Having recently purchased a (real, lab-created) diamond directly from China and having looked at the large increases in pricing to have purchased the same thing in the US, I have some related theories above and beyond any government inefficiencies.
1) Cost of a showroom and warehousing. If you have a location and people manning it, it costs money - far more in the US than China. If you're not going to make people wait while bulk goods cross the Pacific, you're going to have warehousing costs - also not cheap. Take diamonds - running a jewelry store isn't cheap, nor are the nice salespeople who often work on commission and aren't selling rings constantly.
1A) People want to see and touch things in person. This is sort of auxiliary to 1, but a lot of people want to see and touch exactly what they're getting before they buy it. That further increases costs since you have to keep inventory on hand (be it diamonds, rings, or furniture) and deal with wear, tear, and space.
2) Time cost of money. If you can make something and sell it immediately, you don't have to worry about the same ROI as if you have to sink money into that good for months until you get a return. Again, diamonds: I read that the average diamond sits in a case for months, and many consumers will be very picky about exactly which one they want, even if the naked eye can't see any difference. That cost adds up - you need to make enough money to justify the investment for months.
3) The cost of a specific brand. This goes beyond "Is this company reliable and does it make good products?" and in to "I'm willing to pay more so I can have the product from a specific brand I know". Companies know their brand is worth money, so they charge more for the same thing because they can. People accept the arrangement because they generally know what they're getting and are fine paying a premium for it. I did my research and found a reliable company that offered real lab-grown diamonds and then did follow-up tests and examination to make sure I wasn't ripped off, and I was willing to go through a drawn out return process if I had to. But most people don't want to screw around with that, even if it can save them a ton of money.
4) Specific to furniture, the inefficiency of bulk shipping and assembly. There's a reason IKEA can offer cheap furniture beyond their use of fiberboard (you can get reasonably priced solid wood stuff from them as well) - space. They minimize the space their furniture takes up, and that makes container shipping a lot cheaper: Shipping a couch or most innerspring mattresses, even partially disassembled, takes up a ton of space, and space is money in shipping. If the furniture is shipped completely disassembled, you have to pay US wages to someone to assemble it unless you're IKEA, in which case people pay you a small premium to assemble it themselves.
Back to my diamond experience - my diamond was something like half to a ninth (Yep, you read that right) of what it would have been if I had purchased the exact same thing from a retailer, with the higher end being more normal for the well known stores. Sure - the diamond market isn't entirely normal because of the luxury bit, but it's indicative. And tariffs on diamonds are really low (duty-free for natural, 3% for lab-grown) so it's not a matter of that or of some verification process (a lab-grown cut diamond checked by one of the major international labs, which mine was, won't need any other certification). Though one other thing applies to bulk imports - all of the fees associated with getting something in to the country by water (This YouTube video has a clickbaity title, but is actually an interesting overview of someone's experience importing an inexpensive electric vehicle: https://youtu.be/yRG0Wai4sR0?feature=shared. This is definitely cheaper for the big importers - but another cost nonetheless, and one having more to do with the port system).
One auxiliary note on quality and brands - the issue gets more extreme as you move up the luxury chain. People become far less willing to buy products that are from less well-known brands when things become more luxurious - and nice sofas and mattresses fall in to that. I've taken up leather working, and one of the fascinating things as I looked in to how to make leather goods was finding out how insane the markups are for good that use very high end materials. Thirteen times actual production cost is relatively typical - which is why LVMH and Hermes are practically printing money even as they own incredibly expensive shops. But if you want the same or better quality and design with the exact same or better materials, there are many artisan leather workers in the US and Europe who will make similar goods with a far more reasonable markup - not cheap, but the money mainly does to the workers and materials rather than to making gigantic stores or paying salespeople to tell you they don't have the purse you see on the shelf right in front of you. But people still want Birkin Bags and Chanel purses - because of the name. Mattresses and furniture aren't Veblen goods like luxury leather goods - but the "I want a luxury brand people know" thing still plays in to pricing.
Yeah...I don't care that much. One time, I brought back a knockoff Hermes scarf from Bangkok. I took it down to Oak St. to the retail store. Showed it to the folks, they didn't see that it was a KO, I smiled, told them, then had to run out of the store because they wanted to keep it. I've also been in the "factory" where they make the KO Birkin bags. Same deal. Can't tell the difference without a magnifying glass and who cares? Not me.
All that luxury stuff is silly. It's tanking here in China because folks are figuring it out and also consumption is dragging badly.
Yep - I want something well made at a good price, and I don't generally give a rip about the label on it. I get the impression that large majority of people buying knockoffs these days are't actually fooled either - like you, they want something good enough and many of the knockoffs are pretty solid (or indistinguishable, in some cases) without being crazy expensive.
I'll personally take door number three, though - insanely good materials hand-made by myself. It won't even look like a brand (and might have some rough edges), but it will outlast almost anything on the market at a price you can't beat. Not something you can do with everything - but something people should think more about with prices these days. If you have a practical hobby, it can reap dividends.
Right on. There's a world out there of folks making nice stuff, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
All the labeled logo'd stuff...has no personal style, and personal style is what I like. Folks that buy into manufactured image...it's kinda sad, really.
(OK, let's try this again, because Substack, as it often does, let me type some words and then snatched them away.)
I'm dropping in "early" for me because I intend to spend the rest of the day getting stuff done. Probably will listen to some podcasts.
The mothership is having some odd formatting issues today that make it look like part of it is missing. Didn't see many trolls, but then I didn't spend a lot of time reading comments. Steve Hayes has his own piece up, an insightful analysis of Friday's Oval Office scene, a take which I think is pretty much the right temperature.
Oh, and they apparently have a "listen" feature now, for those who would like to use it. I'm not one of them. Reading the written word happens to be faster than listening to audio or watching video for me. And I already can't finish all the podcasts I want to listen to.
Today I did a bit of diving into reports about what's going on with the Brits. King Charles received Zelensky at Sandringham House, which is on the Norfolk coast and NOT blocks from Buckingham Palace as some news report I read this morning said. Sigh. I imagine Charles III is mindful of his grandparents' and mother's experience of having their home bombed by a vicious aggressor right along with all Londoners, and showing solidarity with the nation. He certainly had no problem with Zelensky's outfit. I imagine he has met foreign dignitaries who wear all sorts of garments that in their cultures are appropriate for a high-level meeting. There is some buzz that maybe Trump might not end up having a second state visit after all. (That sort of thing feeds his ego, so it might matter.) Meanwhile the European movers and shakers are meeting about this crisis. Good for them. I wish it were possible to show them that Trump doesn't speak for all Americans. Maybe not even most Americans.
I suspect they know it - a glance at the papers will show that information, and the movers and shakers are generally very well aware of American politics. Which is a good thing when things are so lunatic.
I read a news story somewhere Saturday that the Ukranian embassy in D.C. was getting phone calls from people saying please don't think that Donald Trump speaks for them or for all of America.
When I was young, I loved history and read lots of great historical fiction. I even attempted to write my own stories (nothing like Amy's on Big Bang Theory -shudder).
I was too young to pick up on the references to the toll on personal relationships. That would never happen to me, not my family and friends.
I drifted away from it as the (valid) complexities of the 60s and 70s cast their shadows and aspersions on the type of heroism that resonated with me. Fantasy came to supply my hunger for purpose and adventure.
But I wished I had lived back then, could have participated in the struggle for liberty.
Well. I did not expect a battle in which reason would be so effectively neutered.
What frustrates me is that it feels one can write something but "they" would selectively recast enough definitions to render it meaningless at best but likely warped beyond recognition, bearing a hint of plausibility as camouflage.
This group is the only group where I talk about this stuff. So, yeah. I discuss this stuff with individuals occasionally, when it's necessary. I'm not a political sort.
“At no point [during the Cold War] did Americans go to the polls and choose between one candidate committed to NATO and another candidate sympathetic to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The very idea would have been fantastical. American elections could reset our national security strategy, but they did not change our bedrock alliances. They did not change our fundamental identity.
At this point, I look for Trump to start sharing battlefield intel with Moscow so that Putin can target more civilian targets in Ukraine. I would never put it past Trump to try engaging in some casual genocide to help out a friend. His minions are already out there preparing the psy-ops groundwork for the MAGA footsoldiers.
Well, I’m sorry if you feel that way, Brian. I don’t fault you if you decide it’s more than you can stand. I’ve stomped off…or more often lurked elsewhere… enough times that I can understand the urge to do so.
You’re not alone, either. I hear from others that the blog is too friendly to Trump, or else too “liberal”: too much of this or that, and not enough of the other. That’s the way I’ve felt about sites that I’ve wandered away from, too. Eventually you find something that’s nearer to what you’re looking for, and you go there…or you unplug altogether for a while.
I managed to overlook Trump during the campaign fairly well, but now that it’s all turning into policy, it’s another matter. I start out the day bent out of shape most days lately just from reading the headlines. I don’t feel like bottling it all up right now.
Thankfully—by the grace of God—I can’t spend all day obsessing on it. There’s crap that I’ve got to get done IRL, too…
Anyway. I’m sure you’ll find something to meet your needs if it turns out this isn’t it, at least for now.
I suppose it could, but it won't be me. Trying to stay minute to minute current on any political stuff is idiotic. It's folks imagining they're part of the action, in on the real story, or something. One nice thing about China; no political talk. It is what it is, and folks can't do squat about it, so they turn attention to what is actually their life.
After all we've seen and heard these past weeks, I would never put *anything* past Donald Trump. Not anything, except maybe doing the right thing, which if and when that ever happens will be a fluke of a coincidence rather than an act purposely undertaken simply because it was the right thing to do.
Speaking of "the right thing to do", here's a WWJD moment I just ran across in my news feed this morning. As one pundit I often read has said rather frequently of late...
I dunno. Could be a lot of people who say they worship and revere JC might be surprised to find out it is they themselves who just might burn in the end.
On the "would not put anything past Donald Trump" part.... #MeToo.
I have always thought (known) he was a criminal in thought and action. That the Evangelists/Fundamentalists are so supportive...there'll be a reckoning in this world or the next. It's not my jurisdiction. He will handle it for me.
Interesting you mentioned a "reckoning", Kurt. Just posted thoughts on that very thing a little while ago somewhere else (copied below the link, which I provided for some context as to what provoked my comment).
To say that I'm angry about this and all that's transpired of late would be quite an understatement, but I don't think that makes what I wrote here through all that anger in response to the aftermath of Friday - Zelensky in London yesterday being vociferously defended and supported by a host of leaders from the EU, NATO and even Turkey - any less true. Viewing the link is optional, of course. This one makes my hair hurt, but for a whole different set of reasons...
Never in my long life had I ever truly thought that I'd need to look well beyond the borders of my very own country for exemplars of freedom, liberty and the leadership needed to preserve those precious treasures in the world. Until this past Friday.
We've been sold out by two s**t stains on the flag under which my father stood in harm's way eight decades ago against the onslaught of fascism, tyranny and the harm that evil men so easily and readily do to their fellow men. And for what? More power, more money, more fawning affection from true believers and acknowledgement from and acceptance as equals by true tyrants?
There will be a reckoning for this betrayal, and for all the betrayals before and yet to come by these two ugly Americans and all their enabling accomplices. And sadly, at some point hence, real Americans who wish to live in real freedom and liberty will likely find themselves required once again to lay a bloody sacrifice on its altar, and this time perhaps not on foreign soil but again on our very own.
Good morning. 19 degrees this morning, getting up to the 40s.
The mothership is covering the Oval Office debacle Friday. FP is covering reactions to that debacle. One of FP’s articles, which may be true but I find shocking, reports that many Americans actually approved of the Zelenskyy beat down. IN the comments, I objected. We’ll see if I live to tell the tale.
Protracted war is not popular in a democracy. Not supporting Ukraine enough to defeat the invaders played into Putin’s hands.
People who voted for Trump—even if they held their noses and were unhappy with the choice—now have buy-in to defend. Zelensky wasn’t on the ticket here, but it was understood that the D party was closer to him than Trump/MAGA.
The Trump/MAGA media are now working overtime to depict Zelensky as sinister for “disrespecting” Trump. It’s the latest grievance to amplify in a grievance-based political movement and politician. Voters who performed the act of buying in by voting for Trump are offended that a foreign leader would come to America and “disrespect” their election choice, no matter how half-hearted their voting for Trump initially might have been.
Delaying the military support to the Ukrainians didn't do half the damage as Trump has beginning when Zelensky refused to "find" something on Joe Biden. But time is not as big a factor as the fact that Trump wants Putin to be happy, and Putin wants Ukraine.
Trump is definitely Putin's Puppet. Ending not just offensive cybersecurity, but defensive cyber monitoring for Russia means "Putin's on the inside now"."
It is indisputably Trump’s baby now—no issue as to who currently bears the blame. But I’m not willing to give concede much to the Biden team, much of which consisted of the Obama team that was so eager to hand everything over to the Kremlin as if they had a legitimate sphere of influence.
We’ve had spineless and feckless foreign policy from Obama’s first inauguration. Now it’s openly moved to *supporting* the Russians, which are by and large just the tip of the spear for the PRC.
We’ve had feckless foreign policy since Bush the Younger embarked on unwinnable wars and not opposing Putin’s takeover of Georgia. Obama was also feckless to continue those wars, and spineless for not aggressively blocking China’s base building in The South China Sea—at least he expelled a few diplomats and applied sanctions when Putin took Crimea.
I thought parts of the JCPOA (5 countries made that agreement) very poor; but it did one thing it was supposed to do—stretch out the 90 days to a nuclear bomb Bibi Netanyahu instead was Iran’s timeframe.
Trump was critized for his foreign policy, and so is Biden. It’s a difficult world in ways no POTUS has faced. But handing the US to Putin (ending offensive and defensive cybersecurity efforts toward Russia, and Trump defending “all Putin’s been through “ in the Oval Office is not a good sign of what’s ahead.sign
George W Bush's problem was not those "unwinnable wars" that were the response to 9/11 (and likely prevented a recurrence) but that Bush was fooled by Putin, saying famously that when they first met "I looked into his eyes and I saw a soul."
Putin has fooled every American President since he came to power (the only exception being Joe Biden).
“Why don’t you wear a suit? You’re in the highest level of this country’s office, and you refuse to wear a suit? I just want to see, do you own a suit?” Brian Glenn, a commentator for the Real America’s Voice outlet, asked Zelensky.
“A lot of Americans have problems with you respecting this office.”
Then again, the Cabinet Room's not the Oval Office, is it?
But regarding "that moron"...
Gee, Kurt, show a little respect (at least as little as possible, anyway, since "moron" is a bit too high brow a term for a critic of haute couture such as Brian Glenn).
Perhaps you didn't know that MAGA moron is boyfriend to none other than fashion maven Marjorie Taylor Greene...
I didn't know who Brian Glenn is until right now. I pay as little attention as possible to the specifics of this sort of stuff....thanks(?) Full disclosure...I didn't watch any of the videos. They'd make my hair hurt.
Full disclosure... I didn't know who Glenn was either until he got his 15 seconds of infamy in the Oval Office.
Never a penalty for not watching the vids I often post. Hair pain is a serious malady that doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves. And now with all this medical R&D funding that's being cut, I doubt Big Pharma will be advertising a completely over-the-top-priced solution for it on TV for quite some time.
(Further Full Disclosure: I liked TV a lot better when liquor, lawyers and pharmaceutical companies couldn't advertise on it.)
Here up north we are being bombarded by gambling ads during every sporting event (some of which even included formerly-popular Wayne Gretzky). Apparently, we must be protected against the dangers of booze and cigarettes, but no one seems to be concerned about people developing a gambling addiction.
I live in a mid century modern-ish house so I have only bought Natuzzi couches. Also not Made in China but rather Italy. Thanks for the piece, Kurt. Super interesting.
Not made in China, but it's good odds that the folks making them in Italy are Chinese. All the Italian fashion houses use Chinese workers, and a lot of the furniture mfg's.
One of the reasons early Covid decimated those Northern Italian towns is that workers from Wuhan went there and brought Covid with them....of course, never officially declared, but....c'mon.... That led to a very interesting dustup between Italians and Chinese that never made the news.
I never implied the workers were exploited, which some/many are. I know that a lot of Chinese commuted back and forth to Italy to work, so it's not entirely clear that all Chinese workers are illegal. I only know that a lot of Chinese work in the furniture and clothing factories because they're really good at this stuff.
The best bed I’ve ever had, including an adjustable base. I look forward to going to bed because it’s that comfortable. Not Made in China. https://www.saatva.com/mattresses/zenhaven
I know those. They're nice. Not made in China, but I'd bet a tooth there's Chinese parts in there. Nowadays, it's a rare thing that doesn't have some parts made in China.
Integrating China into the global free-trade system has been revolutionary.
America spending a couple decades going the European route of regulations—no detail too small for bureaucratic standards—has been a method of economic seppuku…
Thanks. It started out as a description and morphed into a rant....cranked out in one blow with barely a skim edit because I thought it was just an email to a friend. Then I reread it, and wondered if The Leader would find it funny. He did. And here we are. I added the last sentence at the last moment, I don't know why. It works fine without it. Coupla other edits needed, but I'm lazy today. Cold and wet and my knees hurt.
The place really is mind boggling. Buyers from all over the world go there to buy furniture. There's a whole Indian and Pakistani section of hotels and restaurants, and a similar one for Middle Eastern folks. Every imaginable furniture iteration...and some unimaginable until you see it...is there in the biggest showroom buildings I've ever seen. Think giant professional sports stadiums, then quintuple the size and surround it with more stadiums...I'm still trying to find the words to describe it.
Knowing nothing, I'd worry about Chinese furniture having toxic wood preservatives. I remember buying a bunk bed for my kids 25 years ago, that smelled so bad of formaldehyde (I guess) that after leaving it in the garage to air I finally sent it back. From someplace called Cargo that no longer exists.
PS - for light edits, you write very well. All the authors do.
That's actually something the mfg's. are now aware of and several/most tout it in their advertising. It was really bad with the laminate flooring. And thanks.
South Florida family uses Habitat and some apps locally. Having super-wealthy ZIPs along the coast makes for some crazy finds—presumably when someone’s interior designer decides last month’s couch, say, has become insufficiently tasteful.
I’m a fan of FreeCycle. It’s amazing what you can find that folks are giving away for free. It’s a great way to get rid stuff that I don’t want to just toss. in the dumpster. I’m also a confessed and recovering alley scavenger.
A great way to get rid of stuff in my neck of the woods is to "toss it" down to the road a day or maybe two before garbage day. If it's something recognizable while passing by at 55mph - hell, who am I kidding, these fools all drive a minimum of 65 down our road - such as say a carpet remnant or old broken chair, it's odds-on it will be gone before the garbage truck arrives. Sometimes even if it's just stuff in open boxes, the contents of which can't necessarily be determined "at speed".
Years ago, all the storage I had here on the property besides the garage attached to my house was a crudely built 8 X 10 wooden shed beside a concrete slab which the previous owners had used as a dog kennel. After living here for a few years, that shed had become pretty packed full of "stuff", and one day I backed my car up to it with an open trunk, determined to clean it out and get it back to a point that I might stand a chance of finding something in it if I went looking for it. My rule for this endeavor was "If it hasn't seen the light of day in two years, it's out of here." Which resulted in a lot of daylight where there had been darkness.
Most everything went into several open-topped cardboard boxes, other than an old bicycle, a kid's toy wagon with a broken wheel, a very cheap old push-lawnmower that hadn't run in years and a couple of other items too large and heavy for said boxes. I hauled it all down to the road before noon on a summer day before garbage day, unconcerned about wildlife trashing it overnight since there were no food items involved. And by 6PM there was nothing - and I do mean *nothing* - left.
At one point in the afternoon, I sat on the front stoop drinking a beer and watching the goings on down at the roadside some 130+ yards away. People would pass by, turn around down at the corner, speed back to my drive and pull to the shoulder, hopping out and quickly looking things over then grabbing something - or several things - and speeding away as if they were somehow afraid they were gonna' get caught stealing.
The real laugh came when an older guy in a beat-up pickup stopped and, taking his own sweet time, started rifling through the several boxes of miscellaneous "stuff", including old junk yard parts for an ancient dump truck I'd once had some years before, occasionally pulling something out, inspecting it momentarily and then either tossing it back in the box or in several instances into the back of his rusty and banged up old truck.
After going through each and every box in this manner and having procured at least a dozen items, he got back in his truck and started to pull away, only to suddenly stop in the road when about 30 yards away and then back up right next to the collection of a half dozen large and small boxes still on the shoulder just past my mailbox. He then got out and hurriedly proceeded to pick every one of them up except for one and toss them all into the back of his truck, afterwards hot-footing it back to the cab and speeding away like a thief in the night when the deed was done, as if spending 15 minutes picking through it all to get a few items had been fine but relieving me of 90% of it in one fell swoop was grounds for calling the cops on him.
We don't have alleys here, with rare exceptions, but the town trash collection has a quarterly Bulk Pickup Day, and a lot of people go out to check out their neighbors' discards. There are also quarterly yard sales in most subdivisions, and people will just give you stuff if it hasn't sold by 1:00 p.m.
Having recently purchased a (real, lab-created) diamond directly from China and having looked at the large increases in pricing to have purchased the same thing in the US, I have some related theories above and beyond any government inefficiencies.
1) Cost of a showroom and warehousing. If you have a location and people manning it, it costs money - far more in the US than China. If you're not going to make people wait while bulk goods cross the Pacific, you're going to have warehousing costs - also not cheap. Take diamonds - running a jewelry store isn't cheap, nor are the nice salespeople who often work on commission and aren't selling rings constantly.
1A) People want to see and touch things in person. This is sort of auxiliary to 1, but a lot of people want to see and touch exactly what they're getting before they buy it. That further increases costs since you have to keep inventory on hand (be it diamonds, rings, or furniture) and deal with wear, tear, and space.
2) Time cost of money. If you can make something and sell it immediately, you don't have to worry about the same ROI as if you have to sink money into that good for months until you get a return. Again, diamonds: I read that the average diamond sits in a case for months, and many consumers will be very picky about exactly which one they want, even if the naked eye can't see any difference. That cost adds up - you need to make enough money to justify the investment for months.
3) The cost of a specific brand. This goes beyond "Is this company reliable and does it make good products?" and in to "I'm willing to pay more so I can have the product from a specific brand I know". Companies know their brand is worth money, so they charge more for the same thing because they can. People accept the arrangement because they generally know what they're getting and are fine paying a premium for it. I did my research and found a reliable company that offered real lab-grown diamonds and then did follow-up tests and examination to make sure I wasn't ripped off, and I was willing to go through a drawn out return process if I had to. But most people don't want to screw around with that, even if it can save them a ton of money.
4) Specific to furniture, the inefficiency of bulk shipping and assembly. There's a reason IKEA can offer cheap furniture beyond their use of fiberboard (you can get reasonably priced solid wood stuff from them as well) - space. They minimize the space their furniture takes up, and that makes container shipping a lot cheaper: Shipping a couch or most innerspring mattresses, even partially disassembled, takes up a ton of space, and space is money in shipping. If the furniture is shipped completely disassembled, you have to pay US wages to someone to assemble it unless you're IKEA, in which case people pay you a small premium to assemble it themselves.
Back to my diamond experience - my diamond was something like half to a ninth (Yep, you read that right) of what it would have been if I had purchased the exact same thing from a retailer, with the higher end being more normal for the well known stores. Sure - the diamond market isn't entirely normal because of the luxury bit, but it's indicative. And tariffs on diamonds are really low (duty-free for natural, 3% for lab-grown) so it's not a matter of that or of some verification process (a lab-grown cut diamond checked by one of the major international labs, which mine was, won't need any other certification). Though one other thing applies to bulk imports - all of the fees associated with getting something in to the country by water (This YouTube video has a clickbaity title, but is actually an interesting overview of someone's experience importing an inexpensive electric vehicle: https://youtu.be/yRG0Wai4sR0?feature=shared. This is definitely cheaper for the big importers - but another cost nonetheless, and one having more to do with the port system).
One auxiliary note on quality and brands - the issue gets more extreme as you move up the luxury chain. People become far less willing to buy products that are from less well-known brands when things become more luxurious - and nice sofas and mattresses fall in to that. I've taken up leather working, and one of the fascinating things as I looked in to how to make leather goods was finding out how insane the markups are for good that use very high end materials. Thirteen times actual production cost is relatively typical - which is why LVMH and Hermes are practically printing money even as they own incredibly expensive shops. But if you want the same or better quality and design with the exact same or better materials, there are many artisan leather workers in the US and Europe who will make similar goods with a far more reasonable markup - not cheap, but the money mainly does to the workers and materials rather than to making gigantic stores or paying salespeople to tell you they don't have the purse you see on the shelf right in front of you. But people still want Birkin Bags and Chanel purses - because of the name. Mattresses and furniture aren't Veblen goods like luxury leather goods - but the "I want a luxury brand people know" thing still plays in to pricing.
Yeah...I don't care that much. One time, I brought back a knockoff Hermes scarf from Bangkok. I took it down to Oak St. to the retail store. Showed it to the folks, they didn't see that it was a KO, I smiled, told them, then had to run out of the store because they wanted to keep it. I've also been in the "factory" where they make the KO Birkin bags. Same deal. Can't tell the difference without a magnifying glass and who cares? Not me.
All that luxury stuff is silly. It's tanking here in China because folks are figuring it out and also consumption is dragging badly.
Yep - I want something well made at a good price, and I don't generally give a rip about the label on it. I get the impression that large majority of people buying knockoffs these days are't actually fooled either - like you, they want something good enough and many of the knockoffs are pretty solid (or indistinguishable, in some cases) without being crazy expensive.
I'll personally take door number three, though - insanely good materials hand-made by myself. It won't even look like a brand (and might have some rough edges), but it will outlast almost anything on the market at a price you can't beat. Not something you can do with everything - but something people should think more about with prices these days. If you have a practical hobby, it can reap dividends.
Right on. There's a world out there of folks making nice stuff, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
All the labeled logo'd stuff...has no personal style, and personal style is what I like. Folks that buy into manufactured image...it's kinda sad, really.
Heather Cox Richardson is superb and superior
Fascinating. I can't get my head around the sizes. Mind boggling. Thanks.
(OK, let's try this again, because Substack, as it often does, let me type some words and then snatched them away.)
I'm dropping in "early" for me because I intend to spend the rest of the day getting stuff done. Probably will listen to some podcasts.
The mothership is having some odd formatting issues today that make it look like part of it is missing. Didn't see many trolls, but then I didn't spend a lot of time reading comments. Steve Hayes has his own piece up, an insightful analysis of Friday's Oval Office scene, a take which I think is pretty much the right temperature.
Oh, and they apparently have a "listen" feature now, for those who would like to use it. I'm not one of them. Reading the written word happens to be faster than listening to audio or watching video for me. And I already can't finish all the podcasts I want to listen to.
Today I did a bit of diving into reports about what's going on with the Brits. King Charles received Zelensky at Sandringham House, which is on the Norfolk coast and NOT blocks from Buckingham Palace as some news report I read this morning said. Sigh. I imagine Charles III is mindful of his grandparents' and mother's experience of having their home bombed by a vicious aggressor right along with all Londoners, and showing solidarity with the nation. He certainly had no problem with Zelensky's outfit. I imagine he has met foreign dignitaries who wear all sorts of garments that in their cultures are appropriate for a high-level meeting. There is some buzz that maybe Trump might not end up having a second state visit after all. (That sort of thing feeds his ego, so it might matter.) Meanwhile the European movers and shakers are meeting about this crisis. Good for them. I wish it were possible to show them that Trump doesn't speak for all Americans. Maybe not even most Americans.
I suspect they know it - a glance at the papers will show that information, and the movers and shakers are generally very well aware of American politics. Which is a good thing when things are so lunatic.
I read a news story somewhere Saturday that the Ukranian embassy in D.C. was getting phone calls from people saying please don't think that Donald Trump speaks for them or for all of America.
When I was young, I loved history and read lots of great historical fiction. I even attempted to write my own stories (nothing like Amy's on Big Bang Theory -shudder).
I was too young to pick up on the references to the toll on personal relationships. That would never happen to me, not my family and friends.
I drifted away from it as the (valid) complexities of the 60s and 70s cast their shadows and aspersions on the type of heroism that resonated with me. Fantasy came to supply my hunger for purpose and adventure.
But I wished I had lived back then, could have participated in the struggle for liberty.
Well. I did not expect a battle in which reason would be so effectively neutered.
Some battle fronts are about speaking up for reason. That's what we're doing. It could make a difference somehow.
What frustrates me is that it feels one can write something but "they" would selectively recast enough definitions to render it meaningless at best but likely warped beyond recognition, bearing a hint of plausibility as camouflage.
I think it may be productive even to speak up for reason just within a group like this. It could help build up the remnant.
This group is the only group where I talk about this stuff. So, yeah. I discuss this stuff with individuals occasionally, when it's necessary. I'm not a political sort.
That's pretty good.
Thank you :)
From John M, an occasional poster here, at the mothership:
Worth Your Time II: 'Trump Is Doing Real Damage to America' --David French
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/opinion/trump-ukraine-zelensky-usaid.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1E4.xihF.-m8YFWCXypHf&smid=url-sharehttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/opinion/trump-ukraine-zelensky-usaid.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1E4.xihF.-m8YFWCXypHf&smid=url-share
A sample:
“At no point [during the Cold War] did Americans go to the polls and choose between one candidate committed to NATO and another candidate sympathetic to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The very idea would have been fantastical. American elections could reset our national security strategy, but they did not change our bedrock alliances. They did not change our fundamental identity.
Until now.”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-2-2025
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2er34w0jgdo
At this point, I look for Trump to start sharing battlefield intel with Moscow so that Putin can target more civilian targets in Ukraine. I would never put it past Trump to try engaging in some casual genocide to help out a friend. His minions are already out there preparing the psy-ops groundwork for the MAGA footsoldiers.
I’m skipping TMD most days now, and don’t plan to renew, because I’m sick of everything being all things Trump. Sure hope that doesn’t start here too.
Well, I’m sorry if you feel that way, Brian. I don’t fault you if you decide it’s more than you can stand. I’ve stomped off…or more often lurked elsewhere… enough times that I can understand the urge to do so.
You’re not alone, either. I hear from others that the blog is too friendly to Trump, or else too “liberal”: too much of this or that, and not enough of the other. That’s the way I’ve felt about sites that I’ve wandered away from, too. Eventually you find something that’s nearer to what you’re looking for, and you go there…or you unplug altogether for a while.
I managed to overlook Trump during the campaign fairly well, but now that it’s all turning into policy, it’s another matter. I start out the day bent out of shape most days lately just from reading the headlines. I don’t feel like bottling it all up right now.
Thankfully—by the grace of God—I can’t spend all day obsessing on it. There’s crap that I’ve got to get done IRL, too…
Anyway. I’m sure you’ll find something to meet your needs if it turns out this isn’t it, at least for now.
Yes. The headlines, the lede...is there really more I need to know right now? If it's important, it'll show up everywhere.
"This" is pretty cool. I think it might even stay that way.
I suppose it could, but it won't be me. Trying to stay minute to minute current on any political stuff is idiotic. It's folks imagining they're part of the action, in on the real story, or something. One nice thing about China; no political talk. It is what it is, and folks can't do squat about it, so they turn attention to what is actually their life.
It might be grounds for impeachment. Not that there aren't already many, but this one could stick.
Something I think ought to be happening now: A bipartisan group quietly working on how that could be successfully done.
MAGA Pubs will commit sepeku before going against King KongnDong
After all we've seen and heard these past weeks, I would never put *anything* past Donald Trump. Not anything, except maybe doing the right thing, which if and when that ever happens will be a fluke of a coincidence rather than an act purposely undertaken simply because it was the right thing to do.
Speaking of "the right thing to do", here's a WWJD moment I just ran across in my news feed this morning. As one pundit I often read has said rather frequently of late...
The hypocrisy: it burns.
https://religionnews.com/2025/02/28/should-a-judge-be-censured-for-asking-wwjd/
I dunno. Could be a lot of people who say they worship and revere JC might be surprised to find out it is they themselves who just might burn in the end.
On the "would not put anything past Donald Trump" part.... #MeToo.
I have always thought (known) he was a criminal in thought and action. That the Evangelists/Fundamentalists are so supportive...there'll be a reckoning in this world or the next. It's not my jurisdiction. He will handle it for me.
Interesting you mentioned a "reckoning", Kurt. Just posted thoughts on that very thing a little while ago somewhere else (copied below the link, which I provided for some context as to what provoked my comment).
To say that I'm angry about this and all that's transpired of late would be quite an understatement, but I don't think that makes what I wrote here through all that anger in response to the aftermath of Friday - Zelensky in London yesterday being vociferously defended and supported by a host of leaders from the EU, NATO and even Turkey - any less true. Viewing the link is optional, of course. This one makes my hair hurt, but for a whole different set of reasons...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/world-leaders-pose-for-family-photo-with-zelensky-after-trump-shames-us/ar-AA1A93lE?ocid=BingNewsSerp
Never in my long life had I ever truly thought that I'd need to look well beyond the borders of my very own country for exemplars of freedom, liberty and the leadership needed to preserve those precious treasures in the world. Until this past Friday.
We've been sold out by two s**t stains on the flag under which my father stood in harm's way eight decades ago against the onslaught of fascism, tyranny and the harm that evil men so easily and readily do to their fellow men. And for what? More power, more money, more fawning affection from true believers and acknowledgement from and acceptance as equals by true tyrants?
There will be a reckoning for this betrayal, and for all the betrayals before and yet to come by these two ugly Americans and all their enabling accomplices. And sadly, at some point hence, real Americans who wish to live in real freedom and liberty will likely find themselves required once again to lay a bloody sacrifice on its altar, and this time perhaps not on foreign soil but again on our very own.
Well said. I can't do any better.
Yeah....woof....
Good morning. 19 degrees this morning, getting up to the 40s.
The mothership is covering the Oval Office debacle Friday. FP is covering reactions to that debacle. One of FP’s articles, which may be true but I find shocking, reports that many Americans actually approved of the Zelenskyy beat down. IN the comments, I objected. We’ll see if I live to tell the tale.
Speaking up is becoming more scary. My HS and college Jewish Friends on Facebook have gone silent. Most are retired even
Protracted war is not popular in a democracy. Not supporting Ukraine enough to defeat the invaders played into Putin’s hands.
People who voted for Trump—even if they held their noses and were unhappy with the choice—now have buy-in to defend. Zelensky wasn’t on the ticket here, but it was understood that the D party was closer to him than Trump/MAGA.
The Trump/MAGA media are now working overtime to depict Zelensky as sinister for “disrespecting” Trump. It’s the latest grievance to amplify in a grievance-based political movement and politician. Voters who performed the act of buying in by voting for Trump are offended that a foreign leader would come to America and “disrespect” their election choice, no matter how half-hearted their voting for Trump initially might have been.
Weak people's. Deplorable aka MAGA, like 1930s German once normal people's, apparently require someone to blame. Never themselves.
Delaying the military support to the Ukrainians didn't do half the damage as Trump has beginning when Zelensky refused to "find" something on Joe Biden. But time is not as big a factor as the fact that Trump wants Putin to be happy, and Putin wants Ukraine.
Trump is definitely Putin's Puppet. Ending not just offensive cybersecurity, but defensive cyber monitoring for Russia means "Putin's on the inside now"."
Add to that my years long statement about
Mischa McCommi
Lenigrand Lindsey
Don Trumpski
Publican Putin Puppies.
Add in AEI, Heritage, ALEC, cAto, National Review, NRA.
I just laugh at the JG/KDW/SH/SI BS. Oh ! Projectb2025 has nothing to do with Trump.
Such faux intellects
It is indisputably Trump’s baby now—no issue as to who currently bears the blame. But I’m not willing to give concede much to the Biden team, much of which consisted of the Obama team that was so eager to hand everything over to the Kremlin as if they had a legitimate sphere of influence.
We’ve had spineless and feckless foreign policy from Obama’s first inauguration. Now it’s openly moved to *supporting* the Russians, which are by and large just the tip of the spear for the PRC.
We’ve had feckless foreign policy since Bush the Younger embarked on unwinnable wars and not opposing Putin’s takeover of Georgia. Obama was also feckless to continue those wars, and spineless for not aggressively blocking China’s base building in The South China Sea—at least he expelled a few diplomats and applied sanctions when Putin took Crimea.
I thought parts of the JCPOA (5 countries made that agreement) very poor; but it did one thing it was supposed to do—stretch out the 90 days to a nuclear bomb Bibi Netanyahu instead was Iran’s timeframe.
Trump was critized for his foreign policy, and so is Biden. It’s a difficult world in ways no POTUS has faced. But handing the US to Putin (ending offensive and defensive cybersecurity efforts toward Russia, and Trump defending “all Putin’s been through “ in the Oval Office is not a good sign of what’s ahead.sign
George W Bush's problem was not those "unwinnable wars" that were the response to 9/11 (and likely prevented a recurrence) but that Bush was fooled by Putin, saying famously that when they first met "I looked into his eyes and I saw a soul."
Putin has fooled every American President since he came to power (the only exception being Joe Biden).
Yes....yuk. When the poor guy had to respond to that moron asking "why didn't you wear a suit?"....I wanted to puke.
The Dems are an IRL episode of Portlandia and the Pubs...we saw what the Pubs have become on live TV.
I am politically homeless.
As to this whole Oval Office fashion kerfuffle...
“Why don’t you wear a suit? You’re in the highest level of this country’s office, and you refuse to wear a suit? I just want to see, do you own a suit?” Brian Glenn, a commentator for the Real America’s Voice outlet, asked Zelensky.
“A lot of Americans have problems with you respecting this office.”
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5170029-conservative-commentator-questions-zelensky-over-attire-why-dont-you-wear-a-suit/
I have problems with anyone who respects Brian Glenn, but hey, one man's suit is, well...
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winston_Churchill_in_Washington_during_His_%27mission_To_America%27,_January_1942_A6920.jpg
Of course, Zelensky's real mistake was that he didn't wear a hat.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-elon-musk-doge-cabinet-briefing-d7c881a79a57a9014a915d815280a790
Then again, the Cabinet Room's not the Oval Office, is it?
But regarding "that moron"...
Gee, Kurt, show a little respect (at least as little as possible, anyway, since "moron" is a bit too high brow a term for a critic of haute couture such as Brian Glenn).
Perhaps you didn't know that MAGA moron is boyfriend to none other than fashion maven Marjorie Taylor Greene...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/news/content/ar-AA1A0DPV?ocid=BingNewsSerp
And we all know of Marge's penchant for appropriate protocols, both of a sartorial nature...
https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/03/08/marjorie-taylor-greene-sotu-outfit/
And as it relates to just good taste in general...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12533925/John-Fetterman-claps-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-showing-photos-Hunter-Bidens-ding-ling-Congress-slammed-relaxing-Senate-dress-code-thatll-allow-favorite-shorts-sweatshirt-combo.html
All of which may or may not help explain Glenn's tastes in fashion.
But not his taste in girlfriends.
I didn't know who Brian Glenn is until right now. I pay as little attention as possible to the specifics of this sort of stuff....thanks(?) Full disclosure...I didn't watch any of the videos. They'd make my hair hurt.
Full disclosure... I didn't know who Glenn was either until he got his 15 seconds of infamy in the Oval Office.
Never a penalty for not watching the vids I often post. Hair pain is a serious malady that doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves. And now with all this medical R&D funding that's being cut, I doubt Big Pharma will be advertising a completely over-the-top-priced solution for it on TV for quite some time.
(Further Full Disclosure: I liked TV a lot better when liquor, lawyers and pharmaceutical companies couldn't advertise on it.)
"Hair pain is a serious malady that doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves."
Funny. I think it should be addressed by the NIH. We need to know what Bobby Jr. thinks about it....not.
Here up north we are being bombarded by gambling ads during every sporting event (some of which even included formerly-popular Wayne Gretzky). Apparently, we must be protected against the dangers of booze and cigarettes, but no one seems to be concerned about people developing a gambling addiction.
I live in a mid century modern-ish house so I have only bought Natuzzi couches. Also not Made in China but rather Italy. Thanks for the piece, Kurt. Super interesting.
Not made in China, but it's good odds that the folks making them in Italy are Chinese. All the Italian fashion houses use Chinese workers, and a lot of the furniture mfg's.
One of the reasons early Covid decimated those Northern Italian towns is that workers from Wuhan went there and brought Covid with them....of course, never officially declared, but....c'mon.... That led to a very interesting dustup between Italians and Chinese that never made the news.
This is 10 years old, I don't know if Mr. Natuzzi is still alive or not but he apparently is a foe of exploiting Chinese workers.https://www.furnituretoday.com/business-news/natuzzi-urges-action-worker-exploitation-italy/
I never implied the workers were exploited, which some/many are. I know that a lot of Chinese commuted back and forth to Italy to work, so it's not entirely clear that all Chinese workers are illegal. I only know that a lot of Chinese work in the furniture and clothing factories because they're really good at this stuff.
I also didn’t say you implied Chinese workers were exploited. 😜
I'm bad at online anything where it's easy to imagine all sorts of things that didn't happen.
Ok.
The best bed I’ve ever had, including an adjustable base. I look forward to going to bed because it’s that comfortable. Not Made in China. https://www.saatva.com/mattresses/zenhaven
I know those. They're nice. Not made in China, but I'd bet a tooth there's Chinese parts in there. Nowadays, it's a rare thing that doesn't have some parts made in China.
Integrating China into the global free-trade system has been revolutionary.
America spending a couple decades going the European route of regulations—no detail too small for bureaucratic standards—has been a method of economic seppuku…
Happy Monday, everyone. 29Fs with a high of 58.
Morning. Fifteen here with a chance of sun.
In Wuhan, it went from a Springlike 25ºC to 2ºC and rain. The tease and the snub…oh, cruel weather…
Around 40ºF is a lot of swing, indeed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myRc-3oF1d0
We've been having major temperature swings, too.
Good morning. That was very interesting!
We usually get furniture at thrift stores or from people on NextDoor, because my family members are destroyers. It's genetic on their father's side.
Thanks. It started out as a description and morphed into a rant....cranked out in one blow with barely a skim edit because I thought it was just an email to a friend. Then I reread it, and wondered if The Leader would find it funny. He did. And here we are. I added the last sentence at the last moment, I don't know why. It works fine without it. Coupla other edits needed, but I'm lazy today. Cold and wet and my knees hurt.
The place really is mind boggling. Buyers from all over the world go there to buy furniture. There's a whole Indian and Pakistani section of hotels and restaurants, and a similar one for Middle Eastern folks. Every imaginable furniture iteration...and some unimaginable until you see it...is there in the biggest showroom buildings I've ever seen. Think giant professional sports stadiums, then quintuple the size and surround it with more stadiums...I'm still trying to find the words to describe it.
Knowing nothing, I'd worry about Chinese furniture having toxic wood preservatives. I remember buying a bunk bed for my kids 25 years ago, that smelled so bad of formaldehyde (I guess) that after leaving it in the garage to air I finally sent it back. From someplace called Cargo that no longer exists.
PS - for light edits, you write very well. All the authors do.
That's actually something the mfg's. are now aware of and several/most tout it in their advertising. It was really bad with the laminate flooring. And thanks.
South Florida family uses Habitat and some apps locally. Having super-wealthy ZIPs along the coast makes for some crazy finds—presumably when someone’s interior designer decides last month’s couch, say, has become insufficiently tasteful.
Florida in general is a buyer's (or pick up for free!) market for used furniture.
I’m a fan of FreeCycle. It’s amazing what you can find that folks are giving away for free. It’s a great way to get rid stuff that I don’t want to just toss. in the dumpster. I’m also a confessed and recovering alley scavenger.
A great way to get rid of stuff in my neck of the woods is to "toss it" down to the road a day or maybe two before garbage day. If it's something recognizable while passing by at 55mph - hell, who am I kidding, these fools all drive a minimum of 65 down our road - such as say a carpet remnant or old broken chair, it's odds-on it will be gone before the garbage truck arrives. Sometimes even if it's just stuff in open boxes, the contents of which can't necessarily be determined "at speed".
Years ago, all the storage I had here on the property besides the garage attached to my house was a crudely built 8 X 10 wooden shed beside a concrete slab which the previous owners had used as a dog kennel. After living here for a few years, that shed had become pretty packed full of "stuff", and one day I backed my car up to it with an open trunk, determined to clean it out and get it back to a point that I might stand a chance of finding something in it if I went looking for it. My rule for this endeavor was "If it hasn't seen the light of day in two years, it's out of here." Which resulted in a lot of daylight where there had been darkness.
Most everything went into several open-topped cardboard boxes, other than an old bicycle, a kid's toy wagon with a broken wheel, a very cheap old push-lawnmower that hadn't run in years and a couple of other items too large and heavy for said boxes. I hauled it all down to the road before noon on a summer day before garbage day, unconcerned about wildlife trashing it overnight since there were no food items involved. And by 6PM there was nothing - and I do mean *nothing* - left.
At one point in the afternoon, I sat on the front stoop drinking a beer and watching the goings on down at the roadside some 130+ yards away. People would pass by, turn around down at the corner, speed back to my drive and pull to the shoulder, hopping out and quickly looking things over then grabbing something - or several things - and speeding away as if they were somehow afraid they were gonna' get caught stealing.
The real laugh came when an older guy in a beat-up pickup stopped and, taking his own sweet time, started rifling through the several boxes of miscellaneous "stuff", including old junk yard parts for an ancient dump truck I'd once had some years before, occasionally pulling something out, inspecting it momentarily and then either tossing it back in the box or in several instances into the back of his rusty and banged up old truck.
After going through each and every box in this manner and having procured at least a dozen items, he got back in his truck and started to pull away, only to suddenly stop in the road when about 30 yards away and then back up right next to the collection of a half dozen large and small boxes still on the shoulder just past my mailbox. He then got out and hurriedly proceeded to pick every one of them up except for one and toss them all into the back of his truck, afterwards hot-footing it back to the cab and speeding away like a thief in the night when the deed was done, as if spending 15 minutes picking through it all to get a few items had been fine but relieving me of 90% of it in one fell swoop was grounds for calling the cops on him.
That’s funny. I use my alley for that, especially metals. The scrappers prowl the alleys and any scrap metal will be gone in about 5 minutes.
We don't have alleys here, with rare exceptions, but the town trash collection has a quarterly Bulk Pickup Day, and a lot of people go out to check out their neighbors' discards. There are also quarterly yard sales in most subdivisions, and people will just give you stuff if it hasn't sold by 1:00 p.m.