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How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

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Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#431
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> US will find itself in the same position the UK is in now The thing is .. there's a point here, but it's not at all tied in with physical products. People are obsessed with one side of the ledger while refusing to see the other. Most of the stuff the UK is struggling with (transport, healthcare, energy) are "state capacity" issues. Things where the state is unavoidably involved and having better, more decisive lead…

The total volume of money flowing through fishing related business is much larger than through warhammer related. Fishing distributed about 1 billion in household income in the uk. Fishing supports about 12.000 direct jobs plus 5.000 in related industries in the UK. Warhammer has about 3000 employees GLOBALLY. Trickle down is not really present here. Businesses that do not distribute wealth in the general population…

You aren't comparing the same things here - if only counting Warhammer employees, then you shouldn't you only count actual fishermen (c6500 people)?

For example, what about the people who work in Warhammer adjacent companies (plastics production, importing and labelling to name just a few, but also freelancers in publishing, illustration and design ) who would not appear in the 3000 Warhammer employees, but who earn the majority of their livelihood from Warhammer.

For a period my brother dated someone from the family that supplied grey plastic to Games Workshop - they probably had over 100 permanent employees, and were a 'small' regional company.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#432
post #426
post #42

Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes. When I was working in engineering in the early aughts, we mocked the Chinese as being able only to copy American technology. Today, China is competitive with or ahead of America in key technology areas, including nuclear power, AI, EVs, and batteries. We need to anticipate a future where China is equal to America on a per capita basis, but f…

China could not only be ‘equal’ but ‘better’ than the USA - we should get used to the idea. China has an average IQ of 104 out of 1.4 billion people, while the USA has an IQ of 97. In purely statistical terms, this means that the USA has around 700,000 people with an IQ >= 140. China has 11,480,000 people with this IQ. This human capital will make the difference.

IQ isn't much of a proxy for anything, especially in this context.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#433
post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The free traders also need to accept the reality that the UK’s decline started long before Brexit and disputes about fishing. In terms of per capita GDP, the UK lost its edge over the rest of Europe in the 1970s, and then simply never recovered from the 2008 global financial collapse. Without the empire, the UK’s “competitive advantage” in financial and legal services wasn’t worth shit. I strongly suspect the US cann…

Yeah this is arguably the tail wagging the dog - Trump is a reaction to the end of US hegemony, not the cause

Trump has zero to do with previous level of US hegemony. He represents what large part of Americans are - for internal reasons that have nothing to do with geopolitics.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#434
post #42

Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes. When I was working in engineering in the early aughts, we mocked the Chinese as being able only to copy American technology. Today, China is competitive with or ahead of America in key technology areas, including nuclear power, AI, EVs, and batteries. We need to anticipate a future where China is equal to America on a per capita basis, but f…

Korea, despite developing MRI, still has a large amount of farmers, that do not get paid a living wage: No one really knows, because its a souce of shame.

"AI Overview

It's difficult to provide a precise number of Asian countries where farmers don't earn a living wage without specific, up-to-date data and a clear definition of "living wage." However, many Asian countries face challenges in ensuring farmers receive sufficient income to cover basic needs."

I will assure you, from being an eyewitness, its worse.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA is also below replacement levels.

Not with immigration.

Don't worry, Republicans are hard at work making the USA a pariah state and turning away the educated migrants who've been behind most of the innovation and research of past decades.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#436
post #374
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but I don't think this is the reason. There were vastly more people in financial services calling for us NOT to have brexit than fishermen asking for it, even in number of people. I honestly don't think this was a numbers of people affected vs "% of GDP" affected issue. Not at all. What good did it do for us? At the time everyone was running around rubbishing and laughing at the "outrageous" claims of 10% GDP…

> What good did it do for us? At the time everyone was running around rubbishing and laughing at the "outrageous" claims of 10% GDP loss, and where are we now? Impossible to say, as it was swamped by the pandemic. My guess as to the fatalities due to Brexit is also untestable as a result.

true, impossible to come up with a scientific answer, but you could compare with european countries who also went through a similar covid response and start to see a bit of a trend leap out.

For what it's worth I'm not sure if the number is actually 10%, but I'd hazard that it's more than 5/6.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#437
post #411
post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two parts to the fishing thing. From a pure economic perspective, fishing is insignificant. But within living memory obtaining food was a national security issue for the UK (during world war II). In a world in which states look not to grow their economy, but to harm others - and guess what, that's where we just arrived - not all industries can be considered purely on their revenue. Man cannot live on warham…

How much of a fish industry will remain when the North Sea is a battleground? Is there any fishing going on in the Black Sea at the moment? (genuine question)

Of course. There are three NATO nations and Georgia on the Black Sea, and there is no war in their waters. The Black Sea is not very productive fish-wise, but this is another topic.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because women are obligated to work 40 hours every week just to stay afloat. Unless you find a way for young educated family to live a decent life on a single husband's income, the trend will continue.

And that wont happen to the US?

What is "that" that "won't happen"?

US, Canada, Europe are demographically cooked too, but they (partially) solve this problem with immigration, that is not an option for China and the rest of Asia.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#439
post #426
post #42

Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes. When I was working in engineering in the early aughts, we mocked the Chinese as being able only to copy American technology. Today, China is competitive with or ahead of America in key technology areas, including nuclear power, AI, EVs, and batteries. We need to anticipate a future where China is equal to America on a per capita basis, but f…

China could not only be ‘equal’ but ‘better’ than the USA - we should get used to the idea. China has an average IQ of 104 out of 1.4 billion people, while the USA has an IQ of 97. In purely statistical terms, this means that the USA has around 700,000 people with an IQ >= 140. China has 11,480,000 people with this IQ. This human capital will make the difference.

this has to be one of the most illogical hedges

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#440
post #42

Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes. When I was working in engineering in the early aughts, we mocked the Chinese as being able only to copy American technology. Today, China is competitive with or ahead of America in key technology areas, including nuclear power, AI, EVs, and batteries. We need to anticipate a future where China is equal to America on a per capita basis, but f…

> What will be America’s competitive edge in that scenario? I'm sure that the US still has many edges over China in high-end technology. I remember I read a research article back in 2012/2013 which listed all fields that China were lagging behind, including pharma, computer chips and some other stuffs. It's a fairly long list. I'm sure China managed to catch up in some of the fields but I doubt all of them.

I'm sure China managed to catch up in some of the fields but I doubt all of them.

And if you could guarantee that they'll never catch up in the others, we'd all feel a bit better about the permanency of American superiority.

Absent that guarantee, we need to bench test those scenarios and be prepared with plans that best serve American interests should those scenarios come to fruition.

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