Technology

This is what I try to tell people who just want the cheapest things possible. We're voting with our dollars what kind of world we want.

Also, shipping things across the sea burns some of the worst fuel for the environment so I'd rather buy things made here and support the local economy whenever possible.

so which are you choosing?

I think most people will choose what they can actually afford. The fact that things cost so much and people aren't being paid anywhere near enough to compensate for the skyrocketing price of consumer goods, including vehicles.

Whatever the reasons, there is a very serious and dangerous disconnect between the prices of American goods and the spending power of the average American. Unless we do something about that - and I do not mean short-sighted, punitive, protectionist measures like tariffs - China is going to drink our milkshake.

Thatsthething.

Everyone talks about how shitty the environment is and that we're going to get burned alive in our lifetime...but at the same time, fuck the environment if it means cheap goods.

Here's some fun math. Burning a gallon of gas emits 8,887g of CO2. Let's call it 8.9kg. 1000kgs in a tonne. That means 112 gallons emits a tonne of CO2.

With me so far?

It costs around $500 to remove a tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere.

People act like $3/gal for gas is too much. I say, it's nowhere near high enough. Gas has to cost $4.46/gal just to cover cleaning up the CO2 emitted from it. That's just cleanup.

Maybe if we had to pay the cost for our lifestyle, we'd readdress what we actually need. Instead, we have government subsidized global destruction. All of the EV/renewable tax rebates are great (as long as you can use them)...but it's nothing compared to what oil gets.

Don't even get me started on beef.

Mexico is just across the boarder, and US car makers already make their stuff there to save cash. Mexico has a pretty low unemployment rate right now, so pushing even more labor demand their way would help improve a lot of peoples' lives by lifting salaries.

But a lot of the cost is in battery manufacturing, not assembly. We need to experiment with sodium-ion batteries to bring those costs down for economy-class cars, just like China is. Maybe $10k is too little, but $15-20k should be feasible for a very basic car.

You do understand they have to comply with our safety and environmental standards to sell here right?

Sure we will take the sacrifice... I'm sure this time capitalist will get the message and start behaving reasonably

It's like that time thousands of us reduced or eliminated meat intake and suddenly the Kardashians realized taking private jet flight to avoid a few minutes of traffic was bad and stopped doing it

While I can’t say any of this is wrong, you’re missing likely the single biggest component inflating the cost of US manufacturing: profit margins. Every step of the supply chain has a profit margin attached. Sometimes just a few percent, but often double digits. These compound, so a 5% margin on a simple component will see an additional 15% when sold as part of an assembly, which is then marked up another 20% when sold as part of the finished good. There’s also financialization which burdens US companies. Companies generally need to take loans to fund their operations, and end up having to pay heavy interest fees and rent which also drives up cost. Workers and environmental protections are more expensive, but in practice they are relatively minor compared to a lot of other inefficiencies US industry struggles with.