4." Why do you spend time labeling importers as greedy when in fact you are just as greedy for wanting to restrict them in your favor? Doesn't anyone see the irony in saying that there should be tariffs and protections put on imports to stop them from competing with domestically produced goods? Would you stand for it if your state suddenly put a major tax on food imported from other states in order to "protect" the agriculture production in your state? What would happen if the other states reacted similarly and put tariffs on food produced in your state? Or on wood from Michigan? You would not stand for it if any law were passed to restrict your ability to choose from any supplier of materials in the USA simply because of where they are based."
When a U S manufacturer has a product that makes a substantail profit margin, then goes to China or elsewhere to have the product made at a lower price and then does not lower the price of the product than "Yes". the importer is greedy. You have every freedom to think otherwise and obviously do.
As for the irony in having tariffs and protections - The U S - China trade deficeit for 2005 was $202billion, 2006 was $234b., 2007 was 258b., 2008 was $268b. If you think this was good for the U S than I don't know what economic books your reading but would assume they were put out by the Communist Chinese government. There have been tariffs for hundreds of years to protect the citizens of whatever country. Do you expect me to believe that China has no tariffs? And the next state from me and all the others next to them are still part of the USA. They are not China, Japan, Korea or elsewhere. The products still say with pride "Made in the USA".
8." Which brings us all the way to economics 101. All the dollars that go to China come back into the USA at some point in the form or purchases or investment. They have to otherwise no bank would accept dollars. Try paying a bill with Chinese RMB. Banks have to have dollars on hand for companies to be able to purchase the equipment they need. Tourists spend dollars in the USA they don't buy Disneyland tickets and $30 made in China Mickey Mouse dolls using Renminbi. Chinese children attend US colleges with their education and expenses paid for with dollars shipped in from China. So contrary to sensational headlines and uneducated belief it's not a one way street. For the people who say that they won't repair import cues do you refuse to sell to people from overseas who want to buy your cues? If one of your cues that you sold to an overseas buyer needed a new tip would you expect the local cue maker there to refuse to work on it?"
From the trade deficeit above I have a hard time believing your economics once again since the numbers above take into account many or all of the items you list. The Chinese have to ability to buy businesses or property in the US and ship the profit back to China. Can a US citizen do the same in China? As for US Dollars, once again, why do you think the US is paying off it's debt with US oil, not dollars? Maybe because all this economic 101 you have been talking about is not as good as you say it is. The national debt occured because we imported more than we exported to a large extent. Without the debt and the higher taxes on businesses we could do a better job at competing with imports on price. But I never said we had to compete on price, only on quality.
9. "Which brings me all the way back to freedom. If you truly believe that the American way is the best way to live and you believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and you believe in the Declaration of Independence and you believe that all human beings are equal and that all deserve to be free then you also believe in their right to pursue the same lifestyle that we Americans enjoy. They are working their asses off to make a better now for themselves and a better future for their kids. So please try to remember that we are all people who have to live together on this globe."
The world economic crisis has already proven that not everyone can live the life of an average american. That comsumerism as a global standard can not sustain itself. There are about 300 million americans and about 3 billion chinese. To think that the chinese are going to attain the same standard as the americans at our current level is like believing in the fairy godmother. All it would do is lower everyone to the mean common denominator, in other words, like what is happening all across america is that our wages and buying power go down while theirs goes up. Somehow I don't see the relevance of the Dec. of Ind. in this. The only reason the Communist government opened the door to comsumerism is because it could not fund all those 3 billion people itself. How much money does the Chinese government give around the world for disaster relief per capita? How much does the US? Cues are only one leaf in a very large tree. You can delude yourself all you want and make all the patriotic claims to go with it. I don't buy any of it as you present a small part of the picture and ignore what you wish.
As import cues getting better? Yes. So be it. Should Predator have the guts to say they are made in China and not hide behind a technicality? I think so but that is just my opinion and you don't have to give a dam_ about what I think because you have the freedom to do that thanks to America.
You cannot look at a number like the trade deficit which only measures goods in vs. goods out. There will always be trade deficits of that nature between nations with widely different economies. Chinese people can't yet afford to consume like Americans do - but they are trying.
You have to look at other aspects of the economy where the Chinese spend money in America. Tourism. Higher Education. Investment. Consulting. These are four major areas where dollars flow back into the USA.
There are 1.3 billion Chinese and yes capitalism was allowed to flourish in China because the Chinese realized that Communism as an economic model is unsustainable on a national scale.
The Earth has 6 billion people living on it and the USA has 300 million of them, or just 5% but America consumes 25% of the Earth's resources.
So basically what you want to say is that we need to defend our "right" to continue this level of consumption and deny it to everyone else? No one else is allowed to have any prosperity if it means we have to give up a little of ours?
I can't understand that because you are in fact preaching a sharing and caring message when you tell people to pay more (i.e. give up some prosperity) so that others (American cue makers) can enjoy some.
Now who do you pick though? Which American cue maker should be the beneficiary of this sharing? Is it Joey Gold who charges $1200 for a plain jane ebony cue or Jack Newbiemaker who lives in Alabama in a shack and charges just $250 for a cue? Should there be a law that prevents Joe from charging $1200 and forces Jack to charge $600?
Why should a person lower the price as he lowers his cost? If you have a job making $50,000 a year and you decide to move into a smaller house and lose weight and give up your cable so that you are paying a lot less to live do you go in and tell your boss that you will take a salary cut because you lowered your cost? If not then you are just a greedy capitalist.
If you are a cue maker and you are able to buy some parts cheaper are you supposed to lower your prices because of it? Capitalism is the right to make profits and as much profit as you can. What you then do with those profits defines you but you have to make them first.
The economic crisis is here because most Americans are completely ignorant of how money works and are completely clueless about how to manage their money. Thus they bought houses they couldn't afford and banks let them do it because everyone was making money selling the loans to other companies, more loans made means more commissions. Your own people swindled you - all the Chinese did was to make all the stuff you kept buying on credit to fill up those houses you can't afford.
Hands up, how many of you cuemakers take credit cards? So you ever question your customers to see if they can afford to buy a cue from you, meaning are they going into more debt to give you money? Of course not, we are all adults right? Would you take a local guy's cash for a cue if you knew that it meant that he would be in financial trouble the next day because he was paying you with cash he borrowed from someone else and would be out of cash after paying you? Probably not. Most of us won't take from someone when we know for a fact that they can't afford it.
Yet there are a lot of you that advocate that very thing as a concept. Ban imports and force people to pay higher prices to subsidize the American cue market..........
That's not how it works. In a free market people are allowed to buy and sell what they want to whom they want. You can't be against those commie Chinese and turn around and advocate what is essentially communist principles of economics.
As for importers claiming their cues are made in the USA. I don't know any who do that. If they do then you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission as it's illegal to claim a false country of origin. There is however zero requirement that domestic goods say made in USA on them and many do not unless they are being exported.
But again, most consumers are thinking of THEIR bottom line when shopping and where something is made is of a lower priority than how it looks, how it works, and what it costs. If a consumer has $1000 disposable income a month then no one has the right to force them to spend more of it on an American made cue JUST to fund someone else's lifestyle. Does this make them greedy that they want to keep more of their money and do other things with it, like spend it on other things that benefits more people?
But I digress, people whose minds are made up and who are stuck on the idea that building a wall around America is the way to prosperity rarely change their mind despite the vast amount of evidence that shows that this method doesn't work.
The point Willee made which is right is that there are very good cues for low prices on the market. He predicts that this makes it very difficult for small cuemakers to survive. However the evidence suggests that small cue makers are increasing in number rather than decreasing. My suggestion to Willee is that he move to a bigger market if he can't find enough customers in his area. It honestly doesn't take a lot of salemanship to upsell most customers into your cues but it does take actual effort. And if you think that just being there is enough, it isn't. Nor is it enough for the importers to just be there. They spend a lot of their money promoting the cues and getting the name out there. Many cue brands have come and gone where someone thought that they would get rich quick buy buying $10,000 in cues from China at low prices. They quickly found out that getting the cues is one thing - the effort and cost to sell them is another.
Capitalism at it's finest, just the way it should be.
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