4 ms·
tl;dr; people are basic creatures, we associate the object with the money, the market doesn't work like that. I really struggle to comprehend the relationship
by verelo 9y ago
tl;dr; people are basic creatures, we associate the object with the money, the market doesn't work like that.
I really struggle to comprehend the relationship between "factory work" and business results. They money is in the value, if I control the production but the value isn't captured in the production line [it is captured in the R&D, sales, marketing, etc], it doesn't matter where I choose to produce.
I think the reason people talk about factories shrinking being an issue is because they need physicality to understand the market, but in reality, it has little to do with the actual outcomes. Case in point is every technology company that has no physical product, and even those that do, often don't produce in the same company that they sell, yet head offices continue to be just fine as do the countries they're based in.
- turbinerneiter 9y agoFactories are the symbol for the unskilled labor earning lives and skilled labor earning decent lives. I never said business results are bad, they are quite good, it's just more and more people falling of the wagon.
- rz2k 9y agoPerhaps even beyond the money is the real economy version of quality of life derived from the consumption of produced good and services. Politicians talk about jobs and work because it is unseemly to talk about enjoying wealth. When all public discourse talks about effort, it is easy to understand why people begin to think that lowered productivity, and decreased specialization are advantages rather than the enormous impediments to economic growth and prosperity. Manufacturing is also much less "real" work than agriculture or perhaps construction, if you claim that mass produced goods don't feed you or put a roof over your head, yet few people bemoan the decline fro 50% to 2-3% of the workforce being in agriculture. I suppose the answer to what other people are thinking requires an understanding of what their mental model of the economy is. For example, in real economy terms a trade deficit today means that we are getting a lot more stuff from our trading partner than they are getting from us in return. So, ask these people to explain why our partner would agree to these terms right now, and also ask how they believe that they imbalance will play out over time. The potential answers are numerous, and it's really difficult to guess how you can shed any light on the dynamics of international trade unless you understand why people are worried about it in the first place.