this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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I don't get it? Isn't cheap labour the reason the USA sent virtually all its manufacturing to China?
Why complain now?
This isn't really the case anymore with China's quickly rising wages and rapid automation.
People these days have things built in China no longer for cheap labour but because they have entire supply chains — from the most basic materials to the most advanced products — in the country itself with its manufacturing ability higher than the next 9 countries combined.
That's the problem the US has: China has not stayed a cheap labour factory (like, say, Africa) and is actually advancing and starting to compete with the US — in some fields already having surpassed them. And this time they can't sabotage their economy like they did to Japan with the Plaza Accords.
Perks of having a socialist state.
And the thing is that the USA could have reinvested some of the profit (when China was cheap) to advance new industries and tech. Instead, they just padded the bank accounts and are now in a position where they are not competitive anymore ("as" competitive)
The difference is the profits used to return to the US, now they stay overseas.
China was supposed to stay at the bottom of the supply chain, but they had the temerity to keep advancing.