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This is not at all what the article is about? I do not think the Chinese are as unified as they are made out to be. I think it's a joke to pretend that China i
by uep 6y ago
This is not at all what the article is about? I do not think the Chinese are as unified as they are made out to be.
I think it's a joke to pretend that China is some ideal to aspire to, but sadly, I think the West will have to use similar tactics to continue to compete.
I believe a big part of China's current strength is by actively exploiting the weaknesses of Capitalism. For a long time, they've exploited the race-to-the-bottom of pricing, and they've gotten rich from it, partially through the sacrifice of their people.
Now that China has that new-found wealth (the country and the people), they are using that wealth to exploit Capitalism in a different way. Since Capitalism is inherently less directed and "top-down", now they're able to manipulate industries by being a big buyer instead. This is inherently part of Capitalism, but since the Chinese government has a more direct control of their economy, they're able to leverage a huge amount of economic power in a more directed fashion.
You want to sell that product here? Well, you're going to have to do it our way. Western governments will have to do the same, putting restrictions on what compromises Western companies are allowed to make, and putting restrictions on Chinese products as well.
- gnusty_gnurc 6y agoCapitalism also expresses preferences and values. I suspect free people (consumers) see creepy stuff like cyber-dystopian Uighur genocide and when given the chance will go full behind whatever opportunity they have to say “screw you China.”
- ianleeclark 6y ago> I suspect free people (consumers) see creepy stuff like cyber-dystopian Uighur genocide The information asymmetry is massive that I don't think this tracks reality. Many people just tune out news, others never notice "made in China" stickers, and, what I would suspect to be your average consumer, likely just wants the cheapest toaster. Furthermore, as the Chinese consumer base is more heavily catered to and grows in wealth, companies are going to ditch the current consumer of last resort and further focus their strategies in China.
- rbecker 6y ago"Made in China" stickers themselves are only there due to state intervention.
- gnusty_gnurc 6y agoIdk say what you will about Trump and right populism more broadly, it seems to be almost completely typified by the “why isn’t this made in the USA!?” sentiment. Pretty ubiquitous and as much as I resent protectionism, it’s in full swing. Even the Bernie contingent too.
- beaunative 6y agoExploiting the weakness of capitalism sounds like a joke, because capitalism is the ideal American claims to be persuing but somehow if China wins, it's exploiting the weakness of capitalism, and if America wins it's another victory of our democracy.
- uep 6y agoI'm not sure what you're trying to say here. It sounds like you're saying that I'm somehow framing my opinion in a dishonest way, but I'm not sure in what way you're claiming it is dishonest. Is it because my comment isn't pro-authoritarian/totalitarian?