Question about the clones...

[pgym]

I doubt it for a lot of reasons, but the big one I'm thinking about is geography -- the Himalayas separate China from India, so the only way to get goods from one place to the next is by boat. Costs would have to be MUCH cheaper in India to justify the additional expenses of using freight liners for such a short distance by sea. Maybe there is a good trade route there, but I highly doubt that it's built around the inexpensive tuba industry.

I've heard that the Chinese and Indians have these things called "aeroplanes" that can actually FLY over the Himalayas! And some of them are supposed to be big enough to carry CARGO!

[TubaRay]

I've heard that the Chinese and Indians have these things called "aeroplanes" that can actually FLY over the Himalayas! And some of them are supposed to be big enough to carry CARGO!

No way!!! When did this happen? And they can carry cargo the size of tubas? What will they think of next?

[bort]

Joe beat me to it, but that's exactly what I was going to say. The Indian labor costs would have to be impossibly low to make this work for the Chinese. The Indians would be better off to make/sell stuff themselves.

What I'm waiting for is industrialization of another African country. I don't know what the raw materials/commodities situations are, but it's much closer to Europe and the Americas!

[bort]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I don't want what I've described above to happen, but more like just waiting to see what happens. That is, when one factory country gets too expensive, along comes another one. So if India, China, and southeast Asia are all not cheap enough, what's next? Perhaps Africa?

[ghmerrill]

I seriously doubt that these things are ever in the air. Air freight is just too expensive in relation to the wholesale cost of this stuff.

I can play ... Hot air balloons?