[sdiy] OT: Chinese goods

[Richard Wentk]

This reply is wrong. 

Firstly, there's no such entity as 'UK PLC'. 

There are big practical differences between the equity markets, fixed holdings, bond markets, forex markets, and so on. 

Pension funds don't do a lot of investing in equity any more, so there's no obvious benefit to be had from direct profitability. 

Secondly pension fund losses have been horrendous - mostly because private pensions were, and are, an obvious scam which benefits pension fund manager at the expense of 'investors'. 

It's always been naive to believe otherwise. (If you want a secure income, invest in commodities now - not a generic pension fund.)

Finally, manufacturing plays such a tiny role in the UK's balance sheet - compared to financial scams of various kinds - that even if none of the above were true, the collective benefit of off-shoring would still be negligible. 

Engineers *really* need to educate themselves about how the economy actually works, and not go around believing the lies they've been told. 

Because the way it actually works has guaranteed that with a few exceptions, most engineers have lower pay and lower job security than we had a decade ago - and *drastically* lower financial security than we had two decades ago. 

At the same time corporate owners have been creaming off the profits and gambling with them, to no great effect - except for some rather obvious and ridiculously destructive market explosions.

As for off-shoring - it has a proven effect of putting downward pressure on wages while inflating profits. 

If it wasn't ridiculously profitable, corporates wouldn't do it. 

The problem is that barely any of that profit is ever invested, and the downward pressure on wages means that domestic markets shrink because no one has the spare cash to keep spending - as the UK and US are finding out now. 

Anyone who thinks their job is safe in this kind of climate really needs to take a look at what's actually happening out there, and what has already happened to a good number of skilled people who could be doing something useful and productive with their time, instead of stacking shelves and serving at tables. 

And for Synth-DIY relevance - companies like Moog and Sequential would have no chance of starting up today. When there's minimal disposable income, people stop buying luxuries, and the opportunities for market-changing innovation get smaller and smaller.

Richard

On 15 Sep 2011, at 18:23, Colin f wrote:

> 
> This is getting too far off-topic, but...
> 
>> The only benefits derived 
>> from outsourcing the manufacture of a product is more profit 
>> to the very few business owners and seeing their neighbors 
>> lose their jobs.
> 
> One of the biggest owners of UK PLC are pension funds.
> Increased profits will provide a better standard of living upon retirement
> for anyone not foolish enough to depend on a state pension funded by
> government bonds.
> 
> Cheers,
> Colin
> 
> 
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