[TenTec] OT: Chinese Amplifiers

[K8JHR]

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 ================================