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Worst nightmare for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., employees, suppliers and stockholders reared menacingly. The old "yellow menace" of once-thought bygone days is alive and well and starting to manufacture automobiles in China. The Chrysler Motor Automobile Co. succumbed in 1998. China already manufactures many automobile parts for vehicles in other countries, including parking brakes and seat covers to the U.S. More complex parts like gears are being manufactured for other companies abroad.
Chinese authorities are working hard to improve quality. Fully assembled automobiles by Chinese-owned automobile makers have already begun to developing nations in South America, Africa and the Middle East. Industry analysts say "significant numbers" of automobiles will be shipped from Chinese plants to the U.S. and Europe within three years. Robert A. Lutz, vice chairman of General Motors, says "at least one" Chinese firm will be exporting in five years.
Whatever, General Motors and Ford have their backs to the wall. Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United automobile Workers, last week denounced Daimler's plans:"The $1.50-to-$1.95-per-hour labor cost in the Chinese automobile industry is not arrived at by any ‘natural' operations of a free market. It comes by through artificial repression of wages by a brutal regime which outlaws independent trade unions, and jails more labor activists than any country in the world!" China has the largest population in the world that is ambitious, hard working and prone to revolution. Who is to bell the dragon? Americans can fight only one war at a time.
An improving economy in China eventually will bring competition for labor and market. One may not like the level, or time requirement, but the alternatives are more unpalatable. Automobile stocks declined sharply, but recovered when famed investor Kirk Kerkorian bought 22 million shares of GM shares on the open market and offered to buy 28 million more. It cited their financial commitments to retirees for exceptional pension and health care costs. GM is said to be the nation's largest private health-care provider with l.1 million workers, retirees and their families. Industry analysts blame sluggish GM and Ford sales on high gasoline prices and emphasis on oversize automobiles with poor mileage. G.M, Ford, and the UAW will huff and puff, but they will build more efficient automobiles at lower labor costs. They have no other choice. Charles E. Wilson, chief executive officer of G.M. in 1953, had it right when he famously declared - to great criticism: "What is good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice versa."If you haven't visited the Dixon Gallery and Gardens gift shop in a few years, you might not recognize the place. It's aglow with beguiling jewelry ranging from inexpensive baubles to items intricately handcrafted in precious metals.
When store manager and jewelry buyer Nancy Robertson took her post there almost four years ago, the shop focused on things such as Monet mugs and magnets and art prints that were not big sellers with local folks.
"My vision was that (we) could do a lot better if we focused on craft items such as pottery, woven textiles, beaded purses and jewelry that would support craftsmen and artists in their own right," she said. Items still relate to the Dixon through their artistry and nature-related themes or by reflecting current exhibits.
As she saw what sold, Robertson -- little by little -- expanded jewelry lines until she had tripled the merchandise. Jewelry is now their best-selling category. Shop sales have more than doubled.
"A lot of people look to us for jewelry they haven't seen anywhere else that has a high-end look without being super high end," she said.
She purchased fine jewelry pieces that sell for $300 or $400, but also added fashion-forward items from $6 to $30. Even those are usually handcrafted with considerable skill.
"It's a lot of fun to spend $10 on a jewelry that everyone in the office admires," she said.
And shopping at the Dixon is relatively guilt free because all profits support the Memphis landmark, a private jewelry museum that depends on sponsors and membership. Dixon members get a 10 percent discount.
Robertson has an M.A. in crafts from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she studied metalsmithing, enameling, pottery, silk screening and weaving. She also worked for many years in fine jewelry at Marshall Fields in Chicago.
"The knowledge of how these jewelry items are made has really helped me be more discerning in making quality choices," she said. She and other sales people at the store enjoy educating customers about the pieces of jewelry.
Some seem to demand it. Cynthia Bloom's alluring dragonfly necklace, $186, for example, is a hand-painted glass button embellished with 14-karat gold, kiln fired, and adorned with rare, antique, 24-karat gold-lined, antique Czech glass beads and Swarovski crystals.
More whimsical are earrings and necklaces by Ayala Bar pieced together from printed fabrics, beads, stones and crystals.
Some items are purely for fun: Stretch bracelets of transparent disks in smoke and bronze are only $12 each but will wonderfully complement fall's trendiest color -- gray.
Eleanor Scott, a Memphian and former art director of the Memphis Jewish Community Center, said she and her daughter shop often at the Dixon to find unusual gifts for friends.
"We've found fabulous stuff for Christmas gifts. We've bought a lot of amber jewelry, all kinds of earring and brooches." She said she could take things directly from the store to the recipient because items are attractively packaged in bags or boxes.
Source: News.tootoo.com (http://news.tootoo.com/)