We’ve heard a lot of rhetoric lately suggesting that countries like the US are losing valuable manufacturing jobs to lower-cost markets like China, Mexico and Vietnam — and that protectionism is the best way forward. But those jobs haven’t disappeared for the reasons you may think, says border and logistics specialist Augie Picado. He gives us a reality check about what global trade really looks like and how shared production and open borders help us make higher quality products at lower costs.
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All this moving parts around the world seems insane too. That uses a lot of energy, and is a great way to move invasive species from place to place. And I don't think who makes the best product is the primary driver. It seems to at least equally depend on cost. I can't tell you the amount of Chinese crap I've bought that was broken on arrival or broke soon after purchase.
Other problems with this idea include: Counties deliberately keeping wages low to stay competitive, and the resulting anxiety from knowing a factory could downsize or close at any time if you demand better working conditions. A much smaller number of factories building the same product, thus much less competition(Most of your large appliances come from only 6 factories. For microwaves that number is even smaller). Fewer low-skilled entry-level jobs in wealthy countries. Exporting polluting industries to countries with far less enforcement of environmental regulation.
I have a hard time believing that 87% of our job losses are due to automation. For one we only have about 60% of the industry we used to. So what happened to that 40%?
Steel, small appliances, garments, electronics, are all nearly gone. All labor intensive fields.
History repeats itself
Clearly the incentive is offshoring cheap labor and is the sole reason for the Loss of manufacturing in the US. Automation has nothing to do with this. These vile people sold out the country that allowed them to be successful. They turned their back on this country. China realized the greatest weakness to the United States is a group of greedy individuals willing to export most manufacturing to other countries. when manufacturing is not offshores the labor is imported from Latin and South America. China successfully decimated this country without firing a single shot.
This didn’t age well
He forgot to mention climate change and child labor.
"American jobs arent outsourced"
… "We build the planes in Mexico"
"I watched laptops be built".. Wonder what country that was in, starts with a C.
This guy is FULL of it. I work in manufacturing. We are still using cam operated multispindle lathes from the 60’s and 70’s. The cycle time is unmatched, no modern machines can touch them. We have about 100+ CNC lathes that Are aged anywhere from the 80’s to the 2000’s to modern machines. NONE of these machines are automated in any way. It still requires human intervention to program CNC and set up cam machines. The few robots we have DONT PROGRAM THEMSELVES, nor do they build themselves. They still require an operator. Our manufacturing is and has been EVISCERATED by corporate greed using NAFTA etc to take advantage of overseas labor for cheap. Ever done research on the Foxconn facility??? The politicians allowed this as well as other factors to happen. Also he straight LIES at the end about moving material stock being a factor due to “protectionism”. We get our Material from US steel manufacturers. There is plenty of tooling manufacturers are in the US and Europe. The only reason why manufacturing is “growing” is because the factories that still exist are growing, as well as companies like Toyota building factories here.
whatever this man is saying is lying the manufactures do this to make more income for
them producing products cheaper and selling them back to us at a higher price.
Yeah true but still everything is made in China when it’s so much more efficient to make a tv and a bicycle and everything else there? The reason for that will lead you away from this nonsense
Ok. Pay us a displacement dividend. You outsource everything except end customers. If we cant work for the same pay then industry better pony up.
Trump increased prices due to tariffs, Biden increased prices due to money printing…
This guy does not know what he is talking about. We lost so many jobs because of bad trade policies. He is correct that automation make us more productive, but this increase in productivity still cannot keep up with the increase demand in our market. However, if we bring products from all over the world, we have more supply. Then, it’s all about price. We cannot compete with producers that are heavily subsidized by their government.
Protectionism is good when you buy something from your neighbour while your neighbour refuses to buy from you. You buy Audi from Germany but Germany denies to buy LNG from you. How do you calll this? Protectionism is the way you say I am not idiot, be careful, If I am going down we go together. By the way, Mexico probably likes this Video.
That Angelina Jolie joke was rough
And then Covid happens which disrupted the global supply chain. And people suddenly realized: "Oh, I cannot entirely depend on other countries for something from the national security standpoint and political standpoint. Especially for big countries." This time it's Covid, next time it might be a war, who knows. Countries need to put more resources on its supply chain safety. This is not just an economic issue.
I'm glad you can buy your bottle of lotion for $11, but you offered no solution for the 850,000 families who lost their income due to outsourcing (5.7 million * 0.15 not lost to automation).
I hope you get replaced by a duo of a Chinese logistics consultant and a made-in-China, programmed in China shitbird robot.
The only reason machines are replacing employees is because it's so hard hiring employees legally.
Augies Ted Talk is nothing more than a massive string of lines. The fact that he poo-poos tariffs by adding the dreaded suffix "ISM" to the end of protection LOL. Yes Augie, protecting jobs is a bad thing …for Wall Street and Bilderberg (aka the .001%).
At Timestamp 3:00 for example, he states that US workers are loosing their jobs to machines. At the same time Chinas farms have been abandoned by masses of "farmers" and their kids flooding into Shanghai and other large cities to WORK IN FACTORIES.
Amazing how technology has not yet reached China so that they can send all of these clearly UNNESCESSARY workers home?
There are literally hundreds of these lies in this joke of a Ted talk, but you get the idea. Don't believe me? YouTube "inside Apple's iPhone factory in China" and fast forward to 1:40 to see the "machines" at work in China. ..if you're dumb enough to drink the Kool-Aid, clowns like this and the group who sent him are more than happy to serve it to you!
China's economy grew from 50 Billion in GDP in 1980 to 15 trillion in 40 years by stealing US manufacturing jobs. Your presentation is worthless
Nice presentation
It all depends on the objective of the government. Is it focused on the well-being of the greater number of people, or on the profits earned by the business owners? Manufacturing, trading or shifting the job-producing factories to other countries are ultimately only tools to fulfil certain objectives.
My dad is trying to introduce a law that requires a label to say that if a product is made in a COMNUIST or socialist or any other no free country, the label will say " this product is made in (eg China) a COMNUIST country that treats its citizens of no equal value"
get a better education
He is right but what he forgot to mention was that the Chinese are learning from this and trying to create their won knockoff like the Japanese .
Guy is talking nonsense.
Those jobs are terrible anyways. I work for a company that makes plastic packaging. The shifts are 12.5 hours, the morale is low, and nobody is happy to be there.
The biggest part no one talks about is making the manufacturer job worth it to the worker, you have taken away his pension 401kill you when the market falls is no replacement.
They think minimum wage is the max.
I can do that well selling crap on line. In fact I have once and awhile been dumbfounded by what can make.
Payroll .0000000001 of profit is never going to get you a non turnover loyal quality worker.
A lady in my small town sold a few shirts on line working from home go so out of hand she opened a store on main Street.
I am sure she is doing better tha any company within 20 miles will pay.
I’d trust this guy about as far as I could throw him.
Imma take a guess b4 the vid starts
Is it because minimum wage, labor laws, Infrastructure and lack of labor force
This globalism message is a half truth. We as consumers, consume too much. The example used here is related to more complexes manufacturing (ie laptop computers). Clothing, home furnishings, power tools…most consumer goods, China owns the supply chain. All these trade agreements hurt US workers. As we automate, jobs to maintain the infrastructure are awarded to the manfacture. As we automate, how wonderful if all the comownwnts were made in US. We buy are own stuff….yes, more expensive. Cheap = destruction of middle class.
He believes that we go to china because they are experts? Come on! Its not for higher quality products its for the prices and NOTHING else!!!
This guy is full of it. Companies didn’t relocate manufacturing is places like China/India or wherever else based on their superior automation. They moved their for a multitude of reasons many of which have to do with worker protections aka human rights/safety as well as environmental regulations. He’s just a globalist chasing maximum profit at the expense of the environment and human rights. Come on TED this is beneath you.