As jobs leave Michigan, industrial equipment follows

[Nambe]

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich (AP)

.. Industrial auctioneers have stepped into the void left by manufacturers deserting North America and Europe for Third World companies where labor is cheaper. Nationwide, five major industrial auction houses will sell off 12 entire factories this week, The Detroit News reported in a Monday story. ..

"We are losing our middle class," said Noel, who worked for 36 years at the company. "The only offers I get are $8 an hour," less than half the wage he earned at Keeler for more than five years, Noel said. "Is that the kind of future we want?"

An estimated 10,000 Michigan factory workers lost their jobs in June, according to the state Department of Labor & Economic Growth. The state has lost nearly 26,000 manufacturing jobs since June 2003.

The industrial auctioneers include Hilco Industrial Inc. The Northbrook, Ill.-based company has helped manufacturing businesses liquidate at least $2 billion in assets and real estate in more than 500 auctions held since 2000. ..

[Occulus]

1. I've been seeing

a lot of industrial auction ads in the mailstream at work lately. Now I know why.

[TahitiNut]

2. There's the "supply-side" effect.

Part of the 'theory' (fable) of supply-side is that when the wealthy get to "keep more of their own (taken from labor) money" they make investments in productive capacity which, in turn, creates jobs.

This clearly shows that productive capacity (of which we have an excess) is being off-shored along with the jobs.

The right flings around the epithet 'un-American' an awful lot ... but I think an 'American' who bribes legislators to make it possible for him to fire American workers and hire slave labor in the People's Republic(ans) of China is truly more deserving of that epithet. I call anyone who sells out the same people who made it possible for him to get wealthy a traitor.

[Nambe]

3. A government of the corporation and for the corporation.

Eisenhower warned us in the fifties. The become international for tax and production reasons and this is what happens. We must have regulations, Wellstoneian politicians, and end corporate donations all together.