Thread: Former Mexican president: Get over Michigan job losses

Former Mexican president: Get over Michigan job losses
Ron French / The Detroit News

Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, isn't a shy man. He calls President Bush the "cockiest" politician he's ever met; he talks glowingly of John McCain and less so of Barack Obama. And, he has a message for Michigan factory workers who have lost their jobs.

Get over it.

Those jobs aren't coming back, and Michigan should focus instead on the high-tech and service industries.

"In the end, Michigan factories have to compete with factories in Mexico and China," Fox said in a telephone interview Thursday. "Companies like General Motors and Ford and Maytag don't have an option. They either close the doors and fire their workers, or they move where they can gain economic competitiveness."

Fox, an outspoken critic of U.S. immigration policies and the person most identified with American jobs moving across the border, will speak at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Community Arts Auditorium at Wayne State University.

Fox's speech and a question-and-answer session afterward are free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Tickets can be reserved by calling (313) 577-5550 or on-line at www.focis.wayne.edu.

The president of Mexico from 2000-2006, Fox has promoted a North American Union similar to that of the European Union, with a single currency.

Fox argues Americans helped create economic policies such as NAFTA that moved jobs to Mexico, and now are complaining about it, even though the United States continues to benefit.

"As long as you have salaries of $15 to $20 an hour, you will keep losing jobs to economies that pay $5 an hour," Fox said. "This great nation of the United States has to understand that the way we opened our markets, was to learn how to compete. Now that we have learned how to compete, the leaders of the United States is building walls. That's a big, big mistake. We should be building bridges, building opportunities.

"The loss of manufacturing jobs is a problem not only of Michigan but of the United States, and is a product of the new economy," Fox said. "(But) you cannot look at it from an individual perspective. That's the way General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were able to compete. That is good for the Michigan economy and also good for Mexico."

Fox's biography, "Revolution of Hope," offers a less-than-glowing impression of President George W. Bush. Fox and Bush, the former Governor of Texas, were close allies when the two men came into office in 2000, but relations turned frosty after Fox rebuffed Bush's request to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Fox calls Bush a "windshield cowboy" and mocks his "grade-school Spanish."

The former president made it clear who he favors in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Fox said his views are more in line with those of McCain, the Republican nominee. "What I see with McCain is experience," Fox said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 1409/METRO

Americans need to quit buying . (PERIOD)

See other Americans needs; Stop buying new for as long as you can.

Try to get what you need - Second hand, yard sale, and free is wonderful.

We need to show these companies we don't need their businesses.

Let them sell all to foreigner countries. These other countries have no money either.

Related post to why we have no jobs:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-131673.html

I do not like the man but recognize that he is right. The corporations need to either mechanize or migrate. If all the inventions were still produced where they were invented the cars would all be made in France and Bessemer steel in Germany. We have the potential of generating new jobs for the workers who lost them here provided we do not give them to people who arrive here just to take them.

We, as a nation, must de-couple ourselves from the speeding bullet globalization train. We can in no imaginable way, allow our workers to compete with the Chinese typical worker getting paid $0.50 per hour using modern equipment in modern production facilities. Our politicians and economists (those that aren't hopelessly full of the globalization kool-aid) must put together a national "return the work to the American worker" plan.

"In the end, Michigan factories have to compete with factories in Mexico and China," Fox said in a telephone interview Thursday. "Companies like General Motors and Ford and Maytag don't have an option. They either close the doors and fire their workers, or they move where they can gain economic competitiveness."

He is correct, these jobs are NOT returning. Thirty years ago, I could read about foregin workers "raising up" to the level of American workers. The opposte is happening. Our worker's pay and benefits are decling to that of foregin workers and it's NOT happening fast enough for corproate America. Corp. America has enough influence with Congress, that our elected reps. want to bring in more foregin workers.

Congress is for the Corp., of the Corp. and by the Corp.

Fox is lionized whenever he speaks in Texas, where he emphasizes that "we are all 'Americans'" and openly supports increased "government integration" between Mexico and the United States. The most frightening statement I have heard him make is that a "North American currency" will become inevitable becaue "you (the U.S.) will have all that debt." And we do - we are now the largest debtor nation on earth! A primary sign of a "Third World" country is a weak or worthless currency, and we seem to have been led to this deliberately by our own national leaders!

I have read that most of our current domestic economic difficulties, including the high price of oil, are due to the declining value of the U.S. dollar.

Originally Posted by zeezil

We, as a nation, must de-couple ourselves from the speeding bullet globalization train. We can in no imaginable way, allow our workers to compete with the Chinese typical worker getting paid $0.50 per hour using modern equipment in modern production facilities. Our politicians and economists (those that aren't hopelessly full of the globalization kool-aid) must put together a national "return the work to the American worker" plan.

It's really $0.50 per day ! They may use modern equipment, but it isn't necessary at this labor rate. They can buy old equipment or our discarded technology and still make an excellant profit.

Even with our most advanced equipment, our companies are at a disadvantage if they must pay for healthcare.

How very wrong of me to hate this Man God help me but I seriouly have hate toward him He just makes me sick

Oh, Lord! Is this little CREEP still hanging around our country 24/7?!

Get lost you dumb man whose wife has a zillion, trillion, billion shoes in her closet which is undoubtedly the size of a middle class American's house, but yet who ran one of the most corrupt countries on the planet where the people can't even put food on the table and yet HE comes to give US advise!!

GET LOST, Bozo.

The former president made it clear who he favors in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Fox said his views are more in line with those of McCain, the Republican nominee. "What I see with McCain is experience," Fox said.

I think this speaks volumes about Amnesty McCain.