Jump to content

Buy American?


lewmur

Recommended Posts

A question for U.S. members. Apple, a U.S. company, has their products made in China. Lenovo, a Chinese owned co. is building a plant in N.C. So, if you want to "Buy American", do you buy Apple or Lenovo? :whistling:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an Allen & Heath ZED 10 FX USB mixer- does that count?

 

Besides just about *all* electronics manufacturers are assembling items in China. It's not just Apple.

 

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

V.T. Eric Layton

A question for U.S. members. Apple, a U.S. company, has their products made in China. Lenovo, a Chinese owned co. is building a plant in N.C. So, if you want to "Buy American", do you buy Apple or Lenovo? :whistling:

 

My! A dilemma. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an Allen & Heath ZED 10 FX USB mixer- does that count?

 

Besides just about *all* electronics manufacturers are assembling items in China. It's not just Apple.

 

Adam

 

The Raspberry Pi has just shiffted from being made in China to production at a factory in Wales UK. :clap:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Owned by a Korean co. :clap:

 

That is right Sony is Korean. There is very little left in the Uk that is owned by brits. I think good old queeny still has the deeds to buck palace though. :shifty:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is right Sony is Korean.

Sony is Japanese with HQ in Tokyo.

 

Even my little mixer from Soundcraft, a British company, is made in China.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I for one do not see a problem with global manufacturing, aside from the obvious issues we have with other countries' labor laws. Tariffs on trade are an issue, but those are political issues not necessarily related to the idea of globalization.

 

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

V.T. Eric Layton

The problem with global manufacturing is that the countries (China, for instance) where the products are manufactured pay ridiculously low wages, if any, to their workers who make these products. Which means the Mega-companies (Apple, for instance) moving their manufacturing there to save money on wages and to make the product reasonably priced in order to sell it in this country TAKES JOBS AWAY FROM AMERICANS. Americans with no jobs can't buy Apple products. Eventually, we will reach the point of diminishing returns and the entire house of cards will fall, wiping out the world economies in one catastrophic FAIL.

 

You best live out in the sticks somewhere on a farm when this happens because a hungry, desperate mob billions strong will be a scary thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think that will happen.

 

Wages are increasing in these third world countries, and eventually, competition will level out across the board, and the disparity will be almost eliminated.

 

Then manufacturing will shift over the next couple decades to whichever countries cater to the industry the best, much like they do now based on cost.

 

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A factor which is often overlooked in global manufacturing is the huge amount of transport required. Australia sends a number of megaships to China every day loaded with coal, oil, gas, iron ore, bauxite and other raw materials. Then the products return in huge container ships. The amount of fuel used is enormous.

I've seen the focus of manufacturing change a few times in my lifetime. When I was young, Australia made electrical goods, cars, clothes and produced nearly all it's food. Then the Japanese introduced cheaper goods in some of these categories and less was made locally. This changed to Hong Kong, Malaysia and other SE Asian countries and now China. We still have some cars made here with Aussie divisions of Ford, GM and Toyota but a large percentage are imported. There are almost zero electrical goods and good luck finding Aussie made clothes.

Another disturbing trend is that China has recently bought a large tract of agricultural land in Australia called Cubbie Station, for the purposes of growing and exporting food to China. This has been highly controversial with concerns that Australia should rather be farming the land and selling the produce. It would be a sad state of affairs to have to buy Australian made food back from China! :o

It will be interesting to see where the next cheap manufacturing will come from when China becomes more middle class and expensive. Already I'm seeing a lot of clothes from Bangladesh and Cambodia, both very poor nations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brazil is becoming a manufacturing powerhouse as well.

 

However, shipment by sea is about as efficient as it gets these days. The ships burn an enormous amount of fuel, but they also carry an incredible amount of cargo/goods.

 

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

V.T. Eric Layton

I don't think that will happen.

 

Wages are increasing in these third world countries, and eventually, competition will level out across the board, and the disparity will be almost eliminated.

 

Then manufacturing will shift over the next couple decades to whichever countries cater to the industry the best, much like they do now based on cost.

 

Adam

 

You have a wonderfully positive outlook on life, Adam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have a wonderfully positive outlook on life, Adam.

 

He's from southern California. What did you expect? :hysterical:

 

I say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek... but seriously... I lived in socal for a year. 1 year is all i could tolerate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not entirely sure how you came to that conclusion, but I am glad I am not a stereotypical product of my upbringing.

 

I grew up on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin, then joined the navy and now live in Virginia.

 

Thanks for the compliment. :-)

 

Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the good news is that the impoverished nations will rise up to the level,

the bad news for us, is that we will sink way down to fill in those valleys.

That is happening to a small, slow extent already. Not much solace for the third of the world who are hungry every day.

I recall a drunken session with some mates where we got philosophical, and decided that most of the world's woes would vanish by doing away with the richest 5% of people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Cluttermagnet

The world economic system hangs by a thread. So greedy have they been that some give it about even odds that a worldwide economic collapse will ensue, some time in the next 2-3 years perhaps. I'd absolutely love to be proven totally wrong on this, BTW. Anyway, this collapsing house of cards leads to a world depression deeper than that of the 1930's. City life will be tough, what with the food riots, martial law, lawless gangs preying on the citizenry (oh, I already mentioned that- see 'martial law'). DHS has a contract out for bids- for millions of rounds of hollow point ammo, more rounds than there are US citizens. Wonder who they are planning to shoot at? Don't believe me? Just google it.

 

My advice: stockpile, plan to shelter in place. Hide out, eat your canned goods, and play dead. If they come for you, be prepared to defend yourself. Maybe have some less inhumane rounds ('full metal jacket'). Hollow points are banned by the Geneva Convention (for use in war), but they're good enough for our boyz at DHS.

 

Sorry, this stuff makes my blood boil. Right now we're witnessing an election in the US to determine who is greedier and more powerful and gets to carve a living out of the backs of the people of the US for the next 4 years. Oh joy...

 

Made in the US? I'll tell you what they are manufacturing in the US- a whole new underclass. An impoverished underclass. A hungry, increasingly desperate underclass. This cannot lead anywhere good. The American dream is on life support...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm more concerned with the demise of the planet due to pollution, overpopulation and resource plundering. If the US sinks to anarchy in the meantime it will be just a blip on the overall radar. I'm glad I don't live there though. ;) Oz has got plenty of it's own carp going down anyway.

 

Funny thing I just remembered; in high school I studied economics for a year but discontinued because I thought it could never work. I think I was right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest LilBambi

Nevermind, I am more concerned that we have no choices in this election yet again.

 

N.O.T.A. (None Of The Above) should be on the ballot and if it wins, it should force an election reset and not allow the current candidates to even run again. Bring in a new crop of candidates and see if they are any better. Until we get someone that the people choose for once.

 

OK, yeah, so a girl can dream. ;)

 

Skip that. I don't want to start any conversation in politics or religion. It just leads to mean spirited arguments and have been banned here.

Edited by LilBambi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cluttermagnet

Yeah. the politics would just explode. I'm really not trying to start anything. I may have a dog in this fight, but it is sad that 'lesser of evils' is my only practical choice, as usual. Really saddens me to see how taken over the governments are- local, state, federal- they all end up being used as 'extractive' tools against the increasingly lean and scarce middle class, and to force conformity. An interesting (to me) observation- the internet has been a big force in shaping my awareness and attitudes over the past ten+ years. Let's pray that 'they' all see, r.e. the net, "...don't spit in the soup, we've all got to eat..." May it continue to breathe free a while longer...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...