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You get a lot of crap from China, because consumers are paying crap for them. China's manufacturing can be world class when you pay enough . . . witness the iPhones and other high end, premium priced products made over there. They are as good as any. You get what you pay for.
Mick
You pay what they can get away with selling. The Chinese cut corners. You might start off with near-western quality for their goods when made 'under license', then after the first year or so quality fade can result as they start to try and maximize profits. Chinese export companies are subsidized by their government as well so there's less drive to push maximum effort in products. They'll be getting paid no matter what.
Unless companies supervise them, exercise ruthless quality control, the product can suffer. Then there's the issue of Chinese iron ore. I had an Italian friend who was the company rep for a steelworks in SE Asia. He told me they would NOT buy the Chinese steel because it was inferior and not to the same standard as western steel (in this case from Britain).
Iphones are a fad and do pretty much what a cell phone does only with fancy graphics and a touchscreen, big wow.
You do know what happens to the economy when people don't spend money on goods and services, correct? Most people don't buy every iteration of iPhone in any event. Capitalism!
Mick
What happens ?
People actually put money in the bank and have an emergency fund instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Like everything, there is a balance between saving and consumption and we are an over-consuming society.
As long as credit exists and the persistence of the entitlement mentality, nothing will ever change.
We can profitably make iphones here for what they sell for. No one can convince me otherwise. Apple just can't abuse the help here like they can in China but the workers in China are getting tired of it.
If you have 2 companies making the same product and in one factory they are paying their workers $1 an hour with no benefits and in the other factory you are paying your workers$30 an hour with all the benefits how do you think the price of the 2 products will compare.?
People actually put money in the bank and have an emergency fund instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Like everything, there is a balance between saving and consumption and we are an over-consuming society.
As long as credit exists and the persistence of the entitlement mentality, nothing will ever change.
It is all pretty silly......."OMG, the new one is .05% bigger, I simply have to have it".
Yes it does seem like a waste, but I don't think that if you are pro-liberty, you would support government intervention to change people's behaviors because you think it is silly. It doesn't seem like using taxation to deny others their right to pursue happiness by waiting in line to drop $800 on a phone that will be obsolete in a few hours is a very conservative viewpoint.
Maybe you should read, (or perhaps you already have) Cass Sunstein's book, "Nudge." What you want to with tariffs is exactly what Cass Sunstein is suggesting. Using the power of the government to "Nudge" people into the behaviors government thinks you are too stupid or selfish to do by yourself.
Sorry, that is NOT the way to shrink government and expand personal liberty and freedom.
Then again Donald has no intention of shrinking government or expanding personal freedom and liberty, so there you.
If you have 2 companies making the same product and in one factory they are paying their workers $1 an hour with no benefits and in the other factory you are paying your workers$30 an hour with all the benefits how do you think the price of the 2 products will compare.?
No one can convince me that we can not make iphones here profitably for what they sell for.
Maybe Apple would like to rely on China to protect their patents?
With electronics, people don't keep the old models because they become outdated. You can no longer get parts or programs for them. The connectors change. They aren't compatible with your new electronics.
It used to be that you bought a TV and it lasted for 30 years -- but no more. Two years max, then there is something new.
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