Why are people afraid of China?

[Rebourn]

The Massive Population, and the fear that China will take over the world.

[semaphore]

We're afraid of China? Nobody told me. I don't like China, but that doesn't equate to fear.

demand I find them a suitable American made substitute.

Nothing wrong with supporting local industries.

[-Zait-]

They're communist dragon sorcerers.

[cz75fan]

Americans "fear" the ramifications that constantly buying products from China will continue to have on the infrastructure of the United States. It's too bad that the bigger concern is the people they turn to and elect into office.

[GennGreymane]

We're afraid of China? Nobody told me. I don't like China, but that doesn't equate to fear.


Nothing wrong with supporting local industries.

well from an economic standpoint it is an issue, but that is a whole different discussion. competition should be welcomed.

[A Day to Remember]

China coats everything in lead paint, thats why everyone hates them.

to clarify, not nation bashing it just happens.

[cubby]

People are afraid of China because they don't understand anything about India.

[cz75fan]

People are afraid of China because they don't understand anything about India.

What little I know of India makes me very very sad. So much of that country is disgusting and the work safety laws there are nearly non existent. I guess when you have such a large population what's the worry if you kill a few in the name of profits.

[Awe]

Many people in US have paranoia related to anything that has something to do with communism. It is a remnant of the Cold War. They perceive communism as a form of ultimate evil when there is lack of anything more menacing (although in recent years the fear of Islam is growing, especially after 9/11). If you ask me, this way of thinking is outdated. Communists (Chinese or otherwise) are not going to press the big red button and nuke your babies. At least not in the world we live in today.

[Irisel]

Why are some people afraid of Tin Foil?

[cz75fan]

Many people in US have paranoia related to anything that has something to do with communism. It is a remnant of the Cold War. They perceive communism as a form of ultimate evil when there is lack of anything more menacing (although in recent years the fear of Islam is growing, especially after 9/11). If you ask me, this way of thinking is outdated. Communists (Chinese or otherwise) are not going to press the big red button and nuke your babies. At least not in the world we live in today.

While I cannot speak for every American, I've yet to actually meet one who had anything resembling this to say about China. Fox News might say this, but I don't believe any American of reasonable intelligence would say this.

[mvaliz]

Oh wow... Genn, pull up a chair. We need to talk...

Ahem...

What's going on right now is basically an awareness of a growing problem. That problem is we're handing over our jobs to Chinese business owners who basically run sweatshop slave factories in order to give us cheap products.

People sadly are hating on China for a) taking our jobs and b) having VERY poor working conditions. Now, point A is a big problem to me, because China is not taking our jobs -but they're being GIVEN our jobs by American corporations.

Speaking as a Professional photo-retoucher for models and products, I can no longer find work as every single catalog company and printing press (that is not small business) has outsourced all their photoretouching needs to China. I once got a small-time gig working for a major online food distributor, and they bragged to me how they saved so much money by outsourcing all their photo processing to China. They don't have to pay insurance or minimum wage...

Even my last place of business closed down our shop due to outsourcing our entire business to China. The reason? Our competitors were outsourcing to China and drastically undercutting us.

Sure... the big-business customer gets a deal. But what happens when there's nobody left in America with jobs to buy these things... unless, of course, business tries to mimic China and completely eradicate the middle-class in favor of a factory/slave class and massive wealthy - and start selling products to overseas instead of to our own country.

If you really REALLY want to understand why we need a new push to develop American products and industry, may I suggest you watch the 1980s film "Ghandi". It was his plight to push India to self-develop in order to be free of England's dominance... one of those ways was to protest that India can self-produce their own products for themselves instead of purchasing goods from England. Most of his demonstrations were in essence to show defiance of English law, one was simply by walking accross the land to get to the sea to produce sea-salt... salt being then a product only sold to India by England.

[cz75fan]

Sure... the big-business customer gets a deal. But what happens when there's nobody left in America with jobs to buy these things... unless, of course, business tries to mimic China and completely eradicate the middle-class in favor of a factory/slave class and massive wealthy - and start selling products to overseas instead of to our own country.

This is the most awesome thing about Capitalism; it doesn't care. After all of the production is eventually shipped off, the domestic market continues to shrink until exactly what you said happens. However, given the production costs being so low, they then just focus on selling the products where they are produced. That's the reasonable theory anyway.

Unregulated Capitalism is just a locust swarm.

[semaphore]

well from an economic standpoint it is an issue, but that is a whole different discussion. competition should be welcomed.

A nation buying its own products is a competitive advantage on the world market.

[GennGreymane]

A nation buying its own products is a competitive advantage on the world market.

not at the cost of supporting inefficient companies. There is a reason people do not think to highly of American cars.

---------- Post added 2013-01-04 at 05:52 AM ----------

Oh wow... Genn, pull up a chair. We need to talk...

Ahem...

What's going on right now is basically an awareness of a growing problem. That problem is we're handing over our jobs to Chinese business owners who basically run sweatshop slave factories in order to give us cheap products.

People sadly are hating on China for a) taking our jobs and b) having VERY poor working conditions. Now, point A is a big problem to me, because China is not taking our jobs -but they're being GIVEN our jobs by American corporations.

Speaking as a Professional photo-retoucher for models and products, I can no longer find work as every single catalog company and printing press (that is not small business) has outsourced all their photoretouching needs to China. I once got a small-time gig working for a major online food distributor, and they bragged to me how they saved so much money by outsourcing all their photo processing to China. They don't have to pay insurance or minimum wage...

Even my last place of business closed down our shop due to outsourcing our entire business to China. The reason? Our competitors were outsourcing to China and drastically undercutting us.

Sure... the big-business customer gets a deal. But what happens when there's nobody left in America with jobs to buy these things... unless, of course, business tries to mimic China and completely eradicate the middle-class in favor of a factory/slave class and massive wealthy - and start selling products to overseas instead of to our own country.

If you really REALLY want to understand why we need a new push to develop American products and industry, may I suggest you watch the 1980s film "Ghandi". It was his plight to push India to self-develop in order to be free of England's dominance... one of those ways was to protest that India can self-produce their own products for themselves instead of purchasing goods from England. Most of his demonstrations were in essence to show defiance of English law, one was simply by walking accross the land to get to the sea to produce sea-salt... salt being then a product only sold to India by England.

*sits in a chair*
yes I am aware of the history of India. Isolationist economics and self sufficiency rarely works. Singapore is one of the best economies in the world. It started simply by getting investment from out side the country. Texas instruments was one of the first post colonialism. That is not Malay, or Mandarin (both common in singapore besides english)

[cz75fan]

not at the cost of supporting inefficient companies. There is a reason people do not think to highly of American cars.

Assembled and manufactured are two different things. It turns out a huge percentage of the parts are manufactured else where. They just happen to be assembled here. So in a way, we've been buying cars from Mexico, China, India, France, England, and god knows where else instead of from the United States.

[Harpocrates]

because china doesnt care about anything except money

[GennGreymane]

Assembled and manufactured are two different things. It turns out a huge percentage of the parts are manufactured else where. They just happen to be assembled here. So in a way, we've been buying cars from Mexico, China, India, France, England, and god knows where else instead of from the United States.

The American auto industry is notorious for inefficiency. Although it will change at least temporarily as they continue to recover from 2008

[mvaliz]

not at the cost of supporting inefficient companies. There is a reason people do not think to highly of American cars.

There was a time when American cars were considered pinnacle of standards. Competition has bred things to such a point where the only way American car manufacturers can make their products less expensive than their competitor is to simply cheapen the production cotsts or replace the workers with cheaper outsourced labor.

American Cars cannot go back to being quality if they're using Chinese labor, chinese parts and we're still pushing for this idiotic concept of "competition is better for everybody". It really isn't when you get into the long run... competiton CAN be good... but not to the point where you're sacrificing quality and employee lives in order for decreased profits/costs

[GennGreymane]

because china doesnt care about anything except money

Sounds like America

---------- Post added 2013-01-04 at 05:57 AM ----------

There was a time when American cars were considered pinnacle of standards. Competition has bred things to such a point where the only way American car manufacturers can make their products less expensive than their competitor is to simply cheapen the production cotsts or replace the workers with cheaper outsourced labor.

American Cars cannot go back to being quality if they're using Chinese labor, chinese parts and we're still pushing for this idiotic concept of "competition is better for everybody". It really isn't when you get into the long run...

Chinese cars and parts are notorious for being awful