Nice pants...no, really. Check these out

[FL000]

This guy started a company making khakis like the old Army pants from WWII. They have that classic look like the aviators of yore and they are very sturdy (my brother just bought a pair).

They are too expensive for me. I'll stick with my Gap khakis for price, but if you have some extra dough to spend on some nice looking and high-quality, made-in-the-USA pants, follow the link.

Bill's Khakis

 

[Flying Illini]

They look cool! But 155 bucks??!!!?! You've got to be kidding me!!

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

As if I didn't get enough SPAM in my mailbox....

 

[FL000]

I didn't see any for 155. I thought 95 was bad. Cool pants, though.

 

[Timebuilder]

Those pants would cost a lot less if they were not made in the USA. But, they are.

If Bill didn't have to pay a minimum wage, they'd be cheaper. He could employ far more people for the same money, and increase productivity of his factory almost exponentialy. If he had no one filing friviouls lawsuits, or even if there was no likelihood of such suits, then cheaper still, without the costs associated with modern worker's comp insurance. Then there is the danger of not having enough faces of the correct gender and ethnic background, better hire an employment consultant for that. Withouty that consultant, the price comes down some more. What about the dyes and chemicals used? The costs in the US are higher due to compliance issues with OSHA and the EPA. Lower the price again.

We could continue, but before long, we would have some pants that were made right here, be teriffic quality, and priced reasonably.

Just like they were when I was growing up.

 

[dmspilot00]

The market wages for most of these types of jobs are above the minimum wage, making your argument irrelevent.

The reason that labor is more expensive in the U.S. is because we have such a higher living standard. If you want to live in a mud house and drink sewage so you could have cheaper clothes then move to a third-world country.

 

[fr0g]

The costs in the US are higher due to compliance issues with OSHA and the EPA. Lower the price again.

Give me a break. Costs are higher because we pay our workers $5 per hour instead of $5 per week. Sure, government regulation drives costs up, but anyone that claims that industry will "self regulate" is fooling themselves, and I won't buy that for a minute. If there were no environmental laws we would live in a cesspool like no other.

btw time builder, I agree with the other things you mentioned. I call it "corporate inefficiency" and it seems to be rampant. What happened to just being honest and doing a good job. Employers actually caring about employees and vice versa.
A great quote about this from an article about wal-mart:

We want clean air, clear water, good living conditions, the best health care in the world--yet we aren't willing to pay for anything manufactured under those restrictions.

Sad, but true.

 

[FL000]

I read last week in a reliable source that there are no (zero, zilch, nada) bras made in the USA.

 

[FN FAL]

all the more reason for men and women to go "BRA LESS".

 

[Timebuilder]

The market wages for most of these types of jobs are above the minimum wage, making your argument irrelevent.

The reason that labor is more expensive in the U.S. is because we have such a higher living standard. If you want to live in a mud house and drink sewage so you could have cheaper clothes then move to a third-world country.

I think you missed something.

When I was a kid, almost all our clothes were made here, we had a wonderful standard of living for ANYONE who was willing to work, and the country was not a cesspool. Now, just how was that possible? Let's have a short (I promise) overview.

Instead of having in attitude of entitlement, most upstanding people had a desire to express their work ethic, starting at a rate that the market would bear and then moving up from there. Folks taught their kids that they had better do well in school or they could end up like that "bum" over there. The order of the day was personal responsibility. We were a country of rugged individuals who struggled together as a solid community, unafraid to place a nativity scene in front of the Library.

All of that has changed. The admonitions of JFK and MLK have been lost. Now we have far more intense regulations, a nanny state, and have a population that used to work hard to get ahead that now demands special treatment, workplace sensitivity training, and "personal days".

If you wonder why we don't make our clothes, compare those who stitched T shirts for piece work pay in Pennsylvania in 1973 to a person of similar age today. The one who worked was clean, courteous, and showed up on time. Their counterpart is louder, less educated, more obnoxious, and demands "equality", yet is unwilling to earn their status.

Our production has largely moved to places where people are happy to have a day's work, and away from where government has dictated the environment for labor.

 

[dmspilot00]

You are obviously letting your personal feelings get in the way of your judgement (isn't that the problem a lot of democrats have?).

I'd like to see some empirical evidence supporting your claims, because the truth is the United States has been and still is one of the freest economies in the world. From the Heritage foundation, publisher of scientific economic data: "The United States has maintained a policy of minimal regulation...the level of regulation in the United States is low."

Why aren't clothes made in the U.S.? There is something called post-industrialization I think you should look into.

 

[Timebuilder]

I like the Heritage Foundation, and I was a member for several years, but the idea that regulation is "low" is almost farsical.

Remember, governments don't create jobs, people and their businesses do. When they can't have those jobs here, they go away.

Ask some folks who have their widgets manufactured overseas just why they do that. The overriding answer is cost, meaning that we have priced ourselves out of the manufacturing market. Those costs come from the things I have specified.

 

[dmspilot00]

Whether or not the U.S. has a low level of regulation is certainly debatable, but it is still a fact that regulation is much lower in the U.S. than in most other countries.

The reason manufacturing has left the country is no fault of the government. It is the evolution of society in the U.S. It is not like these jobs are not moving to other post-industrialized nations (are clothes made in the UK cheaper than in the US?) They are moving to less developed nations.

The U.S. ceases to have a comparative advantage in manufacturing. Just because the comparative advantage has shifted industries doesn't mean it is the end of life as we know it. This can be proven by noting that while the industrial sector is contracting, the economy as a whole is growing.

 

[Timebuilder]

The reason manufacturing has left the country is no fault of the government. It is the evolution of society in the U.S.

I think that can be argued, too. I see this as a contradiction, because it is the imposition of edicts from the government that have had a negative effect on society. Some socialists might say that is an "evolution" of society, but in so many ways the well meaning programs of the sixties and seventies have served to make us less self-reliant, and more "entitled" to a life that is more "fair, "tolerant", "sensitive", and far more secular than the founders ever intended. Our programs to reform the workplace and make us more progressive have backfired by creating a new set of assumptions and expectations about the nature of life and the intention of America and her values.

Unfortunately, we need those jobs for our unskilled and semi-skilled workers so they can progress and grow as citizens. The loss of these jobs have left thousands without a place in our country, and we have filled that place with government payments and more failed programs.

How do we now take a person who feels entitled to an enjoyable lifestyle and get him to see his work as a valuable and life-affirming process? I don't think that genie can be put back into that bottle.

It makes me ill.

 

[bart]

The debate is academic. I would never pay $95 for a pair of cotton pants. You can go to Jos Bank and get the same quality for $40. For $95 you can get a very nice pair of wool slacks that will last to the second coming, whereas Bill already mentioned in his intro you can expect his cotton pants to be in shreds in short order.

Maybe Bill will succeed, if I were him, I would be offering a budget priced line as well.

 

[Swass]

Wrong

I read last week in a reliable source that there are no (zero, zilch, nada) bras made in the USA.

You read wrong. I have one them as a client (employee benefits), it's located in Blackwell Oklahoma. They have several hundred employees. They make bras for Victoria's Secret, Wallyworld and several other retailers. Don't believe everything you read.

 

[FL000]

Re: Wrong

You read wrong. I have one them as a client (employee benefits), it's located in Blackwell Oklahoma. They have several hundred employees. They make bras for Victoria's Secret, Wallyworld and several other retailers. Don't believe everything you read.

Actually, my source was dead wrong. My statement was completely accurate, although the source is no longer reliable. Thanks for the good news. I found that hard to believe.