[TheForge] Buy American?

Sat May 17 22:28:00 2003

Amen Andrew.

I'm reading "Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" by Paul Kennedy for the 3rd
time.  I still do not remember or understand many of the facts but it looks
to me like the bottom line... is the bottom line.  Nations seem to "fight"
each other for all kinds of  noble and not so noble "reasons" but the last
one standing with a fat bank account wins.  Realpolitik is rather
depressing.  One can only hope that our sun is rising instead of falling.
What else can one do as an artist or craftsman?
rw

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Vida" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 6:33 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Buy American?

>
>
> RIES NIEMI wrote:
>
> > Then, the workers in the factory making the anvils are paid at most a
> > quarter of what american workers would be paid to do the same jobs.
>
> I'd be surprised if it was that much.  Last time I was in
> Hungary, four years ago, a good monthly salary was about
> $150 US.  I'm sure that has gone up, but probably not by
> much.
>
> > I have a friend who makes a very similar anvil in the US- Russell Jaque
at
> > Nimba Forge. His anvils are beautiful- actually better looking and more
> > carefully designed than the czech ones. Cast steel, machined and heat
> > treated by high priced american workers who drive new 4x4 diesel one ton
> > pickups that cost 40 grand. The czechs are eating his lunch.
>
> This all relates to issues that are anything but simple.
> Factors such a unions and corporate avarice have woven
> an enormously convoluted historical tapestry.  The sad
> day came when NAFTA passed, but there were many other
> such days that lead up to it.   From the standpoint of
> business, it is understandable that they would move an
> operation for Indonesia or Tijuana because their costs
> go down.  Way down.  Does one do prudent business or
> base their decisions on national pride?  I can see both
> points of view as having their legitimate argument.  The
> fact is we have lost most of our manufacturing base,
> especially in the heavy industries.  People want their
> nice cheap steel and they want it all made in America,
> but they don't want the steel mill in their neighborhood.
> Can't have it both ways.  We are becomming more and more
> a consumer culture and that is scary.  We're not even
> the tops in software development anymore, what with
> offshore development from India etc. taking a large bite
> out of our collective butt even there.  One can only
> wonder what it will come to over the next five to ten
> years.  I don't think a nation can keep exporting its
> industries abroad and maintain the standard of living
> we have enjoyed here all our lives.  The coming years
> should prove very interesting in this regard.
> >
> > What interests me is that the same people who will rail at our
government
> > for shipping all our manufacturing jobs to the third world will jump on
the
> > chance to save a couple hundred bucks on a czech anvil.
>
> People want their cake as well as eating it.  Nothing
> new there.  Competition is what it is and the USA is,
> by and large, no longer competitive in many areas.  They
> refuse to work for less than $X, and in fact cannot in
> many cases do so.  Who can live on minimum wage?  They
> also don't want to do the kind of work that provides us
> with so much of the things we want.  It's all very romantic
> to ponder the intrepid smiths and foundrymen hard at work
> pounding and pouring the metal to produce the stuff that
> built this nation.  It's a far cry different from the
> reality of actually having to do such work when you aren't
> in the mood.  It's hot, hazardous, filthy, nasty, and
> not really all that much fun once the novelty wears off.
> Does anyone here really think the men in the photos and
> archive footage were merry little grease monkeys, cheerfully
> laboring their lives away at the factory with gleeful song
> in their hearts?  That image is almost as obscene at that
> of Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" where Quasimodo
> is portrayed as a cheerful little mishapen freak, singing
> la di da his merry life away.  Those jobs left the USA
> largely because they are miserable and dangerous and
> people didn't want to do them except for top dollar, which
> is understandable.  but on the other side of the coin,
> the managers are bound by duty to shareholders to obtain
> maximum profit.  Something's got to give, and so we find
> ourselves as we find ourselves this day.  No great mystery,
> really.
>
> > Blacksmiths in general are probably mostly blue collar, work in
> > manufacturing jobs, in small town america- exactly the sort of people
who
> > you would think would make the moral statement of paying a little more
for
> > american made. But they aint.
>
> Nobody is, really.  Noble ideals taidly fall by the wayside
> when the wallet opens or the stomach is empty a little too
> long.
> >
> > I am not trying to make any moral judgements here, like I say I am as
guilty
> > as the next guy- it just is an interesting point about how our modern
world
> > is just a little more complicated in reality than some people would like
it
> > to be.
>
> I don't think there is any guilt to be assumed anywhere.
> Things have evolved as they have for rational reasons.
> In the conflict between keeping jobs, getting paid well,
> and having top quality products at bargain basement prices,
> something has to give.  I believe the most logical result
> has been obtained, but it has its price just as anything
> does.  Materially speaking, ours is a zero-sum world is
> certain respects.  More population, more want, more demand,
> less willingness... where would one think this can lead?
> I cannot say for certain, but I see problems.  Whether we
> solve them intelligently in the end remains to be seen,
> though I must say the historical precedents don't offer
> cause for excessive optimism.
> >
> > Meanwhile, I am saving up to buy one of Russell's anvils. I like the nam
es,
> > and the way he cast the names right into the anvil in a cool typestyle.
Plus
> > I like the idea of buying locally.
>
> Me too, as long as one can afford to do it.
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