chines manufacturing, was Re: Wipro's Azim Premji [....]

[bob at sinister.com (Bob Keyes)]

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004, Chris Devers wrote:

> On Mon, 22 Mar 2004, Bob Keyes wrote:
>
> > [long rant(s) on inferior quality of Asian products]
>
> Neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but this may be of interest:
>
>     Within 10 to 20 years the Chinese will be able to sell a car that
>     is very similar to today's rental car:B B 4 doors, 4 seats, air
>     conditioner, radio, new but not fancy. It will cost between $2000
>     and $3000 in today's dollars. With cars that cheap it will be
>     unthinkable to manufacture in the U.S. Consumers won't bother to
>     finance a $2000 purchase separately (maybe they'll add it to their
>     credit card debt). Drivers will still carry liability insurance
>     but won't bother with collision or theft coverage. With cars that
>     cheap it won't make sense to advertise. If Ford or Toyota tried
>     to sell the average person a $25,000 car they would simply laugh,
>     much as a Walmart shopper would think you're crazy if you tried
>     to persuade him to spend $2,000 on a TV.
>
> <http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2003/06/20#a463>
>
> The above quote is, of course, taken out of context.
>
> Basically, Greenspun's argument is that 40 years ago, televisions were big
> expensive things that pwoople would take out a loan to purchase and were
> too valuable not to repair if they ever had problems. Further, he argues,
> TVs were a status symbol, and people identified on some level as RCA
> owners or Zenith owners, just as some people today are Ford or Honda types
> (or Dell or Compaq, say).
>
Funny, I have used the TV set economy to point out why we're bathed in
junk.

TVs were expensive. People would break into other people's houses and
dteal them, people would take out loans, they would be fought over in
devorce settlements. They were heavy and big, they used a lot of vacuum
tubes (not just the main tube. I remember seeing vacuum tubes into the
1980s in TVs). They were made in the US, Canada, or Netherlands. Mostly
the US. Even small towns like Lenox, where I grew up, had one or more
stores for TVs, though they would also sometimes carry Stereo equipment.
TVs cost $500, back when that was the downpayment on a house. My family
upgraded to color in 1974, buying a second-hand RCA for $400 (I think).
When it broke, which it did twice, it cost $25 for a repairman to come
out (I THINK it was $25, but that may have just been one specific bill.
I do remember that was a lot of money to me, as a kid).

When the TV last broke in 1985, there was no one left to fix it. The shops
had closed. We could send it to Indiana for $100. Instead, my parents went
to ValueMart (a cheezy department store) and bought a new TV for $300.

This was one of the last TVs to be recycled. I scavenged parts from it for
my electronics hobby. Everything was accessible and labeled. There was a
repair manual, in a compartment inside the TV.

(All the above dollar amounts are approximate. The dates are exact).

Now, TVs don't have to evenbr broken to end up on the curb. Sometimes
some one just gets a bigger one, or one with a nicer screen, or
built-in stereo, and the old one just goes to the curb. Why buy a used
TV when you can get a shiney new one for $79? So what if it lasts a year,
and isn't repairable? Just throw it away and get a new one! who cares!

We had a service industry build on repair providing a living to many
people. They kept crap out of the landfills and money here in the US.

Even our familiar american cars are now filled with inscrutable,
non-standard, cheap foreign (and US) that can only be repaired by
the 'authorized dealer' who charges an arm and a leg. a 5mph fender
bender can total a car. I can only imagine what sort of throw away cars
we'd have if we allow china into the game.

Sometimes I will pick up a piece of machinery, usually older, and
just marvel at its precision and quality. It's a shame that I can
no longer take it for granted.