4 ms·

Let's be honest here, there was a long period of negotiation that spanned the Reagan - Clinton admins as well as approval from congress required. Everyone said

Let's be honest here, there was a long period of negotiation that spanned the Reagan - Clinton admins as well as approval from congress required. Everyone said it was a golden opportunity to open up a huge new market for US goods. I was doing a concentration in Chinese History in the late 90s and was flabbergasted at the very mainstream idea that this was going to be a win-win. I guess at the time they thought Russia was going to be a liberal democracy, too. I suspect a lot of powerful people knew that it would hurt US workers, US industrial strength, were neutral on the latter, positive on the former, and very positive about profits (during their lifetime).

James_K 2y ago
The theory of comparative advantage is that both countries will benefit, and I think these people put a lot of stock in their own theories. As I understand it, what they wanted was a situation where high skill US workers focus on design and innovation, meanwhile China does the manufacturing for all of it. Not a bad setup really, if you ignore the fact that China probably wants to cut the US out of that equation.
roenxi 2y ago
There probably were probably a bunch of people who'd internalised the message that capitalism favours the wealthy party and weren't expecting what actually happened. But nevertheless the history books will record the period as one of generosity, and a successful international strategy that is to be emulated. It is hard to look at a billion+ people rising out of poverty and call it anything but a win.
saturn8601 2y ago
Its the cycle of life and the people at the top win either way. They export all industry for short term profit, the people whose lives are destroyed are then exploited further(all good property is sold at fire sale prices, they are sold drugs to cope with the pain,are sent to war because the military is the only good employer) until they revolt, they elect a demagogue, disaster finally erupts among the population and the people causing this mess go elsewhere to wait it out(EU, Israel, New Zealand, the Bahamas etc.) until there has been enough of a destruction, industry is painfully rebuilt and then the cycle starts again. The people making the decisions never got hurt, never will suffer any consequences of their actions and will continue to play chess while everyone else plays checkers. I know several people who play games like this. They have like 3-4 citizenships, they buy up as much property as they can, own assets and even give up their US citizenship for tax purposes to then intend to buy it back with an investor visa when they decide to retire in someplace like Montana.

James_K 2y ago

The theory of comparative advantage is that both countries will benefit, and I think these people put a lot of stock in their own theories. As I understand it, what they wanted was a situation where high skill US workers focus on design and innovation, meanwhile China does the manufacturing for all of it. Not a bad setup really, if you ignore the fact that China probably wants to cut the US out of that equation.

roenxi 2y ago

There probably were probably a bunch of people who'd internalised the message that capitalism favours the wealthy party and weren't expecting what actually happened. But nevertheless the history books will record the period as one of generosity, and a successful international strategy that is to be emulated. It is hard to look at a billion+ people rising out of poverty and call it anything but a win.

saturn8601 2y ago

Its the cycle of life and the people at the top win either way. They export all industry for short term profit, the people whose lives are destroyed are then exploited further(all good property is sold at fire sale prices, they are sold drugs to cope with the pain,are sent to war because the military is the only good employer) until they revolt, they elect a demagogue, disaster finally erupts among the population and the people causing this mess go elsewhere to wait it out(EU, Israel, New Zealand, the Bahamas etc.) until there has been enough of a destruction, industry is painfully rebuilt and then the cycle starts again. The people making the decisions never got hurt, never will suffer any consequences of their actions and will continue to play chess while everyone else plays checkers. I know several people who play games like this. They have like 3-4 citizenships, they buy up as much property as they can, own assets and even give up their US citizenship for tax purposes to then intend to buy it back with an investor visa when they decide to retire in someplace like Montana.