Re: Are you saying the US should heavily subsidize its supplies like the Chinese government does?
Macharius Send a noteboard - 24/01/2012 01:06:51 PM
I am unsure what that has to do with the outsourcers contention they go overseas because America no longer produces workers with the education and skills for the demanding jobs they need done. Yet when I did manufacturing work before leaving the States all it required was a HS diploma or GED. The company was, however, in the process of building a Indonesian plant to take over a major product line our plant had been producing for years: Because the labor cost was lower.
I think it depends on the product being manufactured. The iPhone, for instance, has a huge profit margin. Snowblowers, lawnmowers, etc likely don't.
For items with a lower profit margin, the labor savings can be the difference between success or being forced to shut down entirely - especially when many/most/all of your competitors have shifted production overseas, leaving a company little choice but to follow suit just to remain competitive.
The kicker, though, is that China's competitive advantage is completely illusory since they manipulate their currency. If they stopped or even slowed their unnecessarily high rate of inflation, domestic manufacturing would have a tremendous advantage since they don't have to deal with nearly the same logistical issues (namely, having to ship across the Pacific Ocean). For that matter, the continual increase in cost of transportation (since ships run on oil) may yet make all the difference in the long run.
Regarding the education and skills argument, an American factory would have to be heavily automated to be able to compete with de facto slave labor - and that requires more advanced skills. To use an example from the article, the foreman roused 8000 workers at midnight for an unscheduled 12-hour shift. If that were in the US, they'd have to call in an automation engineering team of only several people to reprogram the assembly robots. But finding enough automation engineers to replace the millions of un-/barely-skilled Asian laborers would be... difficult, to say the least.
How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work
21/01/2012 10:10:30 PM
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The sad fact is...
22/01/2012 02:56:46 AM
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I am SO sick of hearing this false rhetoric.
22/01/2012 06:39:07 PM
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Well, you're both presenting the far sides of the situation, surprisingly enough.
23/01/2012 10:22:23 AM
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Well, yes, I do realize there are people out there too good for decent jobs.
23/01/2012 10:44:57 AM
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Re: Well, yes, I do realize there are people out there too good for decent jobs.
23/01/2012 11:29:53 AM
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I don't believe its false. I believe its true. As seen, daily, by myself.
25/01/2012 07:11:00 PM
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You probably aren't aware that even though it is a crime in China...
23/01/2012 04:59:27 AM
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I guess threatening mass suicide isn't a big fuss?
23/01/2012 10:25:48 PM
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According to the NYT article "nothing like Foxconn City exists in the United States."
24/01/2012 10:58:56 AM
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It will be acceptable as long as the US remains a market for products made that way.
22/01/2012 06:10:20 PM
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It always kind of cracks me up when people bitch about China when...
23/01/2012 05:04:36 AM
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People really should read the rest of the article and not just the first page.
23/01/2012 11:21:39 PM
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Are you saying the US should heavily subsidize its supplies like the Chinese government does?
24/01/2012 11:15:37 AM
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Re: Are you saying the US should heavily subsidize its supplies like the Chinese government does?
24/01/2012 01:06:51 PM
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The difference is there would be tremendous hue and cry over such subsidies in the US.
25/01/2012 11:39:04 AM
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Of course not. Where did I even say anything about that?
24/01/2012 08:10:29 PM
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You did not say it, but citing the importance of cheaper supplies suggests it.
25/01/2012 11:10:04 AM
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What a bunch of shit.
24/01/2012 01:33:19 AM
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Maybe you could share something less shitty? *NM*
24/01/2012 10:12:38 AM
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Perhaps, but he's spot-on regarding on China's industrial and currency policies. *NM*
24/01/2012 01:12:44 PM
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Then he could surely find something to share.
24/01/2012 03:01:00 PM
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What is was all about amounts to America playing by softball rules in a hardball game.
24/01/2012 11:27:30 PM
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