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I'd posit that much of the back sliding of social outcomes for western citizens is that their nations now have to compete with places like China that were once

I'd posit that much of the back sliding of social outcomes for western citizens is that their nations now have to compete with places like China that were once 'developing', but are now technologically advanced, and they can also permit factories to use their populations as slaves. The US and even other countries like Australia, UK, France etc. are willingly voting in governments that dismantle social policies and workers' rights for 'more jobs'. Without protectionist policies, there's no way to reconcile the increased labour costs in western nations, let alone personal liberties. If China is permitted to ascend without improving the rights of its people, that's the country we will have to match.

MrBuddyCasino 5y ago
This is the optimistic view, meaning that once those countries that have a large number of competitive middle-class strivers have caught up, the pressure will subside, and some things will come back. There is another angle to this, which is that China won't have to fight the red tape, regulation, NIMBYism, being stuck in local maxima and the general lack of vision, optimistic outlook on the future and belief in the system working that has befallen western countries. All we do is to pump ever more money into the markets and go deeper into debt. At one point, this will stop working. Some say this is already happening: is inflation real, or not?
- h0l0cube 5y ago
  That view is very optimistic. History has shown that power isn't willingly ceded by any government, it takes action from the bottom up. Maybe this will happen in China, but it seems the government has been pro-active in quashing uprisings, and has already laid the technological framework to maintain its police state. China needs it's version of Chernobyl before people would be ready to risk their lives to change the government, the problem is that the new failure modes have global impact. And as we've seen with the spread of Covid, China has actually gained political capital from its mistakes, at least domestically, and also harmed the political situation of it's western competitors. Perhaps China will now wait long by the river while the rest of the world cannibalizes itself.

MrBuddyCasino 5y ago

This is the optimistic view, meaning that once those countries that have a large number of competitive middle-class strivers have caught up, the pressure will subside, and some things will come back. There is another angle to this, which is that China won't have to fight the red tape, regulation, NIMBYism, being stuck in local maxima and the general lack of vision, optimistic outlook on the future and belief in the system working that has befallen western countries. All we do is to pump ever more money into the markets and go deeper into debt. At one point, this will stop working. Some say this is already happening: is inflation real, or not?

h0l0cube 5y ago
That view is very optimistic. History has shown that power isn't willingly ceded by any government, it takes action from the bottom up. Maybe this will happen in China, but it seems the government has been pro-active in quashing uprisings, and has already laid the technological framework to maintain its police state. China needs it's version of Chernobyl before people would be ready to risk their lives to change the government, the problem is that the new failure modes have global impact. And as we've seen with the spread of Covid, China has actually gained political capital from its mistakes, at least domestically, and also harmed the political situation of it's western competitors. Perhaps China will now wait long by the river while the rest of the world cannibalizes itself.