TVR

Another UK car plant is closing.
TVR the sports car builder has announced the lay off of it's staff and the closure of it's Blackpool factory.
Another one bites the dust.
Looks like the new Russian owner may be shipping production overseas (Eastern Europe?).
This is the second UK car plant in 2 weeks to announce it's closure.
I gotta a good idea, lets quit making anything here in the UK, and just employ everybody in fast food outlets e.t.c. Oh sorry, thats' someone elses' idea, the right honourable Tony Blair (and the rest of the Labour party W%*kers)
Sorry for the (political) rant!

Well, fast food shops cannot be outsourced overseas, but they can be staffed with illegals and/or automated... Charles

Sucks, don't it?

Croz, don't even worry about the rant, if you can't rant here then where can you?

Do you know of a web site where I can find Great Britains' trade data? More specific, total imports per year, total tariff revenues per year, total government revenues per year?

I'm not having much luck.

Steve

MH61:

If you succeed in finding a webby with all of John Bull's trade data, Please, as they say in Madison, "sift and winnow" before dumping it here.

You should be able to haul the data to make your point in the trunk of a Honda Civic.

When I read your last post, I imagined that I was hearing the roar of another line of Euclid belly-dumps coming down our haul road.

Croz, As a toolmaker for 35 years I have seen our manufacturing go down the toilet. Now at 52 years old I reckon I will finish my days at Tesco's filling shelves. So many hard earned skills to offer our country and no one wants you. I reckon our manufacturing base has about bottomed out at nearly zero. Now for the question which has been bugging me. How the f### do Britain and America keep going as a viable concern if we don't make anything to sell? Sorry if I am being stupid but I can't figure out the answer.
Tony

You need to be thinking like Patsy's, Fall Guys, and all sorts of Cons. It's all about the Sucker Punch - and when it happens..

--jr

Maybe I need to start a website called StillMadeinUK.com???

Maybe I need to start a website called StillMadeinUK.com???

Click to expand...

Quite a lot of stuff is still made here, although it takes the form of sub-contractors supplying bigger companies and if you get into specialist manufacturing, Formula 1 or Medical, then you are fairly safe
Currently the company I attend* makes bits for a stair lift company, bits for a hospital equipment company and a company that makes things capable of making people use hospitals and stairlifts** ( nothing like covering both ends of the markets )

Another thing to remember is that the UK's exports are still dominated by manufactured parts, about 65% as I remember, with the other 35% coming from finance and oil. In total about 30% of the total available workforce covers those 3 sectors.

And finally, remember all those old factory pictures with dozens of workers at lots of machines..... that is history, 2 setters in a shop with a couple of bar feed T42 lathes and a couple of Citizen sliding head lathes can put out more work than 10 guys in an old shop.

Boris

* they pretend to pay me and I'll pretend to work

** and morgues

I gotta a good idea, lets quit making anything here in the UK, and just employ everybody in fast food outlets e.t.c.

Click to expand...

We already are trying that over here in the US
also, I guess we will just see who goes completely down the toilet first.

Stephanie, have you learned about power tools
yet? I think you should expose all the name brands we used to trust Craftsman , Coleman,
etc, that now send everything quitely to China,
hoping our "brand recognition" will still get
our business. If we all band together and buy
American, we might save our own jobs, or those
of our neighbor's. I am assuming that you support
your website from ads and a section blasting companies outsourcing would take time your time
and not produce income. I am very passionate
about convincing people to buy American and I
am sure myself and other's would "donate" to the
movement. Someone needs to step up and lead
and you Stephanie get my vote, sorry about
the rant and trying to hijack a thread,.....Bob

I am assuming that you support
your website from ads and a section blasting companies outsourcing would take time your time
and not produce income

Click to expand...

My site is a volunteer project, not a business. I do get donations from folks occasionally, and a small percent of the companies I list offer a few percent commission on sales made through my links.

The main reason I don't vent about outsourcing is that I want StillMadeinUSA.com to be a positive experience. I have found many sites that are angry and exhort people to buy American etc. The problem is that it is VERY HARD TO DO! So, that's the niche I have carved for my site.

As for the tools page, I have been too busy to do this yet, but I will! I plan to do a draft, then post a link on PM and ask for feedback, suggestions etc. (I am not expecting to find US-made power tools, but we'll see...)

Thanks for the vote of confidence...(I always say "will work for compliments" )

JimK-

When I read your last post, I imagined that I was hearing the roar of another line of Euclid belly-dumps coming down our haul road.

Click to expand...

LOL, now Jim, I can change. There is hope for me and I will do Readers Digest condensed versions from here on.

Promise!

BTW, "Euclid belly-dumps"?

A quick google check and I have learned something new.

http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/andy_bruchey/2005/jan/blue-dump.jpg

Didn't find a Euclid, never heard of them.

My posts weren't quite that big, were they?


Steve