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08-13-2013, 06:59 AM | #16 |
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Only the flip side, it isn't a bad way to give these intelligence folks some good book recommendations.
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08-13-2013, 07:04 AM | #17 | |
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This is basic, classical economics, as taught by Ludwig von Mises in his 1922 work "Socialism" that explained exactly why socialism could not succeed, long before the Berlin wall toppled or the USSR dissolved. |
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08-13-2013, 07:15 AM | #18 |
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08-13-2013, 07:24 AM | #19 | |
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08-13-2013, 07:44 AM | #20 | |
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08-13-2013, 08:24 AM | #21 | |
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I am not an American by the way, just have seen it stated more than once that MacArthur was very much for helping the Japanese rebuild, as opposed to further punishing them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Japan Helen |
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08-13-2013, 08:34 AM | #22 | |
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Perhaps he cold have accomplished the same thing if MacArthur had decided to give into the popular sentiment and punish the Japanese but I doubt it. Deming just didn't have that war hero status to pull it of AFAIK. I am sure he had the smarts to do it, but possibly he would not even have been there if MacArthur had not made it possible. Helen |
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08-13-2013, 10:10 AM | #23 | |
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When Japan was paving the way to economic heights, they competed with the quality goods made elsewhere. That quality comes with the price tag, and it seems that most of us are not ready to pay for it these days. We've gotten rich enough to buy cheap things. The "dollar shop" mentality is our fault, IMHO. |
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08-13-2013, 05:07 PM | #24 |
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The Japanese reputation for quality control is a very real thing. I once worked with the Japanese branch of Canon's color copier division. They really impressed me with their work ethic. They tested everything, every time.
China can produce equally high quality if it is demanded of them, but if left to their own devices, quality varies wildly. |
08-13-2013, 05:12 PM | #25 |
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The main reason cheap, Chinese goods are often crap, is obviously that they are cheap. That said, it's hardly a secret that Chinese manufacturing plants tends to require far more oversight for the output to be consistently up to spec than similar plants elsewhere. I know a few people who have various kinds of manufacturing done in China and they have all regaled me with amusing stories. Amusing for me who don't pay for the mishaps and wasted time, that is.
While I partly agree with Ankh, I don't think consumers should shoulder all the blame. After all, there's been a decades-long effort by basically everyone who wants to sell us something to make us buy more stuff and to buy it more often. The steadily declining quality of all manner of goods obviously greatly help in that regard. All in the cause of higher profit and screw the customer. Last edited by Istvan diVega; 08-13-2013 at 05:14 PM. |
08-13-2013, 05:14 PM | #26 | |
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What I can't figure out is how the Chinese can be making any money of most Dollar Store items. Take a sugar container made of glass. Prior to 2008 these were sold to the Dollar store by a distributer for 37 cents and the price leapt about that time to 67 cents. How can a sugar container be manufactured, packed in boxes, shipped to a barge, barged across the ocean to Canada, be shipped to a distributer who probably marks them up 100% and then sells to the Dollar store for 67 cents. I know it can be done, because they do it. Boggles my mind. Helen |
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08-13-2013, 05:32 PM | #27 |
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It's all about scale. When both manpower and raw materials are cheap, the product simple and it is being manufactured in sufficient volume, the cost per unit can get almost unimaginably low.
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08-13-2013, 06:12 PM | #28 | |
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Anyway probably I have gone too far off topic. Sorry Helen |
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08-13-2013, 06:58 PM | #29 | |
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And on the cheap side, a lot of things are being sold below cost just to keep the factores running when business is slow or because they got some "insider deal" on taxes, raw materials, and inspections (safety, environment, working conditions and hours, etc.). Those you won't get when working for international brands when the factory's being watched closely. But given the high wages and labor shortages in China the days of super cheap Chinese goods are numbered, anway. As for Japan, they started out being cheap, but moved up very quickly. |
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08-13-2013, 07:13 PM | #30 | |
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Moving up the food chain now is not necessarily a bad thing for China, few young people want to work in factories, anyway. But it is not an easy transition. And in general I share your observations, Chinese people are the most full blooded capitalists in the world. Making money is more important than anything else. Which is why they got so far so quickly. |
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