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China Smog: Millions Start New Year Shrouded By Health Alerts and Travel Chaos (theguardian.com)
Millions in China rang in the New Year shrouded in a thick blanket of toxic smog, causing road closures and flight cancellations as 24 cities issued alerts that will last through much of the week. From a report on The Guardian: On the first day of 2017 in Beijing, concentrations of tiny particles that penetrate deep into the lungs climbed as high as 24 times levels recommended by the World Health Organization. More than 100 flights were cancelled and all intercity buses were halted at the capital's airport. In the neighbouring port city of Tianjin, more than 300 flights were cancelled while the weather forecast warned thick smog will persist until 5 January. All of the city's highways were also shut as low visibility made driving hazardous, effectively trapping residents.
Coal-fired.
It's a good thing China doesn't have an EPA, think of how much worse the situation would be in there was a government agency meddling in the lives of the Chinese people.
[/political sarcasm]
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
We want those awesome jobs manufacturing phones for a dollar an hour at 80 hours a week!
Most iPhones are made in Shenzhen where a typical factor wage is about $3/hr. Since prices are lower in China for most things, that is the purchasing power of $6-$8, or not much less than a fast food worker might make in America. Average hours in Foxconn factories is 45 hours per week. When asked about working conditions, Foxconn employees biggest complaint was that they wanted to work longer hours, to build up their savings faster.
What is the 'real' cost? This is especially hard if you try to include external costs (air, water and other resources on a sustainable level). You can easily argue that nobody prices things at a cost that would reflect good stewardship of society and the planet on a multi decade scale. China is just being a bit more aggressive than other countries.
Although the US never got quite this bad, there were many environmental disasters in this country prior to the creation of the EPA (by Nixon). Things are quite a bit better now and lo and behold, the rich people are still making lots of money.
Remember that all you Rabid Randians and Triumphant Trumpers.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
You are implying that the U.S. government already exerts more high-level command-and-control policy of its domain of influence than does the Chinese government over its own domain. Obviously, that is absurd.
No it's not absurd. The US is largely a country ruled by law. Yes, there are unfortunately many examples of kleptocratic and frankly criminal behaviors among large companies but it does not rise to anywhere near the level you see in China. Beijing can make lots of rules, but the military owned companies and local governments often ignore them with little risk to themselves. Every once in a while somebody gets shot in the back of the head or tossed in jail but given the enormous size and scope of the Chinese economy, this is just a rounding error.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Irrelevant, the planet doesn't care about per-capita. China produces 3.5 times the carbon emissions of the USA. That's the only stat that matters.