Jea, market share and sales volume? Unless capitalism doesn't actually
work; though this may be a hobby where paying $2,000 more for the exact
same product may actually make it sound better to the owner.
Slave labor? I hardly think so. Too much Pearl Buck and demonization - at
least for this type of product. Maybe commodities and cheap, low value
added products. True, China's labor practices may be closer to 19th
century US, but not for long, they are squeezing 200 years of development
in 20-30 years. |
Perhaps Classe should build the same amp in Canada and China and sell them at $5,000 and $3,000 respectively and see what people end up buying - I suspect money talks.
Does seem like rising labor costs for "skilled" labor in China, and with increasing transportation costs, that the cheap labor model which has been China's comparative advantage is diminishing over time. I've read some companies have notice and have or are planning onshoring. |
Too muddle headed on issues of relevancy to respond. Stalin and Mao were monstrous, that wasn't really the issue and you don't have to persuade me on that count. If you want to believe that Classe amps will be built in a sweatshop with slave labor, I think you are delusional - which doesn't mean I'm a member of the Mao fan club. |
That sounds very accurate. Accelerated development and catch up at any price. The hope is that a growing middle class will bring about improvements to their society as a whole. It seems a strong middle class is the foundation of progressive societies. They are not there yet, but the urban middle class is certainly growing and PCI growing at a very rapid pace.
I assume that Classe assumes that there enough folks willing to buy goods made in than not, and that the product would be of equal quality with Quebec QC over site. I think the makers of Prada assumed the same.
I personally only own hand made products made in the US and Canada, but that is because I thought they were the best products. I would even consider a quality Japaneese product, in spite of Pearl Harbor and Manchuria. I think US should rely on making the very best products, not the cheapest. We can do it, and it works pretty well for German industry. |
OP, not sure if it will decrease quality, it may or may not, but it will devalue the brand. |
No, but many do buy Chineese made gear under Chineese or British ownership. China has its problems, but it not viewed as an Iran under current regime as moral equivalents. Now a Persian carpet made before 1979? Maybe. |
Schubert, that is a really long topic, but if Classe were being made in Germany, I would consider buying it, and VWs only from Wolfsburg. |
We need to buy South Carolina socks, underwear, and toothbrushes? |
Boy, I would not want to be a Classe principal reading this thread. Entry level gear might hide on the origin of manufacture, maybe irrelevant or off the radar screen of typical buyers of that level equipment. But if this thread is representative of Classe's clientele, they better start calling back their laid off Canadian workers. |
Nordic, it might. It even be to increase the margins, it could just as well be to hold the price points they have as imported component parts have gotten more expensive with weakened dollars and loons. I find the price increases of the past 2-3 years quite remarkable - given the economic climate and psychology during that time - going up at a faster than tuition. |
Nonoise, that seems similar to the scandanvian business and societal way of doing things, good products, high wages, educated populations, and relative equality of income - not sure they view the Chineese as competition for their high valued added economic core. I would not hesitate to buy Classe if they moved to Denmark; though Canada's audio industry is very highly regarded - it doesn't hury that their government supported the industry with shared research and resources for those wanting to break into the business. |
Yeah, but would you buy a Classe amp assembled in South Carolina?
OK, you got me,I'm kidding. |
What car is built in SC? I'm going to buy one! |
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I can't even spell right anymore:( |
Who benefits from the decline of the American middle class? Someone must, or it would not be happening? No? Or is that too simple? Are American oligarchs really being outsmarted by the Chineese oligarchs? I don't believe it. But I've been wrong before.
P.S. Do you ever get the Charlie Brown "blah, blah, blah..." feeling when you hear market analysts on TV? I feel that some years from now, when we are much smarter there will be movies with these guys in a clip and the audience will laugh hysterically. |
Well! This has been an interesting thread. Let's see the jobs report tomorrow. Seems things are less crappy than a year ago, though as we know, all jobs are not created equal. I wonder what the median household income looks like today versus 3 years ago, 10 years ago, and 25 years ago (in constant dollars). All I know is that is a lot easier today for a young couple to buy a house in line with their real income and ability to pay - no hocus pocus loans creating the illusion of affordability, or the false sense that RE always goes up in value, at least not at 20-30% a year. |
Not Americans, yet 1st amendment people? Pretty good deal. |
Nonoise for President! Has a ring to it. |
He doth protesteth too much - don't he. |
Very well said -- not necssarily about Fiddler who I don't really know -- about many folks I do know. Especially the mindless repition of ideological mantras and the black/white, Rush-bite caricatures that you know are not the product of original thinking, nor the reflections of a broad perspective on the human condition and its potential -even if one is a hard nose realist about human behaviour (not always pretty).
I think the new site was defintely designed by a Canadian - all that white space. |
