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When It Comes To China, Google's Experience Still Says It All (backchannel.com)
Uber's defeat by its local competitor in China was the latest of a string of such cases, and Google's experience trying to establish itself there is illustrative of the challenges facing all American tech companies that aspire to dominate in that market, writes reader mirandakatz. Steven Levy writes at Backchannel:Perhaps because its market share never rose high enough, Uber did not experience the brunt of China's regulation. Still, who's to say what would have happened if Uber had managed to outperform Didi? If Uber's market share topped fifty percent, would the government have sat by as a neutral observer? Would the Uber app start experiencing slowdowns? Would its drivers be stopped? Would airports welcome Didi cars and not Uber? My bet is that, mixed with disappointment at not winning the country, Uber executives might be feeling a bit relieved that such worries are now off the table. As it is, Uber has become one more casualty in China's other wall, a towering fortress of restrictions, regulations and unfair play that keeps down American internet companies.
In theory "lopsided" trade where one side cheats is still beneficial to the more-open partner.
But, it seems such formulas and simulations fail to account for or detect "emergent" side-effects, such as income inequality, and financial bubbles caused in part by one side building up cash from the imbalance. Bubbles still puzzle economic simulation experts.
The simulation may predict that average GDP increases, which may technically be accurate, but most of the increase is flowing to the top 1%, not regular folks. This excess power allows them to buy the political system, giving us crap like the Citizen's United ruling, which in terms gives them even MORE influence, risking a slippery slope into a full-blown plutocracy.
They can simulate consumer buying behavior to some extent, but so far not the related politics that affect everything in practice.
They are using spherical cows.
Table-ized A.I.
Nope, I know all that. I also know that China has no where to go but it's burgeoning consumer economy and they're going to protect that like the US protects "Artists" now and Farmers historically.
Get back to me when there's one price for a book, CD, DVD or Video game even in the limited scope of the Western World, or when the US allows free import to the USA of everything produced there.
I'm not saying I agree with discretionary pricing or protectionism per se, but for the US to cry about it is about as ridiculous a thing I can think of.