Electrical Engineering & Electronics Design

One of the largest issues with cheap low cost goods is the international shipping laws that are antiquated from over 144 years ago that allow no shipping costs and are absorbed by the public taxpayer. Its called the "Universal Postal Union" and probably most of Europe is still in it as well as the US : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union

These need to be abolished and the last administration was trying to do so but i am not sure if the laws ever got passed, which they really need to !

https://redstagfulfillment.com/universal-postal-union-treaty/

The other factor is major investors by corporations that are guilty of complicity and are another major factor. These corporations need to be taxed the hell out of by duties and surcharges in order to bring jobs back.

Other that that there is no much else that can be done except by the consumer that votes with their money every time they decide to buy, they have a choice : buy local or regional or national.

I don't see the reason for the fear-uncertainty-and-doubt expressed here.

The China bubble will eventually burst. Wages there were historically low but the more factories built there, the more jobs are available, meaning wages will have to go up. As wages go up the cost of manufacturing there increases. Then it's less desirable to build there. We're already seeing a resurgence in semiconductor manufacturing in the US.

As green energy matures more, costs come way down. You just have to look at the cost per Kwh for solar and wind over the past couple decades. The first charts that pop up when you search for the cost of solar reflect a reduction of $0.25 per Kwh in 2010 and down to less than $0.05 per Kwh in 2020. Depending on what data and charts you're looking at, this is already cheaper than coal-powered plants. The big hurdle there is storage of that power during non-peak hours but Tesla has already deployed grid-level storage in Australia. There's still maturity to be had there. Is their implementation best? Perhaps not, perhaps molten salt thermal storage is the answer to that problem.

The best part about all of this is, is that the physics are there, we're at the door, just takes money, and jobs, to bring us over the threshold to where energy just isn't a real problem anymore. Just adding capacity and storage to growing areas.

There is one factor that you are not considering that is coming on very strong : new technologies

There are two major technologies that are going to replace workers ever before :

• for hardware = drones / robotics / automation
• for software = artificial intelligence

These two technologies are being fueled and funded by major corporations to replace people, mostly for low level physical labor and repetitive tasks.

However even for software with AI able to evolve a program rather than code it will displace millions of software and IT people in the same way that stock brokers were replaced by computers to perform stock trading.

Factory automation will continue to rise with machines taking raw materials and outputing a finished product with only few people technicians to serve and service the robots.

How many drivers will be displaced when self-driving vehicles become common place ?

How many garage mechanics are required to fix and repair electric vehicles, when only the tires, brakes, and wiper blades go bad. The batteries now last up to 10 years, and soon that will be as common as an oil change. Perhaps robotics will even perform that at the dealer too !

People will need to be cerebral and be driven to the creative arts as well as the highest levels of design and simulations. These will still need to be 'artisans' of engineering though. And those will be the best paying future jobs - depending on who and what you know.

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the comment.

I am all for the gradual forward direction and the enhancement of technology of green energy so long as it is not forced at the pace of causing severe discomfort or harm, especially to the most venerable and poorest members within society.

I have sacrificed years of my life to green energy and efficiency when designing.

You mention “I don't see the reason for the fear-uncertainty-and-doubt expressed here.”

Energy, Gas, Fuel prices have skyrocketed in the uk due to forced green policy’s.

50% increase in the cost of Fuel due to the forced change to E10. 20% of the energy bill is now paid directly to wealthy land owners to rent land for solar and wind. Massive energy bill hikes due to forced closures to the UK energy sectors.

Inflation has now gone up astronomically for this reason as any company who uses energy, gas, or fuel now must pass these record price increases on to the customer.

You mention “As green energy matures more, costs come way down.”

This is most certainly is not what we are seeing on the bills of the end consumers. As I have mentioned Energy, Gas, Fuel prices have skyrocketed in the uk. As far as I am aware they have virtually all over the western world in order to reach a so called net zero.

The people claiming a target of net zero are then importing these energy resources from other parts of the world where it is known the same energy production causes far more pollution than here ??? How does that even make sense ???

Record levels of the elderly, the poorest and sickest within society are the ones who will pay the price for this madness in the coming winter. I am not a big fan of watching the most vulnerable suffer.

I appreciate the comment here, as I think this is an important issue that engineers are fundamentally suited to help solve. In an ideal situation. I have little to add regarding the policies/agreements governing globalised trade.

An aspect I think warrants inspection though is the root cause of inflation. I'm not so sure it can all be blamed on energy costs. If it is all simply passing costs on to consumers, as you mentioned Jason, then why are many of the largest companies and corporations posting record profits year on year?

I would consider myself a capitalist. I believe in free trade, or at least the freedom to trade with anyone. However, markets tend to follow a pareto law in terms of wealth concentration. It seems to me that it will be an output of any system that holds economy of scale, and to a lesser degree continual growth, as a goal. I suspect part of the issue we are having, globally, is the inability to control the finance and trade systems such that the following of the pareto law is uninhibited.

I've no good ideas regarding any answers, but I think a discussion of the mechanisms of wealth concentration, and potential wealth redistribution, are a good place to start. And I also think that the classical models of capitalism vs socialism, and their ilk, on which our current political, financial, and trade systems are still based, are outdated and insufficient.

So, too, with AI/automation vs workers. This is only a problem if we hold ourselves to the paradigms of the last 200 years. Green energy is perhaps novel enough to help break those old ways. If I keep typing I'll end up in a Rumsfeldian place. Suffice to say that it seems to me we're not yet asking the right questions, perhaps in part because we're not teaching our kids to ask ANY questions anymore.

Hello David

Thanks for the comment, differing opinion is always welcome.

You mention “An aspect I think warrants inspection though is the

root cause of inflation. I'm not so sure it can all be blamed on energy costs.”

Firstly we need to define inflation. A general progressive increase in prices of goods and services in an economy. Meaning that the currency in your pocket simply has less value, meaning the same currency will buy less goods than the month or year before.

You are correct about inflation it is not only based on energy

costs. Inflation is influenced mostly by very specific sectors within

the economy and by the things that have effect upon them. Banking sectors, Stock market sectors, Housing and property sectors, Energy, Gas, Fuel sectors, and is also largely affected by governmental printing of currency that drastically reduces the value of your currency.

Record levels of poverty and hardship are now being forced upon people especially the poorest within society who now have to choose between heating or eating. This has been happening relentlessly year after year with record price increases due to forced green energy net zero policy’s. Now on top of this hardship a war pushes prices in the energy sector way beyond breaking point. If they keep pushing green energy like this, stamping it down people’s throats, soon everyone will turn against it.

To make the distinction Currency is imaginary money (pieces of

paper with a picture on or numbers in a computer) Money is different, things of real physical value tangible assets, land etc…

To analyse any system first it must be broken down. We must

first realise the distinction between inflation, social hardship and yearly standard of living.

In all cases inflation hits the poorest people within society

the hardest. Individual companies and corporations profit margins do not have a large impact on inflation due to the fact the system has a set amount of currency every year.

Example : If you turn record profits this currency is simply

passed between people within the system but the same amount of currency still remains within the system.  Therefore, no inflation.

You mention “I would consider myself a capitalist. I believe in

free trade, or at least the freedom to trade with anyone. “. Yes same here. The problem with globalisation is we are all playing the exact same game but insanely we are all given different rules we must follow to play the same game.

Certain country’s have been given a special developing nation

status by WTO. This was meant to help the very poorest of the 3rd world country’s such as Cambodia, Ethiopia etc.. However this special developing nation status has been outright abused by global superpowers such as china. We are talking of a global superpower with space station programs demanding they must play by the

same rules as the poorest of the 3rd world country’s.

The question is would you play a game where you put all your

assets and currency on the table your future and your childrens future on the table and then your opponent says you must have a highly restrictive rulebook with a massive list of rules you must obey while they insist on playing the game with a special rulebook with virtually no rules to obey at all ????

This is what is happening right now and it is why western

economy’s are being decimated and losing so badly.