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Make no mistake: the opioid epidemics is pretty much a self-inflicted harm. It is what happens when you underfund actually useful drug programs and let corrupti
by Iv 8y ago
Make no mistake: the opioid epidemics is pretty much a self-inflicted harm. It is what happens when you underfund actually useful drug programs and let corruption (relabelled 'lobbying') by pharmaceutical companies run unchecked.
So yes, sure, China will make business if they can, but they are not "out there to get you".
- gm-conspiracy 8y agoAlso blame the patent system, as implemented.
- 8note 8y agoin both cases, it could be said as "out to make money" not "out to get you" it just so happens that it's always very profitable to sell opium.
- Iv 8y agoI remember a businessman from Hong-Kong, 15 years ago, telling me that as soon as USA realizes China is better at business than they are, they will switch overnight to hating capitalism and free trade. At the time I thought it was a bit exaggerated.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> as soon as USA realizes China is better at business than they are This is jingoistic at best. Let's ignore that "goodness at business" is an ambiguous and multidimensional metric. Or that defining a "better" direction is similarly dubious. The argument is simply "anything you can do I can do better." To that, the counterfactual is Ricardian comparative advantage. More broadly, every culture says such things in times of growth and decline. It is never true. But a changing baseline combined with localisation bias reproduces it often. It is a case where the utterance of a thing is more meaningful than the thing itself.
- Iv 8y agoI think I made it clear that this was a single person's opinion. And obviously biased that is. Still an interesting opinion in light of the recent trade war saber rattlings. But realize that cities like Guangzhou (pop. 25 M) have been trading hubs for much longer than the USA has existed. And some families have had a continuous line of business for centuries. The business culture is very strong there.
- xstartup 8y agoWhat I've experienced in China is that trade can happen without any monetary transaction or contract and the chance of getting screwed over is very low in upper strata. This is something, I never saw in the US.
- Iv 8y agoEven at the lower strata, people understand what reputation is. And to be honest, only in the US does "buyers beware" feel like a sound business strategy. Most countries understand the need to go beyond that.
- imjustsaying 8y ago>actually useful drug programs For example?