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David Gray / Reuters
Two men walk down a deserted street in front of the unopened Ordos Museum on May 11, 2011. In the wake of a coal boom, Ordos was built to house up to 1 million people but only 30,000 live there today.
BEIJING -- With miles of freshly paved roads, little traffic and some seriously avant-garde architecture, the Chinese city of Ordos provides a driving environment most car enthusiasts can only dream of.
Yet rich Chinese who have invested in the resource-rich city are now frantically rushing to sell off their new luxury toys to stem the excessive bleeding that has come with a steep decline in coal prices.
As the boom turns to bust, some luxury car owners are said to be asking for as little as 10 percent of the typical asking price.
Ordos, which sprung up from the deserts of Inner Mongolia, sits on a massive coal reserve. It supplies about 17 percent of China’s needs.
When coal was discovered there in the early 1990s, farmers cashed in, selling their land at sky-high prices to private coal mining companies.
The boom sent hundreds of thousands of migrant workers flocking to Ordos.
However, the bubble burst in July. Coal prices dropped for 11 straight weeks, leading to rampant lay-offs and little or no profit for local coal companies.
Full China coverage on NBC News' Behind the Wall blog
One report suggested that 300,000 migrant workers who had traveled to Ordos to live and work had since left.
“Now that the economy is bad, many migrants have left,” lamented Li Rui, a cab driver in Ordos. “It’s still busy downtown, but it’s nothing like Beijing.”
'Anxious to sell'
But those gaping numbers are not the ones that Chinese netizens are breathlessly talking about.
Fueled by a recent report in the Economic Observer, the Internet exploded with rumors that some car owners in Ordos were liquidating their assets for as much as 90 percent off the going rate.
On a popular Ordos-based car sales website, one seller listed a 2009 Porsche Cayman for $79,032. Another owner had listed a Hummer for $80,600 with the plea, “anxious to sell.” In Beijing, a similar model Cayman would usually sell for $110,000, the Hummer for $121,000.
Zhou Hai, the manager of an Ordos-based dealership called Haohai Used Car Company, told NBC News that while prices have plummeted, it is not to the extent that people had claimed.
“The Internet is saying that my prices are 90 percent off, but in fact it’s only 50 percent,” he said.
Chinese paper falls for Onion 'sexiest man alive' spoof
Zhou noted that he had a used 2010 Range Rover selling for $160,000, compared to the average price of $207,000 in other parts of China.
Cars imported to China typically are taxed extensively, sometimes raising the retail price to as much as three times the usual U.S. price.
'Nail house' holds up traffic as homeowners fight local government
Ordos was supposed to be China’s Dubai, but the city built for 1 million people today has only 30,000 residents.
Investors across China have snatched up real estate – often with no intention to move in or rent out – in remote places like Ordos as a safe place to keep and grow their money.
China’s stock market is too unpredictable, bank interest rates in China are too low and strict government-mandated limitations on how Chinese can invest their money have encouraged many people to put their money into real estate.
'Ghost cities'
This phenomenon has contributed to what many experts believe to be a serious housing bubble and the rise of an increasing number of what have become known in China as “ghost cities.”
Speaking to NBC News earlier this year, Gillem Tulloch, managing director of research firm Forensic Asia described the confluence of these economic events for ghost cities like Ordos as being: “Empty roads, empty buildings, empty neighborhoods, empty cities -- all over China.”
The ghosts that haunt China's economic landscape
Meamwhile, a report from Ordos’ municipal government noted that at the end of April only 40 percent of Ordos' 324 residential construction projects were still under way. Of the 49 new projects, only seven were said to still be in progress.
According to Zhang Xiaofei of Ruili Real Estate in Ordos, 20 percent more people each month are trying to sell their homes in the city, and prices are as low as $320 per square meter, compared to the average suburban price of $800 per square meter.
NBC News’ Yanzhou Liu contributed to this report.
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- Tobacco industry uses trade pacts to try to snuff out anti-smoking laws
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- Syrians risk lives in battle to protect nation's ancient sites
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- Chinese paper falls for Onion 'sexiest man alive' spoof
Leave a Comment:
Maybe they are working with the "build it and they will come" theory...lol.
Doesn't seem to be working out for them at present...is China about to go into recession?....that would be a shock indeed!
Maybe they should hire Romney or just blame President Obama like our coal miners and companies are doing?
Or, you could just keep blaming President Bush.
Or you could wonder why the demand for coal to power the Chinese manufacturing monstrosity has declined........
“The Internet is saying that my prices are 90 percent off, but in fact it’s only 50 percent,” he said.
Go ahead and sell that one in Scranton.
ok so china china taxes our imports thru the roof, why are we not taxing their imports into our country thru the roof? we allow them free trade with hardly any to zero excise tax and wonder why we have a trade deficit?
@ eric
I think that tax applies to the Chinese consumers buying foreign goods, not the manufacturers.
We would be taxing our own people.
But you may be on to something. If we tax the hell out of cheap Chinese
manufactured goods, maybe buying domestically will seem more appealing. On the
other hand, prices would be to high and no one will be able to afford to
buy anyway...
actually its not their consumers, that is a tarrif tax, china currently has a 35% tarrif rate on all goods coming into their country, while we have a 2% to zero tarrif rate on all goods from china into our country. part of that 16 trillion dollar deficit we currently have is a huge trade deficit included in it with china.
what people dont realize is that the manufacturers dont get hit by tarrifs. the trade agreements are made between governments, and the govts are responsible for the tax, so our tax dollars are what is paying for current tarrif inequality with china.
So if we tax Chinese imports I may not be able to buy cheap plastic items that break after one use or toxic dog food or toxic construction materials or flimsy metal products or knock clothes that fall apart after 1 wash and all of this will result in me having to pay a little more for a product made some where else that actualy lasts longer? And the side effect of this might be that more products are made here in America which means more jobs here, less jobs sent to China which means better competetion for consumers which then in return means better everthing for Americans? WHAT A STUPID IDEA THAT WOULD BE.
@ eric
but if say I was a manufacturer for say, cars, and all of a sudden I have to pay
30+% more just to sell my product in China, why would I want to do that? I would be
losing money on every vehicle I sell. So I up the price to offset the tariffs,
thus the product will cost more for the consumer in china. Thats why cars over there cost so much more. They don't want their consumers buying foreign made products. They are basically
taxing their own population, right?
Reminds me of Brasilia.
Juscelino Kubitschek, President of Brazil from 1956 to 1961, ordered the construction of Brasília, fulfilling the promise of the Constitution. Lúcio Costa won a contest and was the main urban planner in 1957, with 5550 people competing. Oscar Niemeyer, a close friend, was the chief architect of most public buildings and Roberto Burle Marx was the landscape designer. Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956 to April 21, 1960, when it was officially inaugurated.
I lived in Brasil from 1954 until 1960 and the construction of Brasilia basically turned Brasilian currency (the cruzeiro) into confetti. Less than 10,000 people lived there when it was inagurated and the capitol was transferred from Rio de Janeiro. Government bureaucrats loathed moving into the region which was located in central Brasil in the Matto Grosso jungle. The purpose of building Juscelino's dream was to open up the interior of Brasil.
It is completely different from say Las Vegas which simply grew and grew. Brasilia was an entire city built from scratch. It was amazingly novel in that there were no intersections. It was a classic futuristic dream.
Today roughly 4,000,000 people live there and although I cannot comment on the quality of life for the region, Brasilia stands as a classic example of daring, stupidity and eventually a good thing.
Maybe this Chinese city will become China's Brasilia. I am certain that there are many who will hang on because Chinese take a much longer look at things by planning for the welfare of future generations which is not that common in the west.
@wolf
the manufacturer does not pay the tax, the government does, learn reading comprehension. the tax does raise the price for the consumer though. the tax is put in place to protect the nations economy and manufacturing base, which is a good thing. what happens in a case like cars for example, are mostly bought for status.
ie look at bmw and porche they cost alot to buy in the US, most bmw's and porches sold in the US are bought by the wealthy. yet in germany they are cheap to buy and are the normal go to car for most. when i was stationed in germany it was cheaper for me to buy a bmw then it was for me to buy a ford from a german dealer, unless i bought the ford thru aafes on base.
@ eric
comprehencion is not something you learn. I'm not trying to argue with you. If i'm wrong then ok, no problem. The reason why i'm replying is so I can learn. I'm no expert of foreign trade, but why the hell would the government give money in the form of tax to another country in order for private firms to make a buck? That sounds insane. Thanks for the insight, and I think i'll read up on it the subject some more when I get the time
FYI I used to live in West Germany, and BMW's are not 'cheap', even if they are built there.
People need a little education. China went into a recession soon after the rest of the world did. For numerous reasons, it was delayed. That's how capitalism works.
As the article notes cars imported from the U.S. have tariffs applied that triple the price of a car yet we apply very low tarrifs on almost every thing we import from China. Is it any wonder our companies find it cheaper to build there than here? If we had the same tarrif system we could build for our own market with American labor cheaper than in China.
@eric,
Sorry, you are wrong. I worked for a US importer for many years and am keenly aware of how the tariff system works.
The government of the importing country will set a tariff on products. This tariff is paid by whoever is importing the product. So here is how it works. I have a product produced in another country for $10,000. I pay the factory $10,000. I pay $1,000 to ship the product to the US. I pay whatever tariff there is on the product to the US government to get my product released form customs. So say there is a 1% duty on the product. So I pay another $100 to the US government. So now I have $10,000 + $1,000 + $100 = $11,100 into my product. I sell it for $13,000 to the store so I can make a profit. The store sells it to you for $20,000 so they can make a product.
So you have the production cost of $11,100 for the product, and maybe it cost $13,000 to produce in the US, so it is cheaper to make in another country, and the end product from another country is cheaper to buy in the store. Maybe $20,000 for product from another country, and $21,900 for the US produced. So consumers will buy the cheaper one from another country and the factory in the US goes out of business.
Now imagine that you do like China does. You charge 35% tariff instead of 1%. So the extra added cost for the tariff is not $100, but instead $3,500. When you add that additional $3,400 in tariff to the final price, it makes the imported one cost $23,400, compared to the locally produced one at $21,900. So now they locally produced one is cheaper. So people will buy the local one instead of the imported one.
This is what China does. So people will buy the cars produced in China because they cost much less than the imported cars.
The US could do this if they wanted. They could put a tariff on Chinese products of 35%. That would immediately make everything coming from China cost more money because the importer will have to pay the US government 35% of the cost of everything they import. They will have to pass this on to the stores, who would pass it on to the consumer. Then some US company could start producing the product. They would cost more to produce the product, and sell it the importer for a higher price than the Chinese product, but the importer would not have to pay the 35% to the US government. So it might be cheaper overall. So they buy from the US company, and send it to the store. The factory in China then loses customers, stops producing, and goes out of business.
Personally, I think that we should have tariffs on all products coming into the US that equal whatever the difference in the cost to produce it in the US. So products would cost the same regardless if it is made in the US, or China. More people would build products in the US. Factories would hire people in the US. The US government would get huge amounts by way of tariffs if someone decides to buy the Chinese made product.
As you can see, no where during any of this does the government pay a duty/tariff. They are actually making money from this. China uses that huge amount of money they get to then turn around and lend it back to the US government. They also use it internally to build these giant cities.
The problem is that lots of money is sent to the US by consumers because they produce the product. The government borrows money from China to pay for the deficits they run. If they balanced the budget, the US government would not borrow any money. But lots of money would still be flowing form the US to China because of consumers. The companies in China then use this money to buy raw materials, or US companies.
No Coal = A break for our little and BEAUTIFUL Planet. 7,000,000,000 - 7BILLION of US demanding everything our Planet Earth can Give with NO GiveBack.....Careful Now!! MomNature's Got Ideas. WHO, CDC and leading Epidemologists and Viral BioScientists are Sweating it out. They KNOW what is coming will make the 1917-1918 SpanishFlu, a very Tight Cousin to present day BirdFlu, Look Like Mary Poppins. No respect for MomNature? She gives NO espect or Mercy Back. Too Many People, Too Many "settlements" and Way too many destructive effects of ridiculous wars....Wait For It!..She's Coming. Ever notice How our DrugStore Chains are pushing "Get Your Flu Shots NOW!!!!"? to Avoid A Viral Mutating Evolution, which is a Catastrophe for 7BILLION Errantly Evolved People.
BlackBird,Thank you for that tidbit of history.I found it to be really interesting.I knew that there had to be posters with intelligence and an education instead of the typical bashing each other back and forth.Once again,thank you.
I am so thankful that our elected officials have let American businesses take our jobs and send them to China - A communist Country (of all places) - so who knows how long from now - we will have to deal with militarily, and used our tax dollars to do so.
I try damn hard not to buy anything that comes from China - but just about all name brands have left our country.
Jim in Auburn,
I agree completely with your analysis of excise taxes. eric was just plain wrong.
Further your explanation of tariffs does indeed follow classic economics, but misses some key points.
For years, Canada, our friend to the North, imposed almost a 100% tariff on manufactered goods like automobiles, trucks, aircraft, boats and motors; and on sporting and camping goods. Customs agents would record VIN numbers and the serial numbers of goods like outboard motors, firearms, camp stoves, tents, certain fishing equipment, etc. This was basically to force American manufacturers to locate some form of production in Canada, explaining why Ford, GM, Chrysler, AM, and Studebaker all had Canadian assembly plants.
With Mexico, the mequiladora program (started under LBJ) allowed American manufacturers to establish Mexican companies near (read up to about 100mi) the border. Americans could ship raw materials or components to Mexico and have complete products or components like automotive generators, brake caliper assemblies, lighting products, appliances or molded plastic toys shipped back across the border with little or no tariff consequences. NAFTA reinforced this program by removing almost all tariffs and restrictions across North America borders on commodities, raw materials, and component or assemblies.
Missing in the Chinese-American tariff argument is the key factor of politics. Yes, America could implement higher tariffs, but it would be politically unpopular here. It would end the era of cheap underwear, socks, shoes, coats, nail care products, hand tools, toys, clothing in general, and a huge assortment of other daily sundries. It would not sit well with the WalMart shopper to find WalMart's prices doubled due to new US tariffs. Likewise, Chinese tariffs really only apply to the wealthiest Chinese consumers. Chinese industries strike coproduction deals with foreign firms where the Chinese company gains access to foreign technology or knowledge or real production capacity for products ranging from heavy construction equipment, automobiles and trucks, aircraft components and jet engines, to Ikea furniture. The wealthy often view their ability to spend wildly as symbolic of their success (like Donald Trump). And they favor American and European-made goods over their domestic products. Until last year (when MercedesBenz overtook in sales) high-end Buick 4door sedans were the best selling vehicles in the Chinese market.
China bought US securities simply because it felt that the US government was the most secure place to park their excess funds. And, as bad as we may feel, if one seriously looks at the economic and political stability of the rest of the world (Europe in economic turmoil, the MidEast substituting riots, bullets and rockets for ballots, and the Third World countries at the mercy of a world economy in contraction), one really must agree. Besides, the purchase of American securities provides the Chinese a certain smugness, after almost a century of being the debtor/victim or world economic powers like the US and Britain.
John Colorado
HA HA ROFL.... "China" & "capitalism" in the same paragraph?? YOU ARE FUNNY!!!! Scary folks like you are out there.
Eric (#1.7)
"china currently has a 35% tarrif rate on all goods coming into their country, while we have a 2% to zero tarrif rate on all goods from china into our country".
Anyone who ever dabbled in commerce would tell you that statement is total nonsense. Import duties into China are covered under the H.S. code system with zillions of different rates for zillions of different categories. E.g., Computer parts and accessories, cell phones, retail equipment from the USA have zero import duty. The codes are as thick as a telephone book. Conversely, imports into the USA is covered by the Harmonized Tariff codes, also as thick as a telephone book, and believe me, most goods from China are not zero to 2%, much, much higher. The trade deficit of the USA is real, but existing import tariffs of either China or the USA is only a minor factor, and certainly your blanket statements on tariffs are totally false. The most significant determinant is production cost, a subject that requires a forum by itself.
wolfd89, eric
They tax automobiles, whether made domestically or foreign, and sales to consumer, not importer.
justoneguy,
China is on target to pass the US a the world's economic leader in 4-6 years. Are you saying that Red China Communism did that? Now I'm laughing.
If you took the top 25% of China's population, selecting them on the basis of intelligence and education, they would form a country larger than the United States.
Keep laughing.
In a strange artistic way I think this is kinda cool. I would love to go there and photograph these places with no one in them. Maybe they could rent the cities out to movie directors?
Honestly though, is anyone surprised by this? The government subsidised way to much to pad their growth numbers. Result, ghost cities.
agree on all points hatefly ; )
Why can't we build a city or turn Detroit into one? Detroit would be great as a huge city jail, all you need is a fence!
lol. Plus you could add jobs for the construction...win win....
This is surreal, every time we hear "Welcome to Walmart" we are enableing the Chinese to invest in and build opulent empty cities, 120K for hummer? in what universe?
These obscene projects are the produce of our blood sweat tears and toil, and we could be using these dollars to improve our own country. But our political emphasis has changed from doing what is good for the masses to some sickening new orthodoxy of profits at any cost for the few.
@ confussed
escape from Detroit? lol
The pains of capitalism and the greed that creates ruin. Welcome, enjoy, more to come!!
THis has nothing to do with capiltalism, this is pure socialism and government controlled social engineering at work here.
If this was a capitalist project it would have never happened, where are the ghost cities in the US?
Agreed Sco!
And if there are any ghost cities in the US, I am looking for a job there so I don't have to negotiate all these idiots with their faces buried in their phones just to get to work everyday...seriously!..I see people driving with their knees to get a text out almost daily...totally off on a tangent but there ya go anyway....lol.
We have ghost towns, though they initially were not of course....but China has taken it to a whle new level.
Ghost towns in the U.S. are generally those that were once heavily populated, and had a diverse industry. Many ghost towns in China were planned to be something they weren't, and they never saw an influx of people as they expected, so their ghost towns are never was, not has beens. You really don't see towns in the U.S. with brand new high rise condos, new shopping malls, and new roads being empty, but rather older towns with older infrastructure.
http://www.mdnphoto.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/20110602_ordos_kangbashi_real_estate_bubble_urban_empty_china01.jpg
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59116000/jpg/_59116399_newordosemptyapartmentblocks_624.jpg
http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2010/ordos/ordos_01.jpg
I'm all for planned cities, but they should be built over time as the parts are needed, not built all up front, then expect a mass migration over a short period.
IXLR8The pains of capitalism and the greed that creates ruin. Welcome, enjoy, more to come!
So, I guess you would take Socialism and Communism over Capitalism?
The reason my dear friend that coal prices have dropped, is because of Natural Gas and the new ways of getting it. That nasty Capitalism has figured it out and Natural Gas is clean energy.
Sco, the ghost cities in America are all over the country. The ones where Bain Capital and Mitt Romney plundered.........
What we have in America is "ghost neighborhoods"
Troy1101-(And if there are any ghost cities in the US, I am looking for a job there so I don't have to negotiate all these idiots with their faces buried in their phones just to get to work everyday...seriously!)
There are literally countless numbers of ghost towns scattered across this nation.You can find them in every state from Alaska to Florida, Hawaii to Rhode Island.With names like Fort Raleigh or Virginia City, they date from before this country's newborn cries right on up to the darkest nightmares of this last century when people fell to their knees and prayed for miracles.Some have over two hundred buildings standing strong while others are slowly giving way. As year by year the wind and dust remove all trace of those who worked, wept and dreamed. Just do a google search.I'm sure the ghosts would love the company!
@ a rand
coal prices in china dropped due to the research and developement they have done with solar power. china has made solar cheaper then burning coal in their country. the natural gas developement has mostly been done in the US. the companies now use fracing to produce natural gas since bush exempted them from the clean water act. so we get cheap natural gas while we can no longer drink the water.
There's lot's of ghost cities in America. Every time a factory closes the entire place turns into a ghost town because everyone was employed by that factory. Ever see that movie roger and me?
First, do not call Ordos a ghost town yet. Eventually the Chinese hunger for energy will mean that coal field will be harvested. And when that happens, Ordos will be there to absorb influx of workers and their families. Unlike Minot, S.Dakota. Menards announced today that it plans to hire 200 employees in the Eau Claire area at $15/hr, fly them weekly to/from Minot, and put them in hotel rooms. Why? Minot's oil boom and 4100 homes destroyed in this spring's flooding has left it with a boom in construction, an over-heated housing market, and 2.3% unemployment rate makes $15/hr the de facto minimum wage. Menards sees this as an on-going solution, I do not. The boom and its associated payroll will fade. Housing stocks will be replenished and then over-built. And the days of $17-20/hr for delivering pizza will end. Meanwhile, Menards is going to have to deal with high costs and worker burnout.
Second, the world's economy is contracting. This is normal. It hurts to be squeezed. (Ask me how I know.) But it will expand again, and China will grow again. Further, China can also afford to relocate some of its industry and population to cities like Ordos to relieve the pressure on its coastal cities.
And Windancersong, there are alot of much more recent ghost towns which still have a ghost population, but no real reason to survive. Cities like Hamilton, Ohio which was a heavy manufacturing city, making heavy cranes, excavation machines, locomotives, even bank safes and vaults. Today, it is a dirty, inner city without a true outer city, but surrounded by closed mills and factories. Visit the textile towns of the SouthEast and the South; same story. Even towns like Clinton, Iowa, which boasted some of the largest sawmills 100years ago; and massive starch and sugar processing plants up to 50 years ago. Home of Curtiss Candy, whose plant covered nearly 1/2 sq mi. The intersection of six major railroads and a division point of the CNW railroad, whose repair/fabricating shops employed over 2700. The CNW is now UP, almost all the shops are gone, and CNW's only rail competitor is a subsidiary of the Canadian National railroad, running North-South, not East-West. Curtiss closed in the 1960's. I think one starch mill is left, along with a secondary petroleum refiner which specialises in resin production.
Ghost towns with populations clinging to what is left, with many too old, too poor, or too tired to move on.
Ghost towns crop up where ever a new Walmart is built with local tax breaks and incentives to corporate Walmart. Mom and Pops close down and they must either move out or go to work for Walmart. Does this make ANY sense to anyone else? You would think that local governments would recognize the perils of inviting the fox into the hen house! Yet, Walmart (China) continues to expand across rural America. Almost makes me glad to be old and retired with only a decade or two left.
I don't think I've ever seen a Walmart in a ghost town?
i really have no pity for them....greed finally got you...
but you don't succumb to it right mike? how many lottery tickets did you buy?, i got two myself....
And people wonder why there's a trade deficit. Why do we buy anything made in China?
is this a trick question? ...whats stamped on YOUR computer? made in USA perhaps?.....
yes my computer is built from usa made parts along with my monitor being made in the usa as well. i do not buy chinese goods. a little research and you can find usa made products all over the net.
eric,
Take the covers off your computer and look at the components. Your USA built machine is still 50-75% foreign built, much of it in China. Open the hood of your automobile. If your car is less than 11 years old, it will have Japanese, Mexican, and possibly even Chinese components in a chassis designed and engineered in Germany or Italy.
Eric1964, I have some news for you, it may say "made in the USA" but I can guarantee you there are foriegn parts in it, if you think otherwise you are very naive.
It is more likely "Assembled in the USA.", Yes there are vehicles made here in the USA but many of those parts put in that vehicle are made from products around the world. Ford for example put transmissions in some of the vehicles from Germany.
Nearly ALL LCD screens are produced in China, Korea or Taiwan. The USA also has no laws that stop a company from saying Made in Japan even though the product was produced in China if the product came out of a Japanese port there is nothing stopping that company from saying their product was made there.
Eric1964, go through your entire house and throw out anything that does not say "Made in the USA" and see what you have left, this includes clothing, appliances, shoes, furniture. I there would be much left to use and or wear.
Because of the idea everything has to be fair in the USA the unions have put the USA near third world status. Curtis Mathis, Heath, Zenith, RCA, GE all used to have factories here that made TV's, Computers, etc. Though some of them are still here but in name only, their products no longer mean quality just a brand. Even GE puts their name/logo on another companies products. RCA is just letters on a product, Audiovox uses the name on their products as do a few others. It means nothing.
As to products not made in the USA, if they were most could not afford them because there is this notion that a certain dollar amount must be paid and the workers MUST due to a union have something.
I have worked for several unions I did not like it, it's time they go. They are ruining the USA. Look at what they did to Hostess/IBC, gone because the bakers got greedy now 18,000 are out of work.
You need to wake up Eric, it's a world not one country any more oh and I guess you will be walking now as your vehilce has some parts not made in the USA and you can't use it.
Precisely, IXLR8, which is also the answer to Scott's question - China does not have a monopoly on greed. We continue to buy Chinese goods (many of which are sold under American labels) because they produce those goods much more cheaply than would be the case in the US. A major difference is that we don't tax those imports to force prices to be competitive, we like our cheap goods too much to do that.
We need to tax the shi@ out of their goods and get America producing goods again.
That's a great idea, but are you willing to pay 300 bucks for a T-shirt. Since Chinese workers get paid for technical work, like making Ipads and the such at the rate of about 300 a month and clothing workers get about 1/4 of that, how would we ever be able afford anything in this country.
Union workers in the US would be making in excess of 30 bucks an hour plus benefits. Do you know how much an Ipad or any computer or parts would cost if they were made here? Like it or not, we are in a new world market and also a new world order. Sorry to say, but the last election tells the whole story of how people think. The Libs just hate Wal-Mart, but I'll bet the farm that just about everybody that shops there voted for you know who.
Sounds like a good plan, but who would buy our stuff. The world economies are in collapse.
You're proposing additional government interference with the free market?
Good idea bro, that always works out for the best!
/sarc
well ron since the usa purchases two/thirds of the worlds goods. i would say worry about us and not the rest of the world.
secondly the profit margin for companies would drop so ceo's would no longer get 30 million dollar bonuses above and beyond normal pay. the prices themselves would not rise much. look how cheap the things are really not, compaired to when the US had high tarrifs. the prices dropped initially to run US factories out of business, then once the US factories where no longer in business the prices rose to a higher level.
@ a--rand: did t-shirts cost $300 *before* we bought them all form China?
HARM,
Since only one company still exists (its shirts are in the $25-30 range for plain white) with the wherewithall to knit and sew the product one might infer monopoly pricing would rule. While $300 probably wouldn't sell, expect $35-40 instead of $3.50 or less.
Of course, most clothing is actually produced in "Third World" countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Guatemalia, etc. Just like many of our prescription drugs come from India and the Carribean nations So we cannot tariff against China, but the world. The same world that buys about 60% of the products produced in the US (food stocks, metals, construction material and equipment, mining and heavy equipment, vehicles, aircraft, and yes, weapon systems).
Tariffs were actually one of the foundational reasons for the Civil War, as the industrial North wanted tariffs to keep cheap European exports out, while the agarian South wanted those cheap goods an open markets for its cotton, sugar, and tobacco.
.
Is china going down the economic tubes? Can we be far behind?
Who will lend us money to give to other countries while neglecting our own?
.
Goes to show you that stupid, greedy people who treat money like toilet paper are everywhere, not just here.
bet ya bought a lottery ticket though ...now didn't ya.....
i buy a lottery ticket every week scooter. i buy it not for the win, but because the revenue raised for the lottery goes towards funding education.
eric,
Read a little bit more. As little as $ 0.02 to $ 0.10 of each play ($1-2) actually goes to primary, secondary or higher education. You would better serve education by directly contributing to a scholarship fund or a school of your choice. Of course, you would not be able to defy the odds and win that $million jackpot.
You're better off using you lottery money at the school bake sale. All of that money goes to the school.
The Chinese are about to learn the lessons of what REAL GDP is. They have SEVERAL GHOST CITIES.
The Chinese are not stupid. They are buying up everything they can get their hands on, like gold, silver, copper, lumber and real-estate in all parts of the world. They have lost faith in the US dollar. At this rate, it won't be long till they have the reserve currency and then, we will be in deep doo-doo.
Give ya 500 bucks for one...course buying one and driving it here would be kinda tough on me though............But then again there are morons out there that ride snowmobiles across water, so i guess all i need do is find a moron.....any takers....?
Welcome to reality! They tax the hell out of imports, pay their people peanuts and waste billions on crap like this. The world needs to step up and quit kissing China's ass! China's arrogance is incredible.
We buy stuff from China, because we have no choice. American and Japanese companies are the ones having products made there to be competitive an dmake more profit. Apple is a GLARING example of this greed. IT's not about survival for Apple!. All China, all the time. Any low-mid range consumer electronics are most likely made in China. Yamaha, Denon, HP, Sony, Samsung, LG, Infinity, Polk Audio, Panasonic, Onkyo.
The USA, Japan and Germany can only compete on the high-end of home electronics, tools, bicycles, and machinery.
Corporate America has as much blame as anybody.
The examples of fast growing economy and living hell are Japan and S Korea. China is following them.
Lots of money with rotten culture is the greenhouse of the devil's curse.
no money with rotten culture didn't work out too well for em either...
This is a newsworthy article??
And how about the totally bogus, misleading headline? "Luxury cars going for a song". They clearly aren't. In fact, not only are they still priced much more than anywhere else in the world, they are only being discounted 15-20% from the chinese market.
So how is this a "song" and how is this even interesting or relevant or worth our time reading?
ha-ha...made ya look.......
The two men "walking down a deserted street" are walking down a stairway. And THIS was the most accurate statement in the story. What a news agency.
Cars in China isn't the only thing that is going to be selling cheap. Give Obama about another 6 months and you will be able to America at about 10 cents on the dollar. Its over boys and girls!
China has been on a building boom for over 20 years. It's got to stop sometime.
I always knew that china would fall soon. Hopefully this will cause billionaires to bring jobs back to america....... naw that's too hopeful, billionaires are so selfish they prefer exploiting desperate people.
Morlack,
Nope, You have the Asian Pacific rim, India and Sri Lanka, Central America, and South America left to exploit. And, if it can resolve its political and cultural rifts, there's always Africa.
Mor, that's quite possibly the funniest thing I've read here in a while. Thanks. Do you think the Obombo channel ran this story on it's own or did someone tell them to print it??????????
A hundred and sixty thousand $160.000 for a Range Rover, is not so cheep. The price of Coal in China is low because, China is slowing down. The rest of the world hasn't the money it once had to buy more products manufactured in China. Someone, put it into the right words, ( if China goes broke, then who will the US borrow money from ) Will we,( US ) be up the creek without a paddle?
Super...,
That collapse in China's coal demand is one of the two real culprits in American coal mining's troubles. China cancelled some very lucrative contracts, just as American power generators were moving to cheaper to build and operate natural gas plants. Note: no mention of Clean Air Act, the EPA, or Obama; just pure financial interests.
Words of Obama..
Bush did it...............
LOL... Greed will always make you bleed in the end!
Americans are not as bad at math as we say we are.
"Another owner had listed a Hummer for $80,600" - "In Beijing, a similar model Cayman would usually sell for $110,000, the Hummer for $121,000."
So, if it regularly goes for $121,000, then $80,600 would be 66%, which would be 34% below market value, or 34% "off" as they say. And the Cayman "$79,032" when regularly 110,000, would still be 72% of value, or 28% off, again nowhere near 50 or 90% off.
The step of caution goes out the door when seemingly worry free opportunity comes up. Do not always believe on the saying, "No risk, no reward....big risk, big reward". It is better to say, "Use Caution on investments; Pay your taxes on your rewards".
More like China's Detroit.