MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations

Re:MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more simila... by sharemywin on Monday May 22, 2017 @08:57AM (#14393153)

completely disagree. Why is china expanding faster than most "democratic" countries. India is focused on technology which should be easier to outsource yet, Knowledge workers are doing fine in the US. It's because china is coordinates its activity like a giant company, in my opinion, to exploit markets. investing heavily in infrastructure, stealing trade secrets, destroying the environment, exploiting children and criminals, manipulating currency for decades. I could go on but you get the point

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Re:MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more simila... by ashark on Monday May 22, 2017 @09:21AM (#14393313)

> It's because china is coordinates its activity like a giant company, in my opinion, to exploit markets.

Same thing Japan did after WWII. Works great if you can pull it off.

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Re:MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more simila... by rpiguy on Monday May 22, 2017 @11:49AM (#14394520)

Japan didn't just "do it." The US allowed it and encouraged it. The US wanted a strong, capitalist ally in the region to counter Communism and Japan fit the bill. The US willfully ignored Japan's protectionism while allowing them high levels of access to our markets.

For example, the end of Kodak began when Fuji film infringed on their patents and the US government did nothing, still allowing Fuji to sell their film in the US.

You can look at that in two ways. The government broke up a near monopoly on print film that Kodak had, created competition and lowered prices for consumers. But ultimately it started an employer of 200K people on the path toward extinction. Yes it would have been eclipsed by digital anyway, but wouldn't it have been nice if those 200K people had their jobs a little longer?

I am personally torn on issues like this. I see the benefit of competition and globalization, but also the cost to local economies and industries.

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