Thread: article: It's Not the Wages Stupid

Originally Posted by lazlo

There are almost no Chinese components in the iPhone. All of the semiconductors are American (Apple, Texas Instruments, Intel, Cirrus Logic, Broadcom, TriQuint, ...) or Korean (Samsung, Infineon). The touch screen is made in Japan.

The Chinese component is labor.

Edit:

Something else to remember about products like the iPhone. Apple sells them at a profit to telcos. They sell it at a loss and recoup the investment in call minutes and other services. The product is not actually a phone, but the services the phone channels to the consumer. This is true for iPhones, Nook readers, iPads, and all the other consumer gadgets that are based on the kiosk model. What you are buying is a remote terminal to the vendor's store.

That is very different from a general purpose laptop computer or desktop workstation that is actually a terminal to every dot com store on the Internet and much much more.

Originally Posted by lazlo

There are almost no Chinese components in the iPhone. All of the semiconductors are American (Apple, Texas Instruments, Intel, Cirrus Logic, Broadcom, TriQuint, ...) or Korean (Samsung, Infineon). The touch screen is made in Japan.

All those materials are shipped to Mainland China, where peasant teenagers assemble them. Apple chose to build their products in China for the same reason everyone else does: cheap labor.

iPhone 4 Carries Bill of Materials of $187.51, According to iSuppli - Teardowns at iSuppli

The word I noticed in that post was "almost"

Maybe I'm just lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it but I've been to several Chinese manufacturing companies and have never seen peasant teenagers working there. Not saying it doesn't happen but on the other hand how old are those that work in say MacDonalds?

Originally Posted by Gordon B. Clarke
Maybe Switzerland could give lessons on how to conduct open banking?

Originally Posted by <jbc>

Lesson 1: Banking is conducted on behalf of the Clients.

Ammendment to Lesson 1 as understood by Swiss bankers:
And we don't give a flying F*** who our clients are or what crimes they have committed. That they have money is all we care about.

Originally Posted by Gordon B. Clarke

Maybe I'm just lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it but I've been to several Chinese manufacturing companies and have never seen peasant teenagers working there. Not saying it doesn't happen but on the other hand how old are those that work in say MacDonalds?

We have people leaving school and starting to work at about 15-16 here too, so teenagers do work. In China they leave school at 15 and can take full time jobs from 16. Not too different but I guess a higher percentage do it there. (Bear in mind though that the chinese count their age from the conception, not from the time of birth. And 9 months is quickly rounded up to 1 year, so they are actually 1 year younger than with our age concept).

What makes me sad though, and you might have seen these kind of factories, are the factories with high fences around, living quarters inside and food sold onsite. All about work, food and sleep - that is tough life; tough enough to fence in it seems. That is not to say they are not improving.

(Unregistered kids not going to school at all might be another issue entirely with regards to working).

Originally Posted by Gordon B. Clarke

Ammendment to Lesson 1 as understood by Swiss bankers:
And we don't give a flying F*** who our clients are or what crimes they have committed. That they have money is all we care about.

Patently false. Switzerland has moved several times to seize the accounts of criminals.

Most recently: Swiss Authorities Report Seizing Funds From Mubarak, Gaddafi - Forbes

By all means Gordon, spread misinformation. You're good at that.

---


On the topic of wages, here's a short quote from a Bloomberg article.

While the forum’s Global Risks 2012 report, published this month, describes “severe income disparity” as the world’s top risk over the next 10 years, tied with fiscal imbalances and ahead of greenhouse-gas emissions, the word “inequality” appears only once in the event’s 130- page program, and that’s in the title of a panel about art.

Link here --> Billionaires at Davos Bemoan Inequalities - Bloomberg

Originally Posted by <jbc>

Patently false. Switzerland has moved several times to seize the accounts of criminals.

Most recently: Swiss Authorities Report Seizing Funds From Mubarak, Gaddafi - Forbes

By all means Gordon, spread misinformation. You're good at that.

"Switzerland has moved several times to seize the accounts of criminals".

OK, but was that before or after pressure was put on the Swiss government?
I'll bet you could add quite a few more respected and honest "clients" to the list

Originally Posted by BadBeta

We have people leaving school and starting to work at about 15-16 here too, so teenagers do work. In China they leave school at 15 and can take full time jobs from 16. Not too different but I guess a higher percentage do it there. (Bear in mind though that the chinese count their age from the conception, not from the time of birth. And 9 months is quickly rounded up to 1 year, so they are actually 1 year younger than with our age concept).

What makes me sad though, and you might have seen these kind of factories, are the factories with high fences around, living quarters inside and food sold onsite. All about work, food and sleep - that is tough life; tough enough to fence in it seems. That is not to say they are not improving.

(Unregistered kids not going to school at all might be another issue entirely with regards to working).

Alas all too true. I can't even begin to imagine what a perfect country would look like. Still, as you say, as long as things are improving then it is the right direction

Originally Posted by <jbc>

Patently false. Switzerland has moved several times to seize the accounts of criminals.

Most recently: Swiss Authorities Report Seizing Funds From Mubarak, Gaddafi - Forbes

By all means Gordon, spread misinformation. You're good at that.

---

yep, after 66 years you can sometimes (with lots of help) force the Swiss banks to do what's right.....but by then they might have 'lost' ~30% of the pertinent info:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/.../volkerpr.html

oh, yeah, that's also after the Swiss have gotten their 'taste':

The Sinister Face Of 'Neutrality' | FRONTLINE | PBS

a leopard doesn't (can't) change it's spots.

I have only three on my ignore list, yet almost entire pages of this thread are nearly blank, except for the note that these folks are being ignored!

Originally Posted by dp

The Chinese component is labor.

Exactly. All these stupid excuses that Apple makes for manufacturing in China -- they're going there for the exact same reason Wallmart did.

I've been to several Chinese manufacturing companies and have never seen peasant teenagers working there. Not saying it doesn't happen but on the other hand how old are those that work in say MacDonalds?

That's exactly my point. Foxconn is the McDonald's of mainland China. Cheap, unskilled labor. When Foxconn had the rash of suicides last year, and had to bar all the windows and put up jumper nets -- the victims were all teenagers.

Originally Posted by lazlo

That's exactly my point. Foxconn is the McDonald's of mainland China. Cheap, unskilled labor. When Foxconn had the rash of suicides last year, and had to bar all the windows and put up jumper nets -- the victims were all teenagers.

I had to Google "Foxconn" and "suicide" to read what you meant.

Foxconn suicides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by aerodark

I have only three on my ignore list, yet almost entire pages of this thread are nearly blank, except for the note that these folks are being ignored!

I don't know if aerodark can read this or not but I did give that (ignore list) some thought at one time for a couple of members but decided against it.

There are those that either don't like me or what I post (both?) just as there are those that I think are a waste of space. Even those I disagree with I at least like to know what they think. The alternative I feel is like sticking my head in the sand and risk of getting hit by an 18 wheeler at some point in time.

There are those I agree with some of the time and are the same as I also disagree with some of the time. These are the fun times for discussions and even although I don't always agree with for example John (John Welden) I've never felt insulted by him. I don't even think he's cursed me yet and I know he doesn't always agree with me LOL Take a bow John

The majority of the discussions in PM are what I'd regard as normal workshop banter. Even those that seem to get incensed by some of the posts get just as worked up over nothing where they work. In real life I probably tend to avoid those types more than in here. One thing is reading something I disagree with in here and it's quite another when I have to look at an ugly red face mouthing the words.

Originally Posted by Gordon B. Clarke

I don't know if aerodark can read this or not but I did give that (ignore list) some thought at one time for a couple of members but decided against it.

Who gives a damn about what somebody with a closed mind thinks?

Originally Posted by <jbc>

Who gives a damn about what somebody with a closed mind thinks?

C'mon, I'm sure there are some that want to know what you think

Gordon, I am sure that you heard about the Danish man and American woman who were rescued in Somolia by US Special Forces. Where were the Danish special forces?

Now what has that got to do with, well, anything?

And the logic behind it? If some group of 5 people from different countries had been kindapped all five countries should coordinate and make a mixed special forces troop? Or maybe just one country should act, with people talking the same language and having trained as a group for years?

As for the anti piracy efforts both Denmark and Norway operates in the area, and will of course also help US citiziens.

(That said, to answer your question, I believe most of the Danish special forces are the same place as most of the Norwegian ones; in Afghanistan. Guess once who requested to have them there?)

Originally Posted by Gordon B. Clarke

C'mon, I'm sure there are some that want to know what you think

Glad to know it.

I think its too easy to be a wage arbitrageur. People who lack the ethics to refrain from the practise should have some limit placed upon their activities, and the revenues derived therefrom should be subject to seizure.

You could, for example, tax the snot out of them.

Originally Posted by converterking

Gordon, I am sure that you heard about the Danish man and American woman who were rescued in Somolia by US Special Forces. Where were the Danish special forces?

Fighting in Afghanistan?

Denmark was advised on the rescue operation before it took place. Without diminishing in any way the great job the US special forces did in Somalia I think you should check who your allies are (and physically present) when fighting around the world The USA isn't fighting those battles alone. Think about the fact that it was a Dane and an American that were kidnapped - not two Americans.

Do you even know the nationality of the secretary general for NATO?

For what it's worth the US special force was highly praised in our media yesterday for what they did

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