Trade wars and it's effect on Dino Toys

[Lizerd]

Yeah, its harsh  although maybe I may be a pessimist, reality is harsh. While somethings have improved, such as conditions, a lot hasn't changed, and in a nutshell corporations will just keep hopping to places where they can get away with stuff. Sorry if this is too dark or offensive, if you want I can shut up 

[Loon]

For some reason I misread the title of this thread as "Time wars." Figured I'd share that important economic insight.

[Lizerd]

The time wars???  That would be a fun thread

[Neosodon]

Yeah, its harsh  although maybe I may be a pessimist, reality is harsh. While somethings have improved, such as conditions, a lot hasn't changed, and in a nutshell corporations will just keep hopping to places where they can get away with stuff. Sorry if this is too dark or offensive, if you want I can shut up 

I've sympathized with tariffs before because a global market tends to take advantage of cheap labor. But then again if we stop using the labor of poor countries then some people will have no jobs rather than poor ones. So yeah, it's dark. But on the bright side making toy dinosaurs can't be too bad of a job for who ever ends up doing it. Would be my first choice if I ever had too work on a production line.

[Ravonium]

Manufacturing will move to somewhere that they can easily exploit people and get away with it. That means anywhere that has a large population, does not have much respect globally or is not a big actor on the world stage, or has a lot of cheap resources.

Well said. The saddest reflection of all this is that regardless of outcome, neither side will be guilt-less.

If they end up losing out, companies from the US will likely just move their operations to another country where they can get away with what would be considered human rights abuses in the West. As you say, India would likely be a good potential candidate, due to it having better relations with the US than it does with China.

Meanwhile, if China ends up developing into a post-industrial economy like the US has, then they will likely end up exploiting some less fortunate country (and they are already doing this to some African countries, albeit on a smaller scale (as of now) than the US is to them) for cheap labour. 

In the end, the main losers of this war will be those not directly involved in it (although then again, isn't that what all wars are like  )

I do hope though, that this doesn't get to the point where models/toys are targeted by all sides, and that the only effects end up being that it is more expensive to get a new model/toy and/or that manufacturing is moved somewhere else simply due to being disincentivised to stay in China.

[Lizerd]

Well, luckily for us only nerds or collectors like us are interested in them or very small children. As a result the trade is not massive as with some other bulk product such as say tech products, dino toys are more likely to slip under the radar or have only light tariffs on them. So yay for us?

[Ravonium]

So yay for us?

Probably

[Lizerd]

Lol, good thing we are not mainstream

[Halichoeres]

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement from which the United States recently withdrew would have addressed some of the labor consequences of overseas manufacturing by requiring member nations to adopt minimum wage laws, worker safety regulations, and other protections (as well as environmental regulations). For whatever reason, though, the agreement became so unpopular that candidates from both major parties were railing against it. This is just to say that it is possible to create manufacturing jobs in other countries with lower costs of living and labor costs, while meanwhile offering high-cost countries more affordable goods, without being exploitative about it.

[stargatedalek]

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement from which the United States recently withdrew would have addressed some of the labor consequences of overseas manufacturing by requiring member nations to adopt minimum wage laws, worker safety regulations, and other protections (as well as environmental regulations). For whatever reason, though, the agreement became so unpopular that candidates from both major parties were railing against it. This is just to say that it is possible to create manufacturing jobs in other countries with lower costs of living and labor costs, while meanwhile offering high-cost countries more affordable goods, without being exploitative about it.

It also included a number of other, really unfortunate parts. Most notably it would have essentially ended fair-use laws as we know them and given large companies even more control over fan-made works. And that's to say nothing of potential ramifications for commentators etc., who need to be able to reuse promotional clips and similar media in their assessments.

I believe older drafts of the TPP also included repeals of Net Neutrality and similar consumer protection laws, but I may not be remembering correctly.

[SBell]

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement from which the United States recently withdrew would have addressed some of the labor consequences of overseas manufacturing by requiring member nations to adopt minimum wage laws, worker safety regulations, and other protections (as well as environmental regulations). For whatever reason, though, the agreement became so unpopular that candidates from both major parties were railing against it. This is just to say that it is possible to create manufacturing jobs in other countries with lower costs of living and labor costs, while meanwhile offering high-cost countries more affordable goods, without being exploitative about it.

It also included a number of other, really unfortunate parts. Most notably it would have essentially ended fair-use laws as we know them and given large companies even more control over fan-made works. And that's to say nothing of potential ramifications for commentators etc., who need to be able to reuse promotional clips and similar media in their assessments.

I believe older drafts of the TPP also included repeals of Net Neutrality and similar consumer protection laws, but I may not be remembering correctly.

You are correct--there were many added caveats and line items (including those) that were removed when the US pulled out.

[Lizerd]

But i'm not an expert, i'm not even in college 
Anyways, its okay. We will just adapt.

[Halichoeres]

My point was just that free trade can lead to human rights abuses and environmental degradation, but it's not inexorable. Regulations and transparency can retain the benefits of free trade while forestalling some of the potential drawbacks.

[Lizerd]

That is true. Also unregulated capitalism led to all sorts of horrors, with number one being industrial farming