| > They didn't want a $400 locally knitted sweater, made from neighborhood sheep. They wanted a $40 sweater that was made as efficiently as possible, and $360 of change. Except that the difference was never that large and never had to be that local. What happened was that they didn't want a $42 sweater made on the same continent over a $40 sweater made on the other side of the world, because it gave back $2 in change. But monoculture and lack of supply chain diversification was never not worth $2 -- the bill just doesn't come due until it does. And this didn't happen on its own either. This was conscious policy across the board. The first world was content to impose e.g. pollution and labor regulations locally but not impose the same requirements on the manufacture of imported goods, with foreseeable consequences to where things are manufactured. Meanwhile China wanted to grow through exports, so they adopted policies like currency devaluation that not only made American and European manufacturing uncompetitive but even manufacturing in other countries with lower labor costs, so that many goods are now produced only in China. It's one thing when something is produced in China but not the United States when it's also produced in Mexico, Brazil, India, Turkey, etc. It's something else entirely to make the whole world dependent on one country. And customers didn't choose this, government policies did. |
Here's a basic sweater for $3.19: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/women-s-autumn-clothi...
Find me one made in the US within a factor of 10 of that price.