4 ms·

I would add that if manufacturing moves back to the US in any meaningful way, prices across the board will go up and consumption will go down. A lot of those th

by edge17 5y ago

I would add that if manufacturing moves back to the US in any meaningful way, prices across the board will go up and consumption will go down. A lot of those thin margins will get crushed anyway, especially because - as you pointed out, much of the demand is elastic.

donw 5y ago
Why wasn't this a problem from 1950-1970 or so?
- inetknght 5y ago
  I would argue that was because the revenue was more evenly distributed across the workforce instead of being focused in the few at the top.
- kortex 5y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system
Ericson2314 5y ago
Maybe that's a a good thing? Per https://phenomenalworld.org/interviews/trade-wars-are-class-wars https://phenomenalworld.org/interviews/trade-wars-are-class-... the rest of the world is chucking all sorts of junk at once --- per the high elasticity of the demand we barely want it but "oh fine" we'll take another shift if they are just that cheap. If we're the dollar exporter, we should be able to call the shots in other ways. Dollars for democracy (hah), dollars for rail not cars, etc. etc. It's a massive soft power and develop-for-greater-good opportunity, but we choose to get inundated with cheap crap instead.
AtlasBarfed 5y ago
Shipping things across the ocean is externalizing carbon impacts of shipping emissions. It shouldn't be nearly as cheap as it is. Also, overseas manufacturing amounts to environmental law arbitrage, enabled by falsely cheap shipping costs, so you can pollute as much as you want in Indonesia or China or India or whatever and then ship it to environmentally-restricted US. And we're enriching our enemies (China) and technologically and infrastructurally enabling them. All things that also aren't priced into the "cheap goods". Free trade arguments also fail when China does massive government investment to block access to emergent manufacturing markets by unsubsidized countries. And they manipulate their currency. America should be onboard with righting the actual carbon emissions cost of goods shipment, but come on, the rich are getting rich off of that in America and don't give two shits about the middle class or future prosperity of the USA. After all, they're all buying fortress estates in New Zealand for the forthcoming collapse that they themselves are willfully enabling.

by edge17 5y ago

donw 5y ago

Why wasn't this a problem from 1950-1970 or so?

inetknght 5y ago
I would argue that was because the revenue was more evenly distributed across the workforce instead of being focused in the few at the top.
kortex 5y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system

Ericson2314 5y ago

Maybe that's a a good thing? Per https://phenomenalworld.org/interviews/trade-wars-are-class-wars https://phenomenalworld.org/interviews/trade-wars-are-class-... the rest of the world is chucking all sorts of junk at once --- per the high elasticity of the demand we barely want it but "oh fine" we'll take another shift if they are just that cheap. If we're the dollar exporter, we should be able to call the shots in other ways. Dollars for democracy (hah), dollars for rail not cars, etc. etc. It's a massive soft power and develop-for-greater-good opportunity, but we choose to get inundated with cheap crap instead.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

Shipping things across the ocean is externalizing carbon impacts of shipping emissions. It shouldn't be nearly as cheap as it is. Also, overseas manufacturing amounts to environmental law arbitrage, enabled by falsely cheap shipping costs, so you can pollute as much as you want in Indonesia or China or India or whatever and then ship it to environmentally-restricted US. And we're enriching our enemies (China) and technologically and infrastructurally enabling them. All things that also aren't priced into the "cheap goods". Free trade arguments also fail when China does massive government investment to block access to emergent manufacturing markets by unsubsidized countries. And they manipulate their currency. America should be onboard with righting the actual carbon emissions cost of goods shipment, but come on, the rich are getting rich off of that in America and don't give two shits about the middle class or future prosperity of the USA. After all, they're all buying fortress estates in New Zealand for the forthcoming collapse that they themselves are willfully enabling.