It’s interesting when you read about things that are made in China. I mean, who really doesn’t know that things are manufactured there anyways? Anything you pick up practically has the little sticker on it. But something that I didn’t realize was this little fact:
“Ever wondered why Coach has so many stores in China? Easy – they make virtually all their bags here. Prada, LV, Furla – all now largely made in China.”
Are you serious? Those bags aren’t made in Italy?
And they make a minimum of 15% margin? Note that it was a minimum. This just goes to show that the while there has been a lot of talk about even American firms trying to defeat the global manufacturing juggernaut, there really isn’t anything that can stop the greed. And if anything proves it, the fact that designer bags are being made there should be the last sign that you’ll ever need. Globalization of corporate America has in the last twenty or so years given China the means to hold all the strings. And who suffers if you try to cut these strings? We the consumers do.
Unfortunately, that’s just how the cookie crumbles. We Americans want to super-size everything for cheap. Nicer things for lower prices. Ahh.. the smell of capitalism.
And for that, the Chinese just snicker softly whenever we complain about jobs being lost and American manufacturing industry taking a nosedive. Need any more proof? See if you can’t get away from that little white sticker that says “Made in China.”
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akrypti wrote:
You just made me throw open my drawer of designer handbags to pry each one open and fumble for the tag.
Hot damn. You’re right.
Made in China.
Made in China.
Made in China.
Made in China.
Made in Indonesia.
And some of these bags don’t even have a clear and conspicuous tag ANYwhere that tells me where it was made!!!
I paid big money for these bags!! Asian Princess mad!! *Grrr…
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 12:13 am | Permalink
darkmoon wrote:
scary isn’t it.
Nothing against the whole “Made in China” thing but we really made our own bed so we have to sleep in it type scenario.
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 4:17 am | Permalink
Chook wrote:
You just won’t find many Americans willing to work for the pittance that Chinese workers accept as a decent wage. If you were to bring some of the manufacturing back to the U.S or Europe then the profit margin would be drastically reduced maybe to the point of making the whole endeavour a waste of time.
In some ways this subject is related to the U.S immigration issue - unskilled and cheap labour from Central America willing to do jobs for a wage that Americans seem to feel is beneath them - the demand justifies the supply.
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 4:39 am | Permalink
darkmoon wrote:
Actually, the “pittance” as you call it is relative. You’re basing that off of a USD scenario, all the while, the average income in China is about $2000USD give or take.
That’s why you can get things for cheap in China because of the RMB to USD performance.
Standard of living is relative too.
The difference between China and Central American immigrants is that the Chinese are working and making money on their own economic grounds. The Central Americans are making USD (which is more than they would make in Central America). Yes, both are related to the industry, but a difference on what is being made and how.
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 4:48 am | Permalink
Ben (not the author) wrote:
This, as with all things, will pass. Just 20 years ago, those “Made in China” tags read “Made in Taiwan”. Capitalists will find the next cheap place to manufacture. My bet is somewhere in Africa.
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 6:50 am | Permalink
darkmoon wrote:
You know what? I’ve also made the same conclusion. Africa is probably the next place for it.
Here’s the only caveat.
Someone would need to put a lot of money to stop the civil wars and unrest as well as the AIDS and other things going on there. You would probably much have to have your own private army to lock it down. Not sure if anyone has that kind of force to actually make China secondary in manufacturing.
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 10:09 am | Permalink
Chook wrote:
darkmoon
Your figures are correct but the conclusions are somewhat misleading. The GNI for China IS around $2000 per year (closer to $1800 in fact) but you have to remember that it’s been estimated that around 5% of the populaton in China holds approximately 50% of the wealth. On top of this you must consider the HUGE income gap between the urban and rural populations - the rural GNI/capita being less than half that of the urban dwellers. Additionally, the income gap between highest and lowest earnings amongst the urban dwellers is actually GREATER than that which exists between rural and urban. 17% of China’s population lives on LESS than the U.N mandated minimum of $1 a day, making China far less than the prosperous country it’s made out to be. The cost of living although much cheaper by western standards still causes many to struggle to make ends meet. Health costs for an average Chinese family generally equate to about 11-12% of the GNI. A decent one-bedroom apartment in one of China’s major cities may be comparable in price to a one bedroom apartment in the U.S. So basically even when you take into account currency exchange rates, comparative costs of living and GNI/capita, the lopsided distribution of wealth in China effectively means that in the urban factories of China’s cities, the Chinese workers ARE in fact working for the kind of pittance that western industries did away with long ago. What makes China cheap is the greed of it’s capitalists empowered by totalitarian politics.
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 12:59 pm | Permalink
darkmoon wrote:
I’m not disagreeing with the lopsided wealth distribution. But having both friends, family that has lived there and extended family there… I can say that it’s not as bad as people make it out to be. And note that I’m not saying they’re not poor. People are. But it’s not like when you have people bemoaning the sweatshops and what not there. In that case, from having been there, I don’t see it that way at all.
Unless you go out to the rural areas, where there is pretty much nothing there which is why nonprofits like Zigen try to support children from those areas, urban living is still not as bad when you look at it from that perspective.
The problem I have is when people try to compare relative living standards against western living standards. Anything compared to western living standards… well, frankly sucks. I’m not really sure where you’re getting the figure for the one bedroom apartment since the family that I have there have lived in housing complexes that are nowhere the pricing of the same house in the United States. That’s within urban areas, and within expat areas which are known to not be cheap. On top of that, everything above is making a comparison of western living standards to Asian. That’s like comparing Madison Square Garden against Candlestick. Would be better off comparing to similar standards of living, say in the South Pacific region or to India.
That said, they are good facts to know although I disagree with your perspective.
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 1:32 pm | Permalink
Chook wrote:
Much as I respect your reports of your family’s and friends experiences of well-being in China, the statistics speak of a situation that is more complex than that painted by those who like to view China as a “developed” nation. The above statistics are not comparisons of China/U.S living standards - they simply show that profits from China’s economic growth are very concentrated in small section of it’s society and for me, indicate more hardship amongst average Chinese than your personal experiences might suggest.
I considered a move to China a couple of years back and did some of my research on ex-pat sights when it came to assessing cost of living. One estimate put the monthly cost for a single person living in an urban area at around $1700/month. Cheap by U.S standards but by Chinese standards somewhat expensive?
My friends in Chengdu tell me that their life and those of their friends are simple with few luxuries - the cost of day to day living making luxuries well……an unaffordable luxury. My problem with blanket statements that “..it’s not as bad as people make it out to be..” is that they simplify an obviously complex scenario. It IS a bad situation when 17% of people subsist on $1 a day.
If the profits were more evenly distributed then wouldn’t company’s profits decrease and costs of manufacture increase, making China less cheap to do business with?
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 11:06 pm | Permalink
Bertie wrote:
whoa. looking all over my desk.
all the kidrobot figurines i have - “made in china”
starbucks mug - “made in china”
ipod - “made in china”
ipod case - “made in china”
bunch of other things i’m too lazy to list - “made in china”
exceptions:
bic white out - made in usa
watch - swiss made
glasses - made in japan
Posted on 26-Oct-07 at 10:41 am | Permalink
Akrypti wrote:
Well, at least my BCBG glasses frames were made in Italy.
Posted on 26-Oct-07 at 12:31 pm | Permalink
Mike wrote:
About 1.3B or 20% of the people of the world were also “made in China” hehehe. (Hmm, that seemed funnier in my head.)
Posted on 27-Oct-07 at 8:36 am | Permalink
Eugene wrote:
Made in China. People need to wake up. Lots of good things are made in China. We need to stop hating on Made in China products. Of course, if you want to support local companies and businesses, then by all means, be careful at what you buy.
And, speaking about the unequal distribution wealth in China. I think we should look here in the United States and look at the wealth distribution there. I don’t think the wealth distribution here is all that equitable either. 5% own 50% of the wealth in China. In the United States, at the end of 2001, approximately 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth. Is that any better?
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 10:54 am | Permalink
Chook wrote:
Eugene
I think you may have misunderstood my comments - I wasn’t using the statistics to bash China. It’s easy and customary in anti-Made in China campaigns to imply that the Chinese are getting “rich” at the expense of Americans - it’s a way of galvanizing resentment toward China and placing it’s people in the category of “enemies”. The statistics that I presented were meant to show that this is not the case. How can they be getting rich when 17% of the population live in abject poverty? It’s harder to hate someone if you know that they may actually be worse off than you.
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 11:32 am | Permalink
Eugene wrote:
I guess we’re on the same page on this issue.
Cool.
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 11:37 am | Permalink
darkmoon wrote:
Yeah… I hear you about the anti-China campaigns.
Of course, we have poverish people here too. Not low-income mind you. Poverish. Having worked with many community efforts, I can tell you that low-income people get phone lines that we taxpayers pay thousands per line per year for, they get free cable, and they get a lot of other things that I don’t even have.
Comparing poverty? China definitely has it worse. They get my sympathy points there. Heck, my family is a big supporter of the nonprofit, Zigen. But on a big picture scale, China does have our manufacturering by its pigtails.
Who’s to blame for that? Us. We want cheaper, they gave cheaper. Greed begets greed.
Hmm…. and is the population only 1.3B? I thought it was like 1.6B at some point. Strange. Not sure where I got that number.
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 12:03 pm | Permalink