Common Ground
A homeowner in Waukesha for 20 years, Steve is president of the Waukesha Dog Parks Organization and enjoys motorcycling, fishing and staying on top of politics.
Chinese Electric Car To The Rescue
It was a coincidence that I was reading about Billionaire Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway investing in a Chinese battery maker turned automobile maker, known as BYD on the Chinese stock market ticker. This company makes batteries for many cell phones that we use and also has become China's largest automaker. They are making an electric car that is similar to the Chevrolet Volt in that it too runs on electricity and when the batteries drain out, a small gasoline engine generates the power to continue driving.
It is interesting that Buffett wanted to buy 25% of the business but the owner would only allow 10%. Needless to say, Buffett wants these cars in America!
The story that I was reading stated that they sell the car for around 1/4 the price of what the Volt is expected to be. Their cell phone batteries are also extremely cheap. When asked about this, the owner of the company said that they use cheap laborers instead of robots. The workers are paid little, eating in company cafeterias and live in company housing.
The coincidence is that in today's (Monday's) Milwaukee Journal business section, a story on page three tells of worker strikes in Chinese factories and businesses agreeing to increase pay, often significantly. Some of this is at the urging of the Chinese government. This story highlights a business in the same city where BYD makes their cars and batteries. Shenzhen China is the silicon valley of that country.
The story tells of rather high suicide among the workers. When asked, worker Ah Wei explains that "Life is meaningless". "Everyday I repeat the same thing I did yesterday".
Sounds like stuff that labor unions here have fought to correct. Long hours and boring, repetitive jobs. Money won't make the job any easier to do. And as to the repetitiveness, there are robots to do that. So much for the labor advantage!
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