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EU Wants Power To Block China's Tech Buying

itwbennett writes "In an interview with German daily paper Handelsblatt, the EU's industry commissioner, Antonio Tajani, said he wants the power to block China from buying up European tech companies. Tajani envisions an authority along the same lines as the United States' Committee on Foreign Investment and would determine 'if the acquisition (of a company) with European know-how by a private or public foreign company represented a danger or not.'"

203 comments

  1. China is becoming too powerful by devxo · · Score: 1

    I think they're really much more worried about China becoming the super power that it will. You can be quite sure that the world will be a lot different in 10-15 years, and China will be the new country number one.

    1. Re:China is becoming too powerful by WindBourne · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Personally, I do not mind if they become #1. I object because they are cheating the whole way and it is obvious that top pols are in a cold war with the west. And yet, of the flower childs running around the west scream give China a chance. I say, let those flower childs (and the GD CEOs that move the jobs there) to MOVE TO CHINA AND STAY THERE.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    2. Re:China is becoming too powerful by devxo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It actually resembles a lot how US got into power. They ignored European copyrights completely and in the same way took what they needed without giving back. Karmas law, eh?

    3. Re:China is becoming too powerful by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Funny how people see capitalism, free market and globalization now...

      Sure they are willing to offer more for less, so hence they will gain the most.

      But richer people in china and higher productivity gives more items and eventually still for less.

      What will fail is resources and energy. Mostly energy I assume since if nothing else the resource issue is and issue even when it comes to generating more energy.

      The sooner and better you recycle the more items and better for everyone in the future. Should be freaking obvious. You can make lots of car batteries, touch screens, solar panels and so on as long as you recycle the minerals I assume. If you're going to dump and spread them all over the globe afterward with no mines with higher concentrations / other minerals you mine anyway then tough luck.

      So fucking stupid not to.

    4. Re:China is becoming too powerful by dangitman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And yet, of the flower childs running around the west scream give China a chance.

      Who are you talking about here? The "flower children" are pretty much screaming at China in the name of a Free Tibet and the Dalai Lama. The "give China a chance" crowd are the über corporatist/capitalists.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    5. Re:China is becoming too powerful by aliquis · · Score: 1

      I think being swede counts are being a flower child ;)

      And Ericsson cooperated with Chinese companies (?) for network communication, for instance Huawei.

      Ericsson was 18 times bigger.

      Later Swedish Banverket (the rail-road company) bought their equipment from Huawei and became their first international reference.

      And now Huawei is what? 20% smaller than Ericsson?

      Worked great! :D

      ABB are saying that the Chinese can't build 800 kV equipment, but they have gain the knowledge to build, but they have copied (?) / stolen (?) enough to be able to build if it's 500 kV gear. My references, quotes and facts for all this will fail so bad :D

      But anyway, yeah, good for them!! The Chinese demanded that more R&D should be put there and since taxation was lower ABB did so. Great.

      Also they don't want to build with 800 kV gear ATM as I understood things.

      Our precious pearls =P, I wonder if they will rip off H&M as well? IKEA? =P
      The Geeley guy said they would digest (similar meaning at least) Volvo cars in just a few years.
      Don't know how competition is for Atlas-Copco but maybe it's there as well?

      Or maybe I'm just spreading FUD? Or a victim of FUD? I don't know myself :)

    6. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      citation needed.

    7. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one can compete on price with China.

      To have an ecosystem, you must have plankton. In that sense low paid workers are the plankton that keeps the EEC economy alive.

      Well China has so far succeeded in hoovering all the low paying jobs out of the EEC (and USA) and causing misery for low paid workers (both unskilled, and putting the heat on some skilled sectors).

      Being able to mass produce respectable European Brand names, and drive down engineering sectors is their next 'wave'.

      China does not need to 'Tech' buy. They only do so to ensure their markets will not be cut off when new 'tariffs' are created. Yes tariffs must be introduced against China - give it time.

      People are waking up, so are governments. Paying non-working plankton social welfare is becoming unsustainable; and electorally politicians are not safe.

      Removing the nice recurrent revenue/ Tax 'Tech Firms' pay (always happens after takeovers) will mean EEC govt's wont even have the revenue to pay benefits to all those tech workers about to be marginalized. .

    8. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go read about the American Industrial Revolution. Specifically I believe it was the grain thresher and the cotton gin.

    9. Re:China is becoming too powerful by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Insightful

      More to the point they have a huge underclass and are facing fundamental resource limits which will prohibit improving the lives of those people. Limits like the supply of energy, food, water and land. Industrialisation will make a few Chinese people rich but if the wealth doesn't trickle down (I don't think it can) then the political situation will become very unstable.

    10. Re:China is becoming too powerful by siddesu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, the US got into power by waiting out until all major powers in Europe were badly bloodied by WWII, and then picking a side and trading old equipment for world dominance. See, e.g. destroyers for bases, lend-lease, etc.

      Then, after the war, the US was easily able to attract talent by money - the so called "brain drain".

      It is doubtful copyrights were even in the game, especially given the fact that the rules were largely synchronized immediately postwar, and the copyrights mostly covered literature anyway.

    11. Re:China is becoming too powerful by hedwards · · Score: 2

      The US can. Stop accepting items from China which don't meet our safety and environmental regulations. And put a tariff on their items sufficient to make them effectively as expensive as they would be without the illegal Yuan manipulation that China has engaged in.

      As it is, China barely has any advantage at all in terms of cost of labor. In fact a number of companies are bringing their Chinese operations back to the US because they were spending more on labor than they were in the US.

    12. Re:China is becoming too powerful by WindBourne · · Score: 1, Troll

      So, perhaps the west should consider giving up everything to North Korea, Somilia, Al Qaeda, and Venezuela as well. After all, they all have a lots of improvised individuals in these places as well.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    13. Re:China is becoming too powerful by TimSSG · · Score: 2
      The troll needs to site evidence. Tim S. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin

      The modern version of the cotton gin was created by the American inventor Eli Whitney in 1793 to mechanize the cleaning of cotton. The invention was granted a patent on March 14, 1794.

    14. Re:China is becoming too powerful by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      So, perhaps the west should consider giving up everything to North Korea, Somilia, Al Qaeda, and Venezuela as well. After all, they all have a lots of improvised individuals in these places as well.

      No I just mean Chinese growth is unstable for reasons not normally considered by economic modelling.

    15. Re:China is becoming too powerful by dbIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why not?
      It's a libertarian's dream so long as they don't say anything bad about the government. Those with the wealth (or a company with wealth) have far more rights than those of the average individual and the government doesn't stop them with pesky minimum wage, safety and emissions laws. What are you waiting for? All you guys that complain about having to pay too much for staff, about how unions always get in the way, how the government won't let your company pollute and how the shit hits the fan when a worker is injured or dies - just shut up and move to China.

    16. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      technically, that would be suicide. China owns the US. If China stops buying US bonds, the US falls, as well as China cash reserve.

    17. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      flower childs running around the west scream give China a chance

      What fantasy world do you live in? Seriously, do you just make stuff up?

    18. Re:China is becoming too powerful by shentino · · Score: 1

      You and I both know damn well that the wealth won't trickle down any better there than it is here.

    19. Re:China is becoming too powerful by lul_wat · · Score: 1

      Cite evidence, as in Citation.
      Not Site evidence, as in Website.

      Although Citing a Website .. Siting
      Oh lawd.

      --
      Divide a cake by zero. Is it still a cake?
    20. Re:China is becoming too powerful by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1

      After all, they all have a lots of improvised individuals

      Neat trick. Do they use needle and thread, or just Meccano?

    21. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps if Europe asked China nicely. And, maybe let Greece freely affiliate themselves with their communist kindred.

    22. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I smell a troll.

    23. Re:China is becoming too powerful by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That sad old "narrative" pops up in every single China thread on Slashdot, ever. Hint: the US did not "get into power" that way, and China's wholesale technology theft is orders of magnitude larger than that practiced by a 19th century agricultural nation. *sigh*

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    24. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, the US "got into power" by means of the slave trade. This provided cheap labour to jump-start the economy and give companies a competitive edge. The wealth created by many of these companies has lasted for generations and is part of the "old money" club that still runs things today.

    25. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... it is obvious that top pols are in a cold war with the west.

      What planet are you on? Do you really think that China is at some kinda *stalemate* with its debtor nations? It controls the playing field ATM, and the nations who asked China for economic assistance are all playing ball with them. Cold war? Give your head a shake, your brain is about 30 years behind the times.

    26. Re:China is becoming too powerful by unity100 · · Score: 1

      and how did america become a superpower again ...

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio

      http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html

      it is easy to become a superpower if you are able to dominate more than half of the world into a dominion, allowing you to use their raw resources cheaply and monopolizingly, and use them as markets to export.

    27. Re:China is becoming too powerful by CRCulver · · Score: 2

      While the US didn't become one of the world's only two superpowers until after World War II, the US had already become a major economic player by the end of the 19th century. European literature of the time is filled with angst that those uncouth ex-colonials were buying up everything and signalling the demise of Europe.

    28. Re:China is becoming too powerful by McDrewbie · · Score: 1

      ah but the danger in unstable growth is the desire for more . . and they seem to be doing a pretty good job of it. I feel for the people and for the animals and the environment that might be destroyed because of this. But alas, we must let it play out as it will . . .

    29. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      I don't think China is quite as stupidly free market fundamentalist as us ... I think at some point in the future after we have outsourced all we can outsource China is going to change it's monetary and tariff policy to go from a trade surplus country to a sustainable trade deficit country (you can sustain a trade deficit indefinitely if you have enough income from foreign investment, which we don't ... our trade deficit is fueled by debt, not investment in China). At which point it won't just allow wage inflation, it will force it (it is necessary, the economy and technological base can't be sustained without a consumer base).

      Hell, I could see the west stay free trade fundamentalist even then ... just letting themselves be bled dry.

    30. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      Not as long as Helicopter Bernanke is in power of the Fed. Bernanke has no problem at all growing the Fed balance sheet into the stratosphere if it's necessary to sustain jobs. If China refuses to buy US debt at low interest rates he will ... the same thing goes for the UK, there too inflation is a secondary concern to maintaining jobs, their central bank will absorb as much debt as necessary to keep interest rates low. Only the EU is really in danger of throwing it's economy off a cliff because Germany is refusing to allow inflation.

    31. Re:China is becoming too powerful by arivanov · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And that is 10 times more worrisome because the right analogy is still there in history. It is not USA, it is Japan.

      That is an analogy that is making me shudder for a moment.

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    32. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It actually resembles a lot how US got into power. They ignored European copyrights completely and in the same way took what they needed without giving back. Karmas law, eh?

      Well they didn't ignore European copyrights all together - the English Starr chamber wasn't something you ignored, even in the colonies - neither was the Bastille a literary camp, they (sic) also were partially exempted from the Statute of Anne.... but essentially you are right. The American colonies were responsible for much of the seditious printing attributed to the Netherlands, and were instrumental in publishing the broadsheets that drove the Revolution. By ignoring the European edicts the Stock Market was formed which broke European control because it was outside European control. Citations for those whose ego's allows them to confuse visiting Slashdot with editing Wikipedia, and who's willful laziness and ignorance prevents them from doing their own research.

      The first press in the British colonies in America was established in 1639. The Cambridge Press, like the Puritan press at Leyden before it, was begun to allow the publication of religious works without fear of interference from London (Starr Chamber - or burned on the stake in France). From the first it was firmly controlled by the ruling oligarchy and used for their ends.

      The first important printing center outside of Massachusetts was Philadelphia, where William Bradford, according to his grand phrase, 'after Great Charge and Trouble...brought the great Art and Mystery of Printing into this part of America.' Following several minor collisions with the authorities for printing works without a license, Bradford became embroiled in sectarian disputes by taking the side of George Keith in his quarrel with the Quaker oligarchy and ended up on trial for seditious libel in 1692. Bradford found it convenient to accept the invitation of governor Benjamin Fletcher of New York to become the official printer there in 1693, and he was not replaced until Reynier Jansen arrived in 1699. In the meantime, the other press in the Middle colonies, that of William and Dinah Nuthead in Maryland, failed after ten years of shadowy practice, from which only one broadside has survived.

      History - the game where the starving know the hand that feeds *is* protein.

      d_s

    33. Re:China is becoming too powerful by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      technically, that would be suicide. China owns the US. If China stops buying US bonds, the US falls, as well as China cash reserve.

      You clearly didn't read what you just wrote, because it is the answer to what you just wrote!.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    34. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Flower children? You kidding? Nobody likes China. Trust me on that one, even the "left" people I know despise them for "betraying Marxism and turning it into Fascism". There is no "give China a chance" sentiment amongst anyone.

      Anyone but corporations wanting to produce cheap crap, that is.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    35. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      You think Germany was allowed to retain any important patents or copyrights after WW2? Hey, you LOST! So fork it over!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    36. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      What worries me is that there's not like some 100 millions but rather 1.3 BILLION people, we're not talking about a country that's completely devoid of any reasonable resources, and most certainly we're not talking about a democracy or something else that has to deal with useless crap like labor laws or giving a shit about its people's health.

      Now mix that with Japan after WW2 and THEN start to tremble.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    37. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yesterday, Putin opened the new pipeline to China. They sell them now 3 times the previous amount.
      So the Russians will get those US dollars and own you.

    38. Re:China is becoming too powerful by siddesu · · Score: 1

      After WW2? Certainly.

    39. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Troll-Under-D'Bridge · · Score: 1

      Industrialisation will make a few Chinese people rich but if the wealth doesn't trickle down (I don't think it can) then the political situation will become very unstable.

      So it seems that the RPOC (Rich Peoples of China) are lording it over the PROC (People's Republic of China). As a one-party state, it "should" be easier and cheaper for China to force a simple redistribution of wealth a la old-fashioned socialism. But now it seems the Politburo is actually afraid of antagonizing the capitalists. Chairman Mao must be turning over in his grave.

    40. Re:China is becoming too powerful by commodore64_love · · Score: 1

      The libertarian dream is not about wealth. The libertarian dream is about ownership of self, and protection of one's rights from harm by another (such as the government or a boss locking you inside a burning factory). China does not respect either of those philosophies.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    41. Re:China is becoming too powerful by jonbryce · · Score: 2

      Well Germany was the most succesful post war economy in Europe.

    42. Re:China is becoming too powerful by dbIII · · Score: 0

      IMHO it's more like having the right to be a boss that can lock employees inside a burning factory.
      Consider their views on minimum wage, workplace health and safety, healthcare for employees, environmental regulations and their extreme hatred of the very concept of a workers union.
      It's "might makes right".
      China from a few years back in general or their coal industry now sounds like a perfect fit.

    43. Re:China is becoming too powerful by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      oops. Sorry. I misread it. Makes sense.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    44. Re:China is becoming too powerful by arivanov · · Score: 1

      Japan did not do the copying after WW2. The big "copy the west" operation happened 50 years prior to that at the turn of the century.

      It is Japan from around 1890 to 1940 which is the worrying analogy with today's china, not post-WW2 japan.

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    45. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile, the French are falling all over themselves selling high tech military equipment to the Russians.

      http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/world/europe/29france.html?_r=1

      --
      "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    46. Re:China is becoming too powerful by arkenian · · Score: 2
      Okay.... ummmm. I feel obliged to point out that the slave trade was actually a force AGAINST industrialization. And every worker in the lowell factories was free-born. (by that time, MA was a free state) while I'm sure some existed, I'm not actually aware of a single "company" that utilized slave labor. And, honestly, I doubt there were very many. Industrialization effectively ended the slave trade, because slaves are not economically feasible as industrial workers.

      The southeast (that is the places where former slave owners live) has been one of the worst off areas of the country until this generation, and its because they were DECADES late starting a modern economy BECAUSE of the slave trade.

      Final note: Props go to the UK here. The economics of slavery would not have been nearly so bad if the UK hadn't cut off the supply of new slaves from africa as quickly as they did.

    47. Re:China is becoming too powerful by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      I just want to know what you mean by 'improvised' individuals? Is that different from a rugged individualist? Are they duct taped together? Ad hoc human? Inquiring minds want to know.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    48. Re:China is becoming too powerful by gangien · · Score: 1

      Your opinion is wrong. Any libertarian would say that no one could lock anyone inside a burning building, personal freedom and all that.

      Yes libertarians consider the view that people should be in charge of their own lives, including how much safety they need and most of the other things.

      Also any true libertarian is absolutely not against unions. They are for the separation of union and law though. Pretty big difference there.

      In reality, you do not understand the libertarian position much at all.

    49. Re:China is becoming too powerful by dbIII · · Score: 1

      In that case neither do many that say they are libertarians.

    50. Re:China is becoming too powerful by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      In light of the Marshall plan and the fact that America rebuilt Western Europe and Japan, yeah, West Germany kept ALL OF THEIR PATENTS AND COPYRIGHTS THAT WERE NOT RELATED TO MILITARY EQUIPMENT.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    51. Re:China is becoming too powerful by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Read through a number of postings here. You will find loads of ppl defending China's actions. Those are today's flower child. DO you really think that those ppl on this site defending CHina represent Big Business? Nope.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    52. Re:China is becoming too powerful by mgblst · · Score: 1

      You are so ignorant that it is a disgrace, and the fact you got modded up means you are not alone.

      The US became a superpower for the same reason that China is becoming a superpower, they have loads of resources, and lots of people. The same reason Germany became so powerful. Australia would be so powerful if it has so many people, and India would become so powerful it had so many resources.

      The US power was growing throughout the 20th century, why don't you read up on some fucking history, and stop talking such absolute crap.

    53. Re:China is becoming too powerful by siddesu · · Score: 2

      Yes, absolutely, getting the footing of UK's naval might post-WWII had absolutely nothing to do with the US gaining super-power status.

      Not having its cities bombed to smithereens, not having its economy devastated, not having lost a large percentage of its population was not a factor either.

      Grabbing a large amount of science and technology for free from friend and foe as spoils of war and repayment for services rendered, and sucking up the best brains just because US offered better conditions wasn't a factor either.

      If it is all about population and resources, how come Japan is not where India is? How come Russia lost its super-power status? How come Africa is still largely starving?

      Yours is a very simple world.

    54. Re:China is becoming too powerful by dangitman · · Score: 1

      Read through a number of postings here. You will find loads of ppl defending China's actions

      OK, so what makes them like flower children? I'm not sure you know what you mean by the term. Who do you think they represent?

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    55. Re:China is becoming too powerful by nobodie · · Score: 1

      Who modded this to "insightful"? What "flower childs" is this fool talking about? I am old enough and have the creds to be an FC, and I live in China. I happen to think this is a dead idea because the Chinese ideas about how to be a power in the world today are bad for China and bad for the west. But wait! What "tech companies" does China want to buy? And why would they want to buy them?

      This story sounds like some pols trying to create an issue using the dreaded "China" as a bugabear to frighten the peasants, yet again, since the Islamists are failing to use their oil cash to buy up Europe.

      The truth is that China has the economic infrastructure and the intellectual elite to build and maintain their own tech companies, and they already have a lot already run and built by Chinese entrepreneurs. They could buy stuff if they wanted, and might if they thought it would help them, but what and when and from who? And, why go through the trouble when they can probably do it cheaper and easier at home. Who the hell do you think acts as the intellectual force behind Euro tech? China and India. Who makes the products that draw on the IP? China and SE Asia. What do they need from Europe? Cheap French wine from Carrefour? Sausages from Germany? get real.

      --
      Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
    56. Re:China is becoming too powerful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because Japan is a nation of hard workers and intelligent folks. The other three are failures because they are full of niggers of various stripes; dotted, slavic and original.

    57. Re:China is becoming too powerful by siddesu · · Score: 1

      How about Great Britain, you little racist shit? Why won't Britannia rule again, my friend? Or they are Anglo-Saxon niggers?

    58. Re:China is becoming too powerful by gangien · · Score: 1

      probably true.

    59. Re:China is becoming too powerful by I8TheWorm · · Score: 1

      None of that would have mattered had it not been for opportunity, cheap land, and little-or-no income taxes.

      --
      Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
    60. Re:China is becoming too powerful by I8TheWorm · · Score: 1

      You're right, and there's more trouble than that. They have an aging population thanks to the one child rule, and are running out of places and materials for them (also thanks to the one child rule).

      If they don't do something about their top heavy population, they're in for a world of hurt.

      --
      Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
  2. New Department by andoman2000 · · Score: 0

    The new department to be headed by Dr. No

  3. China does it by Ryanrule · · Score: 0

    Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. Plus, have the chinese produced anything original yet? Truly original. Anything?

    1. Re:China does it by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Actually, they are starting to. And I think that we will see more coming from them. Having cheap manufacturing available helps ppl

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    2. Re:China does it by wizardforce · · Score: 3, Insightful

      China is pretty much where Japan was 30-40 years ago. Look where Japan is today and that's where China will be in a few decades.

      --
      Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
    3. Re:China does it by aliquis · · Score: 1

      At least they have got similar equipment.
      ZTE Blade
      Huawei U8500
      Huawei 4G

      Though the processors is slower (but not impossible for them to get faster ones I assume? They just want to keep prices low?)

    4. Re:China does it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1955 Doc: No wonder this circuit failed. It says "Made in Japan".

      Marty: What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.

      1955 Doc: Unbelievable.

    5. Re:China does it by outsider007 · · Score: 1

      You haven't been paying attention. China already has a bigger economy than Japan, and in a few decades they'll be speaking Mandarin in the White House.

      --
      If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
    6. Re:China does it by timeOday · · Score: 2
      If China's per capita GDP were equal to Japan's right now, they would have the world's largest economy by more than a factor of 3.

      33828*1331460000 / (47123*307006550)
      ans = 3.1133

      Right now US defense spending is 6.8 times the next largest competitor (China). Imagine if China out-spent the US by a factor of 3 instead. It would be a different world.

    7. Re:China does it by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So you're saying all we have to do is make the real estate bubble pop in China?

      How much do rice huts go these days?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    8. Re:China does it by arisvega · · Score: 1

      No, not really. Just paper and gunpowder.

      Dumbass.

      --
      The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
    9. Re:China does it by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      China has a bigger economy than Japan because it has 10 times as many people living there. China's economy is only 1.025 times larger than Japan's, which means than on a per-capita basis, China still has a long way to go. I think some provinces in China will reach Japanese levels of GDP per capita, but not all of them.

  4. Considering that they have tied their money .... by WindBourne · · Score: 5, Insightful
    to the dollar, I say block it. The fact is, that while China belongs to WTO and IMF, they obey NONE of it. It is time for the west to say enough, is enough. China needs to obey the treaties and other legal obligations that they have signed. That includes:
    1. allowing their money to float freely(WTO, IMF, and Clinton accord).
    2. Quit dumping (WTO, and Clinton Accord).
    3. Quit subsidizing all of their state businesses (WTO, IMF, and Clinton Accord).
    4. drop trade barriers(WTO, and Clinton Accord).
    5. Turn on their pollution control mechanisms (Japanese treaty).
    6. Allow rare earth exports (WTO).
    7. quit buying up companies and the telling them to either move the company to China or directing that 100% of the goods be transfered to China (WTO).

    And that is just for starters.
    The fact is, that the west needs to say enough is enough. I support free trade, but not when it is one sided.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  5. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hey well they are going into debt too now http://buttonwood.economist.com/content/gdc

    so it looks like peter is borrowing money from paul to have paul borrow money from peter

  6. And Europe is becoming too stupid by siddesu · · Score: 1, Troll

    It is really hard to believe what kind of crap becomes policy courtesy of the European Commission these days.

    It is even funnier when you consider that the EC is basically very close to the Chinese Politburo -- the Commission is neither elected by the people whose money it liberally wastes, nor effectively accountable to anyone, but the backroom dealers in Europe.

    It is a sham and a shame.

    1. Re:And Europe is becoming too stupid by lordholm · · Score: 2

      Zero governments are elected in Europe, they are appointed by parliament. In a few cases the head of the government is elected, but the normal way is that the prime minister is appointed by the speaker of the parliament / king / queen and then forms the government. The government is then approved by parliament.

      The same happens in the EU. The commission is appointed by the states and then subject to the approval of parliament. The commission is further fully accountable to the parliament. The parliament have the powers of no confidence votes.

      I do not claim to be an expert in how the Chinese politburo is assembled, but it is certainly not subject to the wills of an elected parliament.

      --
      "Civis Europaeus sum!"
    2. Re:And Europe is becoming too stupid by Teun · · Score: 1
      You have already been told what an idiot you are regarding the way a government is formed so I leave that one.

      Yet there is a little fact called Antonio Tajani, he's an Italian politician and it's rather noticeable he suddenly speaks out for keeping things European.

      A few years ago a very large Dutch bank wanted to buy a small Italian bank and the Italian National Bank went to great length to prevent this.
      Later it was discovered the Italian government and the National Bank illegally colluded to try to prevent the sale of this Bank.

      Now an Italian politician is suddenly trying to stop the sale of the Dutch cable manufacturer Draka to the Chinese while there's a lower bid by..., you guessed it, an Italian cable company :)

      --
      "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  7. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by telomerewhythere · · Score: 2

    I googled "Clinton accord" and got nothing like what you describe. Could you please direct me to the proper references?

    Thanks in advance.

  8. THIS IS GOOD NEWS by HelloKitty2 · · Score: 1

    I 3 E.U. FOR DOING THIS. :))

  9. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Insightful

    China has been printing Yuans like they are going out of style. QE2 is designed to shake China off of America's coat tail. The longer that they tie their Yuan to the dollar, the worst that things will get for them. Shortly, they will see massive inflation. And if they do NOT untie the Yuan from the dollar, then I expect that QE3 will be done. THAT will run China's inflation up to MINIMUM of 40% with ZERO chance of slowing that puppy down.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  10. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Informative
    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  11. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You support free trade but you insist their trade be restricted. Personally I'm against free trade. It never made sense when it was first proposed and it's brought a lot of grief to the first world. It's one thing having free trade with countries like Canada and the US or even much of Europe and North America where the economies are similar. Merging with a third world country means the first world country has to drop their standard of living to compete. The problem for the world now is how do you say no to China? Most of our electronics come from China is does much of the clothing and nearly a 100% of our light bulbs. They are becoming the primary supplier of much of what we depend on. If they restrict exports it'd take us years to gear up production. With things like rare earth materials we could be a decade or two trying to produce what we need. We're already at their mercy and it will only get worse. We just fought an economic world and we lost. They just paid off the rich owners of the corporations and won without firing a shot. This war was fought with lobbyist not bullets.

  12. So Chinese agents will buy the companies instead. by elucido · · Score: 2

    And the only thing they'll accomplish is they'll force China to use it's covert/secret agents to buy European tech companies. If China wants to buy a company nobody and nothing can stop it. They'll have their European shell company set up with their puppet CEO who will covertly buy the company in the name of China. Then years later China will overtly take control.

    It's called a hostile takeover.

  13. Cheating? at war? by elucido · · Score: 2

    China is supposed to do everything to become number 1.

    Since when did Americans become such wimps? Every nation cheats to win. It's called espionage.

    1. Re:Cheating? at war? by pooh666 · · Score: 1

      I just wish the most powerful among "US" were not helping so much.

  14. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    And that is what has been going on in America. Part of several bill by W allowed companies to hide their investors. If the rest of the west does not want wholesale destruction of their nations like has happened to America, then they need to require all investment companies to disclose who the investors in them are.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  15. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2

    They don't have to be covert or secret. The housing bubble in Australia has been driven to a large extent by Chinese buyers. The property is actually owned by Chinese born Australian citizens but the money is coming from China.

  16. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I do not say that their free trade should be restricted. I say that as long as they are not obeying the treaties/laws that they agreed to, THEN there is no reason for us to honor our side. Free trade is about TWO WAY TRADING. CHina is not about 2 way trade. It is about gaining it quickly and with interest in the real issues. They are in a cold war with us and using the economy against the west. It is time for us to stop this.

    One way to pull our electronics out of CHina is to get western companies to move it back. However, QE2 is designed to do that for us. It will shake China lose, or they will suffer massive inflation.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  17. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No one has mentioned yet that China has a long history...including thousands of years of intrigue. They have plenty of practice in the cloak & dagger business. Quite different than the relatively short history of Europeans in N. America.

  18. It's been going on since before Bush by elucido · · Score: 1

    It's been going on since the 80s at least as far as I've been alive. Japanese companies were the big threat back then and were using sneak techniques to conduct a covert hostile takeover.

    It's what we should expect from any nation state. They want to steal American technology, business, control of industry, etc. They also want to steal jobs.

    1. Re:It's been going on since before Bush by unity100 · · Score: 1

      yeeeeeeees. they are after americans. yees. they are after american riches and whatnot yees.

  19. China needs workers rights as right now they are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    China needs workers rights as right now they are like the old days in the usa with the big time over time, unsafe work places, low pay and company towns.

  20. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by dbIII · · Score: 1

    I know a few Chinese born Australian citizens who would really love it if this conspiracy theory is true, but instead they have to save to hit a moving target just like the rest of us.
    The reality is pretty well the same as the US housing bubble and a whole lot of others in history. About the only twist we've got is a bit of artificial political manipulation because the press and others assume that sales of houses are equal to a measure of the economy - thus leading to the assumption that a lot of activity in housing means a good government.
    In Queensland your yellow peril conspiracy is instead those "damned southerners" buying up all the property and driving the price up. Once again a conspiracy theory fed from a few isolated anecdotes that mean nothing but noise in a large system.

  21. Leave China alone... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Someone has to stand against Islam.

    1. Re:Leave China alone... by couchslug · · Score: 1

      Cut a deal with them. That's what diplomacy (unwritten, so no leaks) is for. China is the natural master of Asia since the US nuked the other contender a while back. They exist, cannot be dictated to, and have an interest along with all truly civilized people in resisting religion. They have much more scope than a democracy in doing this, because religion cannot be restrained by democracy.

      Chinese methods against Falun Gong cultists and against Muslim Uighers are fairly effective and should be encouraged. If Beijing wish to disrupt Islam by demographic realignment, ethnic cleansing, or even murder I find that acceptable. Islam is the worst major superstition at the moment, Christianity having been gutted post-WWII. There is no moral obligation to Islamists. Put them to the sword, and get comfortable with discussing how to limit their power by any means without regard to the conventional "morality" one would apply to people who are not cultural enemies.

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  22. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Informative

    This comes from my wife's relatives and friends. They are primarily Malaysian born Chinese with Australian PR or citizenship. And yes they have a lot of trouble saving to buy. They see a lot of mainland Chinese born people buying property purely to invest. Additionally my wife works as an architect and she knows of mainland Chinese businesses which are actively investing in the Australian property market. They do projects typically between five and 10 million AUD. Usually high density unit development. She looked at working for them but they weren't paying enough to justify the risk.

  23. no, the power loom by r00t · · Score: 1

    Mr. Lowell visited water-powered mills in England and managed to memorize all the critical details. He then returned home to the US, got together some investors, and set up shop on the Merrimack River in what is now called Lowell, Massachusetts.

    That led to quite a bit, because you then need mechanical engineering and mechanics.

  24. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by gman003 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Uh, "wholesale destruction" isn't what's happening to the US, and China can take little credit for the decline that is happening. At worst, the US is having a slump, caused by incompetent leadership and short-sighted financial policy, combined with a media that doesn't "report" the news so much as it "spins" the news.

  25. Under what power? by SlappyBastard · · Score: 1, Informative

    The EU, as currently conceived, just flat-out doesn't have the power to enforce laws in individual countries. Look at the recent abortion ruling by the EU against Ireland. Ireland's response amounted to "And . . . ?"

    The first time the EU tries to make this stick, they're going to have to go to court against every member nation the company in question operates in.

    The Europeans need to face facts: they're not remotely as committed to the ideal of unity in practice as their speeches would suggest. Look at the bailout. The Eurozone basically exists so Germany and France can export surplus productivity to lazier, poorer countries. The Eurozone exists to correct flaws in the German Mark that the Germans themselves could never fix. But, when it comes time to pay up for indulging those lazier, poorer countries for profit, the Germans and French bitch and complain ceaselessly about having to do it. And worse, they force their partners into austerity measures that fundamentally extend the failures of the Mark to the Euro.

    The Europeans are too stupid for their own good. The invent a unified government that no one ever intended to obey. They implement a a common currency that no one wants to back -- and then bitch when it turns out ya kinda have to back your currency no matter how badly your partners piss on it.

    If it weren't for improving the passport rules, the EU would go down in history as an abject internationalist failure alongside the League of Nations.

    The only question for the Europeans now is whether they do what the early US did. The early US figured out that the original Articles of Confederation were useless and barely empowered the government to do anything (sound familiar?). Eventually a new constituent assembly was called and a real Constitution (admittedly full of poisonous compromises) was written.

    Until the EU gets down to the business of writing a non-pathetic organizing document, they might as well save the bullshit and let the Chinese steal everything.

    --
    I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
    1. Re:Under what power? by Peeteriz · · Score: 1

      It does take at least a generation to get mental acceptance of the population for a move from nation-governments to a federal one. It took quite long for USA, and it's still state rights often become an issue; and it will take still quite some time in Europe.

    2. Re:Under what power? by metrix007 · · Score: 1

      What about things like the 3 strikes law, where the EU was fining countries for not implementing it?

      --
      If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
    3. Re:Under what power? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You post is the finest example of clueless people posting rubbish on slashdot. Sorry, but this had to be said.

      The EU, as currently conceived, just flat-out doesn't have the power to enforce laws in individual countries.

      This is incorrect. Not implementing for example EU directives results in painful monetary fines on the countries. And the EU has the power to enforce these as all countries are receiving large amounts of subsidies for various industries/agriculture from the EU.

        The Eurozone basically exists so Germany and France can export surplus productivity to lazier, poorer countries. The Eurozone exists to correct flaws in the German Mark that the Germans themselves could never fix.

      This is incorrect. The Eurozone is the result of French politics to contain/constrain the power of a reunified Germany in the EU. This is a very well-documented fact. The Germans did profit from the lower exchange rate, but if they could they would have forgo these benefits for an independent currency. In fact the current account surplus of Germany comes from a decade of decline of wages in Germany, some economists argue that an independent currency would have set off these, but that's a hypothetical discussion and it's unclear if this would have been true given the current economic model of Germany.

      And worse, they force their partners into austerity measures that fundamentally extend the failures of the Mark to the Euro.

      Well, I have never heard any serious argument that the German Mark was a failure. It did create some interest pressure on smaller neighboring countries, but arguably that was never a problem for the Germans themselves (Sorry nederlands about this. We love you unless it comes down to football).

      The invent a unified government that no one ever intended to obey.

      In fact, that's incorrect in several aspects. First the EU- bureaucracy is not intended to be a government in the sense for the US, second the EU has enforced a large amount of rules onto its members. Just because you are not aware of it, it doesn't mean that it does not exist.

      If it weren't for improving the passport rules, the EU would go down in history as an abject internationalist failure alongside the League of Nations.

      With "the passport rules" is suppose you refer to the Schengen treaties with is separate from the EU, not all EU countries are participants (e.g. UK) and some non-EU countries are (e.g. Switzerland).
      The main initial roots of the EU was a customs-free zone, a purpose which was and is hugely successful even in the opinion of EU critics (Hiho to all Brits ;-)

    4. Re:Under what power? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem with the EU is that it isnt as much as that people dont want it, but that we are all to damn different for our own good. in language and mentality. Even our nearest of kin(belgiums for the dutch) are a whole different kind of people. I just dont see it happening in the next 40 years.

    5. Re:Under what power? by arivanov · · Score: 1

      You are missing the point.

      In the case of Ireland EU was going against the political powers of Ireland and the public opinion there.

      In the case of introducing rules on "EU interest" EU will be going along with the public opinion and politics in more than half of the EU countries. The only one to oppose that will probably be Britain and I would not be so sure about that one either.

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    6. Re:Under what power? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The EU is an uncomfortable "democracy" as far as I'm concerned. I really have serious concerns how little influence even millions of people could have on parliament, and how little time parliament has for each decision to be made - it transfers powers vastly to special interest and "expert" groups who prepare the laws and that may or may not have an agenda...

      But the fact that the EU is not immediately succeeding in each of its attempts at attempting to do something is quite okay. This is the real world, and the EU is dealing with even more economy, more people, more tradition & irrational interests, and more old grudges than the USA have. Even without the parliament as overloaded and disconnected of people as it is now, still the only thing one MIGHT be able to do is in fact take the "incremental improvement" approach and just try to pass laws and see which turn out to be successful. Getting it right from the start is not really possible.

      Maybe the EU will at some point toss a lot of the laws over board and do something else, simpler, in their stead. Maybe not.
       
      But I don't think the US will really be the model. Some bits about where your democracy ended up are more of a cautionary tale rather than an inspiration. Only having two, politically almost the same parties that really run the show and a central government that just does not really care about making concessions to regional concerns anymore but rather bow down to corporations and all that stuff is not the EU dream.

    7. Re:Under what power? by thanasakis · · Score: 1

      In fact, that's incorrect in several aspects. First the EU- bureaucracy is not intended to be a government in the sense for the US, second the EU has enforced a large amount of rules onto its members. Just because you are not aware of it, it doesn't mean that it does not exist.

      So what kind government are we going to have? A federation, a confederation, something more loose? I'm sorry but you avoid answering the original post's argument, that without a real constitution we won't be able to have a real European Union. And (IMHO) this is not going to happen soon because a large percentage of Europeans doesn't want it. When everything used to go fine it was grudgingly acceptable, but now that the real difficulty is at hand we fail miserably.

    8. Re:Under what power? by SwedishPenguin · · Score: 1

      Schengen and the simplifications of moving goods between countries is really the greatest achievements of the EU IMO, most of everything else they've done I can live without, in many cases better than with. I like the idea of European cooperation, but I don't like the EU in its current form, lobbyists have far too much power and it's not nearly transparent enough. Our government uses EU directives as excuses to drive through unpopular laws ("oh but we have to implement it, it's a directive") like IPRED and data retention.

      It should be noted that the abortion case was the European Court of Human Rights though, it's outside the purview of the EU and encompasses all countries that have signed the European Convention on Human Rights, not just EU members.

  26. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why should they respect free trade ? Everybody's kneeling at them to get a share of their resources. They can do without us, we cannot do without them, we lost, we cannot sustain our social pressure and lifestyle without them.

  27. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by SplashMyBandit · · Score: 1
    "Nobody and nothing can stop it".

    Rubbish. Laws can be made that stop this kind of thing and China must abide by Western laws when doing business in the West (just as Western businesses must operate by Chinese laws in China). Stop the unfounded sensationalism please. Here the EU is clearly creating regulatory laws as is their sovereign right - and China is subject to them whether they like it or not (if they are caught stealing tech the full force of such laws is used against them). I applaud the EU for protecting the innovators in this case.

  28. EU peeing into the ocean by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pretty hard to prevent the Chicoms or anyone from getting their hands on info these days.
    Just download from compromised zombies.
    And Chinese nationals in universities and companies throughout the world.

  29. It's more complicated than just that.... by Bacon+Bits · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, but the reason the US machines were able to take off is because the European mills were all destroyed or put out of business by the people who worked, owned, or invested in the manually run non-industrialized mills. If the Europeans hadn't so soundly rejected the new processes then industry in the US would have floundered by being unable to produce goods at competitive prices.

    Today we remember these angry Europeans -- who are infamous for storming the new mills and breaking the machines -- for the name of one of the most outspoken among them: George Ludd. Yes, they were the Luddites.

    Yes, the plans were stolen away to the US, but they were not being used in Europe because the technology was socially unacceptable!

    --
    The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
    1. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The Luddites were nowhere near as influential as you seem to think.

      And it was Ned Ludd, BTW, not George and he is now widely believed not to have been an actual person.

    2. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      China is doing that too. The Chinese will probably say this some years down the road.

      Yes, but the reason the Chinese economy was able to take off is because the European/American economies were all destroyed or put out of business by the people who owned or invested in the outsourced companies. If the Europeans/Americans hadn't so soundly rejected the new way of working then industry in China would have floundered by being unable to produce goods at competitive prices.

      Today we remember these angry Europeans/Americans -- who are infamous for storming the new companies and making doing business in Europe/USA very difficult by introducing stringent laws -- for the name of one of the most outspoken among them: . Yes, they were the .

      Yes, the companies were stolen by the Chinese, but they were not being used in Europe/USA because the way of doing business was socially unacceptable!

    3. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by drsquare · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm pretty sure that machines were used in Europe, the Luddites were not successful. Although they had the right intentions: machinery lowered the pay and job security of the workers for the benefit of the mill owners.

      What I'm wondering, is why Americans on Internet forums are so unknowledgeable about the things they talk about. It seems the less they know about a topic, the more passionately they talk about it.

    4. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by mestar · · Score: 1

      So, he is like Jesus.

    5. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by Anthony+Mouse · · Score: 1

      Although they had the right intentions: machinery lowered the pay and job security of the workers for the benefit of the mill owners.

      How is that possibly "the right intentions"? Labor saving technologies are the reason we aren't all subsistence farmers. They are, almost to the exclusion of anything else, the way people on "the bottom" can increase their standard of living.

    6. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Yes, the plans were stolen away to the US, but they were not being used in Europe because the technology was socially unacceptable!"

      Hence the dominance of Britain in wool and cotton production well into the 20th century?

    7. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by kdemetter · · Score: 1

      It's a question of balance , really.

      You wouldn't consider it acceptable if your company just fired you and a lot of other people , just because a machine can do your job faster and cheaper.

      It would be acceptable if they slowly replaced people with machines ( for example when they retire )

    8. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by MattskEE · · Score: 2

      I'm pretty sure that machines were used in Europe, the Luddites were not successful. Although they had the right intentions: machinery lowered the pay and job security of the workers for the benefit of the mill owners.

      You left out the part about the dramatic rise in living standards thanks to this industrialization. Peasants/the proletariat/minimum wage workers have always been abused by those with more power and industrialization didn't change this fact. Unions rose up to fight for the factory workers, and then things got better for them, and progress marched forwards.

      What I'm wondering, is why Americans on Internet forums are so unknowledgeable about the things they talk about. It seems the less they know about a topic, the more passionately they talk about it.

      This sweeping generalization pegs you as just as ignorant and arrogant as the stereotype you seem to hold of Americans. Don't blame the level of discourse on the internet just on the Americans, because there are stupid people all over the world.

    9. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by Anthony+Mouse · · Score: 1

      You wouldn't consider it acceptable if your company just fired you and a lot of other people , just because a machine can do your job faster and cheaper.

      Why not? That's why they make unemployment insurance: You get some time to go out and find a job doing something else. And if you aren't qualified for anything else, that's why they make state-subsidized universities. There are always other jobs -- if we ever get to a point where there aren't, it will be because literally everything is made by machines, and therefore everything is effectively non-scarce and can be had for no money, so who needs a job?

      It would be acceptable if they slowly replaced people with machines ( for example when they retire )

      It will never work that way. First of all, doing it that way retards progress for a generation and makes everybody pay more than necessary for goods in the meantime. But more relevantly, if existing incumbents refuse to adopt the new technologies until their workers retire (say they have union contracts requiring it), someone else will just start a new mill that uses the labor saving devices and the company that does what you want will soon go out of business.

    10. Re:It's more complicated than just that.... by Lieu21 · · Score: 1

      Yes, but the reason the US machines were able to take off is because the European mills were all destroyed or put out of business by the people who worked, owned, or invested in the manually run non-industrialized mills. If the Europeans hadn't so soundly rejected the new processes then industry in the US would have floundered by being unable to produce goods at competitive prices.

      Completely uninformed. All the mills were destroyed or put out of business? Europeans soundly rejected new processes? The luddite movement lasted from 1811 to 1813. The government weren't having any of it. It was made a capital offense to sabotage industrial machinery, there were some trials, executions and prisoners, etc, and the movement simply died out.

      So much for that. Britain was the first industrialised country, followed by western european countries and the US.

  30. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by dbIII · · Score: 2

    Yes, real anecdotes but of little consequence to a larger system. It's just like a few real investors from Sydney buying land in Queensland but it's not enough to drive the bubble.
    It's a weaker link than a conspiracy theory of saying that the Chinese run the Liberal Party via Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest and just as unlikely to make a difference in the long run. The mining sector is where there is a lot more investment than the trivial percentage of the housing market. Radio Rich Gay Redneck talkback subjects shouldn't be taken too seriously because it's all about getting people angry for entertainment.

  31. Let the games begin..... by Bob_Who · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Economics. Its all a lot more civilized than violence.

    But lets stop trying to win petty economic battles in lost wars... Democracies always seem to resort to trade restrictions when confronted by another majority. Its no fun anymore when you are suddenly out numbered by your own ideology.

    Human beings are prone to human nature in any and all cultural landscapes. I read that in a fortune cookie (an American custom).

    Personally, I like Chinese Food, and I look forward to prosperity and success for all nationalities no matter what economic policies are negotiated, or implemented. Just make sure not to squander life or liberty if wealth belongs to someone else... Other people are people, too.

    1. Re:Let the games begin..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My God you're a fuckin retard! It sure as hell isn't civilized IF YOU'RE NOT PLAYING BY THE RULES! In fact, wars get started over shit like this; and i'm not talking about the trade war type either.

    2. Re:Let the games begin..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally, I could easily do without Chinese food. Fuck them and the rice patty they rode in on...

  32. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Kjella · · Score: 2

    You support free trade but you insist their trade be restricted. Personally I'm against free trade. It never made sense when it was first proposed and it's brought a lot of grief to the first world. It's one thing having free trade with countries like Canada and the US or even much of Europe and North America where the economies are similar. Merging with a third world country means the first world country has to drop their standard of living to compete.

    Well, one of the key theorems in trade is that it's beneficial to exchange goods as long as there's a relative difference in productivitiy, regardless if one country is superior to another in every way. That is, if we can produce good A much faster than China and good B a tiny bit faster than China, we should specialize in producing A and export that while importing B for a net gain compared to producing B ourselves while China does the opposite. As such it's not unreasonable that rich countries have trade with poor countries.

    When you add unemployment it starts being complicated because the above assumes both countries are maximizing their production. Unemployed people aren't productive which means China is better off producing both goods rather than importing from the US as long as they aren't capacity limited, while the US is now hooked on cheap imports and can't produce them domestically at a competitive price. So you get a trade imbalance, in theory some of this could still be balanced as China buys other things from other countries for US dollars but in practise it doesn't work out.

    However, one thing that people seem to think which is wrong is that China is not particularly interested in a US downfall, at least not short term. They're more interested in picking the crown jewels by saying "Um yeah cheap labor we got that, decent tech level we got that, what exactly do you have that we'd really need to get from the outside?" Rare earth minerals or oil resources could be good examples of that. Specific pieces of technology they don't have. Basically it's about sniping the valuables while the US is spending their huans filling up the Wal-Marts.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  33. deficits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Europe keeps running enormous deficits China is going to want to buy something in exchange for funding these huge deficits.

  34. Let's buy China's companies! by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let's do China one better, and buy its tech companies and loot their assets! What's that you say? China has laws on the books prohibiting the sale or investment of companies which may damage its national interest? Entire industries are restricted? And there are parts of China's economy totally prohibited from any foreign investment whatsoever? Surely Europe and America can trust this country and not apply any reciprocal policies that fuck over China as much as China fucks over foreign firms.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Let's buy China's companies! by rolfwind · · Score: 1

      Let's do China one better, and buy its tech companies and loot their assets!

      America has been doing this for decades with European companies.

      Your head is in the sand if you think this is new with China.

    2. Re:Let's buy China's companies! by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      China has learned from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
      Never good to be addicted to anything from the outside again.
      Or let real cash flow out.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:Let's buy China's companies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They'll simply seize your assets when they feel threatened. They don't really care about the legality of it or the public image. You're comparing a communist state with a democracy. It doesn't work that way. How do you think they got to control all the land and factories in the country? Their owners donated them to the state?

    4. Re:Let's buy China's companies! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      They'll simply seize your assets when they feel threatened. They don't really care about the legality of it or the public image. You're comparing a communist state with a democracy.

      Yes, and in this country we have a large number of ways to grab land. You can seize land used in the commission of a felony, and there are many victimless felonies. Banks have been selling people's houses to other people without even telling them and then they get a 72 hour notice. And then there's eminent domain... So in reality, you're comparing them, and finding that they are directly comparable.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:Let's buy China's companies! by 7-Vodka · · Score: 1
      Don't worry. All of china's strategies will backfire on them, we should not reciprocate because it will only make things worse for us.

      What people don't realize is that when the government tries to meddle with the free market, the results are always deleterious.

      It's all about the unintended *and invisible* consequences and the solutions being worse than the problems. It's like price fixing and fiat currencies.

      --

      Liberty.

    6. Re:Let's buy China's companies! by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Never good to be addicted to anything from the outside again.

      Like, say, cheap electronics?

      You might laugh now, but consider that inflation is calculated by a "goods basket" that includes a lot of things, and 'for some odd reason', recently a lot of electronics moved into that basket. Why? Because electronics are getting cheaper and cheaper, and hence keep inflation down. You don't want to know what inflation would actually be like if you remove cheap China crap and just rely on, say, food, transportation and local services. Hint: One digit is not enough to represent it.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Let's buy China's companies! by I8TheWorm · · Score: 1

      If food were part of the CPI in the US, the inflationary numbers would be MUCH higher ;)

      --
      Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
  35. One more time by symbolset · · Score: 1

    The Internet is designed to be a fault-tolerant network that routes around damage. To this network, censorship is damage. It may take a bit, but the network will find a way to route around this.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
    1. Re:One more time by lordmatthias215 · · Score: 1

      While the internet is certainly fault tolerant, I don't think that's the issue here. I may have read the OP wrong, but it sounds like the EU is concerned about economic tactics in considering this limitation- they don't want China to buy up firms that deal and develop technology key to the European economy, thereby taking money that would have gone to EU members and routing it to China. Either way, even with a fault tolerant internet, there are other technologies that are not fault tolerant but exist on the net. Just because the whole network doesn't go down doesn't mean that nodes which perform other key functions to a country are impervious.

  36. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by francium+de+neobie · · Score: 1

    I see. So any foreigner coming to invest 10 million in your country is a conspiracy. That's like, what? 0.001% of your country's GDP?

  37. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    I don't think its a conspiracy.

  38. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by unity100 · · Score: 0

    china doesnt obey wto and imf. very probably because these are organizations who are in u.s. mandate, always doing whatever u.s. wants. even in the trade conflict in early 2000s between eu and u.s., they didnt act objectively.

  39. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Psychotria · · Score: 1

    You support free trade, but not when the other "side" is "winning"? Are you crazy? Do you even know what "free trade" is? It's a ticket for transnational companies to do what the hell they like, override local laws and generally be a government unto themselves. Now, what is one-sided?

  40. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The West" has been using similar tactics for quite some time. IMF and WTO and its predecessor, GATT were the primary instruments in manipulating and ramming Globalization through the under developed and developing countries to the detriment of local economies. "The West" still does it. The thing "The West" didn't anticipate the effects of Globalization was the chance that one of these countries could become powerful enough and start using the same tactics.

    So in summary, Globalization was great as long as it was one way and local economies in these countries were/are taking a hit. But once the unanticipated effects of Globalization started showing up in "The West", there is bitching and moaning.

    What goes around, comes around, that is why do unto others ...

  41. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

    Does that take into account their foreign exchange reserves? You really need to subtract those from public debt for an accurate picture.

  42. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

    What if the Republicans cement their power and the bankers (who hate inflation) take over control of the Fed though? QE is obviously beneficial to the economy as a whole, but the powers rallying against it (a combination of stupid people and people who'd throw their granny off a train for short term gain) are powerful.

  43. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This all sounds very authoritative, but really I have no idea what you mean or what you base the numbers on. So the evidence suggests that you're an economist.

  44. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!! :)

    You made me laugh too hard.

    QE2 is 'designed' to do WHAT? :)))))))

    QE2 is an admission that US debt is no longer attractive to the foreign buyers, that the long terms interest rates are going up and cannot be controlled by Fed set short term interest rates, that inflation is rampant.

    QE2 is the Fed being the lender of last resort to the US federal government. QE2 is an admission that US federal government is bankrupt.

    I fully expect that this spring bonds of US municipalities will be also in the same trouble and there will be some sort of QE3 to buy back US muni bonds.

    QE2 is a disaster and if it has anything to do with China, it's that China is waking up and it's no longer interested in both financing US debt and providing US with goods to be bought with the Chinese financed debt.

    QE2 is a consequence of a failed fiscal and monetary policy and of a failed government.

  45. Then repudiate China's debt, and watch China burn. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    That debt is also a weapon. Repudiate the debt, get closer to Europe (than China ever could be), and watch the riots in Peking.

    The First World can survive, but the Third World will eat itself alive.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  46. Then make sure indirect takeovers are blocked too. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    If someone would directly or indirectly cause a prohibited country to benefit whether by hostile takeover, scuttling of the company, or any other means of takeover, then anyone involved in such a takeover can be pursued for treason in the member country.

    If China wants to be despotic, it's going to have a lot of blood on its hands that it cant wash off. The only way you deal with China's despots is with hardball.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  47. Even more: worldwide pursuit of such traitors by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    If someone would directly or indirectly cause a prohibited country to benefit whether by hostile takeover, scuttling of the company, or any other means of takeover, then anyone involved in such a takeover can be pursued for treason as defined in the member country, and can be pursued anywhere in the world.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  48. That, or just make China write off that debt by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    It's kind of hard to ask for a debt when the developed world repudiates the debt owed to a Third World country. Especially when that means China is eaten alive by its own people.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  49. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    Not if it that means they are declared traitors, along with complete seizure of assets. The EU and the US have plenty of weapons to put China back in its place, behind the world.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  50. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    QE == Qualitative Easing, also known as dumping currency

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  51. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Right now a hot market for the small property investor is foreclosures in the USA, which are incredibly numerous. Of course, you have to get one that's not going to be contested, or you could end up in an eternal legal battle. Why would you want to live in a country where everything'll kill ya? They're going just as fascist as the rest of the world.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  52. Poetic (in)justice by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Remember all those people that said that Africans are just poor and starving because they're lazy bums who could have it just as good as us if they just got off their collective ass and started working?

    I wonder if the same people think that something like this is better.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  53. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    Yes the strong aussie dollar does lead to ideas like that but I reckon dealing with red tape would be a problem.

  54. Re:Then make sure indirect takeovers are blocked t by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    You want to go to war with a country that can muster about 700 MILLION people if need be? Where 20 MILLION reach an age where they can carry a rifle sensibly per year?

    FYI, The US can (provided they get a draft past the population, and given that we won't have too many dropouts due to lard) get about 150 Million and 4 Million annually.

    And we're not talking about a country whose weapons resemble those of Iraq, ok? You're facing a military that is quite well equipped and a workforce that they can press into 18+ hours shifts with ease. Work or be shot. Try that in the US.

    "Playing hardball" is nice if you can back it up with muscle. But this dragon can breath fire.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  55. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    The following are 17 national debt statistics which prove that we have sold our children and our grandchildren into perpetual debt slavery....

    #1 As of December 28th, the U.S. national debt was $13,877,230,355,933.00.

    #2 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.

    #3 If the federal government began repaying the national debt at a rate of $10 million dollars a day it would take approximately 3,800 years to pay off the national debt.

    #4 Today, the U.S. national debt is increasing by roughly 4 billion dollars every single day.

    #5 The U.S. government is borrowing approximately 2.63 million more dollars every single minute.

    #6 On September 30th, 1980 the U.S. national debt was 907 billion dollars. Just thirty years later, the U.S. national debt is over 14 times larger.

    #7 According to a recent U.S. Treasury report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will reach 19.6 trillion dollars in 2015.

    #8 It is being projected that the U.S. government will be paying 900 billion dollars just in interest on the national debt by the year 2019.

    #9 A trillion $10 bills, if they were taped end to end, would wrap around the globe more than 380 times. That amount of money would still not be enough to pay off the U.S. national debt.

    #10 The U.S. Congress has raised the federal debt ceiling six times in just the past three years.

    #11 The 111th Congress added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

    #12 The 111th Congress got us into so much new debt that it breaks down to $10,429.64 for each of the 308,745,538 people counted by the 2010 U.S. census.

    #13 The U.S. government currently has to borrow approximately 41 cents of every single dollar that it spends.

    #14 When you break down the debt that the U.S. government owes to China alone it comes to over $10,000 for every single American family.

    #15 If you were alive when Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now. Almost unbelievably, the U.S. government will accumulate well over a trillion dollars more debt in 2011.

    #16 If right this moment you went out and started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.

    #17 The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that U.S. government debt held by the public will reach a staggering 716 percent of GDP by the year 2080.

    But the American people don't want to hear that we have spent decades creating a horrific debt crisis that is not going to be easy to fix. They just want someone to "tweak" a few things and get us back to being the greatest economy on earth. Unfortunately, it is simply not that easy.

    From:
    http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/17-national-debt-statistics-which-prove-that-we-have-sold-our-children-and-grandchildren-into-perpetual-debt-slavery

  56. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    The USA just wants your money so we let anyone not on THE LIST of people who we claim are terrorists or from a member of THE OTHER LIST of countries we are mad at economically since we sure don't give a tenth of a shit about human rights come in and buy property. The real issue to me is that the economy continues to decline and there is every sign that the government is trying to make it do this as rapidly as possible, and that means more and more hungry, homeless people wandering around and potentially squatting in any property that's not occupied.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  57. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by kesuki · · Score: 1

    i am still learning trying to catch up for the time i wasted being hedonistic american brat.

    thanks for clarifying that the path the experts called for weakens china's buying power.

    some people tell me i don't need to change. they say to listen to my heart. my heart still just goes 'thump thump' though. my goal is to break through the stereotype and find that special someone i need.

  58. Sshh.. by Michael+Who · · Score: 1

    We know governments are reluctant to piss China off nowadays, saying that you're blocking them out loud isn't going to be well received. But who said you're trying to block them? Just slap regulations on top that will (hopefully) produce that side effect. Of course, at the end you won't be doing any blocking but *controlling* -- just like countries who don't like many immigrants, they have strict laws that indirectly give them control. It'll work on most if not all topics. Say, outsourcing - if you want to reduce outsourcing to China, then just slap something on top requiring that a certain number of existing senior management to reside in the destination country. Otherwise, flood them with taxes. With that constraint, nature and economics should sort itself out such that the trend will shift toward East European countries away from China. At the same time, countries of poor living qualities will be improved in order to be attractive. Several birds, one stone. If this works out for outsourcing, then something along this line will work for controlling tech buying.

    1. Re:Sshh.. by lordmatthias215 · · Score: 1

      That's all well and good if you don't expect China (or any other "destination" country) to notice the increased regulation. Any sort of regulation in this way increases tensions between the regulating country and those affected by the regulations, and that tension is proportional to how much the regulated were benefiting from the now-limited behaviors.

  59. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nobody (aside from you, apparently) cares about government debt in absolute terms. A nation's debt is measured as debt/GDP with 60%-80% being a reasonable target (however, there is no real consensus if/how high debt would negatively affect the economy as long the nation stays solvent). You can increase your national debt each year and still reduce the relevant debt/GDP ratio as long as the increase stays below inflation + GDP growth. The idea that national debt has to be paid back is just absurd - "tweaking" your expenditures so you will eventually grow out of your debt (make GDP grow faster than your debt) is the sane approach.

  60. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

    What do you imagine would happen if the rest of the world tried to get tough with China, and the Chinese regime locked down the ports, told their businesses that they'd underwrite their wage bills in order to keep the peasants working, and just started backing up all the exports - or for that matter, just diverted them straight from the factories that make them to the factories that recycle them?

    I'd give it a week before the rest of the planet blinked and caved in completely. We need them China a lot more than China needs us. You don't bluff on a pair of sevens.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  61. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    China has been printing Yuans like they are going out of style. QE2 is designed to shake China off of America's coat tail. The longer that they tie their Yuan to the dollar, the worst that things will get for them. Shortly, they will see massive inflation. And if they do NOT untie the Yuan from the dollar, then I expect that QE3 will be done. THAT will run China's inflation up to MINIMUM of 40% with ZERO chance of slowing that puppy down.

    The most recent numbers for China have it at 5% inflation. The central banks of most Western countries aim for 2% or less.

    There's also the fact that no one quite knows how the Chinese government collects and calculates the number, so a lot of people don't quite trust it. It you break up that number though, the price of food was inflating at 10% as reported back in November 2010. They were reportedly considering price controls. Besides letting the yuan float, they also need develop a domestic market for more of their goods.

    China is largely an export driven economy (planned that way), and so they want a low currency to keep things going. India on the other hand, while having a bunch of exports, also has a large domestic economy, and so was able to weather the economic storm a lot better since it was able to generally keep running just on internal demand if though the 'outside' world was tanking.

  62. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by HelloKitty2 · · Score: 1

    We could easily manage, create LED lamps, etc..

  63. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "drop trade barriers"

    One man's trade barrier is another man's right; it includes such things as environmental protection and worker's rights - not that China as a particularly good track record on such regulations, but why demand they make it worse?

    See "non-tariff trade barriers" / Metalclad vs Mexican govt / NAFTA tribunal.

  64. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by 19061969 · · Score: 1

    What's 0.001% of a couple of dead dingos, a rancid koala and a pile of sandy rock? Oh yeah, better remember to include Dame Edna....

    --
    bang goes my karma... again...
  65. Well .. they allowed the uhrub to buy, don't they? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who bought up the chip-making arm of AMD? Chinese or uhrub?

    Did the Chinese blew up the Madrid Railway Station? Or was it the uhrub who did it?

    Did the Chinese bombed the London subway station? Or was that bombing financed by the uhrub?

    Come to think of it, it's kinda funny. Isn't it?

  66. Free as in ... by Troll-Under-D'Bridge · · Score: 1

    The fact is, that the west needs to say enough is enough. I support free trade, but not when it is one sided.

    How's that for Newspeak, free trade that's not free? Free as in ... freeloading?

    1. Re:Free as in ... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      U mean the way that China is freeloading by fixing their money and block imports? That kind of freeloading?

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  67. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    It's almost like you like in a world where, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Korea and India don't exist.

    China manufacturing is being driven by western corporate greed, the desire to cripple the middle class, and the willingness of the China leadership to ruthlessly exploit the Chinese people.

    Fair trade will happen (import adjustments to ensure product competitiveness is based upon fair equitable costs including, minimum wages, pollution controls, labour conditions, product safety, taxation base).

    China's problem with burdensome US debt and offloading that debt by buying European and other countries industrial, farming base with basically junk US dollars, is really going to start hitting a wall shortly.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  68. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by blackraven14250 · · Score: 1

    What's interesting about that site is that it doesn't show a single country being in the black as far as debt is concerned.

  69. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by arisvega · · Score: 1

    Oh, it would be nice, wouldn't it? Or just invade them and force them to comply.

    But they are a bit too large a country to be bitchslapped around- China is big enough to call the shots, and they know it

    Plus, money is a faulty concept, a dirty business and all that, so I'm not surprised that nobody sheds a tear for the US being beaten at their own game.

    --
    The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
  70. Does EU wants its companies working in China? by Max_W · · Score: 1

    If yes, would it not be equal if China wants its companies in EU?

  71. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Actually, QE is NOT that beneficial to the economy. HOWEVER, it is far far far less destructive to America (and the west) than China's policy has been. China's cold war policy has been to drain the economies of the west by allowing LIMITED capitalism in there. There is little doubt that China's leaders see themselves in a war with the west.

    Now, if you really want manufacturing to come back soon, then the DOD will insist that the phones that they buy for troops MUST BE MADE IN AMERICA. In fact, if the DOD and the US gov. targets companies that have moved jobs to CHina and says that they will only buy those goods iff they are produced in America, then they will come back.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  72. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    China has a split economy. Many of their goods, such as what coal miners and most of CHinese farmers are paid, is dictated by the CHinese gov. Most of what is capitalist there, is for manufactured goods destined for exports.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  73. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Actually, America CAN DO WITHOUT CHINA. They will have it difficult if it occurrs quickly, but if over 1-2 years, businesses are re-built back up, then America will be fine.

    And China has signed a number of treaties that says that they will do free trade. WTO being the largest. And yet, they cheat like mad.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  74. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by lvangool · · Score: 1

    QE = Quantitative easing, not "qualitative".

  75. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Then jobs would come back to the west. China of course, would be bankrupted within 1 year.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  76. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Marcika · · Score: 1

    Then jobs would come back to the west. China of course, would be bankrupted within 1 year.

    Um, no, it wouldn't. China has massive assets, domestic and foreign (you know, those trillions of Treasury and Agency bonds that they bought up). Unemployment would spike massively, of course, but that would be the worst that could happen to China's neighbours: The easiest way to deal with 10 million newly-unemployed young men is to offer them jobs in the army and to gice them a go at rape and pillage in South Tibet or Taiwan or something... Not a nice outcome for anyone.

  77. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

    QE is the only policy which is politically tractable to balance trade, although something like import certificates like Warren Buffet proposed might be better (and export tariffs when necessary to balance foreign ownership of domestic assets). Balanced trade is a necessity to get out of the problem where western countries can't redistribute wealth any more because any such measures hurt their international competitiveness ... pulling both the government and their citizens into a morass of debt instead just to keep the economy going, a trick which we have managed to keep going for 3 decades.

    A trick which is running out of steam, although China would love to keep it going ... just to absorb the last little bits of know how and industry they can from the west.

    Hell China probably has some hope that free market fundamentalism is so strong in the west that we will force ourselves into a deflationary spiral (rather than printing money) and at the end of the ride buying our countries out from under us with their foreign exchange reserves ... something we really really shouldn't let happen, free market be damned.

  78. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by gman003 · · Score: 1

    Numbers make no sense without context. If we put our entire GDP into paying off debt, how long would it take to pay it off? About a year (WolframAlpha puts it at 0.98 years). That's still something that's plausible to pay off. Not to mention the fact that, while the US owes other countries money, we too have our debtors.

  79. apples and oranges by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    china actually has a much larger defense budget, for the simple reason that (currency unit) goes ten times further into actually getting stuff done in china than it does in the USA. In china one million (currency units) gets a factory up and running and shipping products out the warehouse door within a few weeks. In the USA one million (currency units) gets a few fatcats in black suits and fancy military uniform sitting around a table discussing things over some power point slides.

    Just FYI the entire pacific balance of military power just went to china's court last week. Carrier battle groups are now at the same level as battleships at the end of ww2..obsolete. Poof. No longer all that great. They can now kill carrier battle groups-the US big stick- and have effectively neutralized them. The US has no alternative other than to back off now, they just got pushed 1500 miles away from the coasts, maybe further.

    Ya, china is making their own carriers now...they will be using them to help protect the continent they are buying up lock stock and barrel, Africa. and just for a hoot..because they can. They got cash and resources to burn, so they are making everything ever thought of..just because they can. It's just something to do for them, same as they are making their own jet fighters and bombers and nuke subs and high speed trains and airliners and every possible thing anyone ever thought of. Because they can, it makes jobs and power and wealth for them. They understand that manufacturing is how wealth is made..while the west, europe and the US, most people anyway, and I will be derisive here, think big central banks with complex financial instruments and wall street and the city of london "create wealth".

    What morons....anyone who thinks banks and the current version of what is called "the stock market" "create wealth" is beneath consideration as per their economic opinions, pass them on by. they no more create wealth than goldfarming creates real wealth.

    China will completely own most of Africa within a decade now, effectively grabbing-outright purchasing and moving in in big numbers- the planet's last big stash of cheap easy to get raw and strategic materials and energy sources. The US and Europe just lost that as well, let alone the poor Africans, who will never/ever actually own and effectively run their own turf. They just fail at it, sad to say.

    The US and Europe are *gone* economically. Both areas got sold down the river for short term gains by the top 1% fatcats there. Thinking or "believing" otherwise is just foolish.

    Things are going to be getting a LOT worse in europe and the US from here on out..there is no fix for this mass sellout, except on an individual basis, where you can still buy rural land and get it paid off now and insure some basic living sustenance as the situation de-evolves.

    The cities are going to finish the trends you are seeing now, the big brotherr shit (the heinlien model actually with AAs and walled compounds for a few rich peopleh) all bankrupt because of governmental worker pay and "entitlements" and trillions of pensions due to come, wasteful spending and debt accumulating over the years, police departments becoming totally militarized and acting as enforcers for the government, etc..while the jobs keep disappearing for everyone else. They are never coming back in any practical numbers.

    Anyone who even remotely thinks things are getting better in the US and europe is living in wishful thinking fantasy land. It passed a tipping point three years ago when even the dullest drools realized the housing bubble and the ludicrous derivatives scam bubble was a last ditch attempt by the bankers and their government puppets to push the illusion of wealth over actual production of wealth.

    The US and europe will be experiencing bad news all the way to mass starvation and widespread anarchy and rioting, while the fatcats will flee elsewhere once their personal security situation gets too bad to remain where they a

  80. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by telomerewhythere · · Score: 1

    Thanks, Interesting reading 10 year old stuff and seeing what actually has happened...

  81. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    My bad. I'm not an economist either.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  82. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Cyberax · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, but QE2 won't have any effect on dollar. It's far too small to affect currency rates. Also, if you believe in massive inflation, then you are idiot. Right-wing 'thinkers' have been predicting high inflation since the first bailout.

    There'll be no inflation until recovery is complete.

  83. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Cyberax · · Score: 1

    "However, QE2 is designed to do that for us. It will shake China lose, or they will suffer massive inflation."

    No, it isn't. QE2 will do exactly nothing to make China float the yuan. Trade barriers would be effective in this case, but nobody in the US government has the guts to do it.

    Ultimately, China will have to float the yuan, because of internal pressure to do this (due to unsustainable capital controls and internal inflation).

  84. Bull by elucido · · Score: 1

    I see. So any foreigner coming to invest 10 million in your country is a conspiracy. That's like, what? 0.001% of your country's GDP?

    They aren't coming to invest in our country, they are coming to buy, bribe, write laws, ship jobs overseas, and divide and conquer our country.

  85. And who is China? by elucido · · Score: 1

    How will they know which citizens and CEO's are China? A loyalty test?

  86. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by elucido · · Score: 1

    Not if it that means they are declared traitors, along with complete seizure of assets. The EU and the US have plenty of weapons to put China back in its place, behind the world.

    It's not that easy. Chinese agents could be anywhere and in any family. Many prominent powerful elite families might be controlled by Chinese intelligence, and these families will be used to prevent these sorts of laws from being made.

  87. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...and the conversion of America from a democracy to a military collective will be complete.
    Are you, or have you ever been, a capitalist!?

  88. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by lvangool · · Score: 1

    This list contains many flaws. The single biggest one being its source. Its conclusion is clearly subjective. Most of the items in your list are meant to scare econonoobs/laymen, just taking a look at the first five points: #1: Absolute values don't have any meaning by themselves. This number could mean anything. #2: The repay rate is arbitrary and meaningles, there is no realistic case here, just scary-sounding math. #3: See #2. #4: See #1. #5: See #1. #6: This one ignores inflation and more importantly, the expansion of the US economy, which is the collateral that this borrowing is based on. This is like saying "my 1980 mortgage was 150,000 and now it's over 500,000". Yeah, the house is different too you know.. These kind of collapse blogs just try to scare the shit out of people using their ignorance to sell them complete crap. Trouble with nerds is that while they are very knowledgeable about computing, they sometimes get convinced that it's the same in other areas as well.

  89. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by lvangool · · Score: 1

    This list contains many flaws. The single biggest one being its source. Its conclusion is clearly subjective. Most of the items in your list are meant to scare econonoobs/laymen, just taking a look at the first five points:

    #1: Absolute values don't have any meaning by themselves. This number could mean anything.
    #2: The repay rate is arbitrary and meaningles, there is no realistic case here, just scary-sounding math.
    #3: See #2.
    #4: See #1.
    #5: See #1.
    #6: This one ignores inflation and more importantly, the expansion of the US economy, which is the collateral that this borrowing is based on. This is like saying "my 1980 mortgage was 150,000 and now it's over 500,000". Yeah, the house is different too you know..

    These kind of collapse blogs just try to scare the shit out of people using their ignorance to sell them complete crap. Trouble with nerds is that while they are very knowledgeable about computing, they sometimes get convinced that it's the same in other areas as well.

  90. Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How much of that debt does the US owe to the US? You'd be surprised at the answer, it's about 40-50% owned by the US itself. Another 10% is owned by private corporations (mostly American). Do your numbers reflect that little fact? In a weird way if the US paid it's debt to itself, it'd have enough capital to pay the rest of the debt off (of course that's a fantasy and it's not nearly so simple). But if worst came to worst nearly half the US debt could be forgiven, also many foreign debt owners have a lot to lose if the US collapses, so they might just be willing to forgive it as well

  91. Re:Well .. they allowed the uhrub to buy, don't th by lordmatthias215 · · Score: 1

    I'm not actually sure what your point is with this. How do you make the jump from "Chinese companies are buying up EU tech knowledge" with "'Uhrubs' use low-tech means to terrorize European sites"?

  92. Capitalism Fail? by mrawhimskell · · Score: 1

    i guess that good old capitalism is biting back eh?

  93. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    China will see the yuan inflate massively. They will have no choice but to untie from the dollar.
    Now, you are correct that the BEST course of action is for us to raise barriers to them. But, it should be done slowly. And I agree with you. W should have done something back in 2004, but chose to push tax deals that helped send jobs to CHina instead. Obama has done nothing to either help CHina or America. Yet.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  94. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by Cyberax · · Score: 1

    Yuan is already inflating, to the point that China has started to directly control the price of some goods (food and fuel). That's the direct result of their currency controls, all in accordance with the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_trinity

    However, QE2 won't do much because its amount is not significant to the total dollar amount. And most certainly it won't cause any massive inflation.

    Hell, the US is on the brink _deflation_ right now. Why the fuck people talk about risks of inflation?

  95. China steals to get ahead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I work for Motorola in Poland. I visited the Chicago facility (actually 2 of them) about 2 years ago, maybe a little more. At the time, there was this Chinese national arrested at O'Hare, she had a one-way ticket to China, a ton of cash, and something like 4 suitcases of Motorola confidential high-tech documents & source code.

    Watch the video here: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6228552

    Apparently companies like Google & Microsoft are extremely concerned about loss of IP from their Chinese offices. This story (in the video above) indicates that it can even happen with Chinese employees planted in American companies. God only knows what's walking out the door from the Beijing office.

  96. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by cavebison · · Score: 1

    Who is doing the buying though? It seems many large companies in China are owned, or at least in the control of, the government. So when an overseas company is bought, is the buyer basically the Chinese government?

    I can imagine that being the real problem here - not Chinese "commercial interests", but rather the Chinese government controlling all these foreign assets. Even if they are being privately bought, surely the Chinese government can tell them how high to jump at any time.

    We have a similar problem here in Oz. It has recently come to light that China is "investing" quite seriously is our farm land.
    http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-14/china-investment-in-australian-farms-rises-10-fold-agents-say.html

    As an aside, we are now importing apples from China - either because they're cheaper to produce than our own, or as part of some trade deal, as we grow more than enough here. Either way, it's insane, particularly given China has lax, in any, controls over pesticide use, environmental damage, etc. - all those things we fight so hard for in the West. All now completely undermined by globalisation.

    I think nowadays we can see that unconstrained capitalism is completely dysfunctional, and that Globalisation was entered into without any decent controls or forethought over market and other abuses. But the real hypocrisy is that governments will cry "free market" while manipulating it to suit themselves, often at the long-term expense, since governments only think till the next election.

    Which is what makes China and its ilk so dangerous. They are in a position to think long term. The winner of a chess game is usually the one who can plan more moves ahead.

  97. Wow, so the critics of the bill were right by lamer01 · · Score: 1

    And, all the supposed 'safeguards' did not work.

  98. Re:Considering that they have tied their money ... by I8TheWorm · · Score: 1

    WindBourne for President in 2012... you'd get my vote :)

    --
    Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.