New Competition for Wal-Mart

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Really? Why not?

I actually got my hands on the original "christmas card" video and was showing it to 'select' people in my office on my laptop with headphones well before SP ever hit comedy central...you sort of had to be careful which co-workers you chose to share a bootleg animation featuring santa claus and jesus christ kicking the crap out of each other...

All my kid is going to watch cartoon-wise is south park, simpsons, and family guy.

I'm gonna get a lot of phone calls from the school...

 

[laurence]

At my friends 21st birthday party, a buddy busted out a VHS tape and said, "hey guys, check this out, it's really funny!" It ended up being the South Park X-mas card. We were rolling, but promplty forgot about it. We never thought years later it would be a mega hit series on comedy central, or that a movie would be made!

"I'm not fat, I'm just festively plump!"

 

[Marshac]

All my kid is going to watch cartoon-wise is south park, simpsons, and family guy.

No Futurama?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah, I like Futurama too. I hardly ever got to watch it though as they were doing that "airs right after football on sunday niiiiight!" thing here and of course, nobody at any television network has yet figured out, even after decades of it being true, that football games do not end in 3 hours. Ever.

So the show was almost always pre-empted. Then a couple of years later they cancelled it because of a lack of viewers. Hmmm...what a mystery! :

 

[VoyT]

"Santa Claus is gunning you down ...."   Now there's an Xmas carol!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I just heard that Hyundai is going to start building cars in Alabama due to the dropping dollar and higher costs of labor in korea making it cheaper for them to make cars here instead of there.

Everything finds equilibrium...given time.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Everything finds equilibrium...given time.

TH,

I think that is most peoples fear in the U.S. - With a couple Billion Chinese Folks willing to work for 30 cents an hour, what is the chance that American Workers will still get to call $20 a hour lousy wages?

 

[laurence]

TH,

I think that is most peoples fear in the U.S. - With a couple Billion Chinese Folks willing to work for 30 cents an hour, what is the chance that American Workers will still get to call $20 a hour lousy wages?

Hey, I never thought of that as a lousy wage! I made that or less until 5 years ago! I got buddies looking up at that number!

My rental car in Florida was a Hyundai Sonata. Previously I had rented Monte Carlos, Neons, and various other mid grade american cars, and the Hyundai spanked them all. Great fit and finish, smooth ride, tons of nice features, wood trim interior etc. all for thousands less. The good blue collar job does look endangered to me.

 

[Zipper]

Toyota is scheduled to announce a big plant in Woodstock, about half an hour east of London.

They already have a major plant in Cambridge.

The GM complex #'s 1 & 2 in Oshawa are JD Power's top plants in the western hemisphere. My Impala was born there!

Chrysler's 300's and Dodge Magnums are made at Brampton.

Honda Odysseys and Civics are made at Alliston.

If you drive a Chrysler Minivan, it was probably built in Windsor.

Crown Vics are built 15 minutes from here in St. Thomas.

Chevy Equinoxes are assembled in Ingersoll, 20 minutes away. My next door neighbour works there.

Ford makes minivans in Oakville.

GM makes engines in St. Catharines, and Ford in Windsor

Ontario makes more cars than anyone in North America, including Michigan.

Parts makers employ more than assemblers in Ontario.

The key is a highly skilled work force, excellent transportation (road & rail), a National Health Care System, and a $US that was overvalued for most of the last decade.

 

[wildcat]

FYI - in response to the Chinese taking over Ebay...most of the stuff is crap. Big market for making replicas of brand name goods over there and claiming it to be the real thing. Hey buy a Mercedes from China on Ebay and see how it works out for ya...only $5000 for a brand new one.

 

[laurence]

FYI - in response to the Chinese taking over Ebay...most of the stuff is crap. Big market for making replicas of brand name goods over there and claiming it to be the real thing. Hey buy a Mercedes from China on Ebay and see how it works out for ya...only $5000 for a brand new one.

hmmm, but I would look cool if no one could tell the difference!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

TH,

I think that is most peoples fear in the U.S. - With a couple Billion Chinese Folks willing to work for 30 cents an hour, what is the chance that American Workers will still get to call $20 a hour lousy wages?

C-T - good example of why there is so much unwarranted concern...overstatement and generalization. There are only ~1.3B chinese citizens, and about 1.1B of those do not live within any of the manufacturing areas, are not living in a density high enough to allow factories to be built 'where they are', and will not move to the factories due to multi-generational family living situations.

In short, the number of people available and willing to work for 30c an hour is extremely limited. If they pack up the family and move, even a short distance, they want way more than 30c an hour, and they'll need it for the incredibly more expensive cost of living in the areas where factories are present.

Of course, someone comes up with a rocket propelled bicycle that could bring a worker a couple of hundred miles in a few minutes at a very low cost, china is their oyster...

 

[Tommy_Dolitte]

You know that Flat Earth book somebody was talking about.  Mr. Friedman traces his Dell Computer parts.  Check it out.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1464876,00.html

Just one little quote:  · If Wal-Mart was a country, it would now be China's eighth-biggest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia and Canada

This was an insightful read.

 

[haha]

The key is a highly skilled work force, excellent transportation (road & rail), a National Health Care System, and a $US that was overvalued for most of the last decade.

You got that right. If they could do it, the Big Three would move everything in Michigan to Ontario. And of the things you mentioned, health care is the topper.

Mikey