TIRED OF WHINING

Dear Editor,

I have heard enough from Scott Dalgleish. I hope some of my peers feel the same way. It is too easy for Scott to "damn the darkness" instead of "lighting a candle." How about some leadership for a change? Will he run for ASQ board member? Can he discuss his ‘best practices' at his company? Can he show the way in a positive light? I am tired of the whining.

One "well done" is more valuable than all the "well saids" from the

e-mails he got last month. If Scott does not see any value to his ISO certification, then he should drop his certification and move on.

If he has a beef with his registrar, he should have changed a long time ago.

If ASQ is screwed up, either take the lead to fix it or get out, but do something positive. Quit complaining!

I for one am ready to drop my subscription to Quality. I have enough negativity to contend with at work and don't need to put up with more from the mail.

Richard Rodriguez

Quality Manager

ASQ Member

Bell South

FOR THE FREE MARKET

Dear Editor,

I just finished reading the November 2003 editorial in Quality magazine ("Can't Keep It All," p. 6). I agree that opposing trade agreements and adding tariffs are not going to fix the current problem. I believe the free market system will always provide the best quality and value for the dollar.

As you pointed out in your article, there are always going to be competitors developing cheaper versions of our simplest products by using overseas labor. The best way to combat this is to continue developing new and improved products.

The true root cause, in this case, is a lack of engineering and leadership in U.S. companies. How to fix this root cause is a problem I struggle with daily.

Daniel J. Montgomery

Quality Assurance Manager

Advance Wire Products

Addison, IL

TOO MUCH IMPORTED

Dear Editor,

Maybe you would accept the need

to change manufacturing incentives ("Can't Keep It All," Quality, November 2003, p. 6) better if a group of your advertisers demanded a price freeze on rates for at least 15 years and a guarantee that issues with typing errors be recalled and replaced.

Maybe you would better understand the problem if your company executives, seeking to delay the inevitable, first cut wages, then moved the editorial staff to India and printing department to Mexico.

Most of the companies involved in developing gage and manufacturing equipment are already overseas. The U.S. manufacturing base, unique in that it has a large percent of small manufacturers, is largely dependent on imported technology.

In terms of manufacturing R&D, we are already losing. Just how many "critical value-added parts" will remain in the United States if the only difference between what we can and cannot produce is a high-end piece of manufacturing equipment that is foreign owned?

You spoke of Ford purchasing $2 billion worth of parts from China. Just what do you think Ford will do with the billions saved? A good guess would be that they will further invest in developing additional foreign sources by buying them the latest available technologies.

As a minimum, I would suggest the U.S. government provide small company loans at rates that match those it provides foreign governments, pass laws that prohibit corporate tax deferrals and "enslavement contracts," and enact a corporate tariff on all goods sold in this country based on the percent of an item's value that is not U.S. made.

Call this last suggestion an unemployment tariff, if you wish, that is applied equally to all foreign and domestic corporations.

George Rivard

Enon, OH

ECONOMIC TREASON

Dear Editor,

I understand when politicians, especially Republicans, talk about recovery but I do not understand it when so-called, "economists," talk about recovery (A ‘Curious' Recovery, Quality, December 2003, p. 6).

I agree that the corporations will make more money than ever before, and so the stock market will ride high, because of outsourcing jobs. How-ever, U.S. companies will not hire workers in this country, but instead in China, India, etc. because that's where they will get the most from their money. There will not be any investments by any firms, to speak of, in this country because they can get the labor and equipment overseas for almost nothing.

The politicians, business executives and these pundits are committing economic treason in this country by allowing these companies to sell out American workers.

Dawood Patel., P.E., CQE

Quality Manager

Granger, IN