[TheForge] Vise grip moving

[Andrew Vida]

dann at wctatel.net wrote:
> Moving Vice Grip production to China may make the company some  short term
> bottom line profit, provided they are able to maintain the quality of the
> tool.

	Unfortunately this is not exactly the case.  Because the Chinese labor 
market is artificially depressed by the government in terms of pricing, 
the moment one manufacturer goes there, all must follow suit or be 
crushed by price competition.  That isn't quite so... actually once 
*enough* manufacturers have made the move the others must follow suit or 
go under.  Price and demand go hand in hand.  Sometimes price drives 
demand and sometimes vice versa.  Anyhow, markets are largely driven by 
price.  In recent years this has become much more so, especially in 
household markets.  The situation is actually very complex and 
convoluted and untying the gordian knot isn't easy.  Suffice it to say 
that whatever the initial causes, consumers have now become sccicted to 
low low kmart prices.  It began with the $1 wrench, and now that our 
economy is in a questionable state, people are no longer affluent enough 
to afford many "made in USA" prices.  Remaining manufacturers feel the 
pinch and are then faced with the decision: move to China or go out of 
business.  This *cxan* b a simple decision for private companies, but it 
is anything but simple where public ownership is concerned.

	The bottom line is that we are in a great mess.  It *could* be nothing 
worse than a rather painful transition period, where economies are 
shifting from one emphasis to another.  This is what most economists 
will say about it.  I am not convinced of this.

	At the end of the day what we are witnessing is a redistribution of the 
wealth of the "Lower" economic strata from places like the USA and 
Europe to places like China and India.  Yo will note that the welath of 
the upper strata is remaining fixed or is actually growing.  This result 
seems eerily similar to that of the various major communist and 
socialist movements of the 20th century.  Coincidence?  Perhaps, but I 
am not yet convinced.  There may be no grand conspiracy behind it save 
that those on top remaining on top and taking ever greater proportions 
of the world's wealth for themselves - something one can hardly blame 
them for doing.  We all work in our self interest, or should.  This 
fact, however, does precious little to help, say, the typical American 
worker whose standard of living falls as that of the average Chinese 
rises.  REDISTRIBUTION.  The one aspect of this that baffles me a bit is 
the apparent zero-sum characteristic.  I say "apparent" because it may 
be just that, an illusion.  If it is not, then it would be very 
difficult to support an argument that there is no agenda at work to 
redistribute economic wealth  away from what essentially boils down to 
"the west" and toward "the east".

	In any event, the typical Chinese worker seems to be taking int in the 
neck as well.  The average working wage there is about 66 cents per hour 
- not even 1/1/0th that of the USA.  China's markets are not free in 
terms of wages, which are fixed by the government.  They want it this 
way so that the world will beat a path to their door for all their 
manufacturing jobs.  In this they are very smart and in accepting it the 
USA is very stupid.  But if one looks at it from the standpoint of a 
globalist, then the US policies and treaties (so-called "Free Trade") 
makes plenty of sense.  Such people don't give a shit about the USA per 
se.  They are staggeringly wealthy and the world is quite literally 
their oyster.  What happens to the rest of us is of little to no concern 
of theirs beyond our ability and willingness to further inflate their 
coffers.  Anyhow, the typical Chinese worker, were he working in a free 
labor market, should be able to do better in terms of wages and salaries 
as he gains experience, but the government sees to it that any such 
advancement is minimized.  If one attempts to demand more money or form 
a labor union, the police will cheerily take them away to prison or to 
the back of the gymnasium for two to the back of the head.

	As I said, the knot is very convoluted.  Things may recover in time and 
I certainly hope that they do, but unlike other periods in our history 
through which I have borne witness so such similar events, this one is 
fundamentally different and I cannot say with any certainty that things 
will ever be as they once were in terms of the opportunities for 
economic success.  The low hanging fruits seem to have been picked very 
bare and for anyone wanting something better than menial work, low 
wages, and a correspondingly low standard of living, they had better 
find their ladders and get climbing.  This goes doubly for me. :)
> 

	-Andy