Taking Germany as an example of how to do well while competing with China, what does the United States need to do differently?

Greyzer · 1 year

Try to beat China on Quality, not on Price...

stev_meli · 1 year

Germany has a high savings rate and relatively low inflation. That means their system doesn't punish people who save their money and encourages capital investments. Production and manufacturing require long term investments (building a factory, acquiring machinery, paying skilled labor). In the United States, we have had high inflation (probably higher than the government statistics) and we have had diminishing savings. What this means is that we have consumed our way into debt in order to maintain our standard of living. Now we are out of money without the ability to rebuild our private sector economy. And even when the consumers make the correct choice by rebuilding their savings, the government comes in and goes into debt for everyone based on their fallacious demand side policies. If people use their income to consume now, they cannot use it to consume in the future which gives private entrepreneurs the incentive to invest in short term consumer goods instead of long term capital goods.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the US was the best educated, most highly paid, and most highly skilled workforce in the world. There is nothing contradictory about a capitalist and high wage nation. In fact, that is the logical end of capitalism as production increases purchasing power through lower prices. But capitalism requires capital. Capital comes from savings.

Warlizard · 1 year

Invade Poland?

thilehoffer · 1 year

Who wants to be the world leader anyway? More money, more problems...

PeonVoter · 1 year

Drastically reduce the cost of investing capital in the USA.

mkcondorcet · 1 year

Decent strategy short-term, but of doubtful viablity long-term. Remember that Japan was notorious for manufacturing cheap crap in the 1960's, before scaling the value chain - now they're the very by-word for cutting-edge products. They're the best historical proxy for analysing China's future progress due to cultural/regional/racial affinities- I would not be surprised at all if China began producing world-beating hi-tech manufacturers within the next twenty years, if not before the decade's end.

Also recall that thanks to the openness and largesse of the United States, hordes of Chinese graduate students have encountered no obstacles in obtaining knowledge and training at the nation's finest tertiary institutions.

DirtyDuvalJags · 1 year

We clearly need to invest more in education and research as a country. We can't stop other counrties from catching up to us, but thats not really a bad thing. Wealth is created when inefficencies are eliminated. In the long run if China and India create great products we all win.

logrusmage · 1 year

Cut taxes, lax regulations but enforce key ones, reduce anti-competitive regulations that hurt our international standing, STOP PRINTING MONEY, kill social security and medicare entirely, kill a majority of labor laws, remove union and corporate protections, enact term limits for congressmen, retract all foreign based troops and bases with the exception of embassies, kill minimum wage, kill child labor laws, reduce farm subsidies, reduce or remove anti-international taxes, levies and subsidies...

I could go on but you get the picture.

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