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A Worse Chinese Virus?
No, it’s not a biological weapon, it’s an economic one. By completely upending its social structure from an agricultural society to an industrial one over very few years, and by heavily subsidizing its manufacturing capacity, China has pushed the US out of vast areas of the tech market. So much so that we cannot launch defensive weapons without using Chinese chips. And you thought COVID-19 was scary.
This information comes from the March 2018 volume of Hillsdale’s Imprimis speech digest by David P. Goldman of the Asia Times. It’s a must-read. In it, he suggests How to Meet the Strategic Challenge Posed by China. Short answer: DARPA and NASA.
An excerpt:
As the third graph shows, China’s share of high tech exports has risen from about five percent in 1999 to about 25 percent at present, while America’s has plummeted from about 20 percent to about seven percent. That’s not a sustainable situation. What it means in practical terms is that America can’t build a military aircraft without Chinese chips. That’s a national security issue.
But, there’s so much more than the financials discussed by Goldman. He understands the effect of our cultural differences, too. I don’t believe you can claim to understand China without reading him.
Published in General
I agree that it is picking winners and losers. That’s why I always thought the line “picking winners and losers” is completely disingenuous. Refusing to pick winners and losers is choosing to be a loser as we have been ever since the end of the cold war.
We have had industrial policies in the past (using the Defence Appropriations Act to build ventilators is a perfect example), but our industrial policy is not like China’s. We will not be subsidizing the building of a plant to fabricate existing technology but to subsidize the creation of new technologies with a guaranteed market with the federal government. It is a matter of setting a goal for national security reasons and having companies compete in order to fulfill those goals. Industrial policy to me is not a dirty term and I’m in favor of it.
Things to note: Goldman’s article is a rehash of an article he wrote for Asia Times several years ago. He made much the same arguments with more emphasis on education. And also, he and Larry Kudlow have been friends for years.
That way horrendous corruption lies. Having the feds as a guaranteed buyer has already done horrible damage and capture to our financial sector, and elesewhere. I have sold to Dept of Defense – this is not a sound model to follow.
Then you are saying that you approve of continued deindustrialization and giving up to China. It is exactly the policy the British followed and led to their plight in two world wars.
I agree with this point. It’s OK to encourage students into fields where they have vocational abilities. Technical High Schools are a sound alternative where a kid has learning problems in K – 12. The skills they acquire are needed in society. On the college level general education is important, but why not give a little push to those with good math and science scores to major in engineering, etc. if we need more chip makers. (B/t/w, I wouldn’t know a semi-conductor chip if one fell on me), but you get my point – I hope.
Some civil libertarians denounce lockdowns as an assault on our constitutional rights. Right or wrong about the efficacy of lockdowns, would any emergent situation satisfy them? Accordingly,they get all hissy over directing a student to a science major despite the fact that we need somebody to grind out those precious chips to compete with China. It’s not the creation of a Chinese police state to get young people into fields where they can benefit and contribute. And 20 year olds need some guidance.
I’ve spent considerable time in China: The government does lie, they do brainwash the people, steal western technology, apply tech to military uses. Trump is right about about this. They are eating our lunch.
American voters are dangerously ignorant about China (raises hand). Ben Weingarten is writing a book, but how many will read it? How do we get the word out?
https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/29/heres-25-questions-joe-biden-needs-to-answer-about-china/
Agreed, so long as we’re not encouraging youngsters who do not show aptitude in science and math to enter the STEM fields (the “learn to code” approach). It’s been decades since I worked as an engineer (EE – systems), but in my experience, it seems the best cost/benefit ratio is in the community colleges. We still need fancy engineers with all the math and physics background, but those “technicians” coming out of community colleges can get things done — “grind it out.”
I would still like to punish the universities for even offering “studies” majors, though. I want them spending down their endowments to pay off the loans for their unemployable graduates. And then maybe they’ll stop wasting kids’ time and talent by offering such degrees.