Null, I know the point is the 'sweat shops' and why should somene get paid $..25 for a days work when the item gets sold for hundreds. Ahhh..like the oil industry. But I listen to my wife every day when getting home from work. They are turning that direction also but it boils down to again, greed. Management... getting a bonus for cutting corners...this is where it all starts..(I think people like Tony Robbins and his do it your way and don't take no for an answer when speaking of management/employee relationship has a hand at moving things backwards) I keep telling her to use her union power (union is good on one hand and gets in the way of the world on the other and I was a union truck driver.) I even walked away from my company after 20yrs with them because they were turning into a sweat shop. But in order to compete in the market, they had to cut some corners. I just moved to one of the companies that didn't forget where their dollar comes from and wasn't afraid to share it with us or just who drove the trucks in the Trucking company...I never seen a truck move without a driver...second thought yes I did..results not good...wasn't mine either...lol...

Is it my imagination or did I wake up one day to find the cost of a $20g house was now $80? The cost of a new showroom car went from $4g to $40g overnight. The cost of a Harley went from $4g to $40g...overnight around the same time..someone is making the cost of living changes over night...to fatten their pocket and...most wages don't keep up with it either. What difference would it make to raise the min wage if everything else goes up faster?..It would just make you a rich man in a poor country. So could it be the standard of living/wages are somewhat equal around the globe? Maybe $.25 a day is equal to $250 here when cost of living is equated...I don't know how to think anymore..I do remember with my military pay (which was not near enough at home here) made me live like a king in other countries around the globe. I was a rich man there.....maybe the only way to stop it is as stated in the very first post.....just don't buy the items..is how to make the difference.....good point.....now do we want to do without it?....I doubt it...does it impress me to see someone with an LL Bean jacket not as warm as I am in my army surplus? I think people are stupid anyhow for paying all those $$ just to look pretty in the field and the name tag don't impress me none....It just shows their smarts...or wallet...Question, when was the last time someone came up to you in the woods and said you look pretty in your big dollar outfit?.....They don't see me in mine...camo...cheap military surplus

Skeeter,

It isn't that things have merely appreciated without salaries going up too. The salaries have kept pace with inflation rather well over the years. It is just that Americans want more and more.

I went to a seminar a couple years ago, and I will never forget this quote. "Back in the 50's, a man was successful if he had a family, a house, a car in the driveway, and a black & white TV. Today, a man is successful if he has a family, a house, a vacation home, 2 cars in the driveway, and 4 color TV's in his house."

Think about it. When I was growing up, the house we lived in wasn't gigantic, my father had one car that ran all the time, and we had a single TV. When I was about 11 years old, we got a second TV that was pretty small and my dad bought a dump truck (i.e., Checy 3500) for his business.

Homes that were considered large homes back in the 50's are considered to be average now. Everybody needs to drive a luxury car nowadays.

I could go on and on about this. About how everybody wants to go to college and get a desk job. About how my brothers and other friends of theirs work in auto body shops making 6 figures a year because nobody else really wants to do the work. About the amount of money that I have seen construction contractors make even though they do shoddy work. Heck, I want to go into home improvement myself instead of practicing law, but one requirement to get a home improvement license is that I have two years experience with a licensed home improvement contractor, which I don't have. It pisses me off because I know I can do a better job than a lot of the guys around here, I know I can pass the test, and I know I can put up the required collateral for a bond.

Sometimes, government in general is a disaster, and I won't pin it on the Republicans either because Maryland is about as liberal as it gets. Corrupt government was the downfall of a lot of empires, Roman and Greece are two I can think of right now. I am hoping it doesn't happen to the USA.

Hey Spike,


Check out Filson www.filson.com They make some good stuff!

Thanks Steverino,
You understand the problem!

Keep the money here in the US !

:)

Country Of Origin

United States

Great link www.filson.com

:)

Filson wears like iron Spike
 

I've been wearing Filson going on almost 20 years and it has held up beautifully. I will take their gear (Tin Cloth, Shelter Cloth, and wool products) over any of the new man-made materials any day of the week.

Sure...some of the new products may be a little lighter and pack better etc, but will you get 20+ years out of a hunting or outdoor recreation garmant?

And of course, it's made here in the good ol US of A.;)

Aren't most Browning Guns made in Japan?

I know their Shotguns went from being Belgian made to Japanese many many years ago.

I never would have equated Browning with Made In The USA.

I think the only thing about Browning that is/was Made in the USA was John Browning Himself.....

EVERYTHING mentioned here is due to the choices they we all made.

We wanted more "stuff" and bought it all on credit, then grouse about high credit rates.

We bought so much stuff we have to store it in self-storage units (that didn't exist in the 50s).

The people who gritch about jobs going overseas are the same ones who join unions and then strike because they "only" make $30 an hour.

We think all politicians are crooked, but we don't even know who we vote for. Most of can't even name our own mayor, city leaders, state legislators or anyone else we elected.

We demand medical insurance that pays for everything down to hangnails, then ***** because it's expensive.

We make sure that no new wells are drilled or refineries are built, then ***** because we import so much oil.

We hobble businesses with taxes, environmental rules, safety regs and more, then ***** because things get more expensive.

We shop at Mart-Mart because we get things cheap, then ***** because Mart-Mart buys where things are cheap.

And on and on....

I'm not slamming anyone who's posted here, just pointing out that we ALL get the results of what WE choose.

Well Rocky, if you won't....I might. ;)

I too am/have been guilty of some/all of the above.

But remember!
Just because it's what "They" say on TV, in the Paper, or on the radio.......Dosen't make it the truth.

Oil Companies did/are making a big profit right now selling oil & gas, but How much are they going to have to pay to replace what they are selling?

Oil companies DO NOT! set crude oil prices!

How many of Us/You voted to have a new refinery built near you?

It takes about 10 years & $$Billions$$ of dollars to build one. Where do you think the money comes from for that?

And it's not just the Oil companies....

Isn't the "Purpose" of a company to sell a service or goods, thereby making $$money$$????

I thought it was...

Isn't this, partly, what Our country was founded on?

Wouldn't you be upset if people complained about you making too much money in your job?

Would you work for free????
Who decides how much you should make???


Tall Shadow

I heard that the "windfall" profits of the recent gas price surge amount to about ten cents a gallon TOTAL profit to the oil company. Their bottom line is about a 9% margin, and that's not much compared to (let's say) a carpet or furniture store.

That's hardly rampant gouging, even if it does translate to a huge pile of money.

To keep that in perspective, the tax on a gallon of gas is about 46 cents (fed, state and all combined). So if you look at it in pure financial terms, the government is getting almost five times more than the oil companies from each gallon - and the governments did NOTHING to find that oil, drill it, transport it, refine it, distribute it or sell it.

So who's the gouger in the oil business? Uncle Sugar, that's who.

Who demands that "Big Oil" further reduce its prices? Who investigates how much these PRIVATE companies are earning? Who regulates every aspect of what they can and cannot do? And who never even mentions the idea of reducing its OWN take from the sale of oil?

Yup, that's who.

Tall Shadow,

I think you are arguing with Rocky about things you agree on. Rocky has posted before that the oil companies don't make as much money as everybody thinks they do and I believe he said in the same post that another reason for gas prices being high is the lack of refineries to meet the demand.

Good thing is that Ford is working on more Hybrid vehicles, alternative fuel vehicles (i.e., methane & propane), and flex fuel vehicles (i.e., vehicles that can run on straight gasoline or any mixture of gasoline and ethanol up to an 85% ethanol/15% gasoline mixture). When I buy a new car, I will probably buy an alternative fuel or hybrid vehicle made by Ford in the USA.


DaMadman,

You made a good point about Browning. I cannot remember their guns ever being made in the USA. At least Beretta opened a plant over here to build its pistols and now it is building its 3901 shotguns here.

Rock..I just had an article posted in our local paper.."your opinion" that broke down the crude cost/ taxes imposed/ shipping etc etc for one gallon of gasoline and again on diesel..you hit the nail on the head with some of the high prices being taxes going to government. I also stated everyone puts the cost of high pump prices on oil industries..no matter where located. and during those $3 + pump prices, why don't our gov even the local gov just give a tax cut temp if needed to help..still have not seen it done that way...the average crude cost for one gallon gasonline is @ 46% but changes go to @50%...1/3 of cost per gallon is taxes...local/state/fed....my 07 canada bear trip went up $150 from now to then because of canada price increase..I wonder how the canadian cost per gallon/leter breaks down...to compare to our tax system...we probably still get the better end of the deal...for now..

fabs....you know it has already been stated those with an alt fuel vehicle will get a special tax imposed on them because...yep..guessed it....you aren't paying your fair share for highway tax at the pumps...and they have to make it up somehow..a loose loose situation I see...still goes back to where a big portion of the buck goes at the pump...government at all levels want their cut somehow..and even if you run on air you will have to pay a tax every year as punishment for not using fuel if you want to get a license ..I wonder if anyone has any idea at all what a com vehicle...say truck...pays in highway usage taxes per year...unreal....unreal.....

I saw a sign on a big rig just recently that said, "This vehicle pays $11,754 each year in highway taxes." I do not doubt it. In fact, it may be low. Some of those rigs roll almost a quarter million miles a year, and that equates to some 40,000 gallons of diesel. I'm not sure if they pay the same amount of tax/gallon as gasoline, but if it is the same, that totals $18,400 in highway taxes.

The only Browning guns ever made in the USA were (and are) the Buckmarks. They are made by a small and almost unknown little manufacturing/machining company here in Salt Lake City. In fact, Browning has never manufactured ANY of their products except some of their archery gear, and even that has now been outsourced. Make your next pistol a Buckmark.

Reducing our fuel usage is great, but it should not be either mandatory or penalized with reverse usage taxes. That is government at its worst. Personally, I'd be happy if we sucked the whole middle East region dry of oil. Then develop our own resources and sell it to the rest of the world - at starvation prices. Let 'em see what it's like to be a beggar instead of a potentate. When even that runs out, we switch to ethanol and again be the world's largest source.

It's kinda a minor thing, but the Challenger series of Browning 22 handguns that pre dated the Buckmark (extremely similar designs)...
The original Challenger was made in Belgium. The Challenger 2 that replaced it was made in the US- I believe in that Utah plant.

Guess things are different in other parts of the country because salaries have sure not run in line with inflation in my part of the world by a long shot .
I grew up in the 60's and the change in this area over the years has been drastic. Medical costs - New Vehicle costs - heating -ect ect and wages in this area again have Not kept up.