Fair enough.  I do remember hearing about the employees at foxconn living and working all on the company compound.  Suicide rate us supposedly high there as well.  I also remember from the interview someone at Apple said it would take them upwards of 9 months just to hire enough engineers in the states due to things (which I'm drawing a blank on right now) whereas they can hire the same amount in China in 30 days.  I have to admit you're right on with that and I was wrong.  Still, I can't help but wonder how much, negligable or significant difference dropping their tax rates to some ungodly figure (say under 10%) factored in with the massive amount of employees now paying a new income tax....would that make it worthwhile to put an Apple factory in the states?

That's part of the problem really.  Chinese workers are skilled, cheap, are willing to LIVE ON THE JOB, and can move quickly due to lack of regulation.  How is there any way to compete with that really?  The only answer in my head is cheap ass taxes on companies that set up shop in the states and tax the SHIT out of anything imported from China....level the playing field so to speak.  You'll certainly not get a union member to work for pennies in crap ass working conditions so there's no other way.

So you think everyone has a right to a house?

There is a safety net for the very poor...there are thousands of them.  Not even including the nearly 100 government welfare programs, there are also Charities and shelters that are publicly and privately funded.  Is all that not enough for you?  We need to throw even more money at the problem?

I'll give you your point about Romney's tax cuts...they most definitely would have added to the deficit, regardless of what he personally thought would happen.  You also have to look at the other side, though.  Raising taxes on the very wealthy does not even come close to filling the gap in tax revenues vs spending... it's pennies. 

The only two things that can be done, that both parties must eventually acknowedge, is that we need Entitlement reform, and we need to cut overseas military spending.  That includes raising the retirement age for people below 50, but it also means ending foreign aid as well as all of these various, unnecessary foreign conflicts we continually involve ourselves in.

You just won't compete on those jobs, Obama was actually frank in one of the debate and said as much. The majority of those jobs that went abroad are not coming back...

There are however others area of the economies where the jobs can be done in the US.

Software is one such area. The US is the number one importer of software developers because not enough software engineers are trained by colleges. ( Most the Indians or asiatics you see with green cards work in software).

On top of this US companies still employs a huge number of software developers abroad, mostly in India but it's starting in China too. And in that case the demand is so huge that the salary difference isn't as big as in manufacturing ( because they have a shortage of developers in India or China too) and despite all the progress that has been made, the quality of the work produced oversea isn't the same as the one produced in the US, not due to skills issue but more telecommuting and team work issues...

And finally software jobs are some of the highest paid jobs so they would boost the economy a lot...

There is a difference between a house and housing. Housing means not living on the street. Don't you think people are entitled to food? Apparently Romney doesn't. The fact is that we should provide opportunity for people to succeed, not just a safety net.

Isn't this the slowest recovery in the history of the US? How is this acceptable? Why would you vote for Obama. He has done nothing commendable. His health care reform was heavily opposed and was even made by his opponent, Romney. Sometimes i wonder about my country...

it took 15 years and a world war for the US to recover from the great depression.

So nope, by far...............

Foreign Aid is a drop in the bucket, and, if we use it carefully, gives us a big return on our dollar (just not in dollars...)

...noooooo?

The real calamity is about to happen.

January 1st, the Bush tax cuts expire. Taxes are going to rise on everyone - poor, middle, and rich by 5% (so taxes on the poor will rise 33%). Additionally, Obamacare taxes kick in, which is a $2,000 penalty for every worker in America that doesn't have health care at a business w/ over 50 employees.

The CBO has already said that we're going to have a recession on par with 2008, but this one will be caused by the contraction of businesses across America because of what happens.

To that, there will not be a great recovery, because we're already at a U6 of 14.6%. We are likely to hit 20, 22% or even worse for U6.

If that happens - and I hope I am wrong - Obama is going to look like a 2-term Herbert Hoover.