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Michael's avatar

‘By 1880 singer was a global company”.

It only had a small plant in Glasgow that was soon replaced by its huge integrated facility that served all international markets. Production at the plant peaked as early as 1913, and in 1917 singer was expelled from its largest market - Russia. In the post-1945 era it was compelled by US government to leave the Japanese market and transfer its technology to the country which 20 years later totally eroded its once dominant position in domestic sewing machines.

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Frank Xia's avatar

It was the deeply undervalued labors and environmental costs in China that cushioned the stagnant wages in US. They knew it, just needed the impetus to start the engine of industrialization. For China, a national strategy of "enlarging the internal demand" has begun since 2008, and the infrastructure investments into Russia and other USSR countries in exchange for resources will keep the engine running. For US, the best alternative is Vietnam: similar people, similar culture, even a similar communist party. The problem is the volume. As for the internal issues, they are mostly byproducts of a long-lasting nice time. When a family is poor, prodigal sons are rare.

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