poppins Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I can remember when Japanese was a synonim for junk. British motor cycles were considered the best in the world. To own a Vincent Black Shadow or Norton Dominator was the dream of any blue blooded man. Then a long came a little company called Honda, with strange bikes that had coil ignition, disk brakes, eventually starters, and they began winning all the races. British and US cars were about equal in junk value, except US cars didn't have Lucas electrics, and those crappy little Toyotas and Datsuns didn't break down. Now I am almost ashamed to say my Huyundai Sonata is the best car I've ever owned. Have you had to buy parts for it yet Buck ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buck Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Have you had to buy parts for it yet Buck ?no, that's why its the best. My pal has a bini,( BMW mini) a tune up cost him $800!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 The reason our economy is in bits is because we don't make anything any more. And the stuff we do make, nobody wants, because the third world makes it cheaper. It is possible to compete with the likes of China. Germany does it with a highly skilled, motivated workforce producing high quality goods. We tried it with a workforce that would rather have endless tea breaks, spend the day nattering on the phone or scratching its backside or (eventually) going on strike. It didn't work out. Do I have a point or am I just being crazy? No, it's a good point. One of the reasons our economy is in such dire straits is that it is 65-70% consumer based. That is, it relies on our buying lots of stuff, stuff that is often made abroad. Which is sort of fine if there's plenty of money (or rather, cheap credit) around, but doesn't work so well when people have to live within their means. Believe it or not, Britain ranks number 7 in manufacturing globally, but most of that is specialized engineering stuff or things like cars, which are mostly assembled by robots. Interestingly, it's much harder to get work in Germany if you're an unskilled immigrant, unlike the UK. Germany of course, did it right. While we in Britain were nationalizing everything into huge, inflexible companies dominated by admitted communist union leaders (I'm looking at you, Derek Robinson), Germany has many small businesses concentrating on high quality products that even China needs. In the Labour heartlands (and certain parts of SF) small businesses are looked on as the spawn of the devil rather than essential producers of wealth. And that's one reason why Germany has lots of real money and we rely on borrowed money from the magic socialist "money bin". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Germany & Japan aren't third world. Did he say they were? He was talking about the stuff we make. Germany doesn't make things cheaper, it makes them to a higher quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 We could then produce bio-ethonol to fuel our cars. Can you give me an estimate of how much arable land would be needed to be set aside for all this? And where we would get our own fuel (i.e. food) from? Also EROEI. Bioethanol may require the use of too much arable land (to grow the required crops) and too much energy input during production to justify it. As such, costs—financially, environmentally—are currently prohibitive LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upinwath Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Think about it. The entire British economy was built on our exports. The reason our economy is in bits is because we don't make anything any more. And the stuff we do make, nobody wants, because the third world makes it cheaper. Here's just one example: Train travel. It's so damned expensive! But we don't build enough trains to change that. Seriously, why don't we stop sitting on our back sides and build things?! Do I have a point or am I just being crazy? You're being crazy. In the 60s. 70,s and early 80s, the unions had massive power. This caused inflation at a silly rate. The unions gave no thought to the long term effect of their greed so we can no longer export anything. Add the management's unwillingness to invest (Mostly because of the unions) and you have no updating of production and costs that work out far too high to make it viable to sell anything. Pretty easy really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem1st Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 You're being crazy. In the 60s. 70,s and early 80s, the unions had massive power. This caused inflation at a silly rate. The unions gave no thought to the long term effect of their greed so we can no longer export anything. Add the management's unwillingness to invest (Mostly because of the unions) and you have no updating of production and costs that work out far too high to make it viable to sell anything. Pretty easy really. http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/09/great-prosperity-1947-1977-vs-great-regression-1981-present/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingus Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Can you give me an estimate of how much arable land would be needed to be set aside for all this? And where we would get our own fuel (i.e. food) from? Also EROEI. LINK We should develop a system for turning dead bodies into bio diesil. Aparently the average person contains enough fat to power a car for a week, the average person from Rotherham 2 weeks and the average American 4 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 It works both ways. General Motors and Ford build their cars in China for Chinese consumption and Honda, Toyota and Nissan build their cars for the North American market either in the US, Canada or Mexico. A Honda car built in the US contains over 60 percent American made parts, the transmission comes from Japan and the balance from other sources Automation has killed off a lot jobs in assembly plants and a lot of jobs were lost when Ford, GM and Chrysler went through the lean years and closed down plants or shifted them overseas. The Japanese and Volkswagen have stepped in and provided a lot of jobs for those who were displaced as a result of what happened earlier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_g Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 We do export stuff. I know of loads of computing jobs and call centre jobs that have been exported to India. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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