• CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
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      9 hours ago

      For an obvious example, go to the store and pick any random item off the shelf and its likely made in China. They’ve done it with ships, solar panels, batteries, steel, railcars, and now EVs to list just a few.

      They certainly aren’t selling feature-rich EVs for 1/4th the price of everyone else on the planet for altruistic reasons and I’m sure you can’t list any examples of an industry under monopolistic control that benefitted anyone other than the people controlling it.

      • 𝚝𝚛𝚔@aussie.zone
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        8 hours ago

        I’d like some specific examples of what you originally described please, not just a general “China makes everything” as if that proves anything.

        China makes everything because Western companies sought to maximise profit.

        Costs go up, because the Western companies selling the Chinese-made product put the price up to maximise profit.

        You don’t get to outsource everything and charge top dollar for it, then cry to the government that you need protection when the Chinese companies start competing in the same market with the same product for cheaper.

        • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
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          8 hours ago

          I did list specific examples. You claiming “China makes everything because Western companies sought to maximise profit. Costs go up, because the Western companies selling the Chinese-made product put the price up to maximise profit” is also a generalization that proves nothing.

          In these industries listed, the Chinese government is subsidizing these companies so they can sell these products for a cheaper price than anyone else in the world and put their competition out of business, which is exactly why “they make everything.” Your argument is akin to claiming that the ever increasing wealth billionaires isn’t the reason why the average American becomes poorer each year, as if the two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

          Capitalism dictates going with the cheapest price and China ensures it can always offer the cheapest price using their government’s deep pockets, but this isn’t sustainable forever which is why prices must rise once the competition is out of the way. They can then take this capital and repeat the cycle in a new industry.

          How you can claim “yeah China makes everything but that doesn’t prove they take over every industry they move into” without any sense of irony is quite bewildering. There’s no secret knowledge or magical formula that exists only within the borders of China that allows them to undercut everyone else. It’s just a giant pile of money that allows them to do it.