Child Rapist Trump Ruins Christmas

[steve_bank]

As an engineer I was involved in supply chain issues going back to the 80s.

Globalization was in full swing back then, accelerated by the opening of China.

Before electronics supplies went global there were always supply shortages here in the USA.

Today if you are modern bare circuit boards American sources will supply up to a certain volume, then outsource to China for large orders. The same with mage tics like transformers.

As far as I know TV and solar panel production is mostly China. Starting back in the glass CRT TV days manufacturing wholesale to China.

The problem is the anti American Chinese policy and its attempt on controlling international waters. Plus military threats against Japan and Taiwan. Before China Japan and Taiwan were the paces for cheap manufacturing,.

I agree with taking a strong posture against China, but Trump is trying to do too much too fast.

We have been too reliant on China for too long and China has been taking advantage of us.

Made In USA on a label Walmart hides the fact that while it may be assembled here, supply chains lead to China and elsewhere.

Before Trump there was a small shift toward Vietnam and India.

Don't forget Biden was promoting bringing manufacturing back to the USA for the same reasons as Trump.

This trade issue has been brewing for a very long time. Trump is bringing it to a head.

We are way too reliant on China who is an adversary.

Single source supply is always a risk wherever it is. Fire, going out of business, labor strikes, manufacturer supply chain problems.

Back in tee 80s a fire at an American semiconductor plant almost shut down manufacturing at my company.

It is not ging to get better with China.

Or America is taking advantage of China. Worse, Americans are taking advantage of Americans - they buy something from China for $20 and sell it to Americans for $100, making a big profit (even after expenses).

The initial idea when China opened up was it would be a vast market for the USA. China was very smart and turned the table on us.

It is a benefit depending on how you look at it. Trade imbalance in goods and services may not tell the whole story.

If the metric is low unemployment and inflation and a high standard of loving the imbalance is not anecessarily;y a problem.

The problem is the adversarial relationship with China. There is not reciprocal trade. China buys farms and owns business over here. In China foreign business can not own land.

In China there is no real barrier between government and business giving Chinese bigness an edge.

 

[bilby]

It would be a tragedy if people are deprived of their 'special' lingerie. God forbid having to wear Fruit Of The Loom or Haynes.

Right on, comrade! Letting people buy what they want with their money, when there is a utilitarian alternative that gets the basic job done without frivolous attention to aesthetics, is a bourgeois affectation that will lead to the collapse of capitalist decadence, and the inevitable dominance of the communist dialectic!

I always suspected that you were a devoted Marxist-Leninist revolutionary, bent on the destruction of freedom and decadence.

Oh, by the way:

Hanes underwear is made in Vietnam, China, Honduras, and Bangladesh.

(source)
(my bold)

 

[steve_bank]

There are places other than China. Especially if you turn a blind eye to how the clothes are made.

There are reasons why China goods are cheap, cheap labor.

Yes, China's labor law permits collective bargaining, but its practice is heavily restricted and limited, with unions being government-controlled and employer resistance often a major barrier. Collective agreements can be negotiated at the enterprise or industry level, but they are typically formulaic and enforcement can be weak.

Labor relations in China - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As the economy of the People's Republic of China has developed, issues of labor relations have evolved. Prior to the Chinese economic reform, Chinese citizens were only allowed to work where they originated from. Since 1978, when China began labor force reforms, the overwhelming majority of the labor force were either working at State owned enterprises or as farm workers in the rural countryside. However, over time China began to reform and by the late 90's many had moved from the countryside into the cities in hopes of higher paying jobs and more opportunities. The only connection between the countryside and the city soon became that there was a huge floating population connecting them. Independent unions are illegal in China with only the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) permitted by the Chinese state and the Chinese Communist Party to operate. China has been the largest exporter of goods in the world since 2009. Not only that, in 2013 China became the largest trading nation in the world. As China moved away from their planned economy and more towards a market economy the government has brought on many reforms. The aim of this shift in economies was to match the international standards set by the World Trade Organization and other economic entities. The ACFTU that was established to protect the interests of national and local trade unions failed to represent the workers, leading to the 2010 crackdowns. However, these strikes were centered around foreign companies.[1][2]

As the economy of the People's Republic of China has developed, issues of labor relations have evolved. Prior to the Chinese economic reform, Chinese citizens were only allowed to work where they originated from. Since 1978, when China began labor force reforms, the overwhelming majority of the labor force were either working at State owned enterprises or as farm workers in the rural countryside. However, over time China began to reform and by the late 90's many had moved from the countryside into the cities in hopes of higher paying jobs and more opportunities. The only connection between the countryside and the city soon became that there was a huge floating population connecting them. Independent unions are illegal in China with only the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) permitted by the Chinese state and the Chinese Communist Party to operate. China has been the largest exporter of goods in the world since 2009. Not only that, in 2013 China became the largest trading nation in the world. As China moved away from their planned economy and more towards a market economy the government has brought on many reforms. The aim of this shift in economies was to match the international standards set by the World Trade Organization and other economic entities. The ACFTU that was established to protect the interests of national and local trade unions failed to represent the workers, leading to the 2010 crackdowns. However, these strikes were centered around foreign companies.[1][2]

And Of Course Victoria's Secrets.

It all started in 1977 when the brand was established by husband and wife duo Roy & Gaye Raymond. However, it wasn’t long before the brand sold to billionaire Leslie Wexner, who ramped up the growth and made Victoria’s Secret the top lingerie retailer in America. In 2008, the brand opened its first international store.

No, most Victoria’s Secret clothing is not made in the USA. Most of their clothing is made in Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Victoria’s Secret sources products from all over the world, including a few from the United States. However, details about US products are incredibly vague.

Whatever floats your boat. In the summer I was walking through Capitol Hill behind a guy who was shirtless wearing a leather harness and tight leather panties.

I chuckled, but who am I to judge. If wearing kinky fetish uderwear gives you a thrill, go for it.

 

[Jarhyn]

@Jarhyn As I understand, the 100% tariffs don't kick in until November. You can't get your product shipped in prior to that?

Haha, no. We had only paid the deposit and approved the print copies last week. They'll be landing some time in December. Enough time for Trump to chicken out, but will he, this time, since his handlers may not let him?

 

[ZiprHead]

@Jarhyn As I understand, the 100% tariffs don't kick in until November. You can't get your product shipped in prior to that?

Haha, no. We had only paid the deposit and approved the print copies last week. They'll be landing some time in December. Enough time for Trump to chicken out, but will he, this time, since his handlers may not let him?

Damn. I hope this doesn't turn out to be a huge bust for you.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

That's right, I have a 45000 shipment coming

It's not my business, but what did you buy $45,000 worth of in this business climate? Imported, apparently from China.

I'm having trouble working up any more sympathy for you than I have for Walmart.
Tom

The problem is that US sources generally do not exist. US factories either can't make things or can't make them at a remotely competitive price. And with worse quality than China. The US exports an awful lot of digital stuff that doesn't get counted in trade calculations, we are not competitive on the stuff that can't be produced with heavy automation.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Second and third sourcing is the name of the game.

That requires being big enough to have multiple suppliers.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

His nonsense is even worse elsewhere:

One of Europe’s biggest farm machinery firms halts US exports over ‘hidden’ tariffs

Krone says ‘alarming’ levies on about 400 goods including hair dryers and combine harvesters have forced pause

www.theguardian.com

The Orange Turd has some sort of requirement about steel. Every iota of steel. The records simply do not exist to comply with his insanity, thus they are stopping all shipments to the US. (Let's examine it in an area where I actually know: every raw material in the shop has suppliers listed in the database. Most have a typical supplier and alternates. But everything is tracked by what it is, not where it came from. You suddenly demand that we list exactly where everything came from? And suppose we went through the nightmare of tracking parts by supplier--oops, they have suppliers also. What plant made the steel in the screws in this part??)

 

[Jarhyn]

For the record, the factory we use isn't a shit hole sweatshop. Very little of the work is labor based; it comes out of a giant machine, and the "work" is loading it into boxes and taping it up and throwing it into a container. They're all boxes of consistent size movable by roller belts.

They load material in, and machine go brrrrr, boxes go into container.

No sweatshop labor here AFAIK and we were planning a walkthrough next year some time to confirm. Nothing involved in the initial manufacturing can even be accomplished without heavy lifting machinery, because the material stock is so big and monolithic. I think that one part needs a roll replaced fairly regularly through the process because it's bulky?

His nonsense is even worse elsewhere:

One of Europe’s biggest farm machinery firms halts US exports over ‘hidden’ tariffs

Krone says ‘alarming’ levies on about 400 goods including hair dryers and combine harvesters have forced pause

www.theguardian.com

The Orange Turd has some sort of requirement about steel. Every iota of steel. The records simply do not exist to comply with his insanity, thus they are stopping all shipments to the US. (Let's examine it in an area where I actually know: every raw material in the shop has suppliers listed in the database. Most have a typical supplier and alternates. But everything is tracked by what it is, not where it came from. You suddenly demand that we list exactly where everything came from? And suppose we went through the nightmare of tracking parts by supplier--oops, they have suppliers also. What plant made the steel in the screws in this part??)

That's absolutely fucked! So, he is using Karen logic (complaining about a spec) to derail things he already agreed on because he wants to use it to tweak the nipples on the US economy during Black Friday to manipulate the markets.