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The USA will always be a superpower. No one can compete with us.
I added some articles for you. In the unlikely event that the USA does defy the precedent set by every empire before it and remain predominant for all time, I suspect it will be in spite, rather than because, of people like you .
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2bpurrfect
elnina, what a great and informative chart and post. i had been wondering about the debt and you really delivered some answers here.
the debt to china is only part of how we are somehow interacting to our own peril with china.
the other half of the equation is HOW MUCH CONSUMER and other GOODS WE ALL BUY FROM CHINA. This in itself is probably a large part of china's economic growth and benefit lately. There are nothing but china-made stock in many US stores. Housewares, etc. Things that all americans buy every day.
So one huge way we should be influencing our own competitiveness with china, is by enacting small tariffs on every item imported from china whether it be ordered online or bought in a store. if ALL were taxed at a very low rate, then we would have a large pool of deficit reduction revenues and also we might start buying more of our own goods made in the usa....
also, i have noticed that the quality of goods made in china is often subpar. things seem to break very quickly, or somehow malfunction/ end its useful life too soon. This makes us have to go out and buy another replacement item, wasting our money and enriching someone (probably another chinese maker) . so if the US also would uphold higher standards of construction of imported goods, fine and penalize these makers of crap goods, when the poor quality is reported to consumer protection agencies.... well, it would help us and prevent so much flooding of our markets with cut rate crap. at the same time NOT enriching china quite so much.
i can see those chinese laughing at how easy it is to sell us their cheap junk...while we hand them a large part of our paychecks. in buying online, especially ebay, i have time and again (in fact usually) encountered false advertising of goods by chinese sellers in particular, so it gives me a clue about their ethics in general. One of the biggies is that the metals claimed to be in the product aren't what they are labeled as- in fact testing shows they have lead, cadmium, etc or do NOT contain the precious metals advertised to be in them....etc. We need to police imports much better and it should cost the chinese (or any) exporters something when they are caught.
buy american.
It's comforting to believe that people only buy Chinese goods because they are cheap, but this overlooks the fact that countless high-end goods, from Apple computers and iPhones to Nikon optics, are produced in Chinese factories, not just because of lower costs, but because facilities and skills on a scale that don't exist elsewhere:
"Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.
I added some articles for you. In the unlikely event that the USA does defy the precedent set by every empire before it and remain predominant for all time, I suspect it will be in spite, rather than because, of people like you .
It's comforting to believe that people only buy Chinese goods because they are cheap, but this overlooks the fact that countless high-end goods, from Apple computers and iPhones to Nikon optics, are produced in Chinese factories, not just because of lower costs, but because facilities and skills on a scale that don't exist elsewhere:
"Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.
In China, it took 15 days."
Well, there is a bit of imprecision in the Times article. Engineers in China do not equate to engineers in the United States. Instead, engineers are auto mechanics and the like, earning only the equivalent of an associates degree, trade school if you will.
Well, there is a bit of imprecision in the Times article. Engineers in China do not equate to engineers in the United States. Instead, engineers are auto mechanics and the like, earning only the equivalent of an associates degree, trade school if you will.
'Engineer' is a broad term, but whatever you want to call them, America isn't producing them in the numbers needed by big tech firms in their factories.
[quote=cpg35223;22707419]Well, there is a bit of imprecision in the Times article. Engineers in China do not equate to engineers in the United States. Instead, engineers are auto mechanics and the like, earning only the equivalent of an associates degree, trade school if you will.[/quote
Sorry, my friend, you are not correct. The vast majority of people here do hold a degree. One could argue the value of the degree is not the same as the West (which is why so many Asians study abroad), but the fact is most every mechanic, hotel worker, and plant operator (and certainly the supervisors) have a degree in their field. Please don't forget the Asians take schooling much more seriously than we do in the West. Parents shell out tons of money for extra education and children are expected to excel. Which brings up a whole different set of discussions, not for here. In my industry, which is edible oils and fats, every supervisor I know has a degree either in this field, chemical, or mechanical engineering. The folks here are excellent at spitting out numbers and things requiring huge amounts of memorization (I always hated having Chinese in organic chemistry classes!) The complaint I have is the total lack of common sense here. You see it in the way people act, drive, and work. Do not underestimate the desire or work ethic of this country or it's people. That is why I get so mad when Obama goes off on blaming unfair practices. But I better not get started
Well, there is a bit of imprecision in the Times article. Engineers in China do not equate to engineers in the United States. Instead, engineers are auto mechanics and the like, earning only the equivalent of an associates degree, trade school if you will.[/quote
Sorry, my friend, you are not correct. The vast majority of people here do hold a degree. One could argue the value of the degree is not the same as the West (which is why so many Asians study abroad), but the fact is most every mechanic, hotel worker, and plant operator (and certainly the supervisors) have a degree in their field. Please don't forget the Asians take schooling much more seriously than we do in the West. Parents shell out tons of money for extra education and children are expected to excel. Which brings up a whole different set of discussions, not for here. In my industry, which is edible oils and fats, every supervisor I know has a degree either in this field, chemical, or mechanical engineering. The folks here are excellent at spitting out numbers and things requiring huge amounts of memorization (I always hated having Chinese in organic chemistry classes!) The complaint I have is the total lack of common sense here. You see it in the way people act, drive, and work. Do not underestimate the desire or work ethic of this country or it's people. That is why I get so mad when Obama goes off on blaming unfair practices. But I better not get started
"For starters, official Chinese statistics overstate the volume of China’s scientiac resources. Half of China’s “engineers” are auto mechanics or graduates of two-year vocational programs (zhuanke)." 111
111. Gary Gerefa and Vivek Wadhwa, “Framing the Engineering Outsourcing Debate: Placing the United States on a Level Playing Field with China and India,” December 2005
Supposing China came to the USA with this proposition:
"Let's form an economic partnership, and together, the USA and China can economically dominate the world, enriching ourselves at the expense of all others, monopolizing the brainpower, much the way the US and Western Europe did in the latter half of the 20th Century."
What would you say to that?
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