Companies brace for end of cheap made-in-China era

Companies brace for end of cheap made-in-China era

news.yahoo.com

SHANGHAI – Factory workers demanding better wages and working conditions are hastening the eventual end of an era of cheap costs that helped make southern coastal China the world's factory floor.

"China is going to go through a very dramatic period. The big companies are starting to exit. We all see the writing on the wall," said Rick Goodwin, a China trade veteran of 22 years, whose company links foreign buyers with Chinese suppliers.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Uh oh. Looks like the prices of most things are going to go up pretty soon. Maybe the companies will just move to a different country and the prices will stay the same. Eh, they'll problably raise prices anyways.

I wonder whats going to happen in the next couple years. Hopefully the US will start bringing back production inside the country.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

WE had better start thinking designing and making mae in america again soon! thats my intake. IDe rather pay the extra cost for anything american made it supports local communitys, businesses familys factorys and people.

I wonder whats going to happen in the next couple years. Hopefully the US will start bringing back production inside the country.

Just wait for the 'Free Trade Zones' to begin appearing, and then the following campaigns to boycott goods made under slave-wages/conditions in US sweatshops.

Would be an ironic twist if that all-american brand, Nike, were to lead the way

Two things...maybe three. This also happened in India. The heyday for the corporations is over in this regard in some countries.

However, those returning are doing so paying FAR lower wages. And desparate people are going to take rock bottom and not negotiate at all. It's all almost as if it was by design if you ask me. If they didn't know this would happen they sure should have.

Also, probably many won't return but will move on to the next third world country desperate for work at slave wages, until that cycle repeats. Other places this has happened in are Russia and Brazil. Brazil was interesting to watch as they stood up for themselves a lot more strongly from the start than say people in China or India. I think a lot of companies might classify that as a fail.

Eventually it will all level out, with many of the people in the countries that built these companies initially far worse off at the expense of raising the standard of living for a second for others. In theory, I suppose these countries who provided the cheap labor should be rising to sustain their own countries more and more as far as innovation and consumerism, but in some the sheer number of people there will always prevent this, and their corporate owners (in some cases like China their very government) are even greedier and more uncaring than ours were.

Originally posted by citizen smith

Would be an ironic twist if that all-american brand, Nike, were to lead the way

This made me laugh....................What if!!!!

We went to China and bought some goods when the world went "China goods crazy"...

Got the goods after a Pro-Forma trade, they arrived and YEAP, terrible they smelt, cracked and complaints - The Company learnt their lessons.

Almost a "Crazy Trend to Trade with China"

yeah! thats another thing. Years ago, having a tag sale required no permitt. appparently where i live, u must have a permitt to have a tag sale, on your own property now, in southwest CT. I suppose a law could be made, where bartering is made illegal. people will do it regardless, but simply because tag sales for example hurt big companys profits...this is bullsh*t... big buisness can influence and make laws to control us, let alone monopolizing small competative businesses. not supposed to work that way..our law makers n givers are supposed to watch out for us in public interest, NOT corporate interest,

Countries are expandable in the wonderfull world of capitalism.

China will be left completely destroyed.

Originally posted by ziggy1706
WE had better start thinking designing and making mae in america again soon! thats my intake. IDe rather pay the extra cost for anything american made

it supports local communitys, businesses familys factorys and people.

The next time you will see something made in the US, it will be made by robots.
So you won't support anything.

reply to post by ickylevel


Do you think we as a world are not destroyed....already

oh yuor right icklevel i didnt factor that in! example..robot arms and machines in car manufacuring places. those replaced humans* robots dont require a paycheck, althuogh i think sometimes with how eccentric n greedy CEO's can be, might sound like a brand new history thing* the first mechanical arm in FORD screws in a side frame for the focus. CEO has given this robot for first time in hitosry! to make competative wages, 401K and stocks! just had to add a little sense of humor. but i could see that happening!
well if its true, about china here, i wonder what will happen when everything on thier end starts to downfall, when it will affect us, what our leaders will do ( probably take thier money n run out the backdoor like a coward would), leaving us to suffer the inflation or depression. From what ive learned, china makes/exports way more prodcuts than the rest of the world, things you and me use, aka Walmart* this china buisness hurts them, what will happen to walmart? or places like them, since they have squashed all the small competators, leaving us with no one else to buy from*

reply to post by vesta


No. Not if we make some actually wise decisions with everyone's interests in mind and learn some lessons from this. When new companies are born of this, maybe they'll remember.

Some of these corporations really did cave into greed at the cost of much, both tangible and intangible. They began to think and were allowed to think that they could survive without the people who made them successful, became more disrespectful. They ultimately will pay the price....one way or another.

They brainwashed people all along this path, making our kids think they weren't smart enough, making us think we were too demanding or too lazy. Telling us all sorts of things that defied logic but that we had no apparent choice but to believe. Those who lost jobs went away dejected and became invisible and unheard. Those who still had jobs made no waves until it was their turn.

And here we sit. Partly by our own hand too. And the government is now seeing the costs too in an eroded tax base. Snowball effect, and if they didn't see that this was a potential consequence then they got sold as big a bill of goods by the corporations as the people did. Pretty stupid.

Originally posted by ickylevel
Countries are expandable in the wonderfull world of capitalism.

China will be left completely destroyed.

A Freudian slip, maybe?


On topic: China is experiencing growing pains. The workers are ready to upgrade their lives again. It seems that they are wanting more economic freedom. You know, capitalism. They want better lives and are working hard and fighting for it.

Their want of better wages means that the difference in pay between China and the West is shrinking.

Many companies are striving to stay profitable by shifting factories to cheaper areas farther inland or to other developing countries, and a few are even resuming production in the West.

That means a few new jobs in the West. Helping slow the massive debt woes now hovering above it.



[edit on 8-7-2010 by sporkmonster]

Ah, come on, cheer up, there's still the Mexicans to exploit. You see, all hope is not lost. Yet.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Yeah and only if they have minds like us.................many people are asleep, listen to the news that is Cr*p - I for one have truly had enough!

Would love to be in a fellow commune..

It could go one of two ways:

1) Developed nations bring manufacturing home, pay decent wages and allow job security, clean and safe environments, etc. Build high-quality goods with an emphasis on pride in craftsmanship, durability, thrift, and value for money. Developing countries like China use their excess capacity to make life better for their own people. This would be the end of global-trade-based Ricardian economics. There would be some big losers in this scenario, and there would have to be some trade, particularly for raw materials. But if done correctly, this might be the best long-term outcome for everyone.

2) Globalism contines to seek out ever-cheaper labor by pushing into new frontiers of ultra-cheap third-world labor (Bangladesh, Africa, the most poverty-stricken places in India, Latin America, etc.). Meanwhile the "squeeze" on jobless members of developed nations will increasingly transform their lifestyles into something resembling the third world. Result = a hellish nightmare of an ultra-wealthy, miniscule elite in heavily-fortified luxury compounds while the rest of humanity sinks into a downard arc of misery.

Our company is making some great deals getting work done in Detroit Americas first 3rd world city. Companies that used to deal only with the automakers are willing to deal to get work. When you concider it's 3 hours down the road it's much cheaper than China.

The best thing that could happen to America is no more cheap made in China.

As it is now i have to shop secondhand stores and pawn shops for good American tools.

Not because i need tools often because the old American tools last forever.

What many people never understood was American tools last and in the long run you will end up paying more buying tools from china as they do not last and have to be replaced.

reply to post by buni11687


hey give it time and soon china and india will be exploiting us in the west as we go bust and can barely afford to live, we will see swet shops pop up and cheap exports being sent to china and india with them up in arms over why we have their Jobs

Not just for America. I think this is the best thing that could happen for the world, as long as the jobs are brought home so that local communities can thrive once again and instill a sense of pride in people.