Even Wood Shims!?

Those in this country that used to make shims have learned that letting the government pay for every thing and not have to work, pays better than making shims. Apparently making shims is now beneath the lowest wage worker and he would rather let the government support him. Before you know it an illegal that cuts your yard will be on welfare and not cutting your yard.

letting the

More to the point, those who would hire minimum wage labor to make shims have found out China has a labor cost 1/40 US wages.

We must offer products with high value add labor content if we are to compete in the global market.

One of the basic problems with "the belt" economy.

Heavy industry, but not very high tech.

I watched my customers shudder their doors right before my eyes starting in the late 70's and it continues to advance to this day.

It is not the minimum wage people who create the problem, but their ranks increase because of it.

Lew

Use a bundle of undercourse cedar shingles instead. They're cheaper than buying the little sissy packs of shims and the bundle will come from Canada...if that'll make you feel any better.

I like that - "little sissy packs of shims". Well thats all I needed and should need for awhile! :)

I just am sadend by it all I guess. Using foreign made (from a not so friendly country) products to build stuff just bothers me. We have really no choices though any more.

I plan on buying a jointer soon and I don't think there is a single one that I know of that is made in the US that is a 6" inch model.

I'm surprised that you are surprised. The world is now a global market and everyone buys from the lowest cost producer. The rich western countries have almost given up on manufacturing and make their money from services.

While I agree with you, and understand the ecocomics, I'm just hoping against hope that I'm such a dumb s*it that I simply can't grasp how it is NOT the end of our heretofore vital middle class.

Do you want a $7 pack of USA shims or a $3 pack of China-made shims? Currently, China's economy is soaring--but how long will that last?

I want the composite shims made from recycled materials. I buy them by the box at HD and I have no idea where they're made. I'll look.

But they snap off clean and are handy as they come in small bundles.. perfect for the tool box.

I don't really care if it costs 50 cents or 2 dollars during a $

Look at it this way--every Chinese tree that gets cut down is one more American tree that gets to live a little longer.

They're all our trees.

And sometimes trees are harvested in NA and sent off to be processed.

Are you sure we are not shipping our harvested logs to China. Joe G

I want the composite shims made from recycled materials. I buy them by the box at HD and I have no idea where they're made. I'll look.

Swingman and I recently used these shims. I prefer them as they are consistant in size and dont splinter. IIRC they are the same price as the splintery shims 99 cents maybe 1.99 per pack.

My wife has been harping on this particular subject, the loss of the middle class, for five years; in the past four, I've come to agree with her. As things presently stand, the U.S. middle class will disappear, soon rather than late.

We are hiring Colombians to do our logging, then shipping the logs to China (or somewhere similar), where it becomes plywood and boards, which are then shipped back to us.

Yes, 1/40th the labor cost, but how come the transport is cheap enough to cover two trips, and still pay a profit to each participant? Sure, we're becoming a service economy, or have become a service economy, to be more accurate, but at some point, an economy needs to move on more than an insurance policy, a sales commission, a clerk's salary.... Something REAL has to be produced or all these hotshot real estate sales types will be in hot dodo...oh, wait! Many of them are. As are many others, all the while we have a President who says we're not in a recession, our local plants--the ones left--including Volvo over in Dublin, VA, are pretty much shut down, at least temporarily and the biggest sources of jobs seem to JiffyLube and McDonald's.

We do have an excellent label design and printing company here in Bedford, and that's growing...food product labels. But my next book will be printed in China, and I'd bet that any photo illustrated book any of you have bought in the past few years has been printed there. I made a mistake on that this morning: my wife bought a book at a VA book sale for a four year old; it was printed in Indonesia, not China. But the second one she bought was printed in China.

Sigh.

It will last until they reach something close to a level with us, just as happened in Japan and Taiwan. But by the time that happens in China (it's also happening in India), the world will be devoid of resources.

Trees cut here. Shipped to China. China makes plywood and shims and

AND they snap off a lot easier if you put them in with the holes away from you.

Of course the Chinese also ship the US/Canada tree products to countries all over the world.

China is now importing toys and stuff from Indonesia.