tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7886665353929413928.post8057876092029507926..comments2023-07-04T16:18:31.584+01:00Comments on Broad Oak Money: The West is eating itselfUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7886665353929413928.post-12010970152170914502011-11-03T13:17:22.155+00:002011-11-03T13:17:22.155+00:00Thanks, SW - and one day it'd be nice to get t...Thanks, SW - and one day it'd be nice to get the smoking-gun evidence that (for quite understandable reasons) you don't feel able to reveal here.<br /><br />Grim dilemma. Conscience time?Sackersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17284329249862764601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7886665353929413928.post-68227798662141260702011-11-02T22:36:28.361+00:002011-11-02T22:36:28.361+00:00That is exactly what large EMS companies do (EMS =...That is exactly what large EMS companies do (EMS = "Electronics Manufacturing Services"). The customers have outsourced their production to China-based EMS companies (naming no names since large consumer electronics companies have deep legal pockets) and they buy back their own designs through subsidiary companies of the EMS in the Caymans or Mauritius or wherever. Production is of course in China, in what are essentially sweatshops - you may recall Foxconn HonHai installing nets to catch the falling workers who try to commit suicide by jumping off the roof - and the goods turn up in the west, not touching the domicile of the "company" handling the transaction, and incurring only minimal customs duties. <br /><br />Interesting things are happening in China though. They have recently introduced "VAT" (really an export tax) on exports of some critical raw materials such as metals - this can be as high as 17% - which in short means they get to monopolise raw materials, thus satisfying their strategic goals, since it becomes very economic to ship raw materials into China, but not out. Smart, eh? In the case of metals they have in addition to VAT also introduced export quotas - which are naturally only available to Chinese companies - thus allowing them to do 2 things: 1. undercut western-owned factories in China which do not have access to the quotas, and 2. prevent companies outside China getting their hands on key raw materials such as rare earths.<br /><br />In the end, even the middlemen are going to get fucked here. Through the outsourced production the Chinese steal the IP and once they control the bulk of production they are slowly ratcheting themselves up the food chain. Of course all western politicians are so completely fucking stupid they don't see what is going on here. The guys in the western corporations see what is happening but feel they have no choice but to go along with the whole racket; they can either go bankrupt in the short term trying to fight it while their competitors pile in, or they can go along with it hoping the shit doesn't really hit the final fan until they retire or move on.Sebastian Weetabixnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7886665353929413928.post-49151163355780940802011-11-02T02:05:14.473+00:002011-11-02T02:05:14.473+00:00Sorry, I heard the scheme described by a writer on...Sorry, I heard the scheme described by a writer on National Public Radio some time ago.Paddingtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07952088638231881617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7886665353929413928.post-13910154200477856452011-11-01T13:21:50.588+00:002011-11-01T13:21:50.588+00:00Can you show us the sources to get definite eviden...Can you show us the sources to get definite evidence of this, Padders?Sackersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17284329249862764601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7886665353929413928.post-35622886025621463552011-11-01T13:08:15.002+00:002011-11-01T13:08:15.002+00:00The scheme on manufactured goods works like this: ...The scheme on manufactured goods works like this: they are produced and shipped from China at say 10% of home production. En route, they are theoretically transferred through the Caymans (or similar countries), where the price goes up to 90% of the home production cost. That way, the tax man only sees a small proportion of the profits. Sadly, even the stockholders don't seem to get much, it's going to the CEO's and such.Paddingtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07952088638231881617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7886665353929413928.post-46658665541530127112011-10-27T11:24:07.291+01:002011-10-27T11:24:07.291+01:00It's going to be interesting to see the form o...It's going to be interesting to see the form of the new global currency - SDRs? Will it be cashless?James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.com