@hakui
> "made in japan" was the "made in china" of the mid-20th century
I'm just old enough to remember that as a pat phrase grownups used to describe cheap, shitty stuff. Although by that time the cheap stuff was being made in Taiwan, and Japanese stuff was actually some of the best, especially in electronics.
"Made in China" is the same. The cheap, shitty stuff is now made in places like Indonesia, and China produces some of the highest quality stuff, especially electronics.
All of these 'made in [insert Asian country here]' phrases are cultural artifacts from a fascinating history of industrial development in Asia. European and USian companies went into Asia in search of cheap labour. Minimally-educated workers who didn't have a tradition of labour unionism, and wouldn't push back against low wages or shitty working conditions.
(1/?)
(2/?)
Their plan was to outcompete firms who employed unionised labour under (somewhat) decent working conditions, by charging lower prices but still making bank. Once they bankrupted all the non-sweatshop manufacturers, they could then ramp up prices, and force workers in their own countries into sweatshops.
Their hope was that they could do what they'd failed to do in the 1800s; prevent unionisation, and keep the sweatshop labour available permanently. Then, party like it's 1799.
(3/?)
The first part of the plan pretty much worked. Helped by politicians from both major parties, who supported global corporate rights charters ("free trade agreements"), and passed union-busting laws limiting the rights of unionised workers, particularly the right to strike.
Notably they banned solidarity strikes, which forward-looking unions could have used to force employers to extend domestic labour standards to offshore workers employed by domestic companies.
(4/?)
Unfortunately for them, the sweatshopping corporations didn't count on governments in Asian countries being smarter and more forward-looking that the politicians they'd bought and paid for at home.
In particular, they didn't expect Asian countries to have *industrial policy*. Which ensured that the presence of these offshore firms - although exploitative in the short-to-medium term - helped them build local infrastructure, upskill their workforces, improve training, and transfer tech.
(5/?)
This is one reason China's real economy is now booming, producing most of the world's best quality high-tech goods, while the US economy continues to circle the bowl. With gutted manufacturing capacity, and living standards for most USians resembling those of the Chinese in the 1980s.
The CCP (for all its downsides) had industrial policy to make that happen. US politicians left industrial planning to fly-by-night corporate managerialists, who simply didn't.
(6/6)
It's also the reason that the 'made in ...' phrase gets a new Asian country even decades or so.
Each country US and European corporations try to industrially colonise, soon develops to the point where its own firms are manufacturing quality goods independently, selling them domestically and to their neighbours. Both governments and workers can afford to impose greater costs on the corporate interlopers, until it becomes worth their while to move on to the next source of cheap labour.
Strypey