Our politicians and corporations were the ones that fucked us. China was just an opportunist that liked the deals they were being offered. Fast forward 40 years, they went from building industrial capacity to meet our import demand to having an Intellectual Property theft ring branch office in every university in America and having John Cena beg them for forgiveness in fluent Chinese on national television for some lame insignificant media gaff.
Only way to bargain with China is hardline now. They're fucking ruthless.
Weak (or willfully destructive) administrations really took us here. If we had kept tariffs on imports for at minimum important goods (tech, plastics, metals, medicine, etc.) we would have had a stronger manufacturing base.
History would have gone a completely different direction, and America would have the reins still.
Instead, we allowed manufacturers to endlessly outsource, leading to a flood of consumable products that destroy the ocean (NOT climate change!) and are ultimately worse deals for the consumers.
We also allowed a weak, small region with the name of "Taiwan", firmly within a hostile nation's grasp, have essentially about 90% of the world's silicon fabrication.
So now, not only is China going to be stealing all of those processes and trade secrets, they'll be profiting off of them and strategically withholding them, essentially putting us into a world crisis that could lead to war with them.
In a war, what's important? Medications. Antibiotics.
Who manufactures most of the U.S.'s medication and antibiotics?
China.
It's pretty fucking bleak on that front and could have been avoided under a nimble navigator or two.
There's also the factor of our fiat currencies losing their value, forcing corporations to turn to cheap labor, low-quality parts, and inferior manufacturing processes just to allow average folks to be able to afford the things we used to buy. My parents' first dishwasher lasted 20 years before it died. In the last 20 years, I've been through 5 dishwashers and the one I have now is crap but I can't really afford to replace it, despite earning a supposedly decent wage.
For decades they've been hiding inflation (i.e., depreciating fiat currencies) by making products cheaper to produce, from agricultural products to appliances to clothing to you-name-it. Companies and governments have to let China take over manufacturing to hide the reality of our increasingly worthless currency. We simply can't afford to keep making stuff the same quality here at home the way we used to.
But we're told inflation was being kept at 2% (prior to Biden). It was an illusion. Sure the prices only went up a little, but the quality for the money kept going down, down, down.
Mountain living is pretty healthy. We have good agriculture too because the rivers drain down into very fertile valleys. And we do have excellent water and most homes here draw off their own wells. We are the upstream. Healthy people. Its just not very convenient living and the economy hasn't seen a boom since the Gold Rush.
The only way shipping a wooden cup from fucking china is cheaper than buying one made by your next door neighbor is if our entire system is bullshit,
Yep, I was thinking the same thing. We've been screwed by China for years. This shit must come to a full stop.
Our politicians and corporations were the ones that fucked us. China was just an opportunist that liked the deals they were being offered. Fast forward 40 years, they went from building industrial capacity to meet our import demand to having an Intellectual Property theft ring branch office in every university in America and having John Cena beg them for forgiveness in fluent Chinese on national television for some lame insignificant media gaff.
Only way to bargain with China is hardline now. They're fucking ruthless.
Weak (or willfully destructive) administrations really took us here. If we had kept tariffs on imports for at minimum important goods (tech, plastics, metals, medicine, etc.) we would have had a stronger manufacturing base.
History would have gone a completely different direction, and America would have the reins still.
Instead, we allowed manufacturers to endlessly outsource, leading to a flood of consumable products that destroy the ocean (NOT climate change!) and are ultimately worse deals for the consumers.
We also allowed a weak, small region with the name of "Taiwan", firmly within a hostile nation's grasp, have essentially about 90% of the world's silicon fabrication.
So now, not only is China going to be stealing all of those processes and trade secrets, they'll be profiting off of them and strategically withholding them, essentially putting us into a world crisis that could lead to war with them.
In a war, what's important? Medications. Antibiotics.
Who manufactures most of the U.S.'s medication and antibiotics?
China.
It's pretty fucking bleak on that front and could have been avoided under a nimble navigator or two.
There's also the factor of our fiat currencies losing their value, forcing corporations to turn to cheap labor, low-quality parts, and inferior manufacturing processes just to allow average folks to be able to afford the things we used to buy. My parents' first dishwasher lasted 20 years before it died. In the last 20 years, I've been through 5 dishwashers and the one I have now is crap but I can't really afford to replace it, despite earning a supposedly decent wage.
For decades they've been hiding inflation (i.e., depreciating fiat currencies) by making products cheaper to produce, from agricultural products to appliances to clothing to you-name-it. Companies and governments have to let China take over manufacturing to hide the reality of our increasingly worthless currency. We simply can't afford to keep making stuff the same quality here at home the way we used to.
But we're told inflation was being kept at 2% (prior to Biden). It was an illusion. Sure the prices only went up a little, but the quality for the money kept going down, down, down.
China is paying the price with pollution, if I thought oceans were spared the pollution I would not mind buying China garbage .
I live in a lumber town -- and there's no fucking way we can make that product for that cheap.
I bet your town doesn't have rampant lead in its products though.
Checkmate 78 cent Chinese lead cups make water taste sweeter, obviously they win
Mountain living is pretty healthy. We have good agriculture too because the rivers drain down into very fertile valleys. And we do have excellent water and most homes here draw off their own wells. We are the upstream. Healthy people. Its just not very convenient living and the economy hasn't seen a boom since the Gold Rush.
Count your blessings I guess.
Bingo