Posted on 06/16/2021 12:00:54 PM PDT by Rebelbase
This photo collage is from a knife manufacturer in China that I have hosted on imagebb. The full image will be posted below in the first comment.
https://i.ibb.co/px3SrHy/r-BVa-EFc-Jx-VGAEG2-XAAMukmyn-YXY054.jpg
Here is the same photo from the original source.
https://www.dhresource.com/0x0/f2/albu/g4/M01/42/93/rBVaEFcJxVGAEG2XAAMukmynYXY054.jpg
Here is my interpretation:
Obtain an original US product, disassemble it and scan the pieces into a CAD program.
Send the CAD data to a CNC milling machine which will replicate the product components to virtually identical specs. Obviously cheaper raw materials are used but in some cases the same quality material is used which produces a virtual clone.
Use cheap labor to mill any other parts needed.
Assemble the product using labor at a fraction of US labor cost.
Sell product in the US at a price that severely undercuts US competition and forces the majority of hard goods manufacturers out of business.
> Why should an American worker get $25 an hour when someone in another country will do the same work for $6? <
You make a fair point. But what if that other country has workers who will do the work for $1 an hour. Then what?
It’s not like after WW II when America was competing with other countries who were free like America, but war-damaged. America is now competing with a totalitarian nation that doesn’t give a damn about freedom, worker safety, common-sense pollution controls, or anything else.
I’m all for fair competition, if the playing field is level. But it’s not.
That uneven playing field is not all China’s fault. Government over-regulation and crazy union demands have also played a part in making this mess.
” The knife on the left is made in the USA and costs around $160. The ones on the right are China clones that sell for $25.”
Is it made in the US? Odds are it is “final assembly” and then claims US made. Most “USA Made” are products that are made in China and assembled in the US.
It is the same progression as what we saw back in the 60s with Made in Hong Kong then Made in Japan then Made in Taiwan. In the case of Japan and Taiwan they morphed out of producing cheap junk to producing higher quality products which sent the cheap to be manufactured in China which in turn is settling into higher quality manufacturing. The cheaper stuff is being picked up by other countries.
Agree with it all. I try to explain to my fellow countrymen that we are no longer “worthy” of wages higher than the rest of the world. Those days are gone. That’s one reason the rest of the world has caught up or is catching up in standard of living. And I expect this trend to continue. The good news is that all boats seem to be rising when people are smart about their response.
Well “good enough” is a market-based criteria. If his business was challenged by an offshore producer with a cost advantage, he had several options to choose from. One would have been to make locks for e.g. Mercedes Benz and other premium car makers who do not buy “good enough” but pay premium prices for superior components. Or he could have used his lock-making expertise to make something else, like high security locks that sell for premium prices and thus would not be subject to the same pressures.
Every business in every industry faces similar pressures every day. Most realize that being the cheapest producer of “good enough” products is a race to the bottom where profitability is minimal and customer loyalty is nearly non-existent - they will jump ship in a minute to save a few pennies. The jobs that were lost are not are result of Chinese manufacturers becoming the producers of “good enough” products, but of this business owner failing to pursue a business strategy which would have allowed them to be retained. I can give countless examples of US manufacturers who did that successfully and are thriving.
We still make money.
Fiat money.
We should pay fiat taxes...
Vietnam, just to name one example, has long held a love-hate relationship with China, going from staunch allies to fighting a war just over the course of one decade (1970s).
Washington DC destroyed manufacturing...they sent it oversea by not using tariffs...
They wanted cheaper goods so the tax burden did not fell so bad ..it started with textiles and just keep going
That particular knife is wholly made in the US. It may have bearings in it from China though.
A lot of Made in the USA knife companies offer budget lines that are made in China or Taiwan.
We do. Our taxes are all paid in dollars. It's not like the old feudal days where the tax collector would come around and take a few of your geese.
My contention as well. In the end the consumer loses. Washers and dishwashers are breaking apart under 5 years when they use to last decades. Heck they even try to sell you on a 2 to 4 year warranty, basically saying they can’t guarantee the quality of their products any more.
If the US military is preparing for Chinese aggression why the hell do we still have them on the most favored nation trading status?
> Most “USA Made” are products that are made in China and assembled in the US. <
I’m seeing more and more products that say not “Made in the USA” but “Assembled in the USA”. And then they have the nerve to put an American flag next to their message.
And what does “Assembled in the USA“ mean anyway? Is a foreign product needing only a screw tightened still assembled in the USA?
Same happened to Japan. Designer shoes are now only DESIGNED in Japan. Not made there. I think pretty much everything electronic in Japan is made in China.
But it identifies as one photo
Funny how you never hear much from the Free Traders around here anymore.
Now that China is a superpower.
But hey their wallets were more important than America.
we used to call it reverse engineering
my last tech company, we used to buy CCD cameras(among other things) from all over and tear them apart
looking for stuff we could use, and what they had already stolen...
I saw that too
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