Again groceries does not equal food. People here don’t buy groceries and instead go out to eat, which reduces demand for groceries which in turn means the sellers have to charge extra to make a profit.
Food is usually cheap here. Just look at things like Big Mac here vs any other rich place. You can also get nice-ish Chinese/Japanese meals for 100-150. That’s cheap, very cheap.
Ok dude…Yes…You are right.
And no demand for groceries …Yep. I see that.
This lack of demand establishes a new economic paradigm where the price of goods goes up.
Uh huh…Makes sense.
We believe you. 
Eating out in Taipei (can’t comment on other cities) isn’t even that cheap anyway. It’s only cheap if you’re eating very oily and unhealthy lunch boxes and street food. Eating high quality food out every day in Taipei is way too costly for most people. And, as many have already said, going to the supermarket to buy high quality ingredients is more expensive in Taipei than it is in London where the average salary is much higher.
Honestly, this idea that Taipei has “low living costs” is such a monumental lie. If I or most experienced reasonably well paid professionals in London relocated to Taipei to work for a Taiwanese company, our quality of life would plummet for the most part. Taipei makes me appreciate that it isn’t so bad in London after all.
Things are more complicated than just supply and demand price equilibrium. These companies have to turn a profit, and most of their produce is from other countries. The main thing that can drive down the cost here is volume, which would make things like bargaining and transportation more efficient.
All get back to you on defense. But one question to ponder. How many now necessary parts like chips are not made domestically?
How much are we relying on over advanced technology for launching planes from carriers that was done the old mechanical way.
I bet every part of a non digital launching system could be repaired and or jury-rigged in the field.
I’m not sure those high-tech electronic launching systems could
Intel has fabs in AX, MA, NM, and Oregon…
could…? ;D They could jury-rig wagon wheels and wood and canvas airplanes too. Tech moves on. And I would guess steam catapults never get “jury-rigged” - those things impart a tremendous amount of force…
By jury-rig, I meant "can it be repaired or MacGyvered in the heat of battle.
I assume it’s possible and have been done.
I’m really not sure. It will be worth the research and may generate interesting tales.
I’m worried about EMP, hacking or generally easily frying a system that cannot be repaired on site.
Are all the military chips made in the states? Are any made in China?
Because… you’re going to be launching a modern fly by wire plane after an emp fries everything on a carrier?
Depends what you mean by “military chips.” Obviously they use commercial chips made in a variety of places in computers, phones, etc. But we’re moving from can’t, to do we, eh? But yes, we do, and purpose built chips are most definitely not built in China, and go through the DoD trusted foundry program, provides chain of custody for the entire supply chain and goes through only accredited suppliers (the biggie is global foundries).
https://www.dmea.osd.mil/TrustedIC.aspx
https://www.dmea.osd.mil/otherdocs/accreditedsuppliers.pdf
Well, that makes me feel better.
But, I believe I’ve read somewhere that the military was afraid of backdoors…
Now let me tell you where I’m coming from…
My Dad served in the signal corp at good old Ft. Monmouth in the late fifties.
He worked in Radar for the FAA briefly before going back to Ft. Monmouth as a civilian employ through to the early 80’s in procurement. Then transferring to the signal corp on base as a basic Electronics teacher until retirement.
So, in the seventies, going to Armed Forces Day and seeing all that brand new technology was a tradition.
He’d also get to take home a lot of toys to play with on loan or buy them cheap.
Things like oscilloscopes, frequency generators and whatnot.
They were rugged and easy to fix. Believe it or not, one whack on the case usually fixed the problem. These things were built to last.
He also helped out at the MARS station…
Everything was solid, constructed locally and easily repairable.
Yes, that’s why they have an accredited trusted foundry program. ;D But yeah, there is concerns about COTS products as well.
Sure. And they had a lot less capability, were a lot bigger, heavier, took up more space, and were more expensive.
I’d like more info on the ruggedness of the equipment and how much abuse.
And it’s resistance to EMPs.
How easy is it to fix in the field.
Hell, the old stuff. … You fix it by hitting it. Drop it too hard, parts fall out and you put them back in. Of course, you’d replace the broken parts.
And the Army technical manuals were written to make everything understandable. Ok… I will sleep easy that the US has its own secure supply chain…
This has drifted off topic…
I’m glad at least the US Military is self-sufficient.
I’d like to see the consumer electronics industry back in the US.
A domestic manufacturing base for the US, Taiwan and other countries is important. If you don’t make it or grow it, it is not. Real.
Then it’s not really anyone’s fault.
And while income is higher in London, property-to-income ratio is extremely high too.
https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd6c748xw2pzm8.cloudfront.net%2Fprod%2Fee64f390-88df-11eb-a380-55dd5ea0f975-standard.png?dpr=1&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&source=next&width=700
Either you are doing the conversion wrong or this is the most low-information statement I have ever read.
Because in you head, reasonably well-paid professionals in London relocated to Taipei would be paid 75k/month. If you want to compare purchasing power at least compare with rigorous statistics and comparable scenarios.
If you believe everyone in Taiwan eats biandang for lunch your information is just wrong. If you’ve been to any mall food court at lunch hour you would know that it’s packed, and the prices varied from cheap to not so cheap (of course still at least half as pricey as in London).
I think it’s readily observable that people do not compare Taiwan and other countries on the same ground.
Unaffordable property prices in central Taipei = insane, properties are top 10 most expensive in the world (without consulting realtor websites of other countries of course). Basically pulled the top 10 from a content farm.
Unaffordable property prices in central [insert largest city] which is clearly 2x or 3x more expensive than Taipei property prices = People live in suburbs/commuter towns and drive 1 hour to work, totally normal.
Cheese/milk/bread/random whatever is more expensive in Taiwan = All groceries are more expensive in Taiwan.
Mango/guava/sweet potato leaves/noodles (not pasta) is more expensive elsewhere = diet, no one eats that so of course it’s more expensive, excuse after excuse.
Well-paid in Taiwan = more than 50k despite repeated government stats showing that’s not even the average of the whole country.
Well-paid elsewhere = a very pretty number that’s several times the average of said country.
Accidents in Taiwan killing many people = chabuduo.
Accidents elsewhere killing the same number of people or covid killing tens/hundreds of thousands = (silence)
You’ll say I’m exaggerating or I’m being defensive but you know it’s true. 
This goes both ways, it depends what you compare. Compare mass transit, underground vs mrt. The Underground is hideously expensive and breaks down a lot. It’s dirty, smelly, very hot in summer. Compare street crime. I’m not sure myself which I’d prefer.
System design.
The accidents are a symptom of poor design and planning and education and promotion of use of shitty motor scooters.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck? 
I’ll give you scooters because they suck, but shoddy construction and food safety scandals are everywhere.
Florida (98 dead)
France (8 dead)
Italy (43 dead)
Israel (45 dead)
Korea (1 dead; when was the last time one of those food scandals in Taiwan caused actual death?)
Ah yes. Poor countries have healthcare systems that support average life expectancies of 80+ years.
If you don’t have data, or you’re in the third grade, that heuristic might be useful.
Forgot Germany during the floods.
