5 ms·

Makes me wonder... How did this country become such a global supplier?

kiba 10y ago
I suspect nothing prevent Chinese businessmen from traveling to other nations and receiving uncensored information about the global markets just like there's nothing preventing Chinese students from studying oversea.
- woodandsteel 10y ago
  Well, yeah. But the vast majority of Chinese citizens fall into neither of those two groups, and I assume this is who this measure is aimed at.
mdanger007 10y ago
A large, poor workforce. The question: How can it maintain its consumer class.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- bilbo0s 10y ago
  To be fair... it's China. It didn't HAVE a consumer class. Whatever "consumer class" it has to speak of, was developed over the last 15 years or so. And it's not much of a "consumer class" as "consumer classes" go. For instance, it's still not large relative the total population, and the savings rate of members of the "consumer class" is still through the roof. So I think your real question is... "How can it DEVELOP its 'consumer class'?"
chrischen 10y ago
Objectively, you don't know this decision is bad yet.
- trbvm2 10y ago
  Where any decision stands on a range between good and bad is a subjective judgement.
  - chrischen 10y ago
    There's that too. I can rephrase it as we don't know if these measures will have positive or negative short term repercussions for China.
    - benologist 10y ago
      What could the positive effects be of not being free to buy "South Park: The Stick of Truth" in Australia? I think South Park itself is one positive effect of not inhibiting free speech just because it offends. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games_in_...
      - chrischen 10y ago
        Generally these things only exhibit negative effects in the long term. If it exhibits short term negative effects, it'd be obvious what to do.
        deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
        benologist 10y ago
        The AU governments' censorship of video games spans decades and no clear upside has emerged yet! In addition to video games we also censor television, books, porn, the internet and music. Slippery, slippery slope... it's now illegal for doctors to talk about the facilities and treatment they observe working with attempted-illegal immigrants detained indefinitely by the AU government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Australia
Fej 10y ago
The Chinese government is willing to forgo living wages for its populace, environmental protections, worker safety, etc. As a result, the cost of manufacturing is dramatically lower than in developed countries. For example, a Chinese manufacturer can just dump toxic waste in a pit. A manufacturer in the US has to dispose of waste responsibly. Naturally, this is much more expensive. Those costs are passed on through the supply chain. We want everything impossibly cheap, hence the movement of manufacturing to developing countries. This, of course, brought tons of manufacturing to China. They have become a world power with a reasonably strong economy. Their leaders don't want to give that up, since if their people demand workers' rights, environmental protections, and so on, manufacturing will just move on to the next developing country in line. Therefore, they decided to implement harsh censorship, in order to lower the possibility of a revolt.
- criley2 10y ago
  I mean, that's very 2000. It's 2016 and China's advantages are more moat-based than anything else. Why do we build electronics in China? The labor isn't that much cheaper in 2016 and represents one of the smallest costs in an electronic device. An iPhone breakdown usually lists $200 in parts and labor, with $2 going to Chinese labor. On the flip side, they have a generational moat for electronic manufacturing. You build electronics there because everyone builds electronics there. All the factories and subcontractors are all near by. The system is efficient and cost effective. If you wanted to assemble in America you'd probably still be importing tons of Chinese parts.
  - seanmcdirmid 10y ago
    Assembly happens in China, many of the parts are actually made in South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. China still isn't great at high value part creation (well, it's more like, no one dares move that tech to China).
  - Fej 10y ago
    We build electronics there because they have a near monopoly on rare-earths. They use this to keep manufacturing in China. Not long ago there were quotas that limited the amount of rare-earth minerals that could be exported. I expect that as their monopoly on rare-earths slips, electronics manufacturing will move elsewhere, slowly but surely.
godgod 10y ago
Simple. Kissinger and the New World Order globalists let china become economically powerful to utilize their vast slave labor army. Unfortunately the Chinese are using that economic success to militarize.

kiba 10y ago

I suspect nothing prevent Chinese businessmen from traveling to other nations and receiving uncensored information about the global markets just like there's nothing preventing Chinese students from studying oversea.

woodandsteel 10y ago
Well, yeah. But the vast majority of Chinese citizens fall into neither of those two groups, and I assume this is who this measure is aimed at.

mdanger007 10y ago

A large, poor workforce. The question: How can it maintain its consumer class.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
bilbo0s 10y ago
To be fair... it's China. It didn't HAVE a consumer class. Whatever "consumer class" it has to speak of, was developed over the last 15 years or so. And it's not much of a "consumer class" as "consumer classes" go. For instance, it's still not large relative the total population, and the savings rate of members of the "consumer class" is still through the roof. So I think your real question is... "How can it DEVELOP its 'consumer class'?"

chrischen 10y ago

Objectively, you don't know this decision is bad yet.

trbvm2 10y ago
Where any decision stands on a range between good and bad is a subjective judgement.
- chrischen 10y ago
  There's that too. I can rephrase it as we don't know if these measures will have positive or negative short term repercussions for China.
  - benologist 10y ago
    What could the positive effects be of not being free to buy "South Park: The Stick of Truth" in Australia? I think South Park itself is one positive effect of not inhibiting free speech just because it offends. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games_in_...
    - chrischen 10y ago
      Generally these things only exhibit negative effects in the long term. If it exhibits short term negative effects, it'd be obvious what to do.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - benologist 10y ago
        The AU governments' censorship of video games spans decades and no clear upside has emerged yet! In addition to video games we also censor television, books, porn, the internet and music. Slippery, slippery slope... it's now illegal for doctors to talk about the facilities and treatment they observe working with attempted-illegal immigrants detained indefinitely by the AU government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Australia

Fej 10y ago

The Chinese government is willing to forgo living wages for its populace, environmental protections, worker safety, etc. As a result, the cost of manufacturing is dramatically lower than in developed countries. For example, a Chinese manufacturer can just dump toxic waste in a pit. A manufacturer in the US has to dispose of waste responsibly. Naturally, this is much more expensive. Those costs are passed on through the supply chain. We want everything impossibly cheap, hence the movement of manufacturing to developing countries. This, of course, brought tons of manufacturing to China. They have become a world power with a reasonably strong economy. Their leaders don't want to give that up, since if their people demand workers' rights, environmental protections, and so on, manufacturing will just move on to the next developing country in line. Therefore, they decided to implement harsh censorship, in order to lower the possibility of a revolt.

criley2 10y ago
I mean, that's very 2000. It's 2016 and China's advantages are more moat-based than anything else. Why do we build electronics in China? The labor isn't that much cheaper in 2016 and represents one of the smallest costs in an electronic device. An iPhone breakdown usually lists $200 in parts and labor, with $2 going to Chinese labor. On the flip side, they have a generational moat for electronic manufacturing. You build electronics there because everyone builds electronics there. All the factories and subcontractors are all near by. The system is efficient and cost effective. If you wanted to assemble in America you'd probably still be importing tons of Chinese parts.
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago
  Assembly happens in China, many of the parts are actually made in South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. China still isn't great at high value part creation (well, it's more like, no one dares move that tech to China).
- Fej 10y ago
  We build electronics there because they have a near monopoly on rare-earths. They use this to keep manufacturing in China. Not long ago there were quotas that limited the amount of rare-earth minerals that could be exported. I expect that as their monopoly on rare-earths slips, electronics manufacturing will move elsewhere, slowly but surely.

godgod 10y ago

Simple. Kissinger and the New World Order globalists let china become economically powerful to utilize their vast slave labor army. Unfortunately the Chinese are using that economic success to militarize.