The effects of restrictions on shipping in the Red Sea and Panama Canal are being felt around the world. Global trade is under immense strain amid rising freight costs.
Just because the cheapest come from somewhere beyond the sea, doesn’t mean there aren’t local equivalents. I just bought missing motorcycle parts that are manufactured in Poland, and I do prefer German, Polish manufacture, because it’s inherently more reliable and doesn’t have the added guess-work for Chinese manufacturing. And yes, Europe does manufacture microchips, buttons, wires, and other components that (among many things) make new nuclear plants work.
I can agree that some materials are only available in specific regions, and so global-ish shipping would never die (and doesn’t need to), but over-reliance is a long time debt that should go away.
There is a more fair price to pay for products, if you don’t buy from china. Investing into local manufacturing makes sense. And people don’t ask for fair wages, because people I talk to haven’t had a raise in 10-20 years, even though inflation went crazy over the past 10 years.
Does it make sense for those five years you were talking about where everything is super expensive? Because that sounds like quite the position of privilege.
It also sounds like a very privileged position blaming the lack of fair wages on the workers not asking for them.
How is it a position of privilege? It would mean that manufacturing in Europe would gain a lot of income, provide more lower skill jobs in Europe, consolidate the economy. Reduced shippings costs would directly go into the European economy.
I would like there to be more unions, otherwise large companies even in Europe are too powerful and too dehumanizing. If you don’t talk about this, it will only get worse.
Buying hand-made clothes from individual artisans is actually cheaper in Europe than well-known brands, but it sadly requires more research and time for searching.
It’s just, if you talk about finances driving your decisions, you must talk about fair wages and the current state of things. Otherwise you’re ignoring the full picture.
I blame large companies much more than I blame people not doing unions, but unions is the only possibility for people to fight back long-term abuse for a job they either perceive as acceptable, or not changeable (for whatever reason).
And people don’t ask for fair wages, because people I talk to haven’t had a raise in 10-20 years, even though inflation went crazy over the past 10 years.
You said nothing about unions at all.
And people shouldn’t have to join a union or ask to get paid fairly. Again, a privileged idea that takes corporations off the hook.
People definitely should ask to be paid fairly. What is the point otherwise? To roll over and get fucked by any company willing to accept your skillset to make them insane amounts of money?
The imagination that prices would skyrocket is naive, I think. Yes, there could be a period of high prices, and people would buy less, and more focused on what we need (in the specific case of extreme import cut-off), but the import tax is already around 20%, if it was manufactured in Europe, that is already going directly into the profit margins.
I can agree that finances drive our choices, but it is a bit insane to say the only solution is to keep the global trade going and only buy from China. Surely it is possible to produce locally and pay people fair money (per European lifestyle) while not going bankrupt, otherwise, how does it even make sense to assume China (and other Asian countries) will just keep producing items for cheap?
There is plenty of institutional knowledge about ICE available in Europe, albeit at a premium price, because people buy more than repair old, out of only financial concerns (and money going somewhere else and not into peoples’ hands). All of it seems a little bit simpler (even though made incredibly difficult due to companies’ approach to reliability, repair, and marketing of “this is incredibly complex, don’t touch”) after you have a engineering or STEM degree of some sort.
Just because the cheapest come from somewhere beyond the sea, doesn’t mean there aren’t local equivalents. I just bought missing motorcycle parts that are manufactured in Poland, and I do prefer German, Polish manufacture, because it’s inherently more reliable and doesn’t have the added guess-work for Chinese manufacturing. And yes, Europe does manufacture microchips, buttons, wires, and other components that (among many things) make new nuclear plants work.
I can agree that some materials are only available in specific regions, and so global-ish shipping would never die (and doesn’t need to), but over-reliance is a long time debt that should go away.
So your point essentially is that you don’t care if things get hugely more expensive because you’ll be fine. Got it.
There is a more fair price to pay for products, if you don’t buy from china. Investing into local manufacturing makes sense. And people don’t ask for fair wages, because people I talk to haven’t had a raise in 10-20 years, even though inflation went crazy over the past 10 years.
Does it make sense for those five years you were talking about where everything is super expensive? Because that sounds like quite the position of privilege.
It also sounds like a very privileged position blaming the lack of fair wages on the workers not asking for them.
How is it a position of privilege? It would mean that manufacturing in Europe would gain a lot of income, provide more lower skill jobs in Europe, consolidate the economy. Reduced shippings costs would directly go into the European economy.
I would like there to be more unions, otherwise large companies even in Europe are too powerful and too dehumanizing. If you don’t talk about this, it will only get worse.
Buying hand-made clothes from individual artisans is actually cheaper in Europe than well-known brands, but it sadly requires more research and time for searching.
You blamed workers not asking for raises for their pay being low. That’s privilege in a nutshell.
I am sure when you go to work and don’t get a raise for 10 years, you would think twice of the importance of worker unions in large companies.
It’s just, if you talk about finances driving your decisions, you must talk about fair wages and the current state of things. Otherwise you’re ignoring the full picture.
I blame large companies much more than I blame people not doing unions, but unions is the only possibility for people to fight back long-term abuse for a job they either perceive as acceptable, or not changeable (for whatever reason).
Your words:
You said nothing about unions at all.
And people shouldn’t have to join a union or ask to get paid fairly. Again, a privileged idea that takes corporations off the hook.
People definitely should ask to be paid fairly. What is the point otherwise? To roll over and get fucked by any company willing to accept your skillset to make them insane amounts of money?
What the fuck.
The imagination that prices would skyrocket is naive, I think. Yes, there could be a period of high prices, and people would buy less, and more focused on what we need (in the specific case of extreme import cut-off), but the import tax is already around 20%, if it was manufactured in Europe, that is already going directly into the profit margins.
I can agree that finances drive our choices, but it is a bit insane to say the only solution is to keep the global trade going and only buy from China. Surely it is possible to produce locally and pay people fair money (per European lifestyle) while not going bankrupt, otherwise, how does it even make sense to assume China (and other Asian countries) will just keep producing items for cheap?
There is plenty of institutional knowledge about ICE available in Europe, albeit at a premium price, because people buy more than repair old, out of only financial concerns (and money going somewhere else and not into peoples’ hands). All of it seems a little bit simpler (even though made incredibly difficult due to companies’ approach to reliability, repair, and marketing of “this is incredibly complex, don’t touch”) after you have a engineering or STEM degree of some sort.