GM and China and the Bail Out Money
According to GM 70% of the cars they build are built OUTSIDE the U.S.
Have the “Global Corporations” decided that a percentage of a Global poverty stricken world is bigger than the market in one rich country? Is it acceptable to them to abandon America and do tyey keep our business or does it even matter? It has been said that one problem with doing business in China is that the Chinese consumer is too patriotic to buy non Chinese products.
Does GM really believe the Chinese will not just take the technology?
One of the big cultural differences in Asian and Western cultures is the sense of the importance of the individual. The westerners protect their patents. To copy in Asia is a compliment. When Toyota gets a better transmission, they all get it. The American car manufacturers won’t copy it. Kia will. The Chinese will.
I was an American Product Engineer. You have touched my product. This old Product Engineer isn’t training young engineers on my product anymore. A Chinese engineer is training some young engineer as I sit here writing this article. He has shown that young engineer my product and they have studied it. I am an example of what we are losing. Am I better than the Chinese engineer? Yes but only because of experience. Who is getting the experience now? It’s not just engineers. The companies in my small town are having trouble finding people with trade skills. I look around. How many carpenters are we training?
Is it true? Is the market bigger in a poor world than in a few rich countries? Are the global corporations setting themselves up for the poorest of worlds?
What is the real price of that hundred dollar microwave?
Well lets ask the Product Engineer. He has nothing to do? I’ll roughly break it down:
In the U.S. Here are the much simplified numbers:
Labor $10
Overhead 30
Parts 50
Shipping 2
Profit 8
Now you want to move that product to China? Okay boss. That overhead includes my salary and health benefits and the extra levels of management and the CEO’s bonus. The Shipping from China is $7. It would be more but the Chinese government is going to subsidize that. It would be a lot more since we are using a boat burning oil from across the ocean. The real cost of that shipping is in your fuel price here boss. Excuse me I’m just the old engineer and you know how my attitude is.
How do we send the product to China on these numbers? Health insurance is included in the overhead since the Americans want the company to include healthcare in the cost of products built here. It puts us at a disadvantage.
But what do I know. I’m just the disgruntled old engineer wondering why old engineers get this way. It’s just that the numbers don’t add up and that can bother an engineer, especially a disgruntled old one.
david michael jackson
