Create an Account
username: password:
 
  MemeStreams Logo

MemeStreams Discussion

search


This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: Chinese firms bargain hunting in U.S. - Los Angeles Times. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

Chinese firms bargain hunting in U.S. - Los Angeles Times
by CypherGhost at 9:29 pm EDT, May 23, 2008

Nice article in the LA Times about Chinese companies opening up shop in the U.S. Sure, it's more expensive, but the government doesn't get in the way as much.

It seems the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, eh? While we bitch and moan about our government (and we have every right to), there are a LOT of crappier places to be, I suppose. It's strange to think of the U.S. as someone else's "Cayman Islands" or "Switzerland."


 
RE: Chinese firms bargain hunting in U.S. - Los Angeles Times
by Rattle at 5:23 am EDT, May 24, 2008

It seems the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, eh? While we bitch and moan about our government (and we have every right to), there are a LOT of crappier places to be, I suppose. It's strange to think of the U.S. as someone else's "Cayman Islands" or "Switzerland."

It's all just fun and games until we start referring to Neil Stephenson and William Gibson as prophets.


Chinese firms bargain hunting in U.S. - Los Angeles Times
by Lost at 8:16 pm EDT, May 7, 2008

DONGGUAN, CHINA -- Liu Keli couldn't tell you much about South Carolina, not even where it is in the United States. It's as obscure to him as his home region, Shanxi province, is to most Americans.

But Liu is investing $10 million in the Palmetto State, building a printing-plate factory that will open this fall and hire 120 workers. His main aim is to tap the large American market, but when his finance staff penciled out the costs, he was stunned to learn how they compared with those in China.

Liu spent about $500,000 for seven acres in Spartanburg -- less than one-fourth what it would cost to buy the same amount of land in Dongguan, a city in southeast China where he runs three plants. U.S. electricity rates are about 75% lower, and in South Carolina, Liu doesn't have to put up with frequent blackouts.

About the only major thing that's more expensive in Spartanburg is labor. Liu is looking to offer $12 to $13 an hour there, versus about $2 an hour in Dongguan, not including room and board. But Liu expects to offset some of the higher labor costs with a payroll tax credit of $1,500 per employee from South Carolina.

"I was surprised," said the 63-year-old president of Shanxi Yuncheng Plate-Making Group. "The gap's not as large as I thought."

The world is flat?


 
 
Powered By Industrial Memetics