On the surface, it’s the way to go, but comparing like for like isn’t really the right comparison, right? I don’t know if I’ve ever actually seen a tomato in Taiwan. 
throw is guavas, lychees, pork, soy milk,.etc, and I suspect the results look different.
What equipment do you think the u.s. can’t make for defense? What medicines do you think the u s. can’t make?
This is the most bizarre thread I’ve read in quite a while.
They will probably still be cheaper in general . That grocery basket above is a fair reflection . Fruit is often cheaper overseas for instance,maybe not better, but cheaper .
How much do people earn in London ? Sannxia is also not cheap at all. When folks commute in from the suburbs in London they live in an actual house usually. I know the reality of Asia…It’s just a fact housing isnt great here due to the population density.
Don’t you remember the US not having enough facemasks.
Friends and family were begging for them and we had a ban on sending out facemasks. Don’t you remember it was lifted for us to send face masks to our immediate relatives?
Taiwan protects its manufacturing sector in specific sensitive industries.
They would not outsource this totally to China.
Maybe if you eat Western style, it is. The rice we consume is just growing outside of our town.
Instead of spinach use yam leaves, 地瓜葉, if you know where to look, you can find that for free or in the supermarket and daily Market at a very low cost.
If you eat the traditional Chinese way, that is two or three vegetables and a meat dish, you can keep costs down.
And because farms are farms they do over produce. Right now I am drowning in avocados.
Winter mellon (squash), mangoes, bananas and other fruit and vegetables are practically given away or sold at very cheap costs.
Eat local and eat in season. Buy from traditional markets. Talk to yam farmers, buy their leaves. You may be given them for free.
Since we’ve been busy, we eat at those Chinese cafeteria bento box places. They’re not very expensive.
Not one of my sentences had anything to do with facemasks.
That is a very specific industry.
I spoke in general.
Facemasks being unavailable lasted a very short while, due to hoarding. After that, they were available, just expensive, due to price gouging.
I was using it as an example to answer the question “Why do we need manufacturing?”
The United States almost had no domestic mask production capability.
There were some high quality manufacturers starting to produce masks in the United States but now the supply chain from cheaper places like China is back, the buying has shifted back to China again.
I’ve listened to radio interviews from some US domestic mask manufacturers.
Even though their supplies are guaranteed,and the quality is better, the hospitals and government contracts are going towards the cheaper foreign mask producers mostly in China.
The domestic manufacturers have no choice but to leave the business. They need to make at least a little profit.
So, the US will be back in the same position it was in when the next event, war or natural disaster happens and the supply chain is disrupted.
In general, isn’t it better to be able to have a strong manufacturing base just to guarantee the production and security of crucial products?
Facemasks are a perfect example…
Taiwan mandates which products should be made here and for security reasons says where certain products cannot be made.
Ex: advanced chips cannot be made in China.
They can make anything they want. But they are not. Read the book China RX.
Research where many vitamins and heart medicines come from. You will be surprised. If you like, maybe later I will, paste per your request, specific drugs.
But the information you seek is freely available. Listen to this interview.
Then, research her claims and please prove her wrong. It’s been 3 years. Maybe the pharmaceutical industry has woken up.
No, what the US didn’t have was the ability to surge production 20x instantly.
I’m with you there, on medicine. That wasn’t how your post read. Now, defense?
Great. Please show me your statistic or source backing up this statement.
We are pretty busy right now so I will try to dig up those interviews from the domestic mask and manufacturer who said he was being forced to leave the business because of inability to make even a small profit.
But that will take a lot of searching.
I’m interested on hearing interviews from all sides of the spectrum so please present your supporting material.
Anyway the fact that the US may have had a strong manufacturing ability to
produce masks is even better for the argument stating domestic manufacturing is important.
Well, there’s a thing. It looks like you and @Gain are right. If you do some comparisons on the basis of level of development, wages, and rent, Taiwan’s exchange rate with the US$ looks as if it ought to be low 20s.
However if it were actually at that level, it would introduce some bizarre distortions. Food products, for example, would appear 2-3x more expensive than US equivalents (they are already 50-80% higher, on average - I managed to delete my post with example prices for meat and veg from Kruger vs. Carrefour Taiwan). The country would either be flooded with imports, or the government would have to put up massive trade barriers to “protect” local industry. I need to do a bit more research on this.
3M, by itself, had enough domestic capacity to meet precovid us demand for medical use (most demand isn’t medical though)
Yea, some of the guys who spooled up and are trying to sell masks for $4-6… those guys probably don’t have a sustainable business.
And some of that u.s. capacity wasn’t actually producing masks (since it wasn’t that profitable) - it was 3M; on their own, they had bankrolled excess capacity (and stocked material) after sars to be able to respond to national emergencies. Talk about good corporate citizens
…
Yeah some things are more expensive in Taiwan, of course.
They’ve been arguing whether to let the NT float.
If you were to try to find a nice place like those in a scenic area in Taiwan they may also cost you millions , especially as they come with the land. There just aren’t any cheap (reasonable ) options anywhere here, I’ve looked. In fact you won’t even find a house with a swimming pool in a scenic spot.
Taiwan is a poor country with some rich people.
Taiwan is overall a rich country that acts poor.
Example - walkout your front door and wait for one minute 
