The 00's the Chinese Decade and Chinese Triumphalism

This really is a shame. Bush years really, really hurt us when it comes to China relations. Not just economically, but even in terms of human rights. This is what happens when a country go into the gutters in every way imaginable.

It's definitely shifting towards China. That doesn't mean China > US. It just means US >> China -> US > China. China's actions seem to imply that they no longer have to bow down to the US and think of itself on a similar playing field. It doesn't imply superiority, but close enough to consider itself a peer.

And I don't see how the US can antagonize Europe either. Just because China can't take on two of the largest countries in the world doesn't mean much.

 

and Vietnam.

 

Hey, China is doing exactly what the Soviet Union did during the Cold War. It has an extensive and highly successful espionage network in the United States and within our allies, busy stealing whatever they need to know. I'm far more worried about falling behind in the prevention of foreign intelligence gathering, especially from China, than I am of China leading us in innovation in the foreseeable future. Not that China doesn't have a great history of invention and innovation in ages past, but it has a long way to go to catch up to the West of today, thus it steals whatever it can get its hand on, which is a lot.

Japan was "The World's Factory" for many years, then it became a technological powerhouse, still driven a great deal by technology produced in the West. Today, its people have a very high standard of living, Japan has a place at the table in the councils of the world, and is known for innovation in several areas. One of the advantages Japan has had is not having to devote large resources to its military, relying on the US to protect it from potential enemies. China has the same potential to "spread the wealth" to its people, and while I think it will get there, it still has a long way to go and diverting resources to its military, which it is doing, will slow things down a bit.

 

One of the advantages Japan has had is not having to devote large resources to its military, relying on the US to protect it from potential enemies. China has the same potential to "spread the wealth" to its people, and while I think it will get there, it still has a long way to go and diverting resources to its military, which it is doing, will slow things down a bit.
Deckard.

Much of our military spending and most of our wars have been unnecessary. Vietnam was unnecessary. Of course Iraq, Panama and most of Afghanistan were unnecessary also. A great deal of recent spending has been to fight concievable Russian weapons that will never be built. It is good to see this waste as a disadvantage to prosperity in the US.

 

Innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum... pretty much every notable invention in the last century is tied directly to local manufacturing. To be sure, when I mean innovation, i'm not talking about google and twitter. More like electricity, wireless... true game changers instead of wall street darlings.

 

China does not really invent anything ? really ?

Ever heard of a company called "Haier" ? I own this stock.

Up to the end of 2008, Haier has applied for 8,795 patents, among which 2,261 are patents of invention. In 2008 alone, Haier applied for 912 patents, 525 of which are patents of invention, averaging 2 patents per working day.

I have whole bunch of other companies that I want to show you.
But what's the use ? Since you put on you blindfold already.

The U.S. graduate more lawyers, history majors than scientists, and engineers. What does that tell you where to invest your money ?

 

Do you know what the make?

There are plenty of patents out there.

In general over the past 100 years or so you can attribute a lot of ground breaking ideas to america. While the inventors might be immigrants they came here and made the invention.

 

Haier has revolutionized the world with their refrigerators and washing machines. Don't knock them dude.

 

I am sure haier makes great fridges.

I am not knocking china, I mean they did invent gun powder.

However many modern inventions like electric generation, the light bulb, the transistor, computers, the internet, cell phones etc were invented in the US.

China is graduating a lot of engineers so maybe they come up with some stuff.

 

Dude I love Haier commercials. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Plus, they're the official fridge of the NBA. And, that song is pretty sweet

 

Can you explain this a bit? I ask because the direction of the US government has become more and more centralized over the years.

As for the Chinese government structure, from the people I talk to, there seems to be less power by the national government over the provincial government, and to the city level. The extra government structure comes from a "party official"(not sure what the English term is) at each level. The party official is considered the person providing the oversight. But from what I know they function differently from normal oversight.

 

I think this is what's going to hurt the U.S. long run. Due to the Xenophobic rhetoric of the last 8 years, decreasing standard of living in the U.S., and the increase of standard of living in China and India, I know a lot of top grad school students that want to spend a couple of years after graduation in the U.S. for the experience before eventually go back to their home countries where they perceive a better opportunity and life style (common language, friendlier faces, no glass ceiling etc.). Add to the fact the decrease in Visas, the legal immigrants quality might be decreasing. The U.S. has long being driven by the power of it's immigrants, but when those immigrants no longer see the U.S. as the land of opportunity, that's when things are going to be an issue.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004019192_gates17.html


Also take a look at engineer student populations in top universities, especially grad school and you'll see how significant disenchanted educated immigrants would affect this country. A little more personal (anecdotal) flavor. Some of reason why engineers leave is that perhaps due to language or culture, they tend to become not the best "people/project managers" in the U.S. and thus they see people with less technical know how and skills getting promoted ahead of them, they also see a lot of entrepreneurs (founder of Sina for example) or their friends/classmates who was/are part of the recent Chinese gold rush making it really big in China and a lot just see better chance in their home country. Especially when the standard of living (read not take home pay) gap in the large cities closed considerably with the U.S.

 

As we remember so well, glynch, Vietnam was a disaster. One of the only good things to come from it, initially, was the end of college deferments for the upper and middle classes, overwhelmingly white at the time, and the creation of the draft lottery. During the protests of the 1960's, when some of us marched in the streets denouncing the war and the draft, the anger towards those who's policies allowed parents who could afford it to send their kids to college and avoid the draft was intense, and completely justified, despite the hard knocks (or worse) that some suffered. The lottery sucked, but at least it was fairer then the previous system, which was a travesty.

Panama and, of course, Iraq were also terrible policy decisions. Where we disagree, to a degree, is Afghanistan. I was completely for the initial and highly successful post-9/11 invasion, Bush's one foreign policy success, but Bush cocked it up, diverting resources to Iraq, in planning at the same time, failed to destroy the AQ leadership, when we had a real chance of doing so, which would have allowed us to declare "mission accomplished" and go home. Instead, Bush's policies produced an completely unnecessary war in Iraq, which has been devastating for Iraq, the region, and US foreign policy, directly leading to the rise of Iran and its defiance of the world while it is deep into the process of building atomic weapons.

Obama is left with cleaning up the mess and a job undone in Afghanistan, with the cross border sanctuaries it has developed. It didn't have to be this way. And don't think I didn't get your point about our country using vast resources on military spending. Iraq has driven a huge amount of that policy and we will be paying for it for a very long time. Thank you, Mister Bush.

 

china might not be inventing ipods and bluray dvd players but they are heading in the right direction and trying to climb up the ladder of progress. china wants to move beyond manual labor sweatshop type jobs.

however, we have plenty of americans who are racing to the bottom. too many americans are focused on blaming mexicans for stealing their fruit picking and bathroom cleaning jobs. we are setting our own bar too low.

 

then they should stop keeping their currency artificially low and give its people a chance to do so.

 

Haier is the 4th largest electronic, household appliance maker in the world. Haier makes refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machins, LCD TV, water heaters, computers, mobile phones, you name it, they got it.

When Haier entered the U.S. market 10 years ago, it sold 3 products. Today, it sells over 3 thousand products.

Haier has 29 manufacturing plants, 8 R&D centers, and over 50,000 employees.

I Have another name for you if you are interested. The company is call "BYD Auto ". You probably have heard of the name already. It's floated on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. They make electric cars. what attracted me to this company is their battery technology. They are way ahead of their competition.

The company's vision is to become the world's largest automobile maker by 2025. I think that's a tall order. But I like these guys set goals and work hard toward that goal. I bought some shares last year, and I am ahead by 300%

Warren Buffet have a stake in this company too. Buffet wanted to buy 25% of BYD Auto but the CEO of the company Mr. Chuan-Fu Wang would only sell him 10%. BYD teamed up with Buffet to sell their electric cars in North America in the near future.

If you own a pig farm, I would consider selling it to Sammy since he owns an oxyfarm already, and use the money to invest in BYD Auto. Sammy can hire Deckard to run the pig farm because those two belong together.

Anyway, my point is, other countries are catching up. America has become complacent. There are too many folks want to get a handout from the Government. If that's not bad enough, the Government are taking over private businesses and think they can run it better. That's not going to pan out well from my point of view.

 

While the US is inventing the microchip, the cell phone, the personal computer, the internet... Haier is innovating the refrigerator that the US invented a hundred years ago. Scoreboard for China!!

Hilarious.