Pick any two.
You know the triangle. You can have it Cheap and Fast, but it won't be Quality. Fast and Quality, but it won't be Cheap. Cheap and Quality, but it won't be Fast. And I think about this in terms of production in America, which has steadily moved into the far more lucrative service business instead. But now that they want to build production in the US again to create jobs and possibly for strategic purposes, I wonder who the market will be.
I was thinking about this as China has reportedly halted orders from Boeing, which is already struggling due to all the quality issues they have. two thirds of the planes they make go overseas out of the US, and China is the largest buyer, expected to buy almost 9000 planes in the next twenty years. Perhaps Airbus in Europe will have to build another factory.
Yet, this indicates an issue for US manufacturing hopes, because they are still going to have to compete internationally, because the US market, as sizeable as it is, isn't large enough to absorb all of the production - especially given the ruthless profit chasing of US investors. What are they going to compete on in a global market? Price, Quality, or Speed of delivery?
Price is going to be very hard to match if tariffs make all the necessary components from outside the US more expensive. And then there is the cost of labour, which is likely to go up if illegal immigrants are kicked out of the country - which affects many, many aspects of American life. Will an American worker be on a production line, mowing the lawn or taking care of some rich person's child? The only way to keep prices down, would be to source many components internationally, and crush salaries of people. Or use AI and robots.
Which doesn't help the average person.
Well then, they can of course compete on quality, because with all the smart people in the US and skilled workers, they should be able to make a far superior product than other countries. However, what is the cost of getting quality manufacturing in the US? Is it possible to really make something that is of good enough quality that still isn't prohibitive in price? Is it possible to find enough skilled people willing to work like they do in the countries where they are building iPhones? Is the quality of Boeing the shining example? Tesla?
That leaves speed, and this is another area that the US should have down pat - after all, they have the need for speed, and the consumer wants everything same day delivery, no matter what it is, or where they live. The US is a shining example of the "on-demand" economy and is home to many of the services that provide it. However, production is a bit different than pushing out updates to an app. Are Americans willing to work like they do in the "production countries" to be able to compete on the global market?
And I think that this is something a lot of people in the US haven't really considered with all of the changes that are going on, as they celebrate the "wins" - what does all of this do to the culture people are accustomed to? What happens if the US moves back into production, will the knowledge worker roles in services still be able to meet global standards? What happens if there isn't cheap labour willing to look after children so that parents can be professionals? What happens when all the things that people enjoy, become prohibitively expensive due to import taxes, and the local products are prohibitively expensive because the cost of production locally is so high?
Is the average American better off?
It is hard to say at this point, because yes, the global and local economies need to change, and change always brings changes that might not have been predicted prior, or over or under estimated earlier. What is predictable though is that people don't like change, but accept it when there are personal benefits. When the changes cause a personal cost though, we like it much less.
How will people respond if they lose enjoyed luxuries?
In today's on-demand culture and global economy where it is possible to get almost anything, how will people feel when they are forced into a situation where they just have to make do with what they are able to get, due to the decisions of the government. The billionaires at the top will be able to afford whatever they like, whilst everyone else is limited by the decisions the billionaires made.
It sounds a bit like Communist Russia or North Korea, doesn't it?
And remember, Trump looks up to the dictators. The people who have controlled people to empower themselves. He sees himself as a supreme leader of the people, chosen to rule over the masses as he sees fit. Yet, what happens when a culture that has made "freedom" the symbol of the country, gets ruled over to their detriment and loss of opportunity?
The cost of "making America great" might be everything that made America great.
Which two does America pick?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
