As China sews, few US mills left

[G_j]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0406/p01s02-usec.htm

As China sews, few US mills left

With a bedrock US industry on the ropes, quotas on imports could follow.

By Patrik Jonsson | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

ERWIN, N.C. - The town of Erwin once proudly proclaimed itself the "Denim Capital of the World."

Workers stamped "Hong Kong" and "Tel Aviv" on bolts of high-grade denim as two mills supplied the world with overalls, bell-bottoms, and hip-huggers.

Times certainly change with the fashion.

Today, the looms have fallen silent. Textile jobs here have fallen from a peak of 2,500 to zero. And as this North Carolina town struggles to define its future, its plight suggests a harsh reality: One of America's bedrock industries appears increasingly near extinction, threatening a way of life that has allowed blue-collar communities to stitch together a patchwork of prosperity.

<snip>
"Ten years ago when NAFTA and GATT were implemented, there was a feeling of, 'We're going to fight it,' " says Mike Walden, an economist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. "Now there's a changed view, a mixture of resignation and reality. Young people know they don't have a future going into the textile mills, and the big question is what will those towns morph into and what will those people be doing 10 years from now?"

Indeed, the end of global textile quotas in January has already prompted apparel imports from China to more than double - in both volume and value - from last year's pace. Americans bought some $1.4 billion in Chinese apparel in January and February. Cotton shirt imports alone are up more than 1,200 percent - a number that reflects China's small but fast-rising share of the market. The Asian nation accounts for 2 percent of cotton-shirt imports, versus 23 percent for Honduras and 13 percent Mexico.

..more..

[Broadslidin]

1. And Most of us Could Care Less.........!

Just as long as our plump 'me :party: society' remains satisfied,
by the unregulated predatory corporations
as we pillage and enslave the Earth's natural resources,
protected by our glorious war :freak: machine!

[G_j]

2. you see those who lost those jobs

can now work at Walmart for half the pay and no benefits. Selling, you guessed it, clothes made in Chinese 'sweatshops'.
Isn't it great?