[ExI] undercover at Walmart

[painlord2k at libero.it]

Il 12/02/2009 21.50, Damien Broderick ha scritto:
> At 03:30 PM 2/12/2009 -0500, Rafal wrote:
>
>> ### The labor of a worker in China is much less efficient, on average,
>> than the labor of a worker in America (whether it is a Chinese or
>> American worker is almost irrelevant here). This is the reason for the
>> low cost of workers in China - they offer little, therefore they
>> cannot demand much.
>
> Ah, I see--and this is why these inefficient slobs can turn out tools
> that Spike can buy for

Given that a western (Japan included) workers produce 100 an cost 100, a 
Chinese workers produced 20 and did cost 16. So it was efficient and 
rewarding to use them to manifacture also given the cost of transport.
Also, the expert / specialized work force (say the best 50%) was 
underutilized and under paid, so they could be hired for a better 
premium over the same workforce in Europe or the USA.
With the time this change, as more specialized /expert workforce is 
used, less is available, more the factories must compete with pay and 
benefits to attract them. In the last few years, the chinese workforce 
was near all used and the prices of specialized workers soared. So much 
that they started to de localize in Viet-Nam, and other places with 
lower costs and cheaper workforce.

>  >> ...Seventy seven bucks, for a box of new
>  >> tools durn near too heavy for me to hoist!
>
> even after cost of shipping 1/3 of the way around the planet. Imagine
> how much more expensive they'd have been if those inefficient slobs were
> as slick as their US equivalents.

I have this feeling that rational economy is not your strong point.

There is also the law of comparative advantages.
US and Europe and Japan workforce is better used with the tasks it is 
more productive. Maybe they could have produced the power tools and 
T-shirt at lower costs, but they were mainly concerned in building what 
other can not do, like Airbus and Boeing planes. Do you know how many 
T-shirt and power tools the Chinese must sell to be able to buy an Airbus?

Mirco