For ever we’ve heard the anti-free market crown complain that corporations exploit the workers of the world by moving production to heap labor. Right? We exploit the villager that has experienced bone crushing poverty for generations by providing a job that allows them to own their own house. The first of their family EVER.
All of this in the name of profits and corporate greed.
Well guess what happens when the market begins to correct and the worm turns:
One of the things that’s showing up in Christmas stockings this year: higher prices, courtesy of China.
After decades as America’s go-to destination for low-cost consumer goods, China is undergoing a profound shift. Rapid economic development and a smaller supply of young migrant workers are pushing up labor costs. Tack on rising raw-materials prices, driven largely by Chinese demand, and a strengthening currency, and China-made goods aren’t the bargains they used to be.
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Last month’s prices for Chinese imports were up 3.9% from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, matching October’s gain, the largest year-to-year monthly rise since 2008.
Wednesday’s report showed that prices were up sharply for many kinds of goods for which China is the dominant supplier.
China accounts for about 80% of U.S. shoe imports; imported-footwear prices in November were up 6.1% from a year earlier. It accounts for about 60% of furniture imports; imported-furniture prices also were up 6.1%. About 80% of U.S. luggage imports come from China; prices in the category that includes luggage and similar goods rose 8.3% in November.
Those higher costs are one reason that U.S consumer prices have risen this year, despite the weak economy.
For all the complaining that has gone on concerning off shoring, people have been silent regarding the prices. Maybe now, as prices begin to rise, people will begin to understand the benefits.