community may be dead by the time any type of service industry heads their way. They are down to one restaurant, the small family clothing store has closed, the hardware store is just hanging on because there are enough farmers in the area to keep it going. Many of these businesses were able to stay open because someone in the family worked at one of the factories. There used to be factory outlet stores -- they are closed.
My relatives went off to college and became preachers, teachers, doctors and nurses who farmed on the side. They returned to the community because that is where our family is, and because they wanted to repay the community that raised them. They would like to be able to serve and make a decent living that allows them to take care of their parents as they age. This is what makes a community alive.
I'm sure that eventually, down the line, someone will work with the people who are trying their best to get some sort of industry back in the community. There is a big world out there, however, and I'm afraid that it will be years before the pressure on companies to keep jobs here will have any effect. Outsourcing may allow jobs to be re-allocated to service industry jobs, but that doesn't mean that the jobs taken away will be replaced by new jobs.