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

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689 points taubek | 3 comments | 09 Apr 25 12:58 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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rayiner ◴[09 Apr 25 14:52 UTC] No.43632822[source]▶
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 four times bigger. Is that a world where “Designed by Apple in California, Made in China” still makes sense? What will be America’s competitive edge in that scenario?

What seems most likely to me in the future is that the US will find itself in the same position the UK is in now. Dominating finance and services won’t mean anything when both the IP and the physical products are being produced somewhere else.

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bboygravity ◴[09 Apr 25 18:30 UTC] No.43635637[source]▶
Except that that future of a big powerful China doesn't exist. Their birth-rate is 1.

Game-over.

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missedthecue ◴[09 Apr 25 19:30 UTC] No.43636661[source]▶
China will probably be the only country that solves this.
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boznz ◴[09 Apr 25 20:06 UTC] No.43637205[source]▶
..Any country can solve it, just incentivise families. Simple things like ensuring young people have access to affordable housing and daycare. If I was at the start of my career ladder in a major urban area now, having a family would be close to the bottom of my priority list. Its not rocket science.
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1. WarOnPrivacy ◴[09 Apr 25 20:57 UTC] No.43637900[source]▶
> .Any country can solve it, just incentivise families.

In the US, parenting time is up 20-fold, from a few hours per week to 24/7 adulting.

Companion to that is that free-range land has shrunk from many sq/mi to a few sq/yds. Car culture and trespassing culture has eliminated the irreplaceable environments where adult-free, peer time nurtured mental health and abilities.

As near as I can tell, parenting and childhood is irreparably broken in the US.

We certainly seem incapable of recalling what sustainable parenting once looked like.

On rare occasion someone will recall that kids once roamed all over. Maybe that gets connected to less mental health issues. Either way it's all forgotten moments later.

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2. fragmede ◴[09 Apr 25 21:01 UTC] No.43637938[source]▶
I agree it's broken, just in the other direction. Just stick an ipad in front of the kid and ignore it for hours
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3. WarOnPrivacy ◴[09 Apr 25 21:18 UTC] No.43638111[source]▶
From before written history until a few generations ago, kids spent hours/day in adult-free, peer time making mistakes in everything from social interaction to physically risky play - and learning from those mistakes.

Today kids live entirely in adult curated, adult populated boxes. I'm not inclined to blame ipads for that.