[TenTec] OT: Chinese Amplifiers

Wed May 28 23:41:00 EDT 2014

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 at 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

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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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