[sdiy] The extreme low cost of audio gear

[Czech Martin]

Yes, wages tend to go up, but it can take a long time, because
there are 1000 Million workers in the back which would like to
do the job for half of the current wage.

The enormous population is something which should not be underestimated.
Gives some inertia.
At the same time the population density in Europe (can´t tell how it is in the
Americas) is actually going down ( if no immigration is taking place).

In my old university the rate of newcomers for EE has fallen to 1/3!!
All the others just can´t be lawyers or economics guys.

I´d say: until a big collapse will happen in the west, this means
good times for the old farts (em, when do you start beeing such ?).

People who really know what is going on inside semiconductors are getting rare,
because of population statistics and all this fancy VHDL/Verilog/RTL  methods.
I mean, these methods are fine, until the chip is not working as supposed.

I´m about 40 now, perhaps they beg me NOT to leave the company when I´m 60...

m.c.


-----Original Message-----
From: Rude 66 [mailto:r.lekx at chello.nl]
Sent: 31 August 2004 11:03
To: Czech Martin; R. D. Davis; karl dalen
Cc: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] The extreme low cost of audio gear




nah.. this is only a temporary problem. in these so called 'low wage
countries' the wages go up as soon as things are going well.
if there's no way you can compete as a country with cheap labour from
something like, say, china, you'll have to do something else. specialize.

i do second the quality issue, though.. it's one of my main problems with
mixers like behringers etc. you know where else you really see that? sound
cards. i'm testing a new firewire card here, and the 1st thing i noticed
were the in and outs were not tied to the box with a nut, but are only
soldered on the board for support. and it's not the only one.

it's one of the reasons i love older gear. the build quality is often
fenomenal compared to today..

r./





----- Original Message -----
From: "Czech Martin" <Martin.Czech at Micronas.com>
To: "R. D. Davis" <rdd at rddavis.org>; "karl dalen" <dalenkarl at yahoo.se>
Cc: <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 10:19 AM
Subject: RE: [sdiy] The extreme low cost of audio gear


> >Most likely, alas... putting more people in Europe and the U.S. out of
> >work, and making our countries more dependent on so-called developing
> >countries---talk about threats to national security!
>
> I second that. Almost slave work is going to eat the "low brain activity"
> jobs away ibn the west.
>
> But it will not stop there. My visit to the semiconductor manufacturing
> sites in Taiwan and Korea was a most frigthening experience, the
technology gap
> is almost closed!
>
> And by numbers they are by far the best sellers on the world wide market
today.
> No good news if you have children.
>
> m.c.
>