- Joined
- Dec 3, 2017
- Messages
- 1,914
Well, for a very simplistic opinion... here's mine.
The original design was European. Americans never would have made dual dials. We're just too attached to the old feet/inches stuff. China knew whatever was being sold could be made cheaper there. They bought the machines they wanted to sell, reverse engineered them, and started selling them everywhere for cheaper than anyone else. The only thing we Americans like more than Imperial measurement is cheap stuff. So, we abandoned our American made products in favor of six times more stuff for the same money. Then American business was like, "hey guys, China can make our stuff cheaper, and Americans like cheap stuff. Let's have them do it!" And China was like , " Heck yeah we can make it cheaper!" And American business was like "This is awesome! Everybody wearing slacks gets a big bonus this year!" And China was like ,"Man we've got ALL the info. now! Let's get busy making cheaper versions of everything!" And American business was like , "What are all these dirty people doing here smoking cigarettes and taking long lunches? Let's close this place down entirely. Did everyone with slacks get their bonuses yet?" And finally, America was like " geez, credit is awesome! Let's all buy even MORE stuff!" And China was like, " heck yeah baby!". And now here we are.
There may be more to it than that. But as an educated person with a whopping one year of American history under my belt, AND absolutely no experience with international business economics, I'm totally qualified to spread the word.
Oh but we were talking about the origin of that particular lathe design. Huh. Who knows? I'm pretty glad they did though. I never could have bought an Atlas brand new. It would have cost a years wages!
The original design was European. Americans never would have made dual dials. We're just too attached to the old feet/inches stuff. China knew whatever was being sold could be made cheaper there. They bought the machines they wanted to sell, reverse engineered them, and started selling them everywhere for cheaper than anyone else. The only thing we Americans like more than Imperial measurement is cheap stuff. So, we abandoned our American made products in favor of six times more stuff for the same money. Then American business was like, "hey guys, China can make our stuff cheaper, and Americans like cheap stuff. Let's have them do it!" And China was like , " Heck yeah we can make it cheaper!" And American business was like "This is awesome! Everybody wearing slacks gets a big bonus this year!" And China was like ,"Man we've got ALL the info. now! Let's get busy making cheaper versions of everything!" And American business was like , "What are all these dirty people doing here smoking cigarettes and taking long lunches? Let's close this place down entirely. Did everyone with slacks get their bonuses yet?" And finally, America was like " geez, credit is awesome! Let's all buy even MORE stuff!" And China was like, " heck yeah baby!". And now here we are.
There may be more to it than that. But as an educated person with a whopping one year of American history under my belt, AND absolutely no experience with international business economics, I'm totally qualified to spread the word.
Oh but we were talking about the origin of that particular lathe design. Huh. Who knows? I'm pretty glad they did though. I never could have bought an Atlas brand new. It would have cost a years wages!