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China vs. the U.S.: It's Just as Cheap to Make Goods in the USA
invite response
2017 Jun 13, 3:15pm 1,743 views 8 comments
Comments 1 - 8 of 8 Search these comments
justme
2017 Jun 13, 3:17pm
But but but...if we manufacture in the US then Wall St does not get to squash unions and stick it to the working class! That's what is important, everyone knows that.
Rew
2017 Jun 13, 3:33pm
Cool. We will wait 15+ years for the EIRs to clear so new manufacturing facilities can be constructed. (Go USA?)
(There is so little in that article of anything factually supported. Looks like some magical general production cost number compared across countries. Ridiculous. Business aren't manufacturing in wide capacity in the US right now, and I trust businesses to know where they can make a buck, and where they cannot. Tell Apple it is cheaper to make iPhones in the US. They will laugh your face off.)
RWSGFY
2017 Jun 13, 3:51pm
Tell Apple it is cheaper to make iPhones in the US. They will laugh your face off.)
Or maybe they will laugh your face off: ""Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron, the two iPhone assemblers, in June* to look into making iPhones in the U.S.," a source told the Nikkei Asian Review."
*) 2016
Strategist
2017 Jun 13, 4:01pm
But but but...if we manufacture in the US then Wall St does not get to squash unions
Whoops. There goes our competitive edge. Another round of Twinkies anyone?
Rew
2017 Jun 13, 4:11pm
Or maybe they will laugh your face off: ""Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron, the two iPhone assemblers, in June* to look into making iPhones in the U.S.," a source told the Nikkei Asian Review."
You have to remember the climate in June and what Trump was saying. Tim Cook did that at the election of Trump, so he could walk in and tell Trump the estimated costs. He wanted numbers to help illustrate to Trump what he was playing with and saying when he was on his "Anti-Apple, companies need to bring jobs back, I will punish them for being multinationals" tirade.
The whole supply chain is cheap metals from Africa/Asia, manufacturing in China, and sales to US/Japan/Europe and China. There is no magic that brings back manufacturing of these products to the US. Sure, in limited capacities, yes. The volumes the iPhone and iPad are at? Hell no! It's why some of the MacPro is US made, and virtually nothing else. The US doesn't have the economy of scale and has huge rigorous oversight with regards to environmental impacts in production.
Throw up some huge trade barriers (tariffs) or war ... and yeah, that will bring some manufacturing back. Pure cost incentive reasons to do it? Unlikely. It has to be very industry and product specific.
MisdemeanorRebel
2017 Jun 13, 4:20pm
Us is YUGELY competitive in $/KwH vs. China.
Throw up some huge trade barriers (tariffs) or war ... and yeah, that will bring some manufacturing back. Pure cost incentive reasons to do it? Unlikely. It has to be very industry and product specific.
In the 19th Century, we had an all-American high tariff. Latin America had few, because rich landowners only wanted to export to Europe, to buy from Europe. The difference is painfully palpable.
Low Tariffs are un-American.
Rew
2017 Jun 13, 4:25pm
Us is YUGELY competitive in $/KwH vs. China.
But capital investment in manufacturing and dollars for labor overwhelm that advantage.
In the 19th Century, we had an all-American high tariff. Latin America had none. The difference is painfully palpable.
1800s America is a whole different economic reality. Not comparable to today. Bogus argument/comparison.
Shaman
2017 Jun 13, 8:43pm
Especially mattresses. Shipping on those from China is more than manufacture costs to make them in San Bernadino county!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-25/china-vs-dot-the-u-dot-s-dot-its-just-as-cheap-to-make-goods-in-the-usa
Harold L. Sirkin
April 25, 2014, 3:12 AM PDT
An entire generation of Americans has come of age laboring under the assumption that the U.S. can’t compete in the manufacturing arena with low-cost competitors such as China and Brazil. That may have been true a decade ago, but it’s no longer true today.
I recently completed a review of manufacturing costs in the top 25 export economies with my colleagues Justin Rose and Michael Zinser. Our research shows that when the most important economic factors are considered—total labor costs, energy expenses, productivity growth, and currency exchange rates—Brazil is one of the highest-cost manufacturing nations in the world, Mexico is cheaper than China, China is virtually even with the U.S. (as are most of the traditionally “low-cost†countries of eastern Europe), and the low-cost leader in western Europe is none other than the country that launched the Industrial Revolution: the United Kingdom.