4 ms·
> the West could, if needed, find other trading partners Caveat: I'm not an expert, but I think this is too simplistic. If both sides completely divorced from
by netsharc 4y ago
> the West could, if needed, find other trading partners
Caveat: I'm not an expert, but I think this is too simplistic. If both sides completely divorced from each other, Western factories would probably struggle to manufacture a lot of things, because they rely on components from China, components you and I have probably never considered necessary.
E.g: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/russian-invasion-of-ukraine-to-further-strain-us-chip-supply.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/russian-invasion-of-ukraine-...
- akmarinov 4y agoIt’ll be very very very painful, Great Depression and beyond levels of pain, but doable. If it starts today, in 10-15 years the western world can be back to its current level.
- t-3 4y agoWithout globalization and huge trade volumes, the west would be far less influential in the world. I'm no fan of US imperialism, but abandoning the plan at this point seems foolish. The western public isn't in favor of the more overt military dominance that would be necessary to maintain supremacy while cutting out foreign manufacturing dependence.
- rdtwo 4y agoIf it started today you might be right the people that knew how to build things could unretire and save us but 10-15 years from now they will be dead and the knowledge will be lost
- mathgeek 4y agoThere's no doubt that our current Western way of life would be hard or impossible to recreate without the goods and services provided outside of the West, but there's certainly a smaller experiment in the same vein going on since 2020. The amount of national security threats alone caused by not being able to reliably ship goods internationally has created an interesting drama to watch unfold.