Been there suffered that. That’s the way totalitarian governments (economies
) operate and if they are run by communists who like many religions want to
dominate those who don’t think like them, they will do whatever they believe
will work to their advantage and to their “enemies” disadvantage. Yeah, let’s
continue to purchase their stuff… They are not Japan (today) nor Taiwan though
Taiwan may soon soon be absorbed my her bigger neighbor and we won’t be able to
do anything to prevent it. I won’t be around to suffer the consequences but
unfortunately my grand kids or great grand kids will. We continue to invest
in their power building to our detriment. Hope and pray that I an completely
wrong.
73, Pepe WP3HW
On May 28, 2014, at 2:22 PM, K8JHR <jrichards@k8jhr.com> wrote:
On 5/28/2014 1:48 PM, Kimberly Elmore wrote:
> How is it that the Chinese make these so cheaply? Is all the cost in labor,
> or do the Chinese make
_____________________________________________
Communism, Comrade. The Chinese government supports and runs its whole economy
and it has decided to run certain sectors at a loss while it builds up
infrastructure and steals business from the established Western markets.
Undercutting the Western markets with what is known (to companies like Walmart)
as "predatory pricing." Walmart has been cited for this in GA and AL and the
like - it moves in and sells bottles of aspirin for seventeen cents, and when
Mom and Pop local store goes under, it puts the price back up to regular and
owns the market. No I am not dissing Walmart pe se, but this is a fact and has
been in the news for many years, and Walmart has paid millions in fines for
doing it, but it just eats the fines as a cost of doing business, and moves on
to the next town and thereby became the economic leviathan it is today.
So, how can a Chinese guy on eBay sell a $2 switch for $1 and include shipping?
Easy, the whole deal from building the plan, to acquiring resources, and
shipping to customers, is subsidized by the government and the rest of its
economy, and it sells at a loss -- toss in cheap labor, lower cost of
development (they copy our stuff and violate patents with no apparent remorse
or shame), and use cheap substandard components (spend a little time
researching transistor quality and bootlegging issues on the i-net) and they
employ lower mfg tolerances, and ignore the cost of pollution and put up with
it instead of cleaning it up, and consider loads of other factors, and you get
stuff for cheap, undercutting the US and EU markets, and shifting the balance
of trade, and the flow of currency..., and more... and know eventually they
will be the only guys making stuff - then, as in the Walmart example, they will
up the price and recoup the losses they incurred early on. Look at the Beijing
Olympics... they had to shut the town down for several days to allow the
pollution to subside just to keep from choking the competitors... even then it
was awful and was a problem. We must pay to clean up our environment. This is
just one saving we cannot legally afford.
Anyone can do this if they have sufficient opportunity, capital, and financing
to run at a loss until the competition succumbs. US companies shift their
manufacturing facilities there, their design facilities there, and wonder why
no one is working here any more... Hmmm... can you say "bankruptcy?" I can and
made a pot full off it. But when nobody has a real job any more, TT and the
rest of us will be up a tree.
The good news is that SOME US companies are getting creative and digging in,
making stuff in different ways, and with different materials, and with higher
quality, and there is a bit of a surge in US manufacturing of late. Whether
it will make it overall is a question we cannot yet answer, but there IS a bit
of a positive trend. The Electrolux plant closed about 7 years ago, and moved
to Mexico; but they want to come back because US workers work harder, more
carefully, and don't siesta on really hot days. Oddly, the Union tried to
block it. So there are nutty trends all over.
But not hard to imagine how they make cheap parts and distribute and sell cheap
all over the world. Easy when you don't have to pay your own bills. Monitor
international debt figures... it is confusing, and amazing, at the same time.
Just My take.
All I can say... is all this negativism is bring me down and hardly helping TT
reorganize and make a profit.
Some have wondered why TT got into that arduino thing... but looking at the
covers of QST and other ham magazines, and seeing what was presented at Dayton
forums, and looking at the rise of the Maker thing and seeing the THEME of the
Dayton Hamvention was "MAKERS"... and seeing how much of that is going on...
one should realize TT is ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF IT... and the only difference
between now and then, is what they are making is different. They are not
making Heathkit type kits... but the ARE MAKING STUFF... digital and small
computer stuff... and the local guys are into it big time... and maybe, must
maybe, TT IS ON THE LEADING EDGE AGAIN.
But still, all this doom, gloom and negativism based on mere speculation is
getting depressing.
Just MY take... your mileage may vary.
===================== JR ================================
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