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Old 01-24-2012, 06:35 PM   #21
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Just a note... Things are changing already at Foxconn. The company is investing a fortune in robotics, with a goal of replacing much of that labor force with high end programmable automation. Boppers don't need a biscuit and a cup of tea to get started.

IF these factories were to return to the US, they wouldn't look like Apples old 1985 Elk Grove or Fort Collins plants. They'd look more like Mr. Jobs 1989 NeXT Computer plant, with lines of robots each ready to process assemblies as the previous robots finished their work. The vast supply networks to build this stuff in the US are long gone, though. I don't know, for example, of any plants here that would be willing to build six layer flexible surface mount boards, to be delivered in lots of 10,000 every 12 hours on custom reusable carriers for a fabrication line. There are probably 20 such qualified suppliers in Taiwan or Shenzhen.
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Old 01-24-2012, 06:53 PM   #22
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Come to think of it, in a country like China whose economy has been rising at an enviable rate, we would think that there are plenty of opportunities for young workers to rise to the middle class. It is not so, according to this article that I have shared before, China’s Army of Graduates Struggles for Jobs. An excerpt follows.
But the supply of those trained in accounting, finance and computer programming now seems limitless, and their value has plunged. Between 2003 and 2009, the average starting salary for migrant laborers grew by nearly 80 percent; during the same period, starting pay for college graduates stayed the same, although their wages actually decreased if inflation is taken into account.

Chinese sociologists have come up with a new term for educated young people who move in search of work like Ms. Liu: the ant tribe. It is a reference to their immense numbers — at least 100,000 in Beijing alone — and to the fact that they often settle into crowded neighborhoods, toiling for wages that would give even low-paid factory workers pause.
It appears that the only abundant jobs in China are tedious dormitory/factory jobs, and now even these are getting replaced with robots. Yet, there are many millionaires and billionaires in China now. It appears to me that with modern technology and the globalization of commerce, China will soon catch up to the US in terms of societal problems we are facing.

It's depressing. Perhaps I will not spend all of my kids' inheritance, but save some for them in the form of Krugerrands to be buried in my backyard.
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Old 01-24-2012, 08:52 PM   #23
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Low wages will definately decrease the upward mobility of people starting out without capital though.

It's slow going to build up investment income when you make $10/hr.
Yep. The time for all this saving and investing was over the last 50 years. Still, not everyone is at $10 an hour yet--but the ones doing better still aren't doing much saving.
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Old 01-24-2012, 09:13 PM   #24
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It appears to me that with modern technology and the globalization of commerce, China will soon catch up to the US in terms of societal problems we are facing.
Democracy in action!

I was afraid that we'd have to sell them Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach before our subversive war plans took hold, but looks like things are going better than expected... maybe the (U.S.) military's ready for the downsizing after all.

Now about those biscuits & tea issues. How 'bout a nice Egg McMuffin instead? Perhaps with some Starbucks on the side?
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Old 01-24-2012, 09:26 PM   #25
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Democracy in action!

I was afraid that we'd have to sell them Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach
I thought they were bidding on our farm land and the Great Lakes. A little food and water and they're good to go........
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Old 01-25-2012, 12:27 AM   #26
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I thought they were bidding on our farm land and the Great Lakes. A little food and water and they're good to go........
Shucks, they'd solve a lot of our deficit problems if we could get them to pay a 50% cash deposit on California...
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