Germany quality,hmm......? If that's true why do Mercedes Benz and BMW have less reliabilty that Toyota or Honda? I know that is the stereotype I have German friends. VW had one of the lowest reliability scores worse than GM a couple of years back. In fairness, those were probably the Mexican made VW's. The majority of products you use are made in China. I haven't had one break for some time. In fact, I have this logitech USB mic that I use to chat on skype while trading and it's about 6 years old has traveled transatlantic twice and sounds great. When China first began the mfg. run up their stuff was crap now it's generally good. Yes I know about the melamine in food and crap, but those are thankfully statistical anomalies.
'now it's generally good' i have no problem buying goods made by western firms in chinese subsidiaries or manufacturing hubs. problem comes when chinese company runs a sweat shop and undercuts on product ingredients and quality to make another dime in profits. those type chinese goods are the one's getting bad name. nike makes shoes in china, ever heard of problem with nikes'. proper work environment and quality control is something western firms believe in and thus produce better goods.
Germany has been known for quality for many years. Not in the car market however until recently. Japan used to put out junk after WWII but now put out quality products especially in autos. Swiss have been known for quality time pieces and still are. The U.S. was known for quality products including automobiles. Since the 1960's the quality of U.S. automobiles took a tremendous beating. China has no morals as far as quality, fairness or human respect. We get lead in toys and paint, insecticide in dog food and other problems. They are worse than Japan was right after WWII.
Why isn't Jamaica on the list? Ive never been hustled so long and hard all my life, those guys are nonstop.
While the Japanese seem exceptionally industrious and hard-working, they're actually *very* inefficient in their use of labor. And yes, I've worked with a Japanese company and yes I've been to Japan to visit their facility. For instance, jobs like broom pushing and door greeting are relegated to very old men and very young pretty women, respectively. Except one time I was greeted at the door by a very grim old man ("ohayo gozaimasu! ohayo gozaimasu!"). They're direct employees of the main company and will stay employed until they drop dead of old age. Door-greeters aside, jobs like janitorial staff have been subbed out as long as I can remember in the US. Large factories such as Honda's have heavy automation and were the model of the US auto industry's remaking. But go one tier down in the production chain and you have armies of ants swarming over production lines. Japan's not all it's cracked up to be in the labor department. Working hard isn't everything.
This list doesn't make sense at all.... a typical case of liars figure and figures lie. Yeah, the Icelanders work so hard they worked the whole country right into bankrupcy.... nice work.
Forbes magazine is a tad above the National Inquirer. Both magazines appeal to the same folks who listen to Cramer with rapt attention. Where's Japan where workers literally work to death? or Germany, the largest economy in Europe?