We are still hearing of the effects of the recession. Let's see if there isn't a familiar theme in the seminars and lectures I attended today where I was the only architect present.
China has gobbled up all the industrial work. It used to be Japan but their prosperity forced wages up just about the time they were getting serious about infrastructure and social program invest. Now we hear India is in this pickle at a greater scale. Soon China will face the same pressures on an unprecedented scale.
I'm reminded of the wailing I heard about the mills moving to the south in my youth and crying over Research Triangle at the beginning of my career. It seams the economic pressure on businesses toward cost reduction is endless in a capitalist system. So is the upward spiral of infrastructure and social program expense.
Add a $3 trillion elective war (come on everybody's heard of Joe Steiglitz) on top of the mother of all defence budgets ever and we've got our current predicament. Imagine the cost when China develops a social conscience!
But I stray from the take away of the day. A local industrialist showed off 2 of his products. One was a production portfolio binder which is sourced from China and sells for $12 a piece. This must be ordered in lots of a thousand, takes a month to be delivered. The other was a fancy leather binder delivered to upper echelon Defence Budget big wigs. Cost $27 each for 25 ready in a week, made right here in New England.
Please, before we gasp at defence overruns, think about what that businessman has done. He saw his markets and found a product and supply chain for each sector. Much of his competition hasn't and is no longer.
Suppose we stop complaining for a moment and figure out how to address the markets we have using the available resources. Could we find a way to address the affluent for whom most of us work albeit in decreasing numbers as well as a different market for our skills and abilities. After all we are among America's most highly educated and skilled segments of the economy. Let's make that leadership and foresight count for something!
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John Dugger AIA
Glousester, MA
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