General > General Technical Chat
How can governments ensure all companies get equal access to China?
nctnico:
--- Quote from: floobydust on April 18, 2020, 11:34:38 pm ---
--- Quote from: nctnico on April 18, 2020, 11:02:50 pm ---[...] But still, why is anyone entertaining yet another one of treez's tantrums?
--- End quote ---
The wonky thread is relevant because we all sit back and expect our quality of life to continue despite the obvious fire.
Engineering is higher up the food chain and without local design and manufacturing, there's not much to do.
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It has been proven a long time ago that your statement isn't true. Most of the value (and thus profit) in an item is not coming from manufacturing it but selling it. So the last thing you want to do is manufacturing. At least not mass-production. Sure there is room for local manufacturing in developed countries but this needs to have a high added value like making special high-tech products or making something quickly. Anyone who thinks that bringing mass production back to 'the west' is actually good for the economy (=increasing living standards) is a complete idiot.
Simon:
--- Quote from: nctnico on April 18, 2020, 11:02:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: Simon on April 18, 2020, 10:15:21 pm ---when all you do is import you have nothing to export. Again I am no financial whiz but surely you can't just keep handing your money over out of the country for tat that goes in the bin. unless there is a balance of import/export you just become a financial desert with no expertise and a workforce that is not capable of doing anything more than driving pallet trucks and using tills.
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The US has been doing just that for decades. But still, why is anyone entertaining yet another one of treez's tantrums?
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Well he hasn't actually manage to make an intelligent comment after his initial rant. Maybe it will teach him to shut the fuck up next time as clearly he is out of his depth!
tooki:
--- Quote from: Simon on April 19, 2020, 08:36:48 am ---
--- Quote from: nctnico on April 18, 2020, 11:02:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: Simon on April 18, 2020, 10:15:21 pm ---when all you do is import you have nothing to export. Again I am no financial whiz but surely you can't just keep handing your money over out of the country for tat that goes in the bin. unless there is a balance of import/export you just become a financial desert with no expertise and a workforce that is not capable of doing anything more than driving pallet trucks and using tills.
--- End quote ---
The US has been doing just that for decades. But still, why is anyone entertaining yet another one of treez's tantrums?
--- End quote ---
Well he hasn't actually manage to make an intelligent comment after his initial rant. Maybe it will teach him to shut the fuck up next time as clearly he is out of his depth!
--- End quote ---
Right. Just after pigs fly.
Zero999:
--- Quote from: Simon on April 18, 2020, 07:43:22 pm ---basically if a country is way cheaper than you how do you discourage your citizens buying things made in the cheaper country?
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You don't.
Putting tariffs on Chinese products won't work. If we do what the US has done and tariff components and raw materials, then was we'll do is kill off our own manufactures. We could tariff ready made goods, but we still get many of the components and raw materials from China, so the Chinese could charge the UK more for them, if they wanted too and get the money back that way.
It's long been proven that tariffs don't work because it results in tit for tat action and harms both parties. Trade wars are like any war: there's no real winner.
Another important thing to remember is more often than not, manufacturing is only a small part of the cost of an item. Design and branding are often far more valuable. A can of Coca-Cola doesn't cost any more to manufacture than a supermarket own brand soft drink, but it sells for much more because of the branding.
To compete with China we need to make things which are worth the extra money, such as high quality, low volumes with a rapid turnaround. We can't do it purely on cost, more because of the limited access to raw materials. Cheap labour is less of a factor now, than it used to be, since the manufacture of electronics can be heavily automated. Even if we do manage to bring back a lot of manufacturing to the UK, it won't create as many jobs, as many think.
Simon:
No electronics manufacturing in and of itself is so automated that it would not be a boom in jobs. Finished products could be import taxed. As it stands look at all of the crap a lot of it dangerous that just slips in in individual packages from ebay. I have always advocated the upholding of standards. Rather than just tax everything make sure that it is decent quality. We ship items half way around the world just to throw them in the bin days to months later. With a rush to the bottom in price yes no one can compete.
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