Lumpenproletariat
Veteran Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2014
- Messages
- 2,570
- Basic Beliefs
- ---- "Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts."
Increase trade with China
or
Tighten the screws on China to punish them for stealing our jobs
or
Tighten the screws on China to punish them for stealing our jobs
Will someone say what the real threat is from China, beyond the usual China-bashing rhetoric. Here is an NBC news item which mostly refutes the claim that China is buying up too much U.S. land:
Here are some of the alleged threats from China, and almost all seem to be phony or are gross exaggerations:
⬤ Slave labor
The truth is that those "slaves" are better off than they would be -- and the world is better off -- from anything gained by retaliating with sanctions, boycotts, embargoes against China. Of course every country, including the U.S., has its alleged "slave" labor conditions, and those same conditions existed in Britain and the U.S. 100 or 200 years ago when the economy was less developed than it is now. I.e., more science and improved production/technology, plus more competition, leads to higher standards, whereas economic retaliation against a country only produces net harm, not net benefit.
And U.S. real slave labor before the Civil War was far worse than Chinese "slave" labor today, and yet this did not make the U.S. a threat to other countries against which they needed to retaliate.
⬤ Unfair Competition
Chinese anticompetitive Protectionism is more harmful to China than it is to the U.S. The U.S. benefits from the lower labor cost of products from China, regardless of tougher competition to U.S. companies/workers. Those companies can adjust and become more competitive, to the benefit of U.S. consumers. Only serving consumers matters, not providing "jobs" out of pity to workers who can't compete with Chinese workers.
⬤ Violation of Intellectual Property Rights
The U.S. can steal Chinese technology just as easily as China can steal U.S. technology, as long as there's no agreement on this between the two countries. In the 19th century U.S. companies stole technology from British companies, but that did not make the U.S. a threat to Britain or other countries. Peacefully establishing patent and copyright protection would work better for both countries, but there's no reason to see China as a threat just because it does something many countries have done routinely, including the U.S., when they don't have agreements to promote proper competition.
⬤ Buying up too much U.S. land
This is debunked in the NBC news item above. But also, even if China should buy excess U.S. land, this is no threat as long as the appropriate property taxes are in place. Most of this land is UNDERtaxed, and also taxed inappropriately. The danger is not only from another country, but also from corporations/investors who accumulate more land (speculate in land more heavily). The solution is a PROGRESSIVE property tax on all landowners, foreign and domestic, so those who accumulate more land pay a higher tax rate.
⬤ Trade Imbalance / Trade Surplus/Deficit
There is no evidence that a trade deficit is bad for the economy. The trade-deficit paranoia is based on Snake-Oil Economics only, not on any evidence or facts of economics to show harm from a trade imbalance. A trade deficit may be a RESULT of some flaw in the economy which is harmful, such as inefficient production, but not a cause of any harm or flaw in the economy.
⬤ Military threat / Taiwan
This is the only possible real threat. It is better addressed by increasing trade and reducing the economic China-Bashing paranoia.
Omissions? What other threats are posed by China? to the U.S. or other countries?
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