I think you're misunderstanding many of the economic issues involved.
First, the wages that Chinese manufacturing workers receive are actually fairly comfortable wages by their standards. A Foxconn worker, for example, is solidly middle class.
Second, you can't compare currencies directly. To say that they make the equivalent of $1 per day (or whatever) is a meaningless number unless you compare the cost of living, as well. Given the massive currency manipulation that the Chinese Government has done, it's nearly impossible to do a direct comparison.
Bottom line is that Chinese workers were lined up for those jobs. As the number of factory jobs has skyrocketed, the lines have dropped off - and there are even shortages of skilled workers in some places in China. Because of that, wages are increasing - and some manufacturers are building their new facilities in other parts of China - or even elsewhere in Asia. Supply and demand works in China, too.
The average Foxconn worker can't even afford an iPhone or an iPad. People in the US who can't even afford the data plan for an iPhone have them. There is a reason why manufacturing is done in China. It can be done cheaper at wages and rates that American workers are unwilling to accept.
Seriously there are good reasons to wake somebody in the middle of the night, sticking screens on iPhones isn't one of them. I smell a workers revolt coming to China.
They are right about one thing though, it would be very hard to find Americans willing to work with those sorts of expectations. Who would want to be packed in a dorm just to have a job.
Well, they're already packed in dorms but we call them public housing projects here don't we. Why not produce some work in order to get that check every month instead of sitting on the stoop watching the world go by.
I do not really get the problem. Aren't phone assembly lines supposed to be fully automated? Or do they still require manual labor? Do these 100000 Foxconn workers really use screwdrivers?
Of course if the Republicans have their way, that might just happen. A good number of people might just become so poor that we are forced to cut the minimum wage and allow companies to hire people for $1 a day. Then I guess you could say the Republicans were responsible for the return of manufacturing jobs to the US! Yay!
Rabid partisanship encourages us to manufacture straw men arguments that distort the real arguments so we can deepen our divisions without actually moving toward a solution. Please stop. Unions did some good, but they also did a lot to price their workers out of the competitive world market. Sometimes you can do so good a job at ensuring good wages for your people that you put them out of work. A worker's minimum hourly wage becomes very theoretical when they aren't able to actually earn it. As a few people in Detroit and Pittsburg might tell you. Such losses are very hard to get back, since they represent loss in both the physical manufacturing capacity (factories with state of the art technology) plus manpower (skilled and semi-skilled workers knowledgable about those factories).
I do not really get the problem. Aren't phone assembly lines supposed to be fully automated? Or do they still require manual labor? Do these 100000 Foxconn workers really use screwdrivers?
You imagine these people just sitting there, watching machines do everything? 100,000 workers, even in China, have to get paid. Foxconn would fire them in an instant if they weren't a genuine part of the production process.
In fact, Nationalism is *never* good. The entire history of the world is against you on that one.
Almost every example of overt nationalism in history leads to war, privation, starvation, etc. Nationalism is also at the very root of racism which is never good. People wave a flag on whatever national day of celebration they have and think "this is great!", but the truth is that Nationalism is the main cause of most of the world's problems.
These are all valid points, however it would be difficult to find an American willing to work 12 hour shifts for a wage that can't sustain a single person household.
That is true, but you need to qualify that statement with "in an industrial country".
The standard of living in China is different.
The social safety net (or lack thereof) in China is different.
You work, or potentially you starve. In the US (and most industrial countries) you would have many last options before you starved. I'm not so sure that those same options exist in China.
It is very different to compare 1000 skilled workers in China to 1000 skilled workers in the US.
I think that is a photo of a piece of American History being destroyed. It is going to be replaced with a glass cube where the kids of a wealthy man will reside.
No, it's a picture of a tacky Spanish-American mini-mansion being destroyed.
It's going to be replaced by an architectural wonder that will eventually become a tourist attraction as a piece of American History.
In fact, Nationalism is *never* good. The entire history of the world is against you on that one.
Almost every example of overt nationalism in history leads to war, privation, starvation, etc. Nationalism is also at the very root of racism which is never good. People wave a flag on whatever national day of celebration they have and think "this is great!", but the truth is that Nationalism is the main cause of most of the world's problems.
1) Loving one's country should not be confused with an extreme feeling of superiority over other other nations.
2) Being patriotic does not lead to this excessive irrational behaviour.
3) Being patriotic is not the foundation of of racism.
These are all valid points, however it would be difficult to find an American willing to work 12 hour shifts for a wage that can't sustain a single person household.
You are making a false comparison here. The money they make in China wouldn't sustain an American single person family, but it does so in China easily.
The workers in Apple's factories in China are actually well-paid relative to the Chinese economy which is the only rational measure.
The problem with using Apple as an example of the retreat to China, is that Apple is one company that could actually make their products in the US (absent other infrastructure issues).
Apple is a premium quality brand. And there are enough, but a significant minority of, people in the US and other places willing to purchase their products at premium prices. The wages that Apple would pay in the US would decrease their margins but would still allow them to make a very healthy profit.
This is not true for the Dell's of the world. Very low margins, low quality, and cheap, cheap, cheap.
The key issue, seems to me, is that all the components used in our new toys are made in the East, and those companies are very low margin as well. But, the East has a virtual monopoly on production. In fact, the US no longer has a manufacturing infrastructure, and it's not clear if the US could recreate one in the foreseeable future.
The last factory manufacturing metal "silverware" in the US, closed it's doors last year. And we don't have any manufacturers of clothing or material in the US.
The US is quite doomed even as a consumer/service society. The US is in a spiraling decline. It doesn't look that way on the surface because the GDP is high. But that is a fake statistic.
The cost of health care and drugs has skyrocketed, and that income/cost is reflected in the GDP growth. Bring down health care costs and the GDP will plummet.
The financial sector accounts for 40% of GDP, but they don't make anything but money. The housing bubble was just the latest symptom of a fake economy. Historically, the financial sector invested in productive enterprises, rather than creating financial instruments to invest in, and then the financial industry accounted for about 5% of GDP. Bring the fake financial sector back down to the historic 5% , and with control of health care costs, the GDP would properly reflect a real GDP of between 1/3 to 1/2 of current GDP.
The lack of manufacturing in the US is reflected primarily in the lack of investment in productive capital, not in the inability of people to perform the jobs. Money is being drained out of production because the financial sector can make at least 18% on debt, 12% to 20% on fake financial instruments. Why invest in new productive enterprises which will only give you 3%-5% return, when you can make triple that investing in money. Compare our banking system with the highly government controlled banking system in China. China's banks are required to invest in productive and infrastructure enterprises, that's why the factories are there.
The NYT article is eye-opening but fundamentally misses the critical problem the US has.
This is because these (together with Eastern Europe, India and to some extent Latin America) are emerging economies. Once they have completed "emerging", they will no longer have the economic appetite for this type of mass labor. These jobs will move to the new emerging economies. India is the last of these economies which will rise, and some will rise faster than others. China has been rising quickly, and will continue to do so, but there are a lot of regions in China that remain untapped in terms of labor migration, so they have a long way to go. That's why China remains a great place to do business.
Assuming no political or other economic disasters in the current and future emerging economies, within 20 years, it will no longer be cost effective to manufacture in China. Within 30 years it will no longer be cost effective to manufacture in India. After that, Africa will be the next Asia, assuming governments settle down to become stable enough to allow for long-term outside investment. Savvy investors will take note and make billions.
But we don't want those jobs back in the US, jobs which are only suitable for emerging economies.
I am Indian, so I know what i'm talking about. When you say it will no longer be cost effective to manufacture in India in 30 years, it will be ATLEAST 50 years before it becomes a problem for anybody. India is an extremely impoverished country. I was just there in December and there are PLENTY of people to provide that low cost labour for many generations to come. They can all be trained to provide a service for a bowl of rice everyday. China is the same way, plenty of poor people that can easily be trained from youth to provide a low cost service. It will be atleast half a century before that thought even enters anybody's mind.
The problem with using Apple as an example of the retreat to China, is that Apple is one company that could actually make their products in the US (absent other infrastructure issues).
Apple is a premium quality brand. And there are enough, but a significant minority of, people in the US and other places willing to purchase their products at premium prices. The wages that Apple would pay in the US would decrease their margins but would still allow them to make a very healthy profit.
This is not true for the Dell's of the world. Very low margins, low quality, and cheap, cheap, cheap.
The key issue, seems to me, is that all the components used in our new toys are made in the East, and those companies are very low margin as well. But, the East has a virtual monopoly on production. In fact, the US no longer has a manufacturing infrastructure, and it's not clear if the US could recreate one in the foreseeable future.
The last factory manufacturing metal "silverware" in the US, closed it's doors last year. And we don't have any manufacturers of clothing or material in the US.
The US is quite doomed even as a consumer/service society. The US is in a spiraling decline. It doesn't look that way on the surface because the GDP is high. But that is a fake statistic.
The cost of health care and drugs has skyrocketed, and that income/cost is reflected in the GDP growth. Bring down health care costs and the GDP will plummet.
The financial sector accounts for 40% of GDP, but they don't make anything but money. The housing bubble was just the latest symptom of a fake economy. Historically, the financial sector invested in productive enterprises, rather than creating financial instruments to invest in, and then the financial industry accounted for about 5% of GDP. Bring the fake financial sector back down to the historic 5% , and with control of health care costs, the GDP would properly reflect a real GDP of between 1/3 to 1/2 of current GDP.
The lack of manufacturing in the US is reflected primarily in the lack of investment in productive capital, not in the inability of people to perform the jobs. Money is being drained out of production because the financial sector can make at least 18% on debt, 12% to 20% on fake financial instruments. Why invest in new productive enterprises which will only give you 3%-5% return, when you can make triple that investing in money. Compare our banking system with the highly government controlled banking system in China. China's banks are required to invest in productive and infrastructure enterprises, that's why the factories are there.
The NYT article is eye-opening but fundamentally misses the critical problem the US has.
So Apple is a premium brand already sold at premium prices, even though competitive with other companies selling comparable product, yet you think Apple could produce everything in the US and still make the same profit because people are willing to pay for American produced goods at highly inflated costs? WHere is the evidence to support this? How much more are you willing to spend for Apple's products? it isn't about manufacturing in the US, but.. every...single... component... made all over the world that would have to be made in the US. As much as I love my iPhone I will not spend thousands of dollars just to get it stamped with Made in the USA. What about other countries? Do they care about their Apple products being made in the US? Are they willing to pay the price for a US made Apple products? What about other products that you want? Do you expect them to create everything within US borders? What about world trade? Is that no longer important? SHould the US have a closed door policy on goods? How would this help the nation with the highest GDP?
... this country is for the benefit of the People in it. Not Apple. Not Microsoft. Not British Petroleum.
Apple "can't" bring the manufacturing back, until of course we change the economics of the calculation every business has to make. No business can compete if the DON'T screw the American worker -- in capitalism, the lowest common denominator always wins.
The Manufacturing facilities and workers aren't as good, perhaps because we don't really manufacture anymore, and people here have a more expensive, complicated life where they can't fetch and get it at 3am in the morning when they can't afford to have someone else look after their kids.
Give us time, maybe we'll have three generations back in the home, and compete with those $3 a day jobs.
Sorry to talk politics -- but there is no other solution than to DICTATE the right outcome. Corporations either can't change this trend or are part of the problem actually paying to make it worse.
.... INSTEAD, let's propose we kick the US Chamber of Commerce out on it's outsourcing ass -- there is no shortage of self-serving people to become CEOs around the world, so what are they doing here while the labor is step and fetching over their?
2nd, we raise Tariffs on imports like Apple Computers and ANYTHING ELSE because China has these tariffs on our goods -- and it doesn't seem to be hurting THEM.
3rd, Smack every Supply-sider economist, Chicago School shill, and Global Competition guru in the mouth for being such an asshole all these years -- selling out the country that gave them the opportunity to spout their nonsense.
4th make it illegal for anyone to donate corporate money of any kind via any means, and donations have to be limited to $250 with the name of the individual on the check. Scratch that - make elections 100% taxpayer funded and the barrier to entry is getting enough signatures on a petition. Commercial TV will not be allowed to carry political ads or infomercials about candidates. Only public TV and under strict rules. Along these lines, end Political parties as well -- they make absolutely no sense that someone you voted as a representative is parlaying with another jerk to bargain away your best interests.
5th -- term limits are nonsense. It's a revolving door of corruption. If you close the hole for BENEFITS and stock trading and being a "consultant" like Newt for the industries they regulate, the only thing term limits does is make the election consultants and lobbyists MORE powerful. The Law needs to be, that if you take office, you cannot EVER work for a company that you were in a committee regulating or providing oversight on. Your spouses cannot either. Any income not from your job as a representative is strictly monitored -- in exchange we should pay them MORE money. They have to divest themselves of stocks and investments and the VALUE of these go into a trust that is held by all politicians and they just take the dollar equivalent of its increased value (if any). If you cannot accept this limit on your future wealth, Mr. Millionaire politician -- save the job for someone who gives a crap about the country.
The free market is selling us the rope right now to hang ourselves. This candor from Steve Jobs should be seen not as a recrimination of American workers -- but as a wakeup call. The Chinese will eventually have a very prosperous middle class -- and THEY will get screwed by the Supply-Side Globalist / Parasites who start preaching to them how to "be competitive." For 30 years we've increased productivity -- but what it really means is that you and I do more for less.
Maybe we should go back to mercantilism -- I don't know. All I know is that I won't be able to afford college for my kids -- and Why they Hell would I tell them to PAY for college if it's on their dime? We are better off economically hiring an educated Chinese college student who got trained on someone else's dime and acting like an employer than we are taking an investment risk with no guaranteed payout.
I haven't read all the comments yet -- but I EXPECT to read excuses why we can't make Apple Computers here because all of a sudden they would cost more.
.. I haven't met anyone yet, who was totally sold out to Capitalism, who really understood markets -- it's some kind of faith-based nonsense.
The price of a product is the MOST the market will bare. It has NOTHING to do with costs unless those costs exceed the price it can be sold at -- in which case the product doesn't get made unless it's a loss leader from a deep pocket company.
All money that doesn't go to paying workers and building and advertising and the piddling sum to taxes goes to profits.
>> The COST of INSOURCING is usually only around 10-15%, as the cost of construction is NOT the biggest ticket item.
If more products were forced to either be a LOT more expensive (import fees) or locally created, then more Americans could afford to buy them. Right now we are in a downward economic spiral because we cannot take out 2nd mortgages to rent our lifestyle. The Consumer has no more blood to give.
People in the USA work too much for too little today. that is the real problem. The rich have sucked so much money from the lower 99%, that there is little money available to buy goods. If no one is buying anything, no companies hire because there is no demand. Thus you have a cycle of no growth...a recession.
Really the 1% argument??
Jobs was one of the 1%, as were almost every historic figure you can remember. They did not all start as 1% ers, they rose to that point. Read Jobs biography for his specifics.
Consider this: a sci- fi novel had a theme that space travel and colonization killed the earth, by taking the 1% off the earth the colonies thrived on the innovation of the 1% , the 99% doomed the earth to stagnation, and inability to change fast enough to overcome population growth.
I personally think that the 1% should be treasured, as they save the world, and no I'm not one of them.
Some new innovator will come along and find ways to solve manufacturing, energy and other problems if we reward the process and let the invention to product market work.
There's more to the story than that. According to the NYT:
"Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames."
A biscuit and a cup of tea, and then a 12 hour shift. The American worker cannot compete.
Jobs was one of the 1%, as were almost every historic figure you can remember. They did not all start as 1% ers, they rose to that point. Read Jobs biography for his specifics.
Consider this: a sci- fi novel had a theme that space travel and colonization killed the earth, by taking the 1% off the earth the colonies thrived on the innovation of the 1% , the 99% doomed the earth to stagnation, and inability to change fast enough to overcome population growth.
I personally think that the 1% should be treasured, as they save the world, and no I'm not one of them.
Some new innovator will come along and find ways to solve manufacturing, energy and other problems if we reward the process and let the invention to product market work.
My opinion YMMV
If you really believe what you wrote then you have the mentality of a perfect slave.
Comments
I think you're misunderstanding many of the economic issues involved.
First, the wages that Chinese manufacturing workers receive are actually fairly comfortable wages by their standards. A Foxconn worker, for example, is solidly middle class.
Second, you can't compare currencies directly. To say that they make the equivalent of $1 per day (or whatever) is a meaningless number unless you compare the cost of living, as well. Given the massive currency manipulation that the Chinese Government has done, it's nearly impossible to do a direct comparison.
Bottom line is that Chinese workers were lined up for those jobs. As the number of factory jobs has skyrocketed, the lines have dropped off - and there are even shortages of skilled workers in some places in China. Because of that, wages are increasing - and some manufacturers are building their new facilities in other parts of China - or even elsewhere in Asia. Supply and demand works in China, too.
The average Foxconn worker can't even afford an iPhone or an iPad. People in the US who can't even afford the data plan for an iPhone have them. There is a reason why manufacturing is done in China. It can be done cheaper at wages and rates that American workers are unwilling to accept.
Seriously there are good reasons to wake somebody in the middle of the night, sticking screens on iPhones isn't one of them. I smell a workers revolt coming to China.
They are right about one thing though, it would be very hard to find Americans willing to work with those sorts of expectations. Who would want to be packed in a dorm just to have a job.
Well, they're already packed in dorms but we call them public housing projects here don't we. Why not produce some work in order to get that check every month instead of sitting on the stoop watching the world go by.
Of course if the Republicans have their way, that might just happen. A good number of people might just become so poor that we are forced to cut the minimum wage and allow companies to hire people for $1 a day. Then I guess you could say the Republicans were responsible for the return of manufacturing jobs to the US! Yay!
Rabid partisanship encourages us to manufacture straw men arguments that distort the real arguments so we can deepen our divisions without actually moving toward a solution. Please stop. Unions did some good, but they also did a lot to price their workers out of the competitive world market. Sometimes you can do so good a job at ensuring good wages for your people that you put them out of work. A worker's minimum hourly wage becomes very theoretical when they aren't able to actually earn it. As a few people in Detroit and Pittsburg might tell you. Such losses are very hard to get back, since they represent loss in both the physical manufacturing capacity (factories with state of the art technology) plus manpower (skilled and semi-skilled workers knowledgable about those factories).
I do not really get the problem. Aren't phone assembly lines supposed to be fully automated? Or do they still require manual labor? Do these 100000 Foxconn workers really use screwdrivers?
You imagine these people just sitting there, watching machines do everything? 100,000 workers, even in China, have to get paid. Foxconn would fire them in an instant if they weren't a genuine part of the production process.
... Nationalism is good. ....
In fact, Nationalism is *never* good. The entire history of the world is against you on that one.
Almost every example of overt nationalism in history leads to war, privation, starvation, etc. Nationalism is also at the very root of racism which is never good. People wave a flag on whatever national day of celebration they have and think "this is great!", but the truth is that Nationalism is the main cause of most of the world's problems.
These are all valid points, however it would be difficult to find an American willing to work 12 hour shifts for a wage that can't sustain a single person household.
That is true, but you need to qualify that statement with "in an industrial country".
The standard of living in China is different.
The social safety net (or lack thereof) in China is different.
You work, or potentially you starve. In the US (and most industrial countries) you would have many last options before you starved. I'm not so sure that those same options exist in China.
It is very different to compare 1000 skilled workers in China to 1000 skilled workers in the US.
I think that is a photo of a piece of American History being destroyed. It is going to be replaced with a glass cube where the kids of a wealthy man will reside.
No, it's a picture of a tacky Spanish-American mini-mansion being destroyed.
It's going to be replaced by an architectural wonder that will eventually become a tourist attraction as a piece of American History.
In fact, Nationalism is *never* good. The entire history of the world is against you on that one.
Almost every example of overt nationalism in history leads to war, privation, starvation, etc. Nationalism is also at the very root of racism which is never good. People wave a flag on whatever national day of celebration they have and think "this is great!", but the truth is that Nationalism is the main cause of most of the world's problems.
1) Loving one's country should not be confused with an extreme feeling of superiority over other other nations.
2) Being patriotic does not lead to this excessive irrational behaviour.
3) Being patriotic is not the foundation of of racism.
These are all valid points, however it would be difficult to find an American willing to work 12 hour shifts for a wage that can't sustain a single person household.
You are making a false comparison here. The money they make in China wouldn't sustain an American single person family, but it does so in China easily.
The workers in Apple's factories in China are actually well-paid relative to the Chinese economy which is the only rational measure.
Apple is a premium quality brand. And there are enough, but a significant minority of, people in the US and other places willing to purchase their products at premium prices. The wages that Apple would pay in the US would decrease their margins but would still allow them to make a very healthy profit.
This is not true for the Dell's of the world. Very low margins, low quality, and cheap, cheap, cheap.
The key issue, seems to me, is that all the components used in our new toys are made in the East, and those companies are very low margin as well. But, the East has a virtual monopoly on production. In fact, the US no longer has a manufacturing infrastructure, and it's not clear if the US could recreate one in the foreseeable future.
The last factory manufacturing metal "silverware" in the US, closed it's doors last year. And we don't have any manufacturers of clothing or material in the US.
The US is quite doomed even as a consumer/service society. The US is in a spiraling decline. It doesn't look that way on the surface because the GDP is high. But that is a fake statistic.
The cost of health care and drugs has skyrocketed, and that income/cost is reflected in the GDP growth. Bring down health care costs and the GDP will plummet.
The financial sector accounts for 40% of GDP, but they don't make anything but money. The housing bubble was just the latest symptom of a fake economy. Historically, the financial sector invested in productive enterprises, rather than creating financial instruments to invest in, and then the financial industry accounted for about 5% of GDP. Bring the fake financial sector back down to the historic 5% , and with control of health care costs, the GDP would properly reflect a real GDP of between 1/3 to 1/2 of current GDP.
The lack of manufacturing in the US is reflected primarily in the lack of investment in productive capital, not in the inability of people to perform the jobs. Money is being drained out of production because the financial sector can make at least 18% on debt, 12% to 20% on fake financial instruments. Why invest in new productive enterprises which will only give you 3%-5% return, when you can make triple that investing in money. Compare our banking system with the highly government controlled banking system in China. China's banks are required to invest in productive and infrastructure enterprises, that's why the factories are there.
The NYT article is eye-opening but fundamentally misses the critical problem the US has.
This is because these (together with Eastern Europe, India and to some extent Latin America) are emerging economies. Once they have completed "emerging", they will no longer have the economic appetite for this type of mass labor. These jobs will move to the new emerging economies. India is the last of these economies which will rise, and some will rise faster than others. China has been rising quickly, and will continue to do so, but there are a lot of regions in China that remain untapped in terms of labor migration, so they have a long way to go. That's why China remains a great place to do business.
Assuming no political or other economic disasters in the current and future emerging economies, within 20 years, it will no longer be cost effective to manufacture in China. Within 30 years it will no longer be cost effective to manufacture in India. After that, Africa will be the next Asia, assuming governments settle down to become stable enough to allow for long-term outside investment. Savvy investors will take note and make billions.
But we don't want those jobs back in the US, jobs which are only suitable for emerging economies.
I am Indian, so I know what i'm talking about. When you say it will no longer be cost effective to manufacture in India in 30 years, it will be ATLEAST 50 years before it becomes a problem for anybody. India is an extremely impoverished country. I was just there in December and there are PLENTY of people to provide that low cost labour for many generations to come. They can all be trained to provide a service for a bowl of rice everyday. China is the same way, plenty of poor people that can easily be trained from youth to provide a low cost service. It will be atleast half a century before that thought even enters anybody's mind.
The problem with using Apple as an example of the retreat to China, is that Apple is one company that could actually make their products in the US (absent other infrastructure issues).
Apple is a premium quality brand. And there are enough, but a significant minority of, people in the US and other places willing to purchase their products at premium prices. The wages that Apple would pay in the US would decrease their margins but would still allow them to make a very healthy profit.
This is not true for the Dell's of the world. Very low margins, low quality, and cheap, cheap, cheap.
The key issue, seems to me, is that all the components used in our new toys are made in the East, and those companies are very low margin as well. But, the East has a virtual monopoly on production. In fact, the US no longer has a manufacturing infrastructure, and it's not clear if the US could recreate one in the foreseeable future.
The last factory manufacturing metal "silverware" in the US, closed it's doors last year. And we don't have any manufacturers of clothing or material in the US.
The US is quite doomed even as a consumer/service society. The US is in a spiraling decline. It doesn't look that way on the surface because the GDP is high. But that is a fake statistic.
The cost of health care and drugs has skyrocketed, and that income/cost is reflected in the GDP growth. Bring down health care costs and the GDP will plummet.
The financial sector accounts for 40% of GDP, but they don't make anything but money. The housing bubble was just the latest symptom of a fake economy. Historically, the financial sector invested in productive enterprises, rather than creating financial instruments to invest in, and then the financial industry accounted for about 5% of GDP. Bring the fake financial sector back down to the historic 5% , and with control of health care costs, the GDP would properly reflect a real GDP of between 1/3 to 1/2 of current GDP.
The lack of manufacturing in the US is reflected primarily in the lack of investment in productive capital, not in the inability of people to perform the jobs. Money is being drained out of production because the financial sector can make at least 18% on debt, 12% to 20% on fake financial instruments. Why invest in new productive enterprises which will only give you 3%-5% return, when you can make triple that investing in money. Compare our banking system with the highly government controlled banking system in China. China's banks are required to invest in productive and infrastructure enterprises, that's why the factories are there.
The NYT article is eye-opening but fundamentally misses the critical problem the US has.
So Apple is a premium brand already sold at premium prices, even though competitive with other companies selling comparable product, yet you think Apple could produce everything in the US and still make the same profit because people are willing to pay for American produced goods at highly inflated costs? WHere is the evidence to support this? How much more are you willing to spend for Apple's products? it isn't about manufacturing in the US, but.. every...single... component... made all over the world that would have to be made in the US. As much as I love my iPhone I will not spend thousands of dollars just to get it stamped with Made in the USA. What about other countries? Do they care about their Apple products being made in the US? Are they willing to pay the price for a US made Apple products? What about other products that you want? Do you expect them to create everything within US borders? What about world trade? Is that no longer important? SHould the US have a closed door policy on goods? How would this help the nation with the highest GDP?
Apple "can't" bring the manufacturing back, until of course we change the economics of the calculation every business has to make. No business can compete if the DON'T screw the American worker -- in capitalism, the lowest common denominator always wins.
The Manufacturing facilities and workers aren't as good, perhaps because we don't really manufacture anymore, and people here have a more expensive, complicated life where they can't fetch and get it at 3am in the morning when they can't afford to have someone else look after their kids.
Give us time, maybe we'll have three generations back in the home, and compete with those $3 a day jobs.
Sorry to talk politics -- but there is no other solution than to DICTATE the right outcome. Corporations either can't change this trend or are part of the problem actually paying to make it worse.
.... INSTEAD, let's propose we kick the US Chamber of Commerce out on it's outsourcing ass -- there is no shortage of self-serving people to become CEOs around the world, so what are they doing here while the labor is step and fetching over their?
2nd, we raise Tariffs on imports like Apple Computers and ANYTHING ELSE because China has these tariffs on our goods -- and it doesn't seem to be hurting THEM.
3rd, Smack every Supply-sider economist, Chicago School shill, and Global Competition guru in the mouth for being such an asshole all these years -- selling out the country that gave them the opportunity to spout their nonsense.
4th make it illegal for anyone to donate corporate money of any kind via any means, and donations have to be limited to $250 with the name of the individual on the check. Scratch that - make elections 100% taxpayer funded and the barrier to entry is getting enough signatures on a petition. Commercial TV will not be allowed to carry political ads or infomercials about candidates. Only public TV and under strict rules. Along these lines, end Political parties as well -- they make absolutely no sense that someone you voted as a representative is parlaying with another jerk to bargain away your best interests.
5th -- term limits are nonsense. It's a revolving door of corruption. If you close the hole for BENEFITS and stock trading and being a "consultant" like Newt for the industries they regulate, the only thing term limits does is make the election consultants and lobbyists MORE powerful. The Law needs to be, that if you take office, you cannot EVER work for a company that you were in a committee regulating or providing oversight on. Your spouses cannot either. Any income not from your job as a representative is strictly monitored -- in exchange we should pay them MORE money. They have to divest themselves of stocks and investments and the VALUE of these go into a trust that is held by all politicians and they just take the dollar equivalent of its increased value (if any). If you cannot accept this limit on your future wealth, Mr. Millionaire politician -- save the job for someone who gives a crap about the country.
The free market is selling us the rope right now to hang ourselves. This candor from Steve Jobs should be seen not as a recrimination of American workers -- but as a wakeup call. The Chinese will eventually have a very prosperous middle class -- and THEY will get screwed by the Supply-Side Globalist / Parasites who start preaching to them how to "be competitive." For 30 years we've increased productivity -- but what it really means is that you and I do more for less.
Maybe we should go back to mercantilism -- I don't know. All I know is that I won't be able to afford college for my kids -- and Why they Hell would I tell them to PAY for college if it's on their dime? We are better off economically hiring an educated Chinese college student who got trained on someone else's dime and acting like an employer than we are taking an investment risk with no guaranteed payout.
.. I haven't met anyone yet, who was totally sold out to Capitalism, who really understood markets -- it's some kind of faith-based nonsense.
The price of a product is the MOST the market will bare. It has NOTHING to do with costs unless those costs exceed the price it can be sold at -- in which case the product doesn't get made unless it's a loss leader from a deep pocket company.
All money that doesn't go to paying workers and building and advertising and the piddling sum to taxes goes to profits.
>> The COST of INSOURCING is usually only around 10-15%, as the cost of construction is NOT the biggest ticket item.
If more products were forced to either be a LOT more expensive (import fees) or locally created, then more Americans could afford to buy them. Right now we are in a downward economic spiral because we cannot take out 2nd mortgages to rent our lifestyle. The Consumer has no more blood to give.
People in the USA work too much for too little today. that is the real problem. The rich have sucked so much money from the lower 99%, that there is little money available to buy goods. If no one is buying anything, no companies hire because there is no demand. Thus you have a cycle of no growth...a recession.
Really the 1% argument??
Jobs was one of the 1%, as were almost every historic figure you can remember. They did not all start as 1% ers, they rose to that point. Read Jobs biography for his specifics.
Consider this: a sci- fi novel had a theme that space travel and colonization killed the earth, by taking the 1% off the earth the colonies thrived on the innovation of the 1% , the 99% doomed the earth to stagnation, and inability to change fast enough to overcome population growth.
I personally think that the 1% should be treasured, as they save the world, and no I'm not one of them.
Some new innovator will come along and find ways to solve manufacturing, energy and other problems if we reward the process and let the invention to product market work.
My opinion YMMV
There's more to the story than that. According to the NYT:
"Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames."
A biscuit and a cup of tea, and then a 12 hour shift. The American worker cannot compete.
The American worker is obese.
The American worker is obese.
Thanks for the incorrect generalization.
Really the 1% argument??
Jobs was one of the 1%, as were almost every historic figure you can remember. They did not all start as 1% ers, they rose to that point. Read Jobs biography for his specifics.
Consider this: a sci- fi novel had a theme that space travel and colonization killed the earth, by taking the 1% off the earth the colonies thrived on the innovation of the 1% , the 99% doomed the earth to stagnation, and inability to change fast enough to overcome population growth.
I personally think that the 1% should be treasured, as they save the world, and no I'm not one of them.
Some new innovator will come along and find ways to solve manufacturing, energy and other problems if we reward the process and let the invention to product market work.
My opinion YMMV
If you really believe what you wrote then you have the mentality of a perfect slave.