For the record

[DJD]

I don't think a president can stop a business, from moving it's business to another country, but Trump could set an example for others, by moving his own businesses back to this country, cheap, or better still really cheap labor is attractive to any business. even the new President of America { Donald Trump } likes and does it.

Hell yeah it's legal so businesses do it. I would like to see more American companies bring plants back here. I don't expect a huge amount right off but any that come back or don't leave is good for the country.

[Bill M of NJ]

For your information, NAFTA made it a slam dunk to leave, no tariffs to bring back goods, but it opened the door to others to ride the wave, time to put everything on an equal scale here. It is cheaper to make things here as costs in other countries have risen along with pay scales, why do you think BMW and other companies want to build plants here now? The rest of the world is catching up, time for us to lead not just sit and let others pass us by.

[kygorski]

One of my earliest jobs was at a ford plant in chicago.After 2 days fabricating fender cowls, they put me on the chase line. I lasted 2 12 hour days, and quit. I still think of that place as a gulag. Last year we took a tour of that plant.Probably a quarter of the employees, and they made more cars. Robots! When I got out of the army, I was accepted as an apprentice machinist,that was during a very slow time in the steel industry where my apprenticeship was. I got laid off. Things have changed in machineing also.Programable lathes, boring machines, turret lathes. Now instead of a blue print, a program goes into a machine, and away it goes. There is no way to bring back the work force because of automation. Coal? hah, natural gas is cheaper, cleaner, and much easier to deal with, and little visible by product, like fly ash. The ONLY reason we are still using ethanol is because of the agri business lobby. Steel, most of the plants are gone, I don't think there is an ore boat left on the great lakes. And wages have not risen that much for un skilled workers. But CEO wages keep going up, and if a CEO gets axed, he gets a fortune in severence pay. Like I said the same thing would nbe true if clinton won.

[Bill M of NJ]

I have been a toolmaker for 40 years, pay scale is higher then ever, automation still can't do it all, skilled toolmaker are in very high demand now, and my yearly salary proves it, 100k per year is the norm, so you need to see what is really going on, I am in the trade and can get a job in less then an hour these days, there is Web sites for toolmaker and machinist that post jobs in every state and a bidding war for the best candidates is at an all time high.

[kygorski]

Why are there so few apprentice programs open to new workers. By the way, my brother in law was a tool and die maker. he made a mold that we used to make our own balsa baits, it took a few attempts, but when he got it down pat, we were off to the races.We fished the wisconson river for walleye and sauger, and that river ate rapalas like popcorn. The lure also worked on the wing dams on the mississippi river, and cost us about1/3 the price of a factory bait.About a year after we started using it, he had an anurism at work, and never regained conscience.

[Bill M of NJ]

We gotta talk one of these days by phone, I can give you the whole logistics if why, last place I worked at had an ad for over a year for an apprentice, now at 45,000 a year to start, not one person answered the ad, to me for a no nothing guy, great way to start in a trade

[GeoFisher]

I have been a toolmaker for 40 years, pay scale is higher then ever, automation still can't do it all, skilled toolmaker are in very high demand now, and my yearly salary proves it, 100k per year is the norm, so you need to see what is really going on, I am in the trade and can get a job in less then an hour these days, there is Web sites for toolmaker and machinist that post jobs in every state and a bidding war for the best candidates is at an all time high.

Yep...and in niche technologies in IT, you can command some very SERIOUS Jack right now. I know folks making 125/hr for technologies that are hard to find. If I wanted to uproot, and move, I could easily be pulling that.

I've been at Hum for 25 years, and will stay there until I retire.....hopefully within the next decade. . They allow me to WFH, which in turns allows me to rent a cabin at Dale Hollow or KY lake for extended periods of time, which I will be doing next week till the end of the year.

Man......life is good.

Later,

Geo

[waterdog101]

One of my earliest jobs was at a ford plant in chicago.After 2 days fabricating fender cowls, they put me on the chase line. I lasted 2 12 hour days, and quit. I still think of that place as a gulag. Last year we took a tour of that plant.Probably a quarter of the employees, and they made more cars. Robots! When I got out of the army, I was accepted as an apprentice machinist,that was during a very slow time in the steel industry where my apprenticeship was. I got laid off. Things have changed in machineing also.Programable lathes, boring machines, turret lathes. Now instead of a blue print, a program goes into a machine, and away it goes. There is no way to bring back the work force because of automation. Coal? hah, natural gas is cheaper, cleaner, and much easier to deal with, and little visible by product, like fly ash. The ONLY reason we are still using ethanol is because of the agri business lobby. Steel, most of the plants are gone, I don't think there is an ore boat left on the great lakes. And wages have not risen that much for un skilled workers. But CEO wages keep going up, and if a CEO gets axed, he gets a fortune in severence pay. Like I said the same thing would nbe true if clinton won.

I don't think much will change by Trump winning, for the last several years all you could see and hear from the republicans was, Obama declared war on coal, and doing so cost so many coal jobs, now that we have a Republican President that said he was going to fix the coal jobs that Obama took, now Mitch McConnell is saying the President has nothing to do with the coal jobs, he said the coal jobs are controlled by the private sector......why am I not surprised by this..