Posted on 01/22/2012 4:49:53 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
This Article Explains Why Apple Makes iPhones In China And Why The U.S. Is Screwed
Henry Blodget | Jan. 22, 2012, 5:30 AM | 3,191 |
The manufacturing processes of Apple and other electronics companies have come into sharp focus of late, with the revelation of more details about what life is like for the Chinese workers who make the world's gadgets.
When one reads about these working conditions--12-16 hour shifts, pay of ~$1 per hour or less, dormitories with 15 beds in 12x12 rooms--the obvious assumption is that it's all about money:
Greedy manufacturers want to make bigger profits, so they make their products in places with labor practices that would be illegal in America.
And money is certainly part of it.
But an amazing new article by Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher of the New York Times reveals that there's a lot more to it than that.
The article illustrates just how big a challenge the U.S. faces in trying stop the "hollowing out" process that has sent middle-class jobs overseas--and, with it, the extreme inequality that has developed in recent years.
The reason Apple makes iPhones and iPads in China, the article shows, is not just about money.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Thailand is a good example. It seems most of the worlds hard drives are made there. At NewEgg you can see that hard drive prices are double what they were 6 months ago. All due to serious flooding in Thailand last year which flooded hard drive factories and their local suppliers
I'm still trying to figure out the big round thing on the right. I'm thinking a Tadpole with a periscope. Wait, maybe it's a Sperm with a periscope. That way it's all tied together. That Obama is an Artist as well as a Commie. I heard Hitler liked to paint, so there you go.
Those are the three basics of an economy and has been so for thousands of years. Real prosperity comes when these three sectors are doing well.
We obviously have lost the plot when we are importing so many manufactured goods and importing so much oil/energy which is part of our mining sector, all making for massive trade deficits. We also import lots of vegetables and fruits these days which is pathetic
It has nothing to do with unions; the fact is they want to get rid of their non-unionized white collar workforce as well, who’d become accustomed to such luxuries as weekends, vacations, etc.
Unions are the worst-case scenario, but the fact is that American wages themselves are more than these companies want to deal with.
That’s right; Venezuela became a major stockholder in those companies as if by magic.
In Cuba it was worse; the government became THE owner.
Even Vietnam and Malaysia are eating into Red China’s slave monopoly; notice the news item last week that we are normalizing relations with Myanmar?
They neve outsource the dying, do they?
“They neve outsource the dying, do they?”
They do when they can (Blackwater, Kurds, Northern Alliance, etc.), but they are less reliable than Uncle Sam.
Lots of cheap labor there. Better to import from those nations than China which is our enemy or rival. I've seen shoes from Vietnam
They want their product by somebody who isn’t a California Union asswipe solely concerned about maximizing their take without a corresponding increase in productivity and quality. They want people to make their products that are proud of their work, not haters of the company they work for. It is as simple as that.
“I’ve seen shoes from Vietnam”
They are as much an enemy as Red China; not as much a competitor, but as much an enemy.
I hear ya' bro. I was intending on opening a small business. All the regulations and payoffs in the form of licenses, fee's, registrations, permits, etc., where prohibitive.
I understand your point, but I also understand the local economics behind the pay discrepancy. It's unfair to point out the low pay in that part of the world unless you make cost-of-living comparisons.
Did you know that a major American company pays Bosnian employees 1/2 of what an American would receive for the same job? Did you know that we were paying Afghani laborers $1.00 a day back in 2003/2004, and they were busting their rear ends supporting our troops.
How are we any different?
Greece has onerous regulations too.
permits to build a resort require THOUSANDS of official stamps.
This is why greece has no ecconomy.
save the USA gut the EPA.
U.S. imports decreased 66% from US$4.4 billion (1929) to US$1.5 billion (1933), and exports decreased 61% from US$5.4 billion to US$2.1 billion, both decreases much more than the 50% decrease of the GDP. Thus exports minus imports which is the GDP formula declined from 1 billion to 600 million while GDP was 58.9 billion-a trivial effect on GDP of about 2/3 of 1%.
How many times must this myth be busted? Get an new lie, this one has been dispelled comrade.
Wrong. Lowering imports meant that Americans had to buy fascist-style “Blue Eagle” American crap that was overpriced. And it was crap. This left less money in the pockets of Americans to spend on other things.
People ignorantly think “imports bad” and “exports good”. Actually both are good.
I guess you can’t read. The amount of GDP involved in import export was SO SMALL there was no effect.
And that’s the only thing the Chinese pay tariffs on?
I’m pretty sure the Chinese pay on more than just television receivers and monitors, based on that schedule. Don’t you think? I guess you were mistaken? Thanks for doing some research.
As far as I can tell from my research the total of all tariffs collected from Chinese imports divided by the total value of the imports is around 2%. And looking at other schedules most everything imported has no duty.
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