China to Europe: You are just too damn lazy.

Quote from Lights:

Price controls, unions, aren't really capitalist ideas.

Are you sure? Guess where this comes from...

We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combination of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate[.] When workers combine, masters ... never cease to call aloud for the assistance of the civil magistrate, and the rigorous execution of those laws which have been enacted with so much severity against the combination of servants, labourers, and journeymen.
 
Quote from heech:

No one has ever given me a convincing reason why China wouldn't reach the same level ofnindividual achievement as these other peripheral nations.

I personally don't think there are any fundamental reasons why it can't happen.
 
Quote from heech:



No one has ever given me a convincing reason why China wouldn't reach the same level ofnindividual achievement as these other peripheral nations. (And peripheral they are: for most of the past 1000 years, Japan / Korea only dreamt of matching Chinese achievement.)

Simple, if u are always copying u will always be 2nd best
 
Quote from heech:

I'm definitely not a perma-bull on China, I think there are all sorts of challenges. But the demographics argument, I really don't get. (I see it used sometimes to compare China vs India.)

Try applying it to a family down the street: "boy, its a shame those Johnson's are so poor ... They cant even afford to educate their kids; it's a good thing they are having so many of them." Doesn't make sense to me, either.

If it was a 1-1 replacement, I can understand the math. In China however, 1 != 1. The retiring generation, my parents generation, has a high school graduation rate of less than 20%... and a college graduation rate of less than 1%. In other words, peasants. The kids entering the workforce today? High school graduation rate of 80%, and college graduation rates of 50%+. In fact, the southern city of Shenzhen is considering making 15 years of schooling mandatory: 3 years of pre-school, 12 years thru senior high school.

What's more economically productive? 4 peasants working the fields by hand, or an engineer?

I think the demographic argument is that following this coming generation, China will plateau and then decline, in part because of the number of unmarried males. The increase in productivity will alleviate this somewhat, but at some point in the not so distant future, at least on a geopolitical historical scale, all of those children that the Chinese didn't have will be missed.
 
Quote from logic_man:

I think the demographic argument is that following this coming generation, China will plateau and then decline, in part because of the number of unmarried males. The increase in productivity will alleviate this somewhat, but at some point in the not so distant future, at least on a geopolitical historical scale, all of those children that the Chinese didn't have will be missed.
No I understand the demographics math. My parents had 4 siblings each, and yet I + most of my cousins are only children. Our kids have four grandparents each fighting for their attention... So obviously when they get older, they directly/indirectly will have to provide for them.

I still say one engineer will be far more productive than four farmers.
 
Quote from dtan1e:

Simple, if u are always copying u will always be 2nd best


american hubris knows no limit.
debt will first destroy the euro. then debt will destroy the $US.
 
Quote from zdreg:

american hubris knows no limit.
debt will first destroy the euro. then debt will destroy the $US.

there is nothing to be arrogant about here, just a fact, to be recognized as a pioneer as what heech wanted u have to contribute for the betterment of mankind, which is not the case here, just for quoting evidences sake, name any major chinese IT co.s and look inside will find an exact replica of a western IT co. product, even heech is not proud of it
 
Geez, ever go to SF into an apple or google building. Half the office are chinese engineers.

Quote from dtan1e:

Simple, if u are always copying u will always be 2nd best
 
90% of silicon valley employees have 3 or less letters in their last name.

Quote from dtan1e:

there is nothing to be arrogant about here, just a fact, to be recognized as a pioneer as what heech wanted u have to contribute for the betterment of mankind, which is not the case here, just for quoting evidences sake, name any major chinese IT co.s and look inside will find an exact replica of a western IT co. product, even heech is not proud of it
 
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