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Labors a small component of it, so is the ability to pollute the nearby areas slaughtering locals like cheap replaceable widgets, and the ability to get government financed loans, free land, etc etc etc.
But sure lets use steel. Currently it takes approx 1,000 people employed year round to create 1 million tons of steel. IE 1 person (average us wage is 78K) to create 1,000 TONS of steel. Lately automation has been changing this figure to 1 person per 2,800 tons at Pesco for example. $770 per ton for HR plate, or 770,000 dollars a year in steel per person employed. Employees make up less then 10% of the price. Unless we used automation like PESCO...then its 3%. Now in china it represents somewhere between 2-7% of the price. So we lose there....unless of course we are shipping it back here. THEN...then we should crush them right?
Hmm....the cost of power maybe (highly subsidized)? Or is it the materials? (we could buy from austrailia just as they do, but then the shipping....
So why do they undercut us by 25-35%? Turns out the answer is usually government subsidies.
They're crushing our economy with them at every level they can, then undercutting us leading to a trade deficit, that they then turn around and use to lower the cost of their goods, and round and round. Its been fueling rising labor costs lately though for them, and they've been losing ground to some of their neighboring countries.
Recently China has had HUGE expansions in their steel production-and they use a large majority of it, the exports of that subsidized industry are whats hurting us, not our wages so much.
Free trade disputes both in the US and in the EU have been having some tariffs due to those subsidies, but as the chinese know...by the time the court cases get resolved and they stop subsidizing, the damage to our industry is done.
Very little to do with wages.
Which material has intrinsic cost that is not derived from labor?
So we, the taxpayers pay for what McDonalds refuses to pay their employees. I don't know about you, but I kind of resent that under the circumstances.
AGAIN, we get back to the minimum wage job supporting a family, the people working these jobs should be retirees, students, second (or more) job for extra family income, none of which should require additional government assistance.
And, I've noticed that you are more extreme, out of control, shrieking leftist than many of the lefties on here. You aren't even worthy of a discussion.
I don't know you so I don't know when you left Seattle. A lot has changed since then and you can no longer claim Seattle is the most expensive.
I wrote it in my post. I said, 2003. I said that when I was leaving Seattle, Forbes magazine had ranked it #1 for overpriced. It was ranked that for a few years. Last I heard was 2005, then I stopped paying attention. I was in Miami at that time. The POINT was, you stated that Miami was expensive and you couldn't believe what I was saying, I was providing not just anecdotal evidence, but it was ranked by a magazine that does this every year.
Austrailian ore costs the same no matter who buys it. Oh and their minimum wage? $16.18
Basic components of steel-ore and electric. Or do you want to move the goalposts here?
Steel ore and electricity etc. all have labor cost associated. Australian ore may be cheaper but it doesn't mean there's no labor cost. It's cheaper simply because it costs less labor per ton to mine the ore.
For example, again hypothetically, American can only mine their ore at a rate of 1 ton per hour for each person while the Australians are doing 2 tons/hour, and assuming there's no material cost.
With the American minimum wage of $15, they can sell the ore for $15 labor + $15 profit = $30/ton.
With the Australian minimum wage of $16.18, they can sell the ore for $16.18/2 labor + $15 profit = $23.09/ton.
Austrailian ore costs the same no matter who buys it. Oh and their minimum wage? $16.18
Basic components of steel-ore and electric. Or do you want to move the goalposts here?
Take gold for example. It's a metal that has little to no value except for jewelry. Now, pretty much the only reason it costs so much is because the amount of labor we must put in to mine this metal.
Everything you buy has labor cost. Steel ore doesn't come to your door for free. It takes a significant amount of effort or labor mining the ore.
1. Allow increased housing densities especially in transit corridors where residents will not be driving so many cars.
2. Reduce, waive, or eliminate housing development fees which have become popular in recent years.
3. Reduce existing housing standards which are not necessary - the numerous regulations which in order to price out the poor, e.g. suspend NIMBY practices.
4. Implement inclusionary zoning practices which allow developers a 'density bonus' for providing affordable housiing.
The first one I agree with, though that one tends to be met with backlash from people who currently live in an area that is zoned to get more dense yet not add any new parking for all the people that have a tendency to own a car even if they primarily commute by alternative forms.
The second one I have seen done when it comes to waiving fees for developers that are including a percentage of affordable housing.
The third one would depend on the specific housing standards that you are referring to.
And the fourth one could be tied for the second one.
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