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If I could interrupt the Presidential love/hate/blame bash fest for just a moment and get back on topic ...
One issue getting media attention is our current dependence on overseas supply chains and finished manufactured goods, primarily sourced from China, and how we need to restore those capabilities within the continental US.
That's all well and good, but has the question ever been explored of how/why our domestic manufacturing base magically moved itself overseas?
FOLLOW THE MONEY.
In a nutshell, corporations moved their manufacturing to areas with lowest labor costs --> ability to sell those products at lower cost here coupled with larger profit margins..
Sure, we could (in theory at least) restore those factories, production lines, and lost blue collar General Motors-type jobs back here in the US. But the labor costs of American factory workers are probably 10-20x what folks in Asians sweatshops are getting. And it's widely known that overseas factories and their governments turn a blind eye to environmental concerns associated with manufacturing; as such they don't have to include those regulatory compliance costs in their prices.
Those increased US labor costs and environmental regulatory compliance costs for domestic production will need to added to the price of domestically-produced goods for the company(s) to remain in business with at least a razor-thin profit margin. Is the American public ready to pay $400 for ABCXYZ made domestically, which currently can be found on the shelf for $50 manufactured in SW Asia? Will the stockholders and Wall Street look fondly at these new razor-thin profit margins from companies known for larger margins?
One issue getting media attention is our current dependence on overseas supply chains and finished manufactured goods, primarily sourced from China, and how we need to restore those capabilities within the continental US.
That's all well and good, but has the question ever been explored of how/why our domestic manufacturing base magically moved itself overseas?
FOLLOW THE MONEY.
In a nutshell, corporations moved their manufacturing to areas with lowest labor costs --> ability to sell those products at lower cost here coupled with larger profit margins..
Sure, we could (in theory at least) restore those factories, production lines, and lost blue collar General Motors-type jobs back here in the US. But the labor costs of American factory workers are probably 10-20x what folks in Asians sweatshops are getting. And it's widely known that overseas factories and their governments turn a blind eye to environmental concerns associated with manufacturing; as such they don't have to include those regulatory compliance costs in their prices.
Those increased US labor costs and environmental regulatory compliance costs for domestic production will need to added to the price of domestically-produced goods for the company(s) to remain in business with at least a razor-thin profit margin. Is the American public ready to pay $400 for ABCXYZ made domestically, which currently can be found on the shelf for $50 manufactured in SW Asia? Will the stockholders and Wall Street look fondly at these new razor-thin profit margins from companies known for larger margins?
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