Ok, so we shouldn't allow monopolies. Good. We agree there. Then we should probably beware of becoming overly dependent on other countries, certainly totalitarian ones, for important products, don't you think? As far as corporations burning through money and rejecting profitability, that only lasts so long. Once they have the market share they desire, they will be making tons of money, charging us more while giving us fewer options and lower quality.
FYI. I am certainly not against all monopolies. For many natural monopolies I’ve no problem using (gasp!) price controls or (gasp!) having them run by the gov. I use municipal internet!! A nat. Mono would be something like garbage pickup or mail delivery, etc. where avg cost continuously declines as a function of volume
I take everything that you typed seriously. I am asking you if you are ok with the US government doing ALL of the exact same things you accuse China of, and doing them to the American people and not just foreign governments that are adversarial to the United States? China flies balloons over the US. Bad, I get it. Is that really that threatening compared to the US flying U-2s over China since the 1950s? Flying SR-71s over the entire globe and willfully and arrogantly and with impunity? China uses restaurants as spy offices. Bad. I get it. Is it that different than CIA operations centers in nearly every country on earth and turning out Chinese citizens against China? Finally, BYD creating an AI that is gateway for data collection. Reality check. Look at the mobile device in your possession. Guess where is was assembled. Guess who has been adding firmware backdoors into things for decades (besides the US government). Guess who already has your voice if you have ever spoken into your phone or spoken near your laptop. From the post you typed, the only one who is ignorant here is you. These things you fear will happen have already happened. We have looked in the mirror....and the enemy is me!!
Again, who's we? And what's an important product? I think theres a big difference between cheap electronics vs. missile defense systems or security drones. We are talking about consumer goods here, not critical security systems. For stuff I have to buy, my thinking is more "me" than "we" for the reasons I've laid out. When it comes to that stuff, I'm not a stakeholder in any of these manufacturers, so why should I care? If we nationalize Tesla and I get dividends, I will come around to your thinking on electric cars.
You know who 'we' is, so why ask again? I think we should protect certain industries, like EVs and green energy, from Chinese dominance, and you don't. Do you think it was a mistake for Germany to become so dependent on Russian natural gas? I do. But if it makes you happy, I'm fine with not placing tariffs on Chinese trinkets and plastic junk.
Should these substandard cars, in the video above, even be allowed to be driven on our roads? If Detroit is not legally allowed to make these death-traps why should the Chinese be given that right? Just based on safety concerns I would not let these cars be sold in the U.S.A..
Unless the Chinese can cut off our own electricity supply, I dont know what they can gain from EVs and green energy "dominance." If gas powers all my industry and heating, that would kinda suck to have to buy it from one place, because basically nothing works without it. But we are talking about electrical cars and solar panels, so unless they control the electrical grid in this scenario, what is the danger to me or to the US strategically? As long as my car can charge from electricity supplied by from GE or whoever, they dont have much leverage over me or the country. The electrical company has me more over the barrel than the Chinese. They are the ones that can make my Chinese stuff not work, not China.
Foreign countries have a right to be concerned about what goes on inside their own borders. The EU for example has regulations on the tech sector that are different than what we have here in our own borders. A nation’s stance on what foreign companies are allowed to do within their own borders is something each country decides for themselves. If they want to ban US smart phones or US technologies that is their prerogative. I have no issues with it. Whatever US companies have done abroad is irrelevant to the question of whether we should allow Chinese companies to do that here. It is a red herring IMO. If foreign countries are conducting business that threatens our national security, then we have the right to shut it down no questions asked. And other countries have a right to respond in kind. Even if the US has conducted spying activities you have to consider motive. We have been the only military super power for decades, and we did not use that power to invade neighbors like Canada, Mexico, Cuba, etc. We are not a nation with goals of world domination, or regional domination like China is. Communism has a long history and reputation for evil, one that should affect the backdrop of any analysis or equivalence when we make direct comparisons to the US. And that makes all of the difference in the world when evaluating these things.
Well unless you think we should just keep burning fossil fuels, a future world where we are totally dependent on China for green energy resources and products is the equivalent of Germany depending on Russia for its energy supply. But we're not going to agree and we've made our points.
China plans to attack our infrastructure in the future. If they designed all of the cars here, they would definitely have the knowledge to cyber attack our EVs in a war scenario. That is a national security issue.
Sigh. Right, the sun supplies the energy. In this scenario China just supplies the products to convert it and store it so we can actually use it.
Free trade = wealth CREATION = strong national security. I think people think of trade as somehow close to zero sum. It is far, far from that. Trade is the story of wealth.
Well if we let them put in a kill switch that makes your car stop working, then I guess we are screwed huh. If it makes you feel better, they should probably meet some kind of standard like not having a remote kill switch or be able to be bricked for them to be sold here, that's fine with me.
I heard there are little guys hidden in the junk they sell us just waiting for the order to KILL YOUR CHILDREN. We should just base all trade on the assumption that we will one day be attacked by the people who made it, just to be safe.
I can see from these responses that you are incapable of understanding the point or just will not response to it because you do not like it. My guess is you do not like the fact the US has done far more spying and data collection on YOU than China ever will and therefore you do not or cannot respond. Fine.
