A Bridge Made in China (wages, companies, build)

[ubringliten]

Originally Posted by simken

Well, for this post you get a D-.

I was born and raised in Denmark. I spent most of my childhood there and go there many times a year to see my family in various parts of the country. They may be into architecture (in some parts of the country), but to say that they have superior infrastructure compared to the US, makes me doubt that you have even been to Denmark...ever...sorry buddy...it's just so far from true...

I guess you don't look far enough when you are there. I don't know about other cities, but Copenhagen is more advanced than any city in good ole USA. This is not saying USA is not the best, of course they are the best in many things but not in infrastructure at this point.

1. 20% of the energy comes from wind turbines
2. one of the most comprehensive train systems and runs on electricity
3. water treatment by ozone and uv filtration unlike chlorine and chloramine to treat water here.
4. separated, safe and extensive bike lanes, bike share programs started in 1995
5. 55 electrical chargine stations opened in 2009 (10,000 by 2012) and battery swap program just launched for cars
6. and look at our roads and parks for crying out loud

There...do I get an A+ now teacher...lol

[ubringliten]

Originally Posted by dmode

What ? Socialist Denmark build a bridge and has awesome infrastructure. You must a socialist-communist-Nazi-Kenyan-secret-Muslim-al qaeda agent. Go USA.

best post yet!

[jeffredo]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

Well the fact of the matter is, when it comes to building large complex infrastructure projects no country comes even close to China, be it long bridges, high speed rail or tall buildings. Take a look at this bridge:

China's Jiaozhou Bay Bridge Photos | China's Jiaozhou Bay Bridge Pictures - Yahoo! News

Its good to outsource to China...That will ensure is our infrastructure is up to date and not lagging behind Asian countries.

The Chesapeake Bridge and Tunnels is 17.6 miles long and more intricate than that, plus it was built in the early 1960s. Its lunacy to think that only China can do large scale public works projects like that. Anyway, they didn't design the new Bay Bridge - they built the sections per instructions from their American customers.

[ubringliten]

let's admit it USA is not the most advanced country anymore. look at the recent news about NASA. they just spent money in the wrong areas like wars and more wars that we are falling behind. sure, USA is the most innovative country due to capitalism but private sectors don't build or invest in iconic public structures or spaces. only government can do that but when our government is broke the public is losing out.

i am glad that the east bay bridge is built because we still have some in us although the bridge is made in China; but at least it was designed by us.

[gone down south]

The Globalization horse is so far out the barn, I'm almost embarrassed for you folks who are still fighting the concept. Face it, if you expect the US to be a manufacturing/production power, you're at least 30 years behind the times.

HOWEVER, that's not to say that our future is doomed. The US has a great future ahead of if IF we manage to transition to a knowledge-based economy. The Asian Tigers and the BRIC countries have essentially an unlimited supply of cheap but highly skilled and educated workers, we're never going to compete with that. Where we can excel is by being at the top of the knowledge food-chain. We can't make the products, but we can develop the concepts, design the products, manage the process.

Remember - who makes the most money? The engineer sitting the air conditioned office designing the building, or the construction worker actually building it? We need to be the smart people running the show, not the ones doing the manual labor.

[jeffredo]

Originally Posted by gone down south

The Globalization horse is so far out the barn, I'm almost embarrassed for you folks who are still fighting the concept. Face it, if you expect the US to be a manufacturing/production power, you're at least 30 years behind the times.

HOWEVER, that's not to say that our future is doomed. The US has a great future ahead of if IF we manage to transition to a knowledge-based economy. The Asian Tigers and the BRIC countries have essentially an unlimited supply of cheap but highly skilled and educated workers, we're never going to compete with that. Where we can excel is by being at the top of the knowledge food-chain. We can't make the products, but we can develop the concepts, design the products, manage the process.

Remember - who makes the most money? The engineer sitting the air conditioned office designing the building, or the construction worker actually building it? We need to be the smart people running the show, not the ones doing the manual labor.

Germany has three times the number of people involved in manufacturing as a percentage of the work force than we do. Their economy is export driven with high value manufactured goods (from union factories with better paid workers than ours). While that is a result of good management and planning its also the result of the government encouraging and protecting their manufacturing base. Its prospered in spite of those Asian Tigers and China (and has weathered this recession much better than anyone but China).

Seriously, those still believing we can prosper without rebuilding our manufacturing base are the ones 30 years behind the times. You're still being hoodwinked by that trickle down, global work force crap corporate America decision makers have used to decimated the middle class for the sake of their bonuses.

Oh, and my crane operator dad with American Bridge (who's assembling the Bay Bridge) made more money than almost any degreed white collar guy in our neighborhood (much to their chagrin). Skilled labor and manual labor can be two very different things.

[evergraystate]

Need I remind anyone who built the rail roads in California?

[jeffredo]

Originally Posted by evergraystate

Need I remind anyone who built the rail roads in California?

You have a picture of railroad workers in Canada there.

Historical Information

[NorCal Dude]

Yea there was a lot more than just people from China building those railroads. But yea a bridge made in China, yikes...

[CarawayDJ]

There are a lot of homeowners in FL that would scoff at the notion of using a bridge built by China. They couldn't even build drywall right. IMHO, they are still just a country exploiting its comparative advantages (cheap labor) to build cheap things. That's all they have going for them right now; cheap labor. However, as the standard of living becomes higher and higher that cheap labor will become more and more expensive. And then it's on to the next country with a supply of cheap labor to build the world's cheap goods.

Yeah, they have built some very big things lately. If you throw enough resources at something you can do anything. Look to the pyramids in Egypt for proof of that. I applaud their efforts in that regard though. It's smart on their part. It helps build/sustain national pride as well as change the perceptions outside the country. China's a country I want to visit someday.