Think about the economics of how cheap this is

[Rakehellion]

No, like I said $10 after promo code.

Cough up the promo code, fartknocker!

 

[highland145]

Cough up the promo code, fartknocker!

😀

 

[Matthiasa]

Meanwhile, Texas Instruments *still* sells graphing calculators for over $100.

Would you drop the price on something with likely greater than 1000% profit margin if people were still buying them?

 

[JMapleton]

Financial services, legal services, construction, health care, software development, advertising... really anything where you can't just build a huge factory and stamp out $10 _______s or build a huge call center and give people a script.

The majority of the food industry is based in the US and will continue to be. Try making a "Made in China" loaf of bread and see if anyone buys it. And getting the bread here before it molds.

 

[Rakehellion]

The majority of the food industry is based in the US and will continue to be. Try making a "Made in China" loaf of bread and see if anyone buys it. And getting the bread here before it molds.

Some of our meat and produce comes from China.

 

[videogames101]

Short of entertainment products, real estate and local services, what really can't be made cheaply overseas? Not a whole lot? As the world develops economically, we lose advantage.

Development of Intellectual Property is our key asset and is where we should place our focus as a nation, which is the future of wealth as manufacturing becomes commoditized...

Example: Is there more money to be made manufacturing an Iphone, or designing it?

Simply put, would you rather own Foxconn or Apple?

There is this left over notion (from like WW2 I guess) that manufacturing is how you generate wealth, but it turns out that is increasingly untrue.

EDIT:
On a side note,
I also see the role of nations and nationalism dwindling as multi-national corporations become such a powerful economic force that they are able to control governments. This is easily seen in the United States as most politicians already primarily answer to corporate interests. Really, what choice do governments have? They derive their almost all of their wealth and GDP from these corporations. If the corporations pull out of the country or otherwise stop driving the economy of that country, its economy will die. In some years governments will have corporate knives at their throats with no possible recourse.

 

[Thump553]

Meanwhile, Texas Instruments *still* sells graphing calculators for over $100.

My kids are in their thirties and that's the price I paid for those d*mned TI graphing calculators decades ago back when they were in school. I have a couple of theories on how Texas Instruments has done this:

1) Each calculator contains a top-secret chip that causes it to magically disappear. The chip is programmed on a random basis so parents don't get wise and instead blame their kids for losing the things.

2) TI, school boards and teacher's unions have formed a massive secret cartel to protect this monopoly.

3) TI was once a giant of American tech industry. Over the years the screwed the pooch on one project after another, reducing the company to a has been for the most part. To preserve what was left they focused all their attention on the graphing calculator business. They formed an ultra secret enforcement division that blows up the factories of companies attempting to compete and assassins to kill programmers who attempt to make competing software for smart phones.

There is some sort of evil plot I swear.

 

[Blackjack200]

The majority of the food industry is based in the US and will continue to be. Try making a "Made in China" loaf of bread and see if anyone buys it. And getting the bread here before it molds.

Ask that Korea guy about bread, his family owns (or owned, can't remember if they still have it) some kind of restaurant on the Jersey Shore down by Avalon. He told me they used to import baguettes from France. I don't know how in the world they could be as good as fresh after being frozen and shipped overseas, but that's what he told me.

 

[Jeff7]

Well, there's thinking about the drag on your wages it implies is coming, the drag on the wealth of the advanced world.

And yet strangely I'm in favor of it, because I've always felt the dirty little secret of rich nations is the backs of the poor globally, and the fix to that means we lose some wealth.

There's not that much drag on the wealth of the advanced world. A lot of it just gets funneled to those who already have the largest portion.

Meanwhile, Texas Instruments *still* sells graphing calculators for over $100.

Maybe at some point they'll change the design (or already have for all I know), and every calculator will have the same FPGA or microcontroller, but the different models will have different interfaces. Pop open the case and find a single chip and some voltage regulation circuitry. 😀

Would you drop the price on something with likely greater than 1000% profit margin if people were still buying them?

Brb, gonna go buy some bottled water.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Development of Intellectual Property is our key asset and is where we should place our focus as a nation, which is the future of wealth as manufacturing becomes commoditized...

Example: Is there more money to be made manufacturing an Iphone, or designing it?

Simply put, would you rather own Foxconn or Apple?

There is this left over notion (from like WW2 I guess) that manufacturing is how you generate wealth, but it turns out that is increasingly untrue.

The problem with IP is that it only works as long as basically all other countries agree to play by your rules. You see intellectual property does not really exist, it is only a legal concept. As soon as China or India decide that they would rather make the money then let some foreign company keep rake it in they will allow their corporations to completely ignore copyright and patent laws to create cheap knock-offs legally. Then your IP based economy is completely screwed. It will quickly turn into 'buy a Iphone for $400, or a 'Foxcon Iphone' for $40, the two phones are identical, even made in the same factory.

I also see the role of nations and nationalism dwindling as multi-national corporations become such a powerful economic force that they are able to control governments. This is easily seen in the United States as most politicians already primarily answer to corporate interests. Really, what choice do governments have? They derive their almost all of their wealth and GDP from these corporations. If the corporations pull out of the country or otherwise stop driving the economy of that country, its economy will die. In some years governments will have corporate knives at their throats with no possible recourse.

You mean like they might get too big to fail, and major countries will just give them money if needed? Or maybe they will be seen as too important to have the countries laws fully apply to them? Maybe major countries will make the passing of the entire budget of the nation for the year dependant on some major company getting a law they don't like repealed? Or maybe it will be more subtle, like having the leadership of the regulating agencies be people they control?
I don't know, all this sounds pretty far fetched. Surely we as a people would never be so stupid as to give up our independence and allow corporations rule our nation in this way.

 

[Muse]

It's really something to consider the effect this has on the pricing of US workers.

A friend of mine boycotts "Made in China."

 

[Homerboy]

Please mark deal as dead. Is $24.99 after MIR now.
🙁

 

[Muse]

Hey, this should be in Hot Deals !!



I very much agree. Its amazing that this huge chunk of PCB covered with tiny caps, VRMs, traces and whatnot can be produced soooo damn cheaply.

I have to think they they've discounted it to get it off their shelves. That's the motivation in a lot of sales.

I need a MB something fierce, but it has to have PCI slots, I don't see any on that.

 

[Craig234]

Please mark deal as dead. Is $24.99 after MIR now.
🙁

First, it wasn't posted as a 'hot deal'.

Second, for the third time, $10 was after 'promo code', and the promo code was limited to the person it was sent to in e-mail (you just had to register for their e-mails).

Third, the issue is pretty much the same whether it's $10 or $25.

 

[Craig234]

A friend of mine boycotts "Made in China."

Some people try to, but it doesn't have much effect.

 

[andylawcc]

My kids are in their thirties and that's the price I paid for those d*mned TI graphing calculators decades ago back when they were in school. I have a couple of theories on how Texas Instruments has done this:

1) Each calculator contains a top-secret chip that causes it to magically disappear. The chip is programmed on a random basis so parents don't get wise and instead blame their kids for losing the things.

2) TI, school boards and teacher's unions have formed a massive secret cartel to protect this monopoly.

3) TI was once a giant of American tech industry. Over the years the screwed the pooch on one project after another, reducing the company to a has been for the most part. To preserve what was left they focused all their attention on the graphing calculator business. They formed an ultra secret enforcement division that blows up the factories of companies attempting to compete and assassins to kill programmers who attempt to make competing software for smart phones.

There is some sort of evil plot I swear.

my TI83 still works and surprisingly still in my possession after nearly 20 years. I did recently gave it to my coworker's kid who is STILL using TI-83.

 

[Muse]

Some people try to, but it doesn't have much effect.

Yeah, I've never talked to her about it (boycotting Chinese made goods). Probably 1/2 the stuff I buy is MIC.

 

[Blackjack200]

The problem with IP is that it only works as long as basically all other countries agree to play by your rules. You see intellectual property does not really exist, it is only a legal concept. As soon as China or India decide that they would rather make the money then let some foreign company keep rake it in they will allow their corporations to completely ignore copyright and patent laws to create cheap knock-offs legally. Then your IP based economy is completely screwed. It will quickly turn into 'buy a Iphone for $400, or a 'Foxcon Iphone' for $40, the two phones are identical, even made in the same factory.

China can try to copy all the 787s, Ford Fusions, and iPhones it wants. Not happening. It takes enormous amounts of expertise and engineering ability to make that stuff. And all of those things are continuously refined and improved. Go ahead, let Foxconn reverse-engineer an iPhone 6 and start making knock offs, by the time they do that Apple will be on the iPhone 8.

You mean like they might get too big to fail, and major countries will just give them money if needed?

What corporation did we just give money to?

 

[SMOGZINN]

China can try to copy all the 787s, Ford Fusions, and iPhones it wants. Not happening. It takes enormous amounts of expertise and engineering ability to make that stuff. And all of those things are continuously refined and improved. Go ahead, let Foxconn reverse-engineer an iPhone 6 and start making knock offs, by the time they do that Apple will be on the iPhone 8.

They don't have to reverse-engineer an iPhone 6, they are the ones making them for Apple.
And really reverse-engineering a Iphone is simple. All you do is open the case and see what parts they are using and then use those parts yourself. Make a copy of the software, and install it on your phones. Bam, done in one afternoon.

What corporation did we just give money to?

Maybe you remember the bail-outs? Sure, they 'paid us back' (and even that can be debated.) But that doesn't change the fact that they were given what amounts to a blank check to make sure that they didn't have to face the majority of the consequences of their actions.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The problem with IP is that it only works as long as basically all other countries agree to play by your rules.

That is exactly why the World Intellectual Property Organization was created in the 90's, and why the US has used its international influence since then to use it to shove enforceable agreements down the throat of almost every foreign nation.

As soon as China or India decide that they would rather make the money then let some foreign company keep rake it in they will allow their corporations to completely ignore copyright and patent laws to create cheap knock-offs legally. Then your IP based economy is completely screwed. It will quickly turn into 'buy a Iphone for $400, or a 'Foxcon Iphone' for $40, the two phones are identical, even made in the same factory.

Actually China is turning towards a greater respect for copyright. See, they don't want to forever be the world's factory, the world's bitch. They want to some day have a developed economy that is driven by their equivalent of Apple.

Or actually what they would love is to control the real alternative to Hollywood. Currently the South Koreans dominate Asian pop culture, the Chinese would do almost anything to have that spot. To get there means respecting copyright/trademarks.

 

[poofyhairguy]

They don't have to reverse-engineer an iPhone 6, they are the ones making them for Apple.

They are doing the last step of the process- assembling the parts into a finished phone. Other companies like LG and Samsung make things like the screen and SoC.

That is how Apple maintains control- no single part of their supply chain could "replace them" no matter the laws of the land.

And really reverse-engineering a Iphone is simple. All you do is open the case and see what parts they are using and then use those parts yourself.

Oh jeez, "use those parts yourself."

Good luck buying that Apple A8 CPU that Samsung makes for Apple and per agreement will sell only to Apple. Good luck buying all the other specific parts like that where Apple either locks down the supply chain, uses all the supply, or has agreements in place to prevent others from getting a piece of those supply lines.

Then you have to find a way to get iOS, which no one but Apple has the code to, to work on your Fraken-iPhone. Here is a little clue- the most talented hackers in China have failed at that. Instead they just skin Android to look like iOS.

All together it is not something that can be done in an afternoon, or even a fiscal year.

 

[SMOGZINN]

That is exactly why the World Intellectual Property Organization was created in the 90's, and why the US has used its international influence since then to use it to shove enforceable agreements down the throat of almost every foreign nation.

Actually China is turning towards a greater respect for copyright. See, they don't want to forever be the world's factory, the world's bitch. They want to some day have a developed economy that is driven by their equivalent of Apple.

Or actually what they would love is to control the real alternative to Hollywood. Currently the South Koreans dominate Asian pop culture, the Chinese would do almost anything to have that spot. To get there means respecting copyright/trademarks.

I agree with you, for now China wants to play this game. I was merely giving an example of how weak that system is. Because while China wants to play that game now, it could quickly change it's mind if they decided they were losing.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I agree with you, for now China wants to play this game. I was merely giving an example of how weak that system is.

It is not weak as long as it is backed by the US economy. We basically trade these agreements for beneficial trading status. So that way if you don't sign onto the agreement, or you later break the agreement, your economy is faced with the equivalent of crippling sanctions. Add in the power of the EU economy, and China, and all the rest of the world put together doesn't have enough economic might to prevent what these nations want.

In the long run the only groups that won't play ball on copyright are ones where our relationship with them is harmed for other reasons, like Cuba, Russia, Iran or Venezuela. The rest of the world will pay us royalties or extra margin for our brands.

 

[Blackjack200]

They don't have to reverse-engineer an iPhone 6, they are the ones making them for Apple.
And really reverse-engineering a Iphone is simple. All you do is open the case and see what parts they are using and then use those parts yourself. Make a copy of the software, and install it on your phones. Bam, done in one afternoon.

So easy, yet no one has done it yet? Foxconn does not manufacture the iPhone soup to nuts. I believe they are the final assembler, but they do not, for example make A8 chips or gorilla glass, and I imagine the suppliers of those might get themselves in a little trouble with Apple if they started selling their stuff to an unauthorized manufacturer.

Maybe you remember the bail-outs? Sure, they 'paid us back' (and even that can be debated.) But that doesn't change the fact that they were given what amounts to a blank check to make sure that they didn't have to face the majority of the consequences of their actions.

Do you have a specific corporation in mind or are you just parroting the "Occupy Wall St." crowd who are pissed off about glass buildings and have not the slightest clue how the financial industry works?

Can you give an example of a company that was given a blank check (or how what they were given amounted to a blank check)?

 

[Craig234]

Can you give an example of a company that was given a blank check (or how what they were given amounted to a blank check)?

Some info:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/secret-and-lies-of-the-bailout-20130104