Why Detroit won't let China into our car market.

BYD is a vertically integrated car producer much like Henry Ford was when he built the Model-T.Their battery blade 2.0 allows for 10 minute recharges and their solid state battery is currently undergoing testing. Most of our infrastructure doesn't support DC fast charging.

We need to watch Canada, to see how this plays out; since BYD factories will only employ around 1600 workers and their top of the line cars are going to be priced around $60K.

 

We can't do industrial production because the incentives aren't there. We "job out" everything and tariff the raw materials required to produce something. That's why production has moved to Canada and Mexico. IMHO; getting manufacturing jobs back here is a pipe dream. We can only get assembly jobs; a different less skilled set. It would require 10+ years of committed funding to just get us started again - that's assuming they will zero out the tariffs on the raw materials needed to build it.

 

Another reason why we're falling behind.

 

Unions usually doesn't happen unless management mistreats the majority of their employees. Union's power in this country is on a downward trajectory. Mainly because management has been kinder to employees and laws has been passed for basic worker's rights - but we are seeing more encroachment into individual rights; so I believe that the pendulum will be swinging in the opposite direction, in the near future.

You can easily find articles on how Starbucks was able to keep unionization out. IMHO; They are one of the kinder and more employee friendly corporations out there. So I believe unions are more of a scrape-goat for poor corporate management and lack of innovation. A common theme, as illustrated above.

 

Yep; a similar thing happened in our shop, around that same time-frame. We were allowed to opt-out/redirect a large portion of our dues; so we don't have feed the slime-ball lobbyist we didn't believe in. I redirected mine to local community charities, that I could monitor and see the direct results, and encouraged my coworkers to do the same. It was an uphill slog at first; for those charities to get the proper paperwork in to make them eligible, easier if they were already getting some state funding. City and county funded charities required more paperwork on their part.

 

They make it easy on corporations and have the infrastructure, know-how, and can get the raw materials they need to complete the contract. They are a one-stop shop. Fun-Fact; it was Apple that taught China how to compete on a global technological scale. They laid the foundations for their engineering prowess. Something Apple could've done here in the states, but they wanted to juice their profit margins instead. Apple is kinda diversifying now, mainly due to public outcry. Didn't address the child labor issue, until it was public knowledge and began hurting sales. Stringing nets around their sub-contractor facilities to prevent suicides, adding plausible deniability to Apple corporate. The average wage there is $600-$1000 a month; but everything is cheap there and the government provides a lot of support for their citizens. Have you seen their transportation infrastructure?
Some of the smarter corporations realized what they were giving up for that convenience. Google decided to walk-away and take a more difficult pathway. That pretty much locked themselves out of the Chinese market - only accessible through a VPN in China. This proves that technology companies don't have to go through China; it's just an easier, more profitable path. In fact; most off-brand Chinese phones and tablets use a version of Googles' Android code.

Just my two cents....

 

Writing a big check to the Fed, since the current King lowered the deduction rates. I was OK before I retired and was contributing to my 403B. That keep me under the wire. Now I have to get a job to pay my taxes. Just kidding - debating between withholding plus or just cutting a quarterly check.

Mo money, Mo problems.....