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Thread ID: 111233	2010-07-19 04:42:00	A New Trend Coming?	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1120111	2010-07-19 04:42:00	I've been watching this with some interest . OK - it's long and wordy - but it is significant and indicative of something happening in the trade/labor balance in the world . It will affect most if not all of the world's population . SHANGHAI — Factory workers demanding better wages and working conditions ( . usatoday . com/news/world/2010-06-16-china-labor_N . htm" target="_blank">www . usatoday . com) are hastening the eventual end of an era of cheap costs that helped make southern coastal China the world’s factory floor . A series of strikes over the past two months have been a rude wakeup call for the many foreign companies that depend on China’s low costs to compete overseas, from makers of Christmas trees to manufacturers of gadgets like the iPad . Where once low-tech factories and scant wages were welcomed in a China eager to escape isolation and poverty, workers are now demanding a bigger share of the profits . The government, meanwhile, is pushing foreign companies to make investments in areas it believes will create greater wealth for China, like high technology . 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 . “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 . Even with recent pay increases, wages for Chinese workers are still a fraction of those for Americans . But studies show China’s overall cost advantage is shrinking . Labor costs have been climbing about 15 percent a year since a 2008 labor contract law that made workers more aware of their rights . Tax preferences for foreign companies ended in 2007 . Land, water, energy and shipping costs are on the rise . In its most recent survey, issued in February, restructuring firm Alix Partners found that overall China was more expensive than Mexico, India, Vietnam, Russia and Romania . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I took a snip or two out of that article that talks about a couple of US companies, but the gist is the same . Something's goin' on here! It's obvious that where there's smoke there's something getting hot . Then the recent serious upgrade of the Squier line (of Fender Guitars, something I watch with great interest) may or may not be an indicator, but there's something afoot with the news out of China in this weekend's papers . The big ticket Fender Made-In-USA basses and guitars are taking a serious backseat to the newfound quality and pricing of the Squier line - a fully licensed line that Fender totally eschewed for all it's many years of existence --- up till now . Then further: the unsubstantiated rumor that Fender USA (in Corona, California, USA, for instance) might be shifting totally to it's Mexico facility doesn't make sense unless there's a bigger fish frying somewhere . Since the trench people aren't privy to all that goes on in white towers, we have to take our clues from the dribbled-down theory and garner what we can from the news that comes our way . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The price of labor is taking a quantum leap in China - for China anyway . This is a given; it's still not as high as most of the rest of the world maybe - but the workers are now restless to fully enter the world's workforce as certified artisans and craftsmen and want to be paid at least more than a surviving wage . The Beijing national decision to stop tying itself to the U . S . dollar and allowing a parallel of wants, needs and desires of Chinese workers and operators alike - has caused some serious new reconsideration by US companies struggling to even now make a profit with such low profit margins . Some hot-dollar companies are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and quickly moving it's assembly and manufacturing plants back to the US, countering a trend that was set into motion after WW2, when many industries went to Japan for the cheap labor force there . Even in pharmaceutical/medicinal research center type organizations, life sciences and biotechnology and other now-offshore companies are beginning to re-think China as a bad place to do business since these newest revelations, with rising costs and shipping coupled to the newer vast labor force outside of China and the lure of tax-exemption status from other countries . With the vast number of unemployed and unreported as such people in the US, it might be a lot easier to re-negotiate a better cost-of-doing-business in the US if the labor unions can be kept out of the workplace or entirely be done away with . The trend is seen by some economists as a required shift to part-time employees with little or no medical insurance if they don't work a full-time 40-hour job, and thus reduce the cost of operating in the US with it's own indigenous workforce . Labor forces in Mexico are also another viable source of making the things that the rest of the world has had imported from China and Indonesia for the past few years, and with the NAFTA Treaty in effect, commerce across the US/Mexico border is simplified and shipping costs are minimize too, not needing to be shipped for a month at a time from the Orient to the US . Something's up, somewhere .	SurferJoe46 (51)
1120112	2010-07-19 05:18:00	I'll be happy if I make it to next week ;)	R2x1 (4628)
1120113	2010-07-19 05:41:00	The commie chinese tiger economy like the Irish,Vietnam, Nationalist China, Thailand, Malaya tiger economy will die. Maybe the next place to manufacture will be Burma or Bangladesh	prefect (6291)
1120114	2010-07-19 05:49:00	I'm seeing things from Indonesia here in the US right now.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1120115	2010-07-19 05:50:00	I predict a move from Asia to South America - at least for goods destined for the USA. Still very cheap labour there (almost unexploited yet) and nice and close for shipping (for the USA)... And they speak Spanish (of a sort) - which is the second language for the States...	johcar (6283)
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