Does anyone know what exactly the price difference would be if companies actually bothered to build in the US instead of China? I know it would depend on what was being produced, but what is the real savings of making shoes and clothes abroad? American Apparel pays at least $10-12 per hour (not great, but better than pennies) and there are certainly many Americans who were making that and were laid off.
They won't be founding startups, but I'm sure many would love to learn the skills to work in a factory if it was even an option here anymore.
What do companies save by outsourcing to countries where they don't pay taxes, health care, benefits, vacation, and price per hour is dirt cheap? I heard 20% somewhere a while back. If an iPad cost 20% more would it still sell? Or a pair of Nike shoes? While it has been victim of some about of fraud, Product(RED) got people to pay a bit extra for something they would have bought anyway knowing that money was going to a good cause.
The middle class is under attack, but the bottom is really struggling and things are only going to get worse. Some people depend on being a cashier. If we can stabilize the bottom workers we can rebuild from there.
There are a lot of issues other than just wages in a lot of this manufacturing. I think environmental and other compliance costs are a major factor for a lot of manufacturing, and for many forms of electronics, being near your suppliers is a big deal -- and now china has reached a critical mass of subcontractors and suppliers, such that it's easier to build in china.
I actually have some hardware projects I want to build over the next decade, and I'd prefer to produce them in the US or UK if at all possible (they're security devices). Should be interesting seeing exactly what can be done. I believe if you can solve the subcontractor/parts problem, modern automation should make US production competitive, as long as your production process isn't terribly polluting or regulated (which I wouldn't want to be responsible for even if it happened in China). Some place like eastern WA or TN or something might be a great place to manufacture high value products again.
They won't be founding startups, but I'm sure many would love to learn the skills to work in a factory if it was even an option here anymore.
What do companies save by outsourcing to countries where they don't pay taxes, health care, benefits, vacation, and price per hour is dirt cheap? I heard 20% somewhere a while back. If an iPad cost 20% more would it still sell? Or a pair of Nike shoes? While it has been victim of some about of fraud, Product(RED) got people to pay a bit extra for something they would have bought anyway knowing that money was going to a good cause.
The middle class is under attack, but the bottom is really struggling and things are only going to get worse. Some people depend on being a cashier. If we can stabilize the bottom workers we can rebuild from there.