Capitalism and Outsourcing

For all of you who would be classified as protectionist, here is a little story of life in a protecting country without free trade and outsourcing. This morning I woke up early to run a quick errand to the hardware store to get a part with which to fix our leaky sink. (I broke it the night before) Upon arriving at the big box store (like Home Depot) I quickly found the part I needed; a short pipe connecting the bottom of the sink to the U pipe with an extra point to connect the drain from the washing machine on the side. I grabbed and was about to head to the checkout when I noticed that this particular piece of junk cost almost $20 US! I then look for cheaper substitutes that may not of been handcrafted from gold but everything was ridiculously priced. This particular piece would have run some where between ninety cents and a buck fifty at home.

Problem:

1. There was not as second big box across the street helping to force the price to be competitive.

and

2. The part was a fine piece of German craftsmanship made by highly skilled labour.

GpoD: In Deutschland gemacht - Made in Germany



Turkey stories to come