Mexico peaked in 2005 and is expected to become a net importer by 2018 so in less than 10 years we will not be getting oil from them.

The biggest risk we run is the dollar collapsing and not being able to afford to import oil. China alone has the power to crush the dollar by dumping their $1.5 Tillion+ on the market. That will cause a stampede out of the dollar globally.

 

Well, they didnt' end fuel subsidies. They simply increased the prices some 18%.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...061901613.html

I've been waiting for them to increase prices though, it was no secret they couldn't afford to do it forever.

 

The early headline said "ended". I guess that is what you get by scooping everyone else. Any news is good news and oil $4.75 on the day as I type this.

 

The reason that will never happen is #1 their currency is pegged on the dollar and #2 we are their biggest importer. It is good for talk, but since it would wreck their economy as well it is not good for much else.

 

Proud- very well put. I have to ask though- have you personally stopped helping to set manufacturing in China?

 

It's working already! Oil down $4.57 today!

 

YES. I left PPG Industries last year for that very reason.

After building 2 plants on the soil of mainland China and starting the third, it was obvious that my services were going to be used for such ventures extensively for the next 20 years or more as they went through China, into Russia, Malaysia, and eventually into Africa. Nice career, well-paid, and never dull, but also not the best morally, and never home.

I stay in touch with my colleagues all over the world, and the place I am working now has operations in several countries in Europe, but nothing in Asia (not yet anyways). Funny thing is the Taiwanese and Chinese operations still want me to come to work for them directly an an Ex-Pat even today. I dealt with them fairly and honorably and they respect me and my abilities. It's nice to know that if I were laid off or in a head-count reduction, I could make a phone call and have some very lucrative work with a very good salary and not fear for providing for my family. The down-side would be the extensive travel involved and my conscience.

I still travel but it's mostly domestic now. In fact, I was just in Manchester NH and upstate Vermont a week ago on business, and was in Ohio and Michigan a month earlier.

Truth is - I've never been happier (personal life). I've chased the career path for 17 years and done whatever was asked of me at the sacrifice of my personal life - hobbies, time with family, etc. As my folks are getting into their 70s and my kid is becoming a teenager, my absence from their daily lives was getting too tough to bear. My mom went through unexpected 5-bypass surgery 2 years ago and has suffered 2 significant strokes so far this year - she is in rehab for left-side numbness and mobility problems as I write this.
My daughter has been a soccer nut since she was 3. She is 10 now and has played in a league for 7 years. I have coached her 1:1 from the beginning and she's pretty darn good if I say so myself, being the top scorer for the last 2-1/2 years. But my crazy schedule never permitted me to coach her officially and I was missing practices and games all the time... until the job change. I actually coached the team last season and we finished 5-2-1... 2nd in our league (due to the dang tie! ). She tried out for an invitation-only "challenge" soccer league 2 weeks ago and she was accepted on the team almost instantly. We just did a soccer camp this week and we are going to Wake Forest University Soccer Camp in July.
In addition, I have a huge garden this year for the first time in a long time,
I am working on a stripped-bare resto of a 78 King Cobra right now,
finally get to do some fishing and hunting with my daughter and father again,
I'm getting back into the road-course racing again, and enjoying life a little.
In short - I have a life again besides "Mr. Machine Maker" who travels the world.

FWIW, I am now working for another tier-1, designing and building machines and tooling to make parts for the US auto industry directly. We supply to the big 2.5 and several foreign labels that assemble here in the US. Nothing we make here goes outside the US except to Canada or Mexico. Any products we make for European use is made in our European plants. We are not players in China or Japan at this time and management shows no interest in it so far since most of them are sourcing assembly plants on our soil.
Last year, I built and installed about $7-million of new production capital for new lines here in NC, creating several new jobs for our local economy. I'm proud of that. This year looks a little slower (obviously) but I'm still working on new capital for the 2010-2012 model releases, so I'm busy as heck despite the slowdown.

Sorry for the long answer, but you strike a very sensitive chord with me (in a good way) with your question. I have indeed changed jobs and I am no longer contributing directly to capital relocation or construction in China. I took a pretty good pay cut to change too, but it's what I felt I needed to do for myself and for my family.

Again, I try to lead by example and practice what I preach.
That's why I am so verbal about wanting us Americans to stop cowering and rolling over when hit with these challenges, and start actually doing something about it besides griping. I am doing something about it.

 

After writing my essay on morality and the call for action yesterday, I read this this morning...
400 charged in US mortgage fraud
"According to the indictment, the two executives "marketed the two funds as a low-risk strategy, backed by a pool of debt securities such as mortgages" and "made misrepresentations to stave off investor withdrawal" as the funds neared collapse."

"Meanwhile the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said they had charged 406 people from March 1 to June 18 in a national probe called "Operation Malicious Mortgage" of a variety of schemes related to housing fraud.
Some 60 arrests were made in mortgage fraud-related cases on Wednesday, in 144 separate cases. The FBI estimates that the cases resulted in one billion dollars in losses."

It saddens me.
I love my fellow man... I just don't understand why the human animal continues to behave this way. Greed is so powerful.

NOW - back to reality... I say that if these people are found guilty, they have to choose their own punishment... die by hanging, or have all their wealth stripped completely and donated to charities for use or auction, and they must live and/or work in state/government-run facilities that provide services to the elderly, handicapped, the needy, emergency response type operations, or some other benefit to society-at-large - for no salary. If they choose to do any voluntary (and supervised) work outside their required state job, they will be allowed a modest salary for their "indulgences". If they ever fail to do their job in these institutions, they are immediately sentenced to solitary confinement for 90 days and offered a chance to return. After three strikes in solitary, their @ss is hanged anyways.

Personally, I'd hang them from the closest streetlamp to the courthouse for 24 hours for the public to see and feel. These people have RUINED the lives of numerous hard-working, honest people like you and I - STOLEN their retirements, their inheritances, etc., and they have undermined our national economy and sanctity. I have NO PITY for them.
Stealing is stealing, I don't care if you do it with a pencil or a gun.
If we would set some examples, this kind of sh1+ would begin to stop.
Try getting caught stealing in Turkey or Qatar and see what happens to you.

Sorry for the graphic rant, but this (IMO) is why our nation is going down the poop-tube, and I'm ready to start fighting to stop it. I'm just sick of this behavior. Despite the Enrons and Tycos, the big execs and players are still after the money because the gains outweight the risk of getting caught. The same thing is going on in big oil and energy too if you ask me, but there is no push from the current administration to investigate or curtail it. MAYBE we'll know the truth 50 years from now.