[TenTec] OT: Chinese Amplifiers

Wed May 28 17:01:22 EDT 2014

Jim,  my mileage may vary, but I go down the same road of analysis that you
posted - the Chinese have been doing the predatory pricing and extended
credit since before Colombus "discovered" the new World. -- 1421 is a great
book only then the Chinese extended endless credit to the sultans so that
they would buy porcelain - now we are doing it for plastic!

Kris KM2KM

MERSCHROD
123 Warren Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
Skype: Merschrod

-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of K8JHR
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 3:22 PM
To: Kimberly Elmore; Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] OT: Chinese Amplifiers

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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