Ampeg productions

[michael_atw]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

OK, so farming out jobs to Mexico is OK but not China. Noted.

Mexico - needs jobs, people dying in the streets, jumping the fence, drug cartels, no gov't

China - Communist, oppressive.


I guess if I had to choose I'd choose the former.

[IronLung1986]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

OK, so farming out jobs to Mexico is OK but not China. Noted.

Well played jimmy however fender still makes a lot of stuff in the US. It's not the same as a company that just up and leaves. Also Mexico isn't infamous for disregarding human life/rights.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by IronLung1986

Well played jimmy however fender still makes a lot of stuff in the US. It's not the same as a company that just up and leaves. Also Mexico isn't infamous for disregarding human life/rights.

Not in public statements from government officials, anyway.

[atomicdog]

In March 2007, Loud ceased production of Ampeg and Crate at the manufacturing facility in Yellville, AR, outsourcing the manufacture of Ampeg and Crate to contract manufacturers in Asia. Today, the Ampeg Heritage Series, and Pro Neo cabinet line are still built in the U.S.A. and all new products are designed in Woodinville, WA, by U.S. musicians/engineers.

[Poopoutyouridea]

Originally Posted by B-string

I work 7:30AM to 5-5:30PM 5 days a week and two Saturdays 8AM to 3PM each month. So I DON'T work hard? Not to mention amp and computer repair in my "spare" time. Guess American workers just lay back all day on their 5 hour work days.....

You do, its just that I'm pointing out the difference in salaries between Americans and Asians. Obviously you don't earn US$400 a month or you wouldn't even have a bass. I was just comparing wages between an American factory worker and an Asian one. Besides, your job actually sounds quite comfortable. No hard feelings though.

[Kmonk]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

OK, so farming out jobs to Mexico is OK but not China. Noted.

Originally Posted by michael_atw

Mexico - needs jobs, people dying in the streets, jumping the fence, drug cartels, no gov't

China - Communist, oppressive.


I guess if I had to choose I'd choose the former.

I don't think we should be farming out jobs to any foreign country. We need jobs in the U.S. The reason we are having so many economic problems is because our level or manufacturing has declined at an alarming rate. Throughout history, societies have crumbled when they stopped producing goods and services that other countries wanted and needed.

[michael_atw]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

I don't think we should be farming out jobs to any foreign country. We need jobs in the U.S. The reason we are having so many economic problems is because our level or manufacturing has declined at an alarming rate. Throughout history, societies have crumbled when they stopped producing goods and services that other countries wanted and needed.

Actually, we've seen a growth in manufacturing since the late 2000's. This is because of a weaker dollar.

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by IronLung1986

Yes, that's basically the definition of exploitative: taking advantage of someone else's situation to improve your own. Some people call it "zero accountability."

The rest of us call it capitalism.

[MODELL]

Originally Posted by michael_atw

Mexico - needs jobs, people dying in the streets, jumping the fence, drug cartels, no gov't

Uh, presently Mexico's economy is better than ours .....

[michael_atw]

Originally Posted by MODELL

Uh, presently Mexico's economy is better than ours .....

Which is funny. But that is mostly due to all their free trade agreements and NAFTA. 82% of their exports go to the US. Basically, they are the easiest factory for our goods right now - transportation costs from Mexico to the US are obviously far cheaper than East Asia.

Interestingly, if Mexico were to keep growing it would help us. Less need to worry about border-hoppers. It's akin to living in a neighborhood with a drug house next door that gets cleaned up and rehabbed.

This of course banks on the growth of a Mexican government that can rein in the horrid violence and drug cartels of many areas.

[MODELL]

I won't complain though b/c my main bass is an MIM Jazz Bass. I think it is really well made and has served me well for 10 plus years.

[will33]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Where are the parts made?

This^^


Hell, the power transistors in my 1989 GK are mexican motorolas...says right on them.


I don't like this globalist outsourcing stuff but it seems to be the way of the world. Plenty of exposes have been done about other countries manufacturing polluting the environment, child labor making our shoes, etc. and most people just don't care. They just want to consume as much crap as they can for as cheap as they can get it, plant their butts on the couch, stare at the TV and let the world go by.


That said, I drive Japanese cars. They run cheap and they last longer. And most of them were "assembled" either here or in Canada. I don't mind the Canadians making stuff...they seem like an alright bunch of folk.

[IronLung1986]

Originally Posted by coreyfyfe

The rest of us call it capitalism.

There are good and bad ways to practice capitalism, same as most other "ism's". Most companies do a little of both. I might not like what ampeg did but I'm not about to condemn our whole system over it.

[Jerrold Tiers]

These discussions tend to end up as political..... but they should not.

It comes down to a straight-up question of long-term non-political economics......

First, if you outsource everything, how do the now-unemployed people in the place you have outsourced FROM come up with the money to buy things?

Second, where does the money come from anyhow? If you keep sending money out and bringing "stuff" in, how do you do that unless you also send enough "stuff" OUT to bring back about the same amount of money? You either have to print more money, or you have to quit buying, or you have to make something to exchange. If you quit buying then you still have no way to get anything to exchange in order to get the money back so you can use it again, you are in a permanent stalemate unless you have something to sell.

It's all OK for the short term, but then it stops working.

Ideally, you have something "they" want, and "they" have something you want, so the exchange is made.

Unless there is a continuing exchange of goods both ways, one side has to run out of money.

[JOE EDO]

Unless there is a continuing exchange of goods both ways, one side has to run out of money.

..Enter the US Federal Reserve buying 45 billion dollars of commercial paper EVERY MONTH! The only thing we have to make sure is we have a steady supply of cotton fiber paper and ink. The EURO Bond is coming to a store near you in 2013 too. Sell deficts

[B-string]

Originally Posted by Poopoutyouridea

You do, its just that I'm pointing out the difference in salaries between Americans and Asians. Obviously you don't earn US$400 a month or you wouldn't even have a bass. I was just comparing wages between an American factory worker and an Asian one. Besides, your job actually sounds quite comfortable. No hard feelings though.

The question is what would $400 a month buy me? Here it would buy food and gas to go back and forth to a tent set up in the desert. If I get sick I can't go to the doctor unless it has been a busy month (I don't get paid by the hour. If there is no work it cost me to be there). The grass is not always greener?

[meatwad]

I will say this -

If my USA SVT-CL takes a dump tomorrow, I WILL NOT be buying anything new from Ampeg. It will be GK, because at least there is some support for the American workforce by them. And even then, preferably from a locally owned mom-n-pop shop.