This article in the NY Times is a pretty sobering account of why the iPhone is built in China (spoiler alert, it is not the cost of labor). It leaves a different sense of timeline (decades rather than years) for any recovery in the US economy, a little different from the folksy ad run by Americas Power. But maybe we are looking for a return to a past that can no longer be afforded.
When the price of carbon and thus transportation is unrealistically low, the incentive is to centralize production. If we were to meaningfully deal with global warming, production would move closer to the markets and revitalize the local supply chains, likely at a lower level of per capita consumption. Intellectual property can be distributed cheaply ... maybe what is needed is for FoxConn to become truly multinational and for the domestic labor markets to adapt to a changed world.
When the price of carbon and thus transportation is unrealistically low, the incentive is to centralize production. If we were to meaningfully deal with global warming, production would move closer to the markets and revitalize the local supply chains, likely at a lower level of per capita consumption. Intellectual property can be distributed cheaply ... maybe what is needed is for FoxConn to become truly multinational and for the domestic labor markets to adapt to a changed world.
No comments:
Post a Comment