Machining vs. Union trades

[mc-motorsports]

BTW, I cited facts. Bar stool economics and or a falsly inflated ego should be left at the bar.

[dertsap]

it floors me how within such a short time the big three are facing a fall ,this isn't because of a sudden bad economy , high union wages , or out sourcing , its miss management
i can look down to the end of my street and it is ridiculous how much money worth of vehicles are sitting in every driveway and most of them being American made cars or trucks , the neighbors dodge diesel alone was $65.000 , car manufacturers have been gouging the public for years now , how is it possible they can't hold their heads up until the economy turns around , this is a clear indication that out sourcing isn't what brought down the economy , its miss management at many levels

[chuy]

I don't think that's a problem, sure they'll start out with a low wage, but once they've learned how to program set-up and the whole nine they want to get paid just like everyone else, but that just adds to the point of how can a small business owner pay a guy 30... or more an hour when his shop rate runs around 50-60..., but now really Immigrants are the only people that willing to get tinto the trade., because no matter what it's a trade!, and if you don't have an education than you better have a trade.

[automizer]

Originally Posted by chuy and if you don't have an education than you better have a trade.

I take a slight offense to this, my education is my trade. 4 years of school = no education? I'm confused.

[harryn]

From a slightly different perspective, I have a BS engineering degree and a lot of experience with the semiconductor industry. When it went to Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China - it left a lot of highly skilled and highly educated workers behind. This included everyone from PhDs to floor sweepers.

The trade deficit hits everyone (except bankers I guess)

If you ask around, pretty much no-one thinks their kids should go into what they did - not because it was the wrong decision, but times change and we have to adapt. Adaption is not easy, and hasn't been easy for me either.

As far as union vs non union labor, both can be competitive in general when they want to be.

The big three problem is not quality or labor cost. The points they miss are:

a) The designs do not appeal to women sufficiently over Toyota.

b) Toyota steals the designs of the big three, BMW, and MB and makes them their own. They even continue to copy the mistakes.

If the big 3 and BMW plus MB could protect their designs the way that the music industry protects its "IP", then Toyota would be in a much different position.

Back to your question - pick a field and focus on getting better and getting ahead. It is all you can do.