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.
That does look like an interesting read, but reading the abstract, he goes a bit fanatical, in that he tries to smelt the metal himself. The metal industry (and plastic) is alive and well in Europe, you can buy prepared metal, wires, microchips, buttons and other needed materials easily, down to plastic beads you can put in a mold (or more likely, just 3d print these days), given these, I don’t see having a problem building a functional, albeit less aesthetically refined toaster in 2 days.
you can buy prepared metal, wires, microchips, buttons and other needed materials easily, down to plastic beads you can put in a mold (or more likely, just 3d print these days),
Do you think those appear out of thin air? Because that was my whole damn point. Those prepared items come from other parts of the world. You can’t manufacture all of them in Europe and if you tried, it would take a hell of a lot more than five years and drive prices up ridiculously.
I’m not sure why you think I’m talking about final assembly when I’ve made it clear multiple times that I’m talking about all the steps before final assembly, many of which require global shipping.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
People also do this all the time for one-off, functional prototype/exhibition items. Of course it’s expensive to manufacture one due to the handmade nature and research time, but once you make one, you can refine the process, and/or build the mass-manufacture molds.
That does look like an interesting read, but reading the abstract, he goes a bit fanatical, in that he tries to smelt the metal himself. The metal industry (and plastic) is alive and well in Europe, you can buy prepared metal, wires, microchips, buttons and other needed materials easily, down to plastic beads you can put in a mold (or more likely, just 3d print these days), given these, I don’t see having a problem building a functional, albeit less aesthetically refined toaster in 2 days.
Do you think those appear out of thin air? Because that was my whole damn point. Those prepared items come from other parts of the world. You can’t manufacture all of them in Europe and if you tried, it would take a hell of a lot more than five years and drive prices up ridiculously.
I’m not sure why you think I’m talking about final assembly when I’ve made it clear multiple times that I’m talking about all the steps before final assembly, many of which require global shipping.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
People also do this all the time for one-off, functional prototype/exhibition items. Of course it’s expensive to manufacture one due to the handmade nature and research time, but once you make one, you can refine the process, and/or build the mass-manufacture molds.