I Need To Vent

[njswede]

Gyro, you're right. We live in a globalized world and there's very little we can do about it. Sure, we could close our borders, but that has proven disastrous every time it's been tried.

Open your Spektrum or Futaba radio for example and I'm almost 100% certain you'll find components from the US, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Mexico, just to mention a few countries.

And even when it comes to something as All-American as Castle, I bet the components inside that ESC are from all over the world and probably not from the US. So strictly speaking, it's not very American either.

So what can we do? Just as Gary points out, we can chose vendors that are American based. That benefits the US, because at least some of the money generated from the supply chain ends up in the US. And it usually benefits us as consumers, since there are (or at least should be) someone here in our country we can talk to if we need to.

 

[Space Bat]

Know how and can do is something that the west needs to put more focus on in the future...

We can no longer compete with the vast cheap eastern labour force - so our manufacturing and processing will inevitably disappear over seas...

What we are - are innovative, ingenious and free thinking...something that somewhere like China isn't....they are good cloners...that about it.

So we have to be capable of moving the technical goal posts ever forward as that will be the key to western countries success...if they let that slip..trust me western countries will end up a 3rd world country...only look at what is happening in the Eurozone where countries don't have manufacturing excellence or worse still innovation to technically lead their countries economic growth.

We will think it up...we will design it - we will test it...then simply we will get somewhere eastern cheap labour to build it in the manufacturing plants we are happy to build there.

The problem and this is a big problem with the US...is you don't have the necessary right people that understands the economics of the world...you spend billions prosecuting a war over oil...(I don't want to go down and sully a thread with politics) so please don't jump in on the defence of this foreign policy....and not understand that economic growth will not who has the most oil or control of oil producing regions...it will be about who own IP...

The US needs to fund innovation in a massive way to bring out new electric cars...hydrogen power....and nano research etc...

Screw oil it's black and it's smelly...you could get rich of it and still can...but its a fossil fuel and it's running out...its like fleas arguing over who gets the last sip of blood from a dead dog...

The UK are believe it or not starting to get the picture and have started to understand the need for technical development..

Please I hope I haven't offended with my remarks just my humble opinion

 

[gyro]

Know how and can do is something that the west needs to put more focus on in the future...

We can no longer compete with the vast cheap eastern labour force - so our manufacturing and processing will inevitably disappear over seas...

What we are - are innovative, ingenious and free thinking...something that somewhere like China isn't....they are good cloners...that about it.

So we have to be capable of moving the technical goal posts ever forward as that will be the key to western countries success...if they let that slip..trust me western countries will end up a 3rd world country...only look at what is happening in the Eurozone where countries don't have manufacturing excellence or worse still innovation to technically lead their countries economic growth.

We will think it up...we will design it - we will test it...then simply we will get somewhere eastern cheap labour to build it in the manufacturing plants we are happy to build there.

The problem and this is a big problem with the US...is you don't have the necessary right people that understands the economics of the world...you spend billions prosecuting a war over oil...(I don't want to go down and sully a thread with politics) so please don't jump in on the defence of this foreign policy....and not understand that economic growth will not who has the most oil or control of oil producing regions...it will be about who own IP...

The US needs to fund innovation in a massive way to bring out new electric cars...hydrogen power....and nano research etc...

Screw oil it's black and it's smelly...you could get rich of it and still can...but its a fossil fuel and it's running out...its like fleas arguing over who gets the last sip of blood from a dead dog...

The UK are believe it or not starting to get the picture and have started to understand the need for technical development..

Please I hope I haven't offended with my remarks just my humble opinion

Thanks for sharing your opinion from the UK Chris, I always appreciate reading a different perspective from a level headed guy like you.

 

[Murocflyer]

Holy cow! There is some fantastic discussion going on here and not one person got ugly and attacked me or said anything bad about my mother. Thanks guys!

Few Comments:

Great comments Jeff and I totally agree. Not trying to guilt anyone at all. I just want folks to understand and realize we have so many great stores here in the US to purchase their RC products from. I'll bet that a lot of folks never even heard of some of those stores on this list here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1751689 And since there are so many people shilling for that chinese vendor on RCG, I at least wanted to point out the fact that we do have some great places here in the US to buy stuff from.

That is the point I am trying to make. Sure, would it be cool if we could purchase everything we buy here in the US? I think so. Would it have the 5 times mulitplier effect that the economists says it does? I don't know. That is not my line of work. But my small brain says that the more stuff we as Americans purchase here in the US the better off as a country we would be. Like I said, I don't know if that is right or wrong but it seems to make sense to me.

Ultimately, we as consumers need to do our research and shop at places we feel is best for us. Me personally? I do not buy anything directly from an asian market. Two reasons; 1. I do not trust my CC number or banking info going somehere that does not have the same conumer protection laws as we do here in the US and I like to limit exposure of my personal info especially when it comes to money and 2. I have yet to find something "over there" that could not be purchased here in the US.

Thanks for your comments and appreciate the kind words.

Frank

PS I got a feeling we'll be hearing about this tppic on an upcoming podcast. Please don't talk too badly about me.

 

[coreman]

Nope, didn't miss that point. I'm just saying the same amount of money is still going to China in that example, the difference is the shipping mostly and a bit for the distributor. I just want people to be aware that the impact AGAINST China is pretty slim. If you are looking at how much of your hobby dollars are going to US firms, you are talking about a 20% margin. I would love to have more US products to buy, just saying that little of it truly stays fully domestic. I buy from my LHS as much as possible for exactly that reason.

Coreman,

You bring up a valid point, but I think you're missing the concept. I'll use your ZTW reference as an example. I beleive that the only ESC made in the US exclusively are Castle Creations. Does that mean we should all only buy Caslte?
Just about everything for this hobby, including nearly every single one of our favorite ARFs, ESC, Motors, Transmitters and Receivers, is made outside the US. If we choose to buy exclusively US designed, consturcted, assembled, manufactured, or produced ONLY, this hobby could get very boring, very fast. So what can we do? Well, one thing is that we could choose support US based business when buying our airplanes and supplies. By doing this, we are able to provide some support and profit for US business, and allow US families to make a living for themselves. These business that earn our money, will usually spend it within the US, within their local communites, and pay US taxes on their profits, thus paying those dollars forward within our country. I can't think of a better way to help our country's economy.
I'm not saying that every distributor in the US deserves our business, be picky and choosy! But to avoid buying a ZTW (probably my favorite ESC) because it is manufactured in China seems a little over kill to me. If I have a choice to between a US supplier and a overseas supplier, my choice will nearly always be the US.

So, in the end, I choose to support businesses that conduct themselves with strong ethics, high emphasis on customer service, and top quality merchandise. If they were smart enough to setup a supply chain that makes them profitable, good for them.

The above is just my personal opinion.

-G

 

[Ohio AV8TOR]

Keep the faith Frank, keep the faith!

 

[blaiss]

This might be way off topic, but just for fun, we should try to 'build' a plane in here using as much American-made content as possible. Then when we run into a roadblock, expand the parts to non-China-made stuff. Finally, we use Chinese goods to finish.

I wonder how far we can get? Any takers?

 

[njswede]

I wonder how far we can get? Any takers?

You mean every component made 100% in the US? You wouldn't get the project off the ground. To begin with, I don't think there are any growers of balsa wood in the US, for example. If I remember correctly, balsa wood almost exclusively grown and produced in Latin America.

Feverishly avoiding foreign and especially Chinese components is a slippery slope that leads nowhere. Instead, we should focus on supporting companies that have good products, conduct business in a responsible and ethical way and have a positive impact on their local communities and the hobby as a whole. Your LHS may be a good example of that, small mom-and-pop shops like HURC and Altitude are others. 3DHS, which was started by a guy with nothing more than a dream, but has done so much to bring quality products to regular hobbyists like you and me is another. And the list goes on.

Also, put things into perspective! When EF or 3DHS has a Chinese factory assemble their planes, EF and 3DHS are the visionaries, engineers and marketing executives. China is merely a factory worker in that relationship. The high-value services are still rendered by Americans (I assume) and the innovation stays here. Sure, factories in China may try to copy the designs, but we've seen over and over again that they won't come close to the original.

 

[blaiss]

You are kind of making my point.

 

[njswede]

Happy to help! I wasn't sure which spin you were looking for, but I had my suspicions that's where you wanted it to go.