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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 | 6 comments | 09 Apr 25 12:58 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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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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seanmcdirmid ◴[09 Apr 25 21:11 UTC] No.43638040[source]▶
The US was going down the "let dominate IP/technology" angle for awhile, but we only accomplished it with imported labor (look at any SWE shop). China is obviously developing the talent to do the same, and they are rapidly automating manufacture work as they approach a demographic cliff. They are basically making all the right investments for the future while we try to go back to the 1950s. It is extremely frustrating.
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1. bamboozled ◴[09 Apr 25 21:12 UTC] No.43638054[source]▶
Back to coal mines.
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2. sterlind ◴[09 Apr 25 21:49 UTC] No.43638395[source]▶
it really seems like there's a push to de-skill Americans. like Bessent's remark that the laid-off civil servants could become factory workers as we bring back domestic manufacturing, and the recent corporate push towards vibe coding and integrating AI everywhere, and the purge of seasonal and unskilled migrant workers while keeping the H1B program.

it almost seems like we're trying to clear immigrants out of the chicken plants to make room for laid-off graphic designers.

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3. sorcerer-mar ◴[09 Apr 25 22:32 UTC] No.43638751[source]▶
Bessent et al’s plan isn’t even internally coherent.

Yeah, Americans are going to go back to working in factories. But not for low wages, because errr ummm actually it’ll be robots doing the work! So where will Americans be working? Errr ummm well… in the factories! (??)

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4. bamboozled ◴[09 Apr 25 23:07 UTC] No.43638962{3}[source]▶
Yeah and another thing I’ve noticed is the current administration has won on negativity and victimhood. It’s damaged Americas confidence and super power branding tremendously .

It seems to be the new image of America as some kind of wounded animal who is acting aggressively to protect itself from China. It might not be the case but perception is important and in my opinion it’s changing fast and in the wrong direction.

It’s almost like Americans are now begging for low tier jobs or something.

5. immibis ◴[10 Apr 25 13:24 UTC] No.43643541[source]▶
I've been hearing internet rumours of theories that for a lot of people all of this has something to do with fragile masculinity, a desire for dominance, sexual insecurity, something like that. I don't really understand it fully, but it's something like they want to bring back old sexual hierachies so they can be at the top of them. Machoism. They want to bring the manly jobs back and give them to white people. The reason they hate black people is they have some insecurity about being sexually out-competed by black men. The reason they hate gay and trans people is that nontraditional sexuality devalues the whole traditional sexual hierarchy. The reason they want to crash the economy so there won't be as many jobs available and women will have to depend on men for money which will make it easier for them to get women - some of them have actually said this out loud! And so on.

It's just one of many possible theories, but it's consistent with itself and the evidence...

Not sure where exactly I've seen the idea. It might have been: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn6b8GRAXgo or its source material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID8Xq3chNi4

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6. bamboozled ◴[11 Apr 25 04:13 UTC] No.43650458{3}[source]▶
It's for sure some of that, here is also a good podcast that covers this and how a lot of these issues start in childhood and how you can avoid it. It's for parents but it's interesting when thinking about why adults act the way they do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euqaDgWEj6k