Blake Snow

writer-for-hire, content guy, bestselling author

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Tagged economies

Seriously, how can this thing cost only $2.15?

HDMI cable cost only $2.15

I needed an extra HDMI cable for my living room. So I turned to where I always go for such things: Amazon.com.

When I found one for $2.15 with free shipping, I was skeptical. But the 4.5 star average user rating quickly quieted any concerns. After all, the item has been favorably reviewed a whopping 3,231 times on Amazon.

So I bought it.

The fairly advanced cable arrived today, after only a few days. The craftsmanship is middle grade. It works fine. It suits my needs, if not exceeds them given the ridiculously low price. So how the crap can someone make money selling this thing for only $2.15 with free shipping?

It can’t just be volume. It can’t just be cheap foreign labor.

In other words, if this little guy isn’t proof that the Chinese artificially deflate their currency, despite their booming economy, I don’t know what is. Booming economies, after all, have trusted currency. Trusted currency results in higher trading prices (i.e. historically high prices for Dollar and Pounds when compared to the rest of the world).

What’s a reasonable consumer to do when the global economy doesn’t play by the rules?

In China’s defense, the U.S. just printed 6 billion notes, which isn’t exactly playing by the rules. But at least our currency is rightfully trading at market prices. The Chinese’s, on the other hand, is still bottom of the barrel, even though its economy is similar in size and trusted almost as much as the American economy.

Something’s fishy, no?