Whats wrong with America?

sharpeknives

sharpeknives

Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
1,655
We are.
I came home from work the other day, just mad. So I went out to the shop and just sit. I was trying to figure out why I hated my job so bad. I used to love it. I was proud of what I did and how I did it. Then it hit me. The pride is gone. I am a mechanic at a dealership have been for 30 years. I truly believed in the brand motto "Quality is job 1".
So when did I loose that pride? Had to do some more thinking. A while back dealers started competing with smaller chains like Firestone, Good-Year and Jiffy Lube. Our priority turned to brakes tires and battery's. We started selling aftermarket crap like BG products a RAU products because of higher profits that can be gained. Ford sells items that do the same job just not as high a profit. So the aftermarket stuff is pushed.
I think we have become so money oriented that quality has suffered, to the point that, made in America, is seldom seen. We are to blame. We buy cheap crap. Which ups the demand for cheap crap. If you think I'm wrong how many of us buy from Harbor Freight and Northern Tool."Hey I'm guilty"
OK, I'm rambling. I guess my point is when we started thinking about how much money we can make if we make it cheaper instead of how we can make it better, we as a whole started on a down hill run.
I hope that I never drop the quality of my knives so I can sell them cheaper. No matter what the demand is.
OK I'm done.
 
I agree Andy.

We have lost the foundation of what made this nation great including:

Pride
Morality
Self Reliance
Responsibility
Love of our nation
Individuality

You know it is getting bad when God is a dirty word.
 
Don't worry, it is all the same for most of the countries all around the world. It is the "globalization" effect.
We (Turks) used to be a proud people, nowadays everything vanishes under the shadow of multinational, multibillion corporations. I feel it is something cannot be stopped.
Where this leads us to is a great mystery to me...
 
That is the beauty of knifemaking, the quality, craftsmanship and pride in the work, just keeps going up and up.
Jerry
 
I feel that as long as people think that economic growth is the only way to have economic health we are going to keep making a bigger and bigger mess of things.

I am sorry you feel so bummed out about your job sir.
At least you still have knives though! Its something you can do that will have meaning and give you purpose.
Its nice to have something tangible in this world of empty consumerism.
 
I saw a great bumper sticker: Out of work ? Keep buying foreign !
people only care about themselves,not about their country or countrymen...
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtLGuOQemnQ

I live in an area where people are outnumbered by cows 2.4 to 1, all small farms. These new regulations is going to put us all out of business. Were already the second poorest county in NY, but don't worry we will take the cake if this passes. WHOOO! :mad::mad:

I'll go slam my head against the wall until I forget the downward spiral this country is taking. :(
 
Whats wrong?

Political parties
The Stock market
Corporations

It is my firm belief that without these we would be far better off.
 
Dan Seaver said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtLGuOQemnQ

I live in an area where people are outnumbered by cows 2.4 to 1, all small farms. These new regulations is going to put us all out of business. Were already the second poorest county in NY, but don't worry we will take the cake if this passes. WHOOO! :mad::mad:

I'll go slam my head against the wall until I forget the downward spiral this country is taking. :(
Click to expand...

The rabbit hole is long and deep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmrF9KjlGsc&feature=related
 
It's a global thing, everything in this world seems to be becoming 'one size fits all'. Its a result of politics and multinational industrialization. The world has become a very small dull place almost everywhere.
 
Too many , have had it too easy for too long . They do not know hardship . They expect everything to be given to them .
 
Corporate owned media has trained us to not believe anything, by getting us completely desensitized to lies since the 1950s.

Corporate control of government and political parties has eliminated any interest in peoples rights and interests on the part of our nations. It is all about getting enough backing to get elected.

The media concentrates on issues that don't really matter to keep us stirred up and ignorant about the real wrongs that are being done to our societies-elimination of independence, substitution of security for freedom, loss of indivuality in favor of team playing, etc.

Soon there will be no chance for anyone to survive off the corporate teat. Big Brother is not the government, it is the multinational organizations that control governments and the people.
 
When I was young I remember being at a local furniture store. My dad worked for Lexington Furniture. My dad looked at the back of an oak cabinet to see where it was made and said "son look at this your daddy made that". Tho he was just a worker in the plant he had that pride in what he did. I think that is whats missing today. In todays cyber space what do you do show your son a bunch of #'s and graphs and say look what your daddy done. The sad part , he'll probably be impressed.
 
The thing is we as men really need to have a sense of self worth. A big part of that is pride in our work. This may sound kinda sappy and silly but I think that these days its getting hard to have a life worth living and deep down inside many folks are depressed and downright soul sick. Isnt this one of the reasons we make knives. So we can make lasting proof of our identity. Something that is solid valuable and will outlive us.
 
Steve Hayden said:
The media concentrates on issues that don't really matter to keep us stirred up and ignorant about the real wrongs that are being done to our societies-elimination of independence, substitution of security for freedom, loss of indivuality in favor of team playing, etc.
Click to expand...
Bread and circuses,you know like the fina ldays of the Roman empire...

The problem is competing with people that are forced to work for 50 cents a day is futile.Without a standard in crafstmanship a country has no other leg to stand on.Look at a nation for what its people produce and you'll see the world differently.What do we produce??? All we do is consume... you do the math...
 
The downfall of America was the introduction of the automatic door opener. When I was a child I WAS the door opener and other men would take turns holding the door for ladies. Not any more. The other night the wife and I were leaving a social gathering and the host and hostess commented on my holding the wife's door. My wife said that she didn't care but I did it all the time anyways. I told them it doesn't matter because "I CARE!" The ladies should care to be treated like a lady, the man should care to be expected to act like a man. Not caring is a sign of a scietal disease. Of course I care because I get paid to care, Quality Control for Hyundai and all that.
 
I agree 100%. The statement that credit is the life blood of America was by our leader was sooo WRONG. We used to be the CAN DO country. We produced. We became the world power in WWII because we had the will to produce, ships, tanks, planes and men and women that would go the extra mile.

If we had spend the bail out money on industry we would have been far better of in the long run. We need to produce QUALITY and INNOVATION. Unless a business is actually adding real value to something it is not producing. Turning iron ore into iron adds true value, making the iron into a steel plate adds true value, making that plate into a rock crusher adds true value. etc etc etc. Having a stock go from a value of $35 to $50 is actually only perceived increase and not true added value. Making 5% on a loan is not creating any real value increase. Plus the stock market causes companies to plan and execute on what the quarterly report will reflect not what is best for the company in 5, 10 or 20 years. To me the stock market is a scam that allows people with money to make more off my sweat while actually producing nothing. They let the little guy play but, it is kind of like the video gambling machines, the program lets you win a little here and there, but, in the end it keeps the money.

Ford, GM and the lot were NOT started by a bunch of guys with business and finance degrees. The were started by men of vision the knew how to make something. They were ruined by people with business and finance degrees. All the college professors that teach finance should be lined up and shot. Like my brother said" a ranch in Montana never went broke until they started sending their kids to college to study finance and business."
Done with rant
 
A lot of our managers came from the Big 3... it's funny to watch their reactions when someone leaves their department to help out in another part of the plant. That kind of flexibility isn't possible with the way the unions have their contracts. I can't blame the people for getting what they can but at a certain point you have to know you're killing the company. One of the guys I work with is a 3rd generation auto worker, grandfather and father are at Ford. His dad makes over $140,000 a year, I asked if he was a manager, "nah, just installs seats." :eek: There are doctors down here that don't make $140k a year.
 
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