Could it be the US buys far too much from China?
And is this just the beginning of price increases.
With the price of petroleum at an all time high,
price increases on other products at the wholesale
level could really take a toll on our economy.
Time we start rebuilding our manufacturing and oil industries.
Matt, fireworks manufacturing has all but ceased in the US because of senseless regulations, red tape and government interference. It just isn't economically feasible for a fireworks manufacturer to be profitable because of the constant nagging of by various government agencies from the envrionmental agencies, to OSHA, to the BATF.
One of our specialty manufacturers who produced a very high quality product recently closed up his shop after the EPA crawled up his ass for 3 days on an annual routine inspection. In the end, they found no violations but this was after putting the owner of the company thru the ringer. He told me that after the EPA inspector gave him a clean bill of health, he told the inspector that he was done. The EPA Inspector said, yes, the inspection is done and we will see you next year. The owner of the fireworks company said , "no, I mean I'm done. I'm closing shop. I'm done dealing with you guys who seem bent on shutting me down". The inspector said that it was not his intention to shut him down, but the owner of the company said he had had it with the constant harassment by governmental agencies while trying to run a legitimate business.
The same thing happened to Clark Foam, who for decades was the leading manufacturer of surfboard blanks. After constant harassment by the EPA, one day the owner of the company said, :F@#k this, I don't need the aggravation" and shut down the company leaving all his employees out of a job and put a severe shortage in the surfboard industry for about a year. Now most surfboard blanks are imported from overseas.
I understand that the government needs to ensure that companies that are using hazardous materials in the manufacturing are not putting the general public at risk, but when a legitimate business has demonstrated over time that they are doing everything by the book and do not pose a threat, then the government needs to back off and give the business some latitude. The end result is that more and more companies are closing or moving their manufacturing offshore which hurts America.
