4 ms·

i often wonder about this. because if you look at Big Law, investment banking, or private equity, there are a lot of highly-educated Americans who are willing

i often wonder about this. because if you look at Big Law, investment banking, or private equity, there are a lot of highly-educated Americans who are willing to work as hard as anyone on earth. so it's got to be something about TSMC's recruiting pipeline, or perhaps what motivations the Americans who get educated for the skills they need have, rather than specifically American laziness.

logicchains 2y ago
It's very simple: the pay at TSMC is shit by American tech standards and Americans capable of doing the job generally have much better-paying options. Paying US-competitive salaries would basically double TSMC's labor cost.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  Yeah, this is just simple principles: Garbage in, garbage out. If you're only offering little more pay than an entry level fast food worker, your quality and productivity will match that. The real theme of the post-08 crash is "no one wants to pay americans anymore". And it's only been spreading from industry to industry as the billionaires figure out how to cut american labor but benefit from american consumerism.
  - robertlagrant 2y ago
    It's simpler principles: cost of living is different in different countries, and politicians generally get votes for promising to spend money (raising the cost of living) or doing other COL-raising activities, rather than to save it (thus potentially lowering it). There are no solutions; only trade-offs. And the US, like many first world countries, has picked trade-offs that raise the average COL.
    - llamaimperative 2y ago
      Cost of living never goes down if productivity is going up
      - robertlagrant 2y ago
        Why is that? If I replace a team of 20 admin staff with 3 admin staff and Microsoft Office licences to replace a paper filing system with a digital one, haven't I raised productivity and lowered prices?
        llamaimperative 2y ago
        Productivity increases -> wages go up -> "30% of salary on rent" goes up -> rent goes up -> cost of everything goes up We could arrest pretty much all cost of living growth if all renters (both businesses and individuals) just decided not to continuously agree to pay higher prices for the same land/apartments/buildings.
        robertlagrant 2y ago
        > Productivity increases -> wages go up -> "30% of salary on rent" goes up -> rent goes up -> cost of everything goes up Yes wages might go up (someone who can use Sharepoint[0] is probably more efficient than someone who can use a physical filing system) but you need far fewer people to do it. So costs can still go down. > We could arrest pretty much all cost of living growth if all renters (both businesses and individuals) just decided not to continuously agree to pay higher prices for the same land/apartments/buildings. I agree that most of cost of living is housing-related, but rent price increases are a function of population increasing faster than housing. That's the thing to address. [0] or something good
        llamaimperative 2y ago
        I didn't say the costs of individual items or services never go down, I said the "cost of living," i.e. broad-based growth in costs over long periods of time, goes up with productivity. > I agree that most of cost of living is housing-related, but rent price increases are a function of population increasing faster than housing. That's the thing to address. Yes we should build a whole lot more and it will slow residential price growth, but no, in general this will not actually reduce the cost of living. For example, this doesn't address the increased competition (i.e. increased prices) for commercial spaces, which gets baked into every coffee, garment, or meal you purchase.
  - api 2y ago
    That can only work, of course, until the American consumer is tapped out. The you get another crash. America does have cost disease, but it’s from more than just politicians spending too much. It’s also things like NIMBYs restricting housing supply or the insane bureaucratic explosion in health care.
snailmailstare 2y ago
In finance you can strut around wall street and cause a bidding war. In chip design you can move your life to a specific shitsville to work for the other employer and get sued before they decide to close down again.

logicchains 2y ago

It's very simple: the pay at TSMC is shit by American tech standards and Americans capable of doing the job generally have much better-paying options. Paying US-competitive salaries would basically double TSMC's labor cost.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
Yeah, this is just simple principles: Garbage in, garbage out. If you're only offering little more pay than an entry level fast food worker, your quality and productivity will match that. The real theme of the post-08 crash is "no one wants to pay americans anymore". And it's only been spreading from industry to industry as the billionaires figure out how to cut american labor but benefit from american consumerism.
- robertlagrant 2y ago
  It's simpler principles: cost of living is different in different countries, and politicians generally get votes for promising to spend money (raising the cost of living) or doing other COL-raising activities, rather than to save it (thus potentially lowering it). There are no solutions; only trade-offs. And the US, like many first world countries, has picked trade-offs that raise the average COL.
  - llamaimperative 2y ago
    Cost of living never goes down if productivity is going up
    - robertlagrant 2y ago
      Why is that? If I replace a team of 20 admin staff with 3 admin staff and Microsoft Office licences to replace a paper filing system with a digital one, haven't I raised productivity and lowered prices?
      - llamaimperative 2y ago
        Productivity increases -> wages go up -> "30% of salary on rent" goes up -> rent goes up -> cost of everything goes up We could arrest pretty much all cost of living growth if all renters (both businesses and individuals) just decided not to continuously agree to pay higher prices for the same land/apartments/buildings.
        robertlagrant 2y ago
        > Productivity increases -> wages go up -> "30% of salary on rent" goes up -> rent goes up -> cost of everything goes up Yes wages might go up (someone who can use Sharepoint[0] is probably more efficient than someone who can use a physical filing system) but you need far fewer people to do it. So costs can still go down. > We could arrest pretty much all cost of living growth if all renters (both businesses and individuals) just decided not to continuously agree to pay higher prices for the same land/apartments/buildings. I agree that most of cost of living is housing-related, but rent price increases are a function of population increasing faster than housing. That's the thing to address. [0] or something good
        llamaimperative 2y ago
        I didn't say the costs of individual items or services never go down, I said the "cost of living," i.e. broad-based growth in costs over long periods of time, goes up with productivity. > I agree that most of cost of living is housing-related, but rent price increases are a function of population increasing faster than housing. That's the thing to address. Yes we should build a whole lot more and it will slow residential price growth, but no, in general this will not actually reduce the cost of living. For example, this doesn't address the increased competition (i.e. increased prices) for commercial spaces, which gets baked into every coffee, garment, or meal you purchase.
- api 2y ago
  That can only work, of course, until the American consumer is tapped out. The you get another crash. America does have cost disease, but it’s from more than just politicians spending too much. It’s also things like NIMBYs restricting housing supply or the insane bureaucratic explosion in health care.

snailmailstare 2y ago

In finance you can strut around wall street and cause a bidding war. In chip design you can move your life to a specific shitsville to work for the other employer and get sued before they decide to close down again.