Why is everything made in China?

[MD11]

$500? No.....the base model *****.

But for my $750 dollar iPad with 3G, yes. I could give a **** less what happens in China. I have my own family to worry about.

I don't know what you're talking about with regards destroying fellow countrymen. No comparable product is manufactured in this country.

btw.... read this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/06/apple-foxconn-suicide-pact_n_858504.html

How does that make you feel about your above statement? So apart for losing US Jobs, we're also abusing others.. for our $750 iPad...

I'd rather have a $1250 iPad and keep jobs here, and let the Chinese build their own economy organically.

 

[Monte]

Samsung Galaxy Tab - Made in South Korea

 

[dledinger]

Our US military does the same thing with service members.

What's the point?

 

[kythri]

sometimes you don't have a choice..... I have an arsenal of apple stuff, all made in China... not happy about it, but like you said, what's my alternative?

Sometimes however you have a choice.... US made, or at least EU made.. over Chinese and yet people will still go with the lest expensive, even if they can afford the US made product and it's better. It's the Walmartization of America and I've not seen it in other countries like Germany, England or Italy where I travel quite often. People there seem to have more concern about where something comes from and how well it's made.

Those countries also are far smaller, far more insular and typically, have a far more racially-homogenous population.

The very nature of our country is accepting of "outsiders", which makes it no big surprise that, as we seem to be observing, the majority of the population is far more accepting of imported goods.

 

[kythri]

Samsung Galaxy Tab - Made in South Korea

That ain't domestic.

 

[MD11]

You want to know what will bring back industry?

let me guess, get rid of those greedy unions and useless environmental rules and let the CEO's and lobbyists call all the shots?

 

[MD11]

Our US military does the same thing with service members.

What's the point?

I spent time in the military, I wasn't' a civilian anymore... all bets are off. That said, no I wasn't treated that badly actually. It was fair and respectable treatment.

 

[Knuckle Buster]

I'm so disappointed that my daughters won't be able to work in a Apple factory installing iPhone glass because production is moved to China

It goes deeper than that. There isn't a job for everyone in health care or at a checkout line selling China made items.

 

[dledinger]

It goes deeper than that. There isn't a job for everyone in health care or at a checkout line selling China made items.

Yes, I realize that. But specifically...how does my purchase of an iPad take anything away from any American? There is no competing product made in this country. Still, it was shipped across the country, and sold in a retail store. So in the end, Americans still profited from my purchase of Chinese goods.

I prefer American when I can, but am I really supposed to worry about Chinese working conditions? I could care less how they treat their own people.

 

[dledinger]

let me guess, get rid of those greedy unions and useless environmental rules and let the CEO's and lobbyists call all the shots?

Oh my lord...

 

[Jeeprz!]

If it takes Chinese slavery to give me products like the iMac and iPad, then so be it.

Well said, and very honest.
To me that satement is at least one of the biggest reasons why "everything" is made in China = the consumer.
Because in reality everything isn't made in China, and Walmart isn't the only place you can shop, although in my opinion they ruthlessly tried like hell to make it so. They couldn't have possibly grown so large without the consumer backing them up, so in the end I guess we, the consumers, all got what we paid for.

 

[dledinger]

In this case though, Apple products are not cheap. Infact their computers are considerably more expensive then their PC counterparts. I don't see any money saving buying apple.

Didn't it talk in that article about the main reasons being size of trained and available work force and factory readiness and flexibilty to sudden changes. I thought they stated that the workforce and factories they needed to do what they wanted in the time they needed it werent available in america?

William, your posts hit the nail on the head. I can imagine that in manufacturing technology there is no time to wait. The article was all about the chinese being flexible and capable of meeting demands; even if they change. While I suspect that the move to china may have had more to do with money and profit than the article eluded to, just analyzing what was presented in text and ignoring that fact for one moment opens our eyes to other reasons why the Chinese are successful.

 

[Monte]

That ain't domestic.

...for the consumer who don´t want to buy from Foxconn/Apple or China

 

[MD11]

...for the consumer who don´t want to buy from Foxconn/Apple or China

Good point.. this doesn't always have to be about USA vs (foreign)..

It can also be about (NOT CHINA)..

BTW.. Monte, you Germans sure can make a cool vacuum! I absolutely love this Miele! Might have to start doing more of the vacuuming and let the wife take out the trash.

 

[PRH44]

60 cents an hour 90 plus hours a week deplorable living and working conditions is your idea of success.

 

[PRH44]

Its not what China is doing to its own It is what American companies are doing to the Chinese worker and the destruction of their own country in the process

 

[PassnThru]

I work in IT. I can't tell you how many times I've been called in the middle of the night because there was a problem that needed immediate attention. We rotated on call duties - but when it was your week you didn't get much sleep. It happened at minimum twice a week When you got the call you went in and fixed the problem. Oh - and I was salaried. So no extra pay for that - and it doesn't count toward your regular 40+ because we're not big fans of comp time.
I'll bet the China workers got paid for the extra work.
My point - I can give you some sob stories about employment in the US that equal the Chinese counterparts. And I know most of you can give a story of your own that in retrospect - gives some perspective to the subject.
At least think about it for a second.

 

[dledinger]

Who would not prefer to buy American, given a choice? Every American product I've ever owned was better than an overseas alternative...especially tools!

But in the case of the ipad (and many other products), it's just not possible. I stand my ground on the Chinese working conditions too. I truly don't give a **** and it's not my responsibility to fix it.

 

[Knuckle Buster]

Back to OP question, Why is everything made in China?

Money, greed, and politics.

I agree.

Not long ago I sorta pissed off a guy not meaning to. A Wal-Mart employee noticed me looking at the fine print in tools as I needed a T-55 and all they had was full sets made in China. I placed the set back on the rack and he asked me if he could assist me. I said, not unless ya'll have these made in USA, and his reply was: '' I don't know why some people think like that.. made in China hasn't hurt my job stocking this stuff and I stock a-lot of stuff daily ''. My reply to him was: '' well sir, if it's made in the USA, my money helps sucure two jobs in America, and not just the stocker ''. He didn't know what to say. That being said, I drove 40 miles further to get what I needed even though it cost me a-lot more in gas. Call me crazy, but I feel like **** buying Made in China when plenty of folks here could use a job. I'm one of them thats looking for work and strapped for cash, but still think of America... whether dead broke or not. It wont get better until more people face the facts and vote with their wallets even if it's only a dollar here and a dollar there. Every bit helps is the way I look at it.

 

[BHH]

See this model doesn't work for Snap-On. Apple has sold more Iphones in the last 5 years than the amount of ratchets Snap-On has sold in 50 years. Snap on just doesn't need this level of production.

 

[Monte]

BTW.. Monte, you Germans sure can make a cool vacuum! I absolutely love this Miele!

Vacuums are our speciality ....Miele, Vorwerk, Bosch, Siemens, Fakir, Delphin, Nilco, Hako, Starmix, Kranzle, Festool, Carrera, Ruwac....

Might have to start doing more of the vacuuming and let the wife take out the trash.

lol

 

[PRH44]

Who would not prefer to buy American, given a choice? Every American product I've ever owned was better than an overseas alternative...especially tools!



But in the case of the ipad (and many other products), it's just not possible. I stand my ground on the Chinese working conditions too. I truly don't give a **** and it's not my responsibility to fix it.

Like I said before its not the fact you purchased an Ipad its the attitude.

Maybe not yours but your childrens responsibility. The masses in this country which is the middel class makes the majorty of all the purchases in this contry. be it goods or services. That makes most companies roll.

Once the masses are broke even the white collar workers can not purchase enough to make the country prosper.

The masses buy the clothes, furniture, tools, food, gas, electronics, houshold goods, cars, college, insurance, medical care, DVDs/movies, intertainment, etc. If you work for a company that sales goods and or services which we all do.
Would you rather sale to the masses or few tycoons. How many of the above products did Steve Jobs purchase before Karma caught up with him.

If you put money in middle class Americas pocket they will spend it and put it right back in the economy.

 

[kythri]

Y'know, even with all of this "horrible sweatshop slave labor" going on in China, the standard of living there grows exponentially each decade, in large part to these "horrible sweatshop slave labor" employers.

Prior to all of these manufacturing facilities being established, Chinese citizens faced poverty and famine FAR worse than anything happening over there now.

 

[PRH44]

Y'know, even with all of this "horrible sweatshop slave labor" going on in China, the standard of living there grows exponentially each decade, in large part to these "horrible sweatshop slave labor" employers.

Prior to all of these manufacturing facilities being established, Chinese citizens faced poverty and famine FAR worse than anything happening over there now.

And when their wages can be increased to an acceptable level. Maybe it will be an even competitive field for all the world to compete.

 

[Monte]

And when their wages can be increased to an acceptable level. Maybe it will be an even competitive field for all the world to compete.

...and then there is India...

 

[Jeeprz!]

"sometimes you don't have a choice..... I have an arsenal of apple stuff, all made in China... not happy about it, but like you said, what's my alternative?"

I disagree, in my opinion you had a choice and you made it, simple.
You had the choice not to buy an "arsenal of apple stuff" and your choice was to buy it, and regardless of the choice you made, you had one and you made it.
Now, no need to go all Apple/PC, because in the global economy we live in, it crosses pretty much every boundry.
If you don't like the fact that farmed seafood is artificially colored, fortified with a solution of ? and by most reports is bad for the enviorment in the long term, then don't buy it. Fork out the coin for wild substainable seafood and you might get a bit of sticker shock, because your not going to get to consume natural seafood for that low price of $6.89 for a 6lb flash frozen bag from your local club store.
Anyone recall the pet rock?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Dahl_(entrepreneur)

 

[kythri]

And when their wages can be increased to an acceptable level. Maybe it will be an even competitive field for all the world to compete.

Out of curiosity, where do you expect the money for all those wage increases to come from?

 

[american lockpicker]

Got a domestic alternative to an iPad?

Didn't think so!

You can get a Blackberry from Taiwan or a Samsung from S Korea, not great choices but its better than China.

 

[kythri]

You can get a Blackberry from Taiwan or a Samsung from S Korea, not great choices but its better than China.

Again, those aren't domestic.

Since everyone keeps making emotional arguments about selling out one's neighbors or children, I must, yet again, remind folks that buying products from South Korea or Taiwan sell out one's neighbors or children just as fast, if not faster, than buying products from China.

 

[PRH44]

Maybe Tim Cook could afford a lunch break and maybe a small wage increase above 60 cents an hour. I mean I wouldnt want to run him short 378 million a year can only go so far.

 

[PRH44]

Maybe he could afford American made nets to catch the suicide victims he has created.

 

[Jeeprz!]

Out of curiosity, where do you expect the money for all those wage increases to come from?

North Korea, I heard they HATE Chinese food.

 

[Jeeprz!]

Vacuums are our speciality ....Miele, Vorwerk, Bosch, Siemens, Fakir, Delphin, Nilco, Hako, Starmix, Kranzle, Festool, Carrera, Ruwac....




lol

Monte, "You ****."

 

[kythri]

The Foxconn factories are like their own little city-states, right?

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/all/1

1 million workers, 17 suicides. That's 1.7 in 100,000, right?

Wait, that's not even accurate. That's 17 in the PAST DECADE.

Oregon suicide rate in 2010: 15.2 per 100,000 - that's actually 152 per million. IN A YEAR.

The US suicide rate in 2010: 11.3 per 100,000 - that's 113 per million. IN A YEAR.

http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/news/2010news/2010-0909a.pdf?ga=t

Maybe we need to figure out what the Foxconn is doing right, since it seems that they have a lower suicide rate than our own nation.

Do you know what these suicides are? Media hype. That's it.

From the Wired article:

Out of a million people, 17 suicides isn’t much—indeed, American college students kill themselves at four times that rate.

But, let's not let things like facts get in the way of a good old uneducated bashing of a company that we don't like.

 

[PRH44]

Lets not mask the facts with numbers. It is that fact where and why suicides took place

 

[PRH44]

would you and your children gladly work for 60 cents an hour?

 

[Sick Puppy]

Again, those aren't domestic.

Since everyone keeps making emotional arguments about selling out one's neighbors or children, I must, yet again, remind folks that buying products from South Korea or Taiwan sell out one's neighbors or children just as fast, if not faster, than buying products from China.

While I hear ya, you have to bear in mind that there are no US equivalents on the market, and any attempt to remedy this will be a long and very expensive proposition. Taking it to beyond the US, there are other countries here that simply cannot make certain products; the markets too small, supply line's too long, etc. Let's face it, GJ has members from places other than the US, we're all in the same boat with this issue, I think we can be friends here.

China isn't just cutting the lunch of the US, it is EVERY western economy on the planet, not to mention a fair few of the eastern ones too. All I'm saying is that right now if it's not Chinese made, it's better than just not being made in the US.

I'm all for trying to manufacture stuff domestically, but sometimes it simply isn't a go.

 

[tyndall]

The article is an interesting read. Including the part on page four that debunks the "biscuit and a cup of tea" nonsense.

Other good quotes:
“We shouldn’t be criticized for using Chinese workers,” a current Apple executive said. “The U.S. has stopped producing people with the skills we need.”

"Mr. Jobs even suggested it might be possible, someday, to locate some of Apple’s skilled manufacturing in the United States if the government helped train more American engineers."

"the cost, excluding the materials, of building a $1,500 computer in Elk Grove was $22 a machine. In Singapore, it was $6. In Taiwan, $4.85. Wages weren’t the major reason for the disparities. Rather it was costs like inventory and how long it took workers to finish a task."

 

[american lockpicker]

Lets not mask the facts with numbers. It is that fact where and why suicides took place

This.^^^

 

[Jeeprz!]

This 1/4" pro composite ratchet I picked up is pretty nice for the price, but it won't stick to the 18" mag bar I bought while i was there, Damn pos ratchet...