February 17, 2004

Chinese Capitalism and Freedom

Well, I had almost finished a rambling longish post about China and their arrest of an "internet essayist" when somebody bumped into the computer, causing the power cord to come out of the back of it, erasing the post.

There's a reason I prefer to use laptops.

Anyway, the point of the essay was that I like all the great economic news coming out of China (hundreds of millions new jobs and new customers), but that capitalism requires freedom to work properly. However, I think that China's new-found tolerance of capitalism will likely bring them more freedom as time goes on. It will be a gradual thing, but it will come.

Posted by Blog Jones at February 17, 2004 09:03 AM | Category: Politics

Comments

While i am not an opponent of capitalism and trade, China's new economic prowess has come at a great cost to American industries. China is unfairly taking advantage of america by devaluing the yen and providing unsafe, cheap labor. American companies are running to china (as a resident of upstate SC, I am sure you are aware of this trend). I predict in the not so distant future, chinese industries will have such a hold on manufacturing, they will drive the prices up and America will be no better off than when we started. America needs to step up and make some changes in domestic policy and foreign policy if we are to save american jobs.(ok, i'm off my soapbox)

Posted by: Erica at February 17, 2004 11:09 PM

What changes would you suggest? What can American policy makers do that will actually improve the situation? Tariffs won't help, because they can just raise their tariffs against us. And I trust you wouldn't suggest the government telling businesses that they are not allowed to move overseas.


Really, American business is moving into the service economy because Chinese labor is cheaper. Therefore, American manufacturing needs to become either cheaper (unlikely, considering the weight of government regulations on us) or better than Chinese labor. Otherwise, the jobs will move to where they can be done the most cheaply.


That's how capitalism works. Adapt, or die.

Posted by: Blog Jones at February 18, 2004 06:38 PM
Due to the proliferation of comment spam, I've had to close comments on this entry. Sorry. Spammers ruin it for everybody. If you really, really want to add a comment to this entry, email me.