3 ms·

Is there are reason to think suddenly a bunch of manufacturing pops up and pushes prices down? I’m not convinced there’s any real strategy here.

by duxup 2y ago

alabastervlog 2y ago
Also, it'll only meaningfully push down prices if labor prices plummet. Just building more factories won't do it. Typically, when you see MIUSA items now, they're high-quality, because it doesn't make sense to use expensive labor while cutting lots of corners on process and cheaping out on materials when your finished good will still be expensive, only a little cheaper than making something high-quality, due to labor costs. This holds for most other developed-world manufacturing, too, and is the biggest reason that "made in [name of developed country]" is one of the more reliable high-level signals of quality—simply because it's rarely a good business idea to manufacture poor products at developed-world labor prices. We can't compete at the lower end of prices & quality without cutting US labor pay rates a whole bunch.
quantified 2y ago
Prices stay down if you pay the worker like Chinese labor. Which would fit what manufacturers desire, Henry Ford is long dead.
- theendisney 2y ago
  I've done truly shit jobs for truly shit pay. The only offending part about it are housing and food prices. If, by comparison, i owned a bunch of slaves i would make sure they do profitable work but i would also make sure they have a bed and something to eat. There is nothing interesting about denying them this. Many underestimate how thoughtless and careless people get if ends dont meet. If any thought makes you angry you will find ways not to. It is fairly easy to switch to chinese salaries, can go even lower. Just make it so that life doesnt suck. A good life is also in the cards.
  - quantified 2y ago
    Yeah well Chinese salaries without life sucking requires "socialism", i.e. the government provides some useful benefits, that doesn't happen in the USA.
    - theendisney 2y ago
      Nah, there is enough control over the cost of living. Cutting or raising taxes gives plenty of control. Say tax free restaurants and less strict rules if you serve 1-5 meals per day, slightly more regulation for 6-10 etc other countries are full of places like that and they dont kill that many people:)
westurner 2y ago
The SDGs have Goals, Targets, and Indicators. What are the goals for domestic manufacturing? FRED series tagged "Manufacturing" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/tags/series?t=manufacturing https://fred.stlouisfed.org/tags/series?t=manufacturing "Manufacturers' New Orders: Total Manufacturing (AMTMNO)" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AMTMNO https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AMTMNO
taylodl 2y ago
Tariffs only work to protect already existing industries. The asinine way Trump has implemented tariffs, in the hopes of spurring American manufacturing, will never work as intended. To wit, the new manufacturers know all they have to do is be priced slightly below their tariffed competitors' price. This strategy maximizes their profit, which fulfills the business' obligation to their shareholders. But it also sets things up that the tariff can never be repealed without facing a lot of political backlash because of the American jobs that will be lost. The loser in all this is the consumer, who only sees prices go up, quite significantly at that, and will never come back down. I can't state more emphatically how utterly stupid Trump's tariffs are.

Is there are reason to think suddenly a bunch of manufacturing pops up and pushes prices down? I’m not convinced there’s any real strategy here.

by duxup 2y ago

Is there are reason to think suddenly a bunch of manufacturing pops up and pushes prices down? I’m not convinced there’s any real strategy here.

alabastervlog 2y ago

Also, it'll only meaningfully push down prices if labor prices plummet. Just building more factories won't do it. Typically, when you see MIUSA items now, they're high-quality, because it doesn't make sense to use expensive labor while cutting lots of corners on process and cheaping out on materials when your finished good will still be expensive, only a little cheaper than making something high-quality, due to labor costs. This holds for most other developed-world manufacturing, too, and is the biggest reason that "made in [name of developed country]" is one of the more reliable high-level signals of quality—simply because it's rarely a good business idea to manufacture poor products at developed-world labor prices. We can't compete at the lower end of prices & quality without cutting US labor pay rates a whole bunch.

quantified 2y ago

Prices stay down if you pay the worker like Chinese labor. Which would fit what manufacturers desire, Henry Ford is long dead.

theendisney 2y ago
I've done truly shit jobs for truly shit pay. The only offending part about it are housing and food prices. If, by comparison, i owned a bunch of slaves i would make sure they do profitable work but i would also make sure they have a bed and something to eat. There is nothing interesting about denying them this. Many underestimate how thoughtless and careless people get if ends dont meet. If any thought makes you angry you will find ways not to. It is fairly easy to switch to chinese salaries, can go even lower. Just make it so that life doesnt suck. A good life is also in the cards.
- quantified 2y ago
  Yeah well Chinese salaries without life sucking requires "socialism", i.e. the government provides some useful benefits, that doesn't happen in the USA.
  - theendisney 2y ago
    Nah, there is enough control over the cost of living. Cutting or raising taxes gives plenty of control. Say tax free restaurants and less strict rules if you serve 1-5 meals per day, slightly more regulation for 6-10 etc other countries are full of places like that and they dont kill that many people:)

westurner 2y ago

The SDGs have Goals, Targets, and Indicators. What are the goals for domestic manufacturing? FRED series tagged "Manufacturing" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/tags/series?t=manufacturing https://fred.stlouisfed.org/tags/series?t=manufacturing "Manufacturers' New Orders: Total Manufacturing (AMTMNO)" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AMTMNO https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AMTMNO

taylodl 2y ago

Tariffs only work to protect already existing industries. The asinine way Trump has implemented tariffs, in the hopes of spurring American manufacturing, will never work as intended. To wit, the new manufacturers know all they have to do is be priced slightly below their tariffed competitors' price. This strategy maximizes their profit, which fulfills the business' obligation to their shareholders. But it also sets things up that the tariff can never be repealed without facing a lot of political backlash because of the American jobs that will be lost. The loser in all this is the consumer, who only sees prices go up, quite significantly at that, and will never come back down. I can't state more emphatically how utterly stupid Trump's tariffs are.