Tariffs and sky high audio prices.

I would agree that this has been an enjoyable discussion to follow. We have multiple knowledgable people weighing in on the topic and the level of discourse has been generally respectful and civil. Quite interesting how intelligent people can be given the same set of facts and interpret them so differently depending on their worldview and personalities.

Regardless of how one views the points discussed so far, I wonder how or if the two personalities at the fore of the trade dispute will resolve the matter.  Mr. Xinping has amassed more personal power than any leader since the communist party turned away from Mao style "cult of personality" leadership. If things go south under his watch, it will be much harder for him to spread the collective blame around. Two monumental egos with distinctly different agendas and time frames in which to act.

Admin, you da boss. What you says goes. 
No harm, no foul. 

All the best,
Nonoise

especially if you are bashing the President of the United States.

WOO HOO!!!

Please take the topic back to audio or this thread will be closed.

My pleasure!
The thing about American made audio components, an awful lot of the best stuff in the world is made right here. Synergistic, VPI, McCormack, Graham, just a few that come to mind.

Not that the rest of the world doesn't make some damn fine gear too. But the subject was tariffs. And I could be mistaken but it sure seems like if we are talking tariffs then we're talking pretty much China. And if we're talking China then we're no longer talking about anything having to do with expertise.

All those American companies, they didn't just build it here. They designed it here. But then when it comes time to manufacture some- not all, some- find if what they need to have done is mindless enough then they can have it done more cheaply elsewhere.

Most of those other places though, they aren't cheap because they are so much more productive. China is not like Germany. They don't have a workforce so uber educated and skilled they can not only design but also build a Porsche. No. What they have is cheap mostly unskilled to lower skilled labor. Cheap labor. 

Which is why tariffs are good. Good for the US. Good for China, too.

Because, in the US, raising the price of imports makes it less advantageous to off-shore jobs, in other words incentivizes keeping those jobs right here where they benefit Americans. Americans who can then afford to buy more high end audio.

But tariffs also benefit China. One effect of tariffs is to force a higher selling price here. The only way those products will justify the higher price is by being better. That means raising quality. That means being more productive. Either way it means incentivizing the Chinese to become even more skilled.

Not sure if people know this, even though they do advertise it, but Synergistic Research builds all their products right here in the USA. Skilled American workers. Just in the last week I have totally by accident run across two people who worked there. These are real jobs. Jobs that pay enough to live on. Not live a life of subsistence crammed into bunk beds one floor up from the factory, which is how the workers who built my Melody integrated amp live. The guys I talked to, they don't work there now. They probably have much better jobs now. Just like the Chinese will some day. Thanks in part to our tariffs. 

That means, papa, that he cannot comprehend music. All the Western music is rooted in the sounds of Torah.

And of course another foundation is Persian musical tradition.