Comments by "Jim Luebke" (@jimluebke3869) on "Nick Johnson" channel.

  1. This is called "World Systems Theory", and it's a modern variation on the old Imperial / Mercantile system. Used to be, every empire (British, Dutch, etc) had an Industrial Core and a Colonial Periphery. You got raw materials from the Periphery, did "value-add" work to them in the Core, and sold them in the markets of the Periphery, which made the Core rich. Nowadays, the "Value-Add" work is still done in the Core, but that work has changed. Instead of factory work, it's design work done by "creative class" yuppies. The factory work itself has migrated to the Periphery, as global security has allowed massive seaborne transport of intermediate goods (electronic components, car parts, etc) to develop massive far-flung supply chains. These far-flung supply chains seek out the lowest-paid workers still capable of doing the work, no matter where in the world they are, so long as they are within easy reach of a containerized shipping port. Famously, this is what Shenzhen on China's Pearl River Delta is all about. However, Shenzhen is experiencing a rising tide -- workers there are becoming more skilled and demanding higher wages. Good for them, although, that means companies are seeking cheaper labor in places like Vietnam and even Africa. This rising tide would sweep into these countries too, until ultimately, global corporations would run out of cheap labor pools to exploit, and wages would rise worldwide. Good for everybody, eh? Well, except for the (majority of) Americans who are not part of the urban "creative class". Whether this global tide-raising will occur soon enough that re-shoring factories will make sense (the point where you'll save more by cutting transportation costs by producing locally, than you'd save by manufacturing things overseas) allows any continuity of working-class skillsets, or will save any of our cities from the fate of San Bernadino here, is an open question.
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