Chronicling an AliExpress Pipe and Purchase for Science
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tangentially related I bought a cheap vacuum for the pipe area from somewhere in China. The thing works great only issue is it literally is labeled HoLife.
I was thinking of the batteries and how Steve Jobs discouraged people from installing new ones by designing them so you can't replace them yourself. I've always disliked him for that.
And take it a step further by adding extra battery drain with every OS update in order to frustrate users into buying the latest iPhone.
But at least you get the good feeling of knowing your purchase throws a few pennies at some anonymous worker in a suicide factory.
Yeah, but you could say that for damn near every piece of electronic technology on the market right now. Unfortunately.
I don't. I don't install every update either.
As many people are typing on computers made in China, or the parts are sourced from there at lease. Your damn $1000 iphone is from there!
Yeh, and try finding something in WalMart NOT made in China.
Anything that isnt made in China is made by prison labor. I thought it was crazy too.. but it's true. The Made In America stuff..
Yup. The hard tax dollars of the working class to fund the prisons that are paid to keep more prisoners for free labor.
I wouldn't say "anything" ... but yes, the "prison industrial complex" is quite a rabbit hole...particularly as it relates to the privatization of prisons and how they operate.
This right here. In my other hobbies as well as in my profession, Chinese-made goods have gotten better and better over the past 20 years. While there is still plenty of throw-away junk being made there (driven in large part by our expectation as Americans to pay next to nothing for many items as well as our tendency to trash things as soon as a new bright shiny model comes out), there are, for instance, Chinese-made pianos that rival and exceed their Japanese and Korean counterparts at a fraction of the cost, and Chinese-made telescopes and associated components that rival German and American products. I
Overall, China manufactures A LOT of the world's goods, both cheap and expensive, and similarly, their manufacturing quality runs the gamut. Given a greater length of time to improve institutional memory and manufacturing processes, I fully expect that Chinese-made goods will be seen as a standard of quality at some point in the next 40 years.
I pointed out in another thread that there's good Chinese and bad Chinese. My example was that of garbage-quality photography accessories being made in the same factory in China that makes top notch stuff for Profoto. All in the tooling, process, and how much dough the designer is willing to pony up to have their goods manufactured there.
That should make price a good indicator of quality (even before the much vaunted 'brand tax' is added).
The objections to China-made products go beyond quality, though:
Dumping is a dirty tactic. There's no fairness in flooding the market with underpriced junk nobody can compete against. Sure, the dumper loses money in doing so, but over time they manage to adjust their process to lose less and less or nothing at all; in the meanwhile, they've wiped out their competitors and everyone's dependent on them because they don't have national industries anymore.
Which brings us to another, more important, issue: patriotism.
Of course, for the pragmatic, ego-driven consumer who has no more love of neighbour and country these are BS considerations. They'll quickly argue that we live in a global economy, that they're on a budget, and they'll even top it off by calling any criticism of Chinese items and any defence of local workers and national industry 'racism'. They'll loudly bring up the economics final question that they believe should end all arguments: "would you be willing to pay 3x as much for the same item just to have it made locally?? ... Then shut up!"
However, in spite of all the me-only rationalisations, issues of ethics and patriotism are still strongly driving purchase decisions for some folks.
And the answer to the economics final question some of us give is 'YES!!!'
That should make price a good indicator of quality (even before the much vaunted 'brand tax' is added).
The objections to China-made products go beyond quality, though:
Dumping is a dirty tactic. There's no fairness in flooding the market with underpriced junk nobody can compete against. Sure, the dumper loses money in doing so, but over time they manage to adjust their process to lose less and less or nothing at all; in the meanwhile, they've wiped out their competitors and everyone's dependent on them because they don't have national industries anymore.
Which brings us to another, more important, issue: patriotism.
Of course, for the pragmatic, ego-driven consumer who has no more love of neighbour and country these are BS considerations. They'll quickly argue that we live in a global economy, that they're on a budget, and they'll even top it off by calling any criticism of Chinese items and any defence of local workers and national industry 'racism'. They'll loudly bring up the economics final question that they believe should end all arguments: "would you be willing to pay 3x as much for the same item just to have it made locally?? ... Then shut up!"
However, in spite of all the me-only rationalisations, issues of ethics and patriotism are still strongly driving purchase decisions for some folks.
And the answer to the economics final question some of us give is 'YES!!!'
See I would say patriotism sounds great in speeches, and it might've been a great motivator in the 1920s and 1940s, but in 2020 it's just the modern evolution of tribal thinking kept alive by propaganda. That same tribal us vs. them thinking keeps us trapped in a Red Vs. Blue mentality where both sides are being robbed of their worth as human beings by the true rulers of the world, oligopolies headed by international peoples who own entire islands and control the GDP of countries. How many Millionaire and Billionaire leaders do we really need in a world where 3/4 of a Billion people don't have access to clean water or regular meals?
If I go to the local grocery store instead of online to buy a chocolate bar what does that matter to the child slaves who picked the cocoa beans? The consumer is NOT to blame in that equation. It is the fault of the country in which the child slavers are allowed to continue their practices, the local and foreign governments that turn a blind eye to those practices, and the corporations who pay all of the aforementioned to do so solely because it's cheaper than paying a living wage elsewhere.
As automation becomes more prevalent is anyone still under the illusion that the technological progress of humanity will be shared by all? Jobs in the American auto industry have been falling since the 2000s, and while many would say that's because of outsourcing, in truth roughly 4 out of every 5 jobs lost in that sector was due to robotics. If you buy a Ford, are you really buying "American Made"? According to Investopedia, a source for making detailed investments into supply chains......
"Ford's main parts suppliers, along with the parts they supply, are as follows:
- Flex-N-Gate Seeburn, Ontario, Canada: door hinges and arms.
- NHK Spring, Shiga-ken, Japan: suspension stabilizer linkages.
- U-Shin Europe, Komárom-Esztergom, Hungary: steering columns.
- Valeo Electric and Electronic Systems, Czechowice-Dziedzice, Poland: starter assemblies.
- Webasto Roof & Components, Schierling, Germany: sliding sunroofs.
- Summit Plastics, Nanjing, China: instrument panel components.Dee Zee, Des Moines, Iowa: running boards.
- Warn Industries, Milwaukie, Oregon: axle assemblies.
- Chaidneme, Carabobo, Venezuela: mufflers and exhaust systems.
- Autoliv, Valencia, Spain: airbags, EcoBoost Engines
Other major parts suppliers for Ford include Comstar Automotive Technologies, FCC Adams, Flextronics Automotive, LG Chem and Mahle Engine Components."
According to American University the Honda Ridgeline has more US/Canadian made parts than the Ford F150.
It would seem to me the marketing promotion of "American Made" and "buy local" sentiments are there so the board members of those companies can keep shipping parts production overseas and replacing American workers with robots without upsetting their US customer base. It also seems like it's been working great for them over the past decades since CEO compensation is up 940% over 30 years while average worker pay has risen 12%!
I'd happily pay $4000 for a cellphone if I knew there wasn't a 7 year old kid mining lithium and cobalt at the end of the production chain. In a just world a $4000 cellphone pays for everybody to have a decent life along the production line, not 10 people at the top of that food chain taking $3900 and giving $100 to the 100 factory workers who assembled it. I couldn't give less of a shit about if the person making the products I buy lives in the same country as me or looks the same color as me, as long as I knew they had enough to live a decent life, that's what needs to matter to everyone in the world in order for humanity to progress as a whole. That would mean that the world was a better place and we could all easily afford $4000 cellphones.
But is someone ever going to actually step in with worldwide regulations and say "You can't make $10,000 for every $0.50 you pay your lowest earning workers, that's stupid and only leads to more suffering in the long run." even though it's a fairly obvious conclusion?? It's like people have never heard of the French Revolution and what inevitably happens when you have insanely wealthy people living extravagant lifestyles at the expense of their workers. Only difference is, now the insanely wealthy people have excellent PR, Lobbyist, and Marketing teams to shift the blame away from themselves and onto easily identifiable/more everyday conflicts like middle class vs. lower class or black vs. white or red vs. blue.
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