Quote:
Originally Posted by station
I get your sentiment but Tesla is a luxury brand. People have been paying $100k+ for those cars and they still aren't really making money.
|
Tesla is working to bring out a $35k car, and the cost of batteries and solar is coming down. So the ability to innovate and create something 'new' and do it all within the North American market is possible.
Quote:
To your larger point, I'm not sure the average person realizes that bringing the jobs home is going to mean either an increase in the cost of consumer goods or a gutting of labour laws. Sure we'll have jobs but they'll be crap jobs and we'll pay more for everything. I do agree that those countries having terrible labour conditions and us exploiting that for profit and cheap goods is a huge problem and morally suspect.
Overseas jobs are just one piece though. Most of the jobs have gone due to automation and a changing energy industry. Are the nationalists going to completely put the breaks on progress and technology?
|
There are other jobs being created though. The trades are hiring like crazy, and are often having a tough time of finding good, skilled workers. Tech is hiring as well, among other industries. A.I. and robotics will be hiring as well.
My issue with the jobs lost is when a company ships jobs away to shady countries with lax regulations strictly for cheap labor. In a way I guess you could say they are exploiting those workers. Obviously we are not going to start making the iPhone in the US, or computer parts of any kind. But we can do a lot more here. And if the cost of labor is high, find a way to innovate. Create something new.
Even with hiding profits overseas. The whole point of a good corporate tax rate is so that companies will reinvest their profits into job creation, but they sure as hell aren't doing that if the money is sitting in Iceland.
I'm using Tesla as an example because Musk is trying to create something completely new, and he's trying to create it from nothing buy his own money and capital. Even SpaceX is a completely new approach to something that has been around for a long time.