Cheap Textiles and the Ford Moment

So my brother is telling my mother about how there is a store he goes to that sells quality clothing for somewhere around seven dollars an article. I wonder aloud, "and where are these clothing made?" Both he and my mother look at me like I'm some crazy cause head about to pointlessly lecture them. They say, "Who cares about that. It's seven dollar jeans."

Jump to the announced Ford work force reduction. Thirty thousand good jobs with benefits and retirement plans are going way. The stock market responded positively, of course, because thirty thousand people out of work can only mean increased share value. Twenty five percent less production capacity is good for the bottom line.

So I'm listening to Roe Conn on the radio. The man tells me that the American consumer deserves the best product at the best price. (His words). I paraphrase the rest a bit, but what it comes down to is the idea that a person, who makes a concious decision, to buy only from people who manufacture in America, or from companies that pay a living wage to their workers, protects weak companies. It is socialist and wrong. He also says that unemployment is low and these people will get other jobs.

If I hadn't been entertaining my niece at the time I would have tried my darndest to get on the show. In the moment I would have argued poorly and emotionally and probably just criticized how easy it is to talk about unemployment when you are signed to a million dollar deal working a hard four hour day. I would have forgot to mention things like how people who haveused up their unemployment benefits aren't counted in those figures. I would have forgot to mention the number of people who are employed part time with no benefits as cashiers at Walmart or cooks at McDonald's or copy lackeys at kinkos. I would have forgot to ask about what kind of jobs these people who have been working all their adult life for ford, will be qualified to do. What will these jobs pay. What will happen to their pensions.

On the same radio show a man calls up praising United Airlines return from bankruptcy. We here how two rounds of wage cuts and the end of a pension plan are in fact a good thing.

Later that day I watch news coverage of the Ford news. A spokesman speaks gravely of how these job cuts are a last ditch effort. He also talks about how Ford is going to come out of this thing on top, a winner. To me that sounds like they expect to whether the bad publicity inherent in downsizing and once people forget about this terrible moment, the company will be prosperous once more.

It is this kind of thinking that makes me nuts. Of Then seven dollar the jeans were cost, four were probably profit. The person who made the jeans will never, ever have that much money with which to buy such a pair of pants. Ford isn't done selling cars. They've announced to new lines they are working on. They are done paying people a living wage to make cars. I see a day when Ford is just a brand, a company that doesn't make a single car, but places orders to other companies demanding a certain number of cars at a rock bottom price. The sad thing will be that I'll probably own one as it will be the only car I'll be able to afford.

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