This is not going to be a post full of links and facts. I became agitated by a tweet on twitter asserting that Donald Trump was pretty much “full of it” when he declared China could produce a competitive fleet of aircraft to rival Boeing.
I’ve been there. China, that is. North, south east and west. From Beijing to Xian to Chongqing to Shanghai to Hong Kong. This is going to be a post of observations. First hand. And it ain’t pretty. And this was 2 years ago. Imagine what they’ve accomplished since.
I was there, in the plush hotel in Beijing when the “big one” hit. That devastating earthquake in 2008. It rocked the hotel 1200 miles from the epicenter. I turned on the news. All in Chinese. No good. Finally found CNN, 4 people died they reported. Our tour guide the next day told us FoxNews is not allowed in China, only CNN and then only in the tourist hotels. It was not until I came home 3 weeks later to find that 85 thousand people died. Yes, they tried their best to save people in the shanty towns and cardboard boxes, but then contrast that to below.
Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing are the power houses of the country. Beijing and Hong Kong financially, but Shanghai in industry and technology. The Communist hold over the citizens and the little pay they receive are readily apparent. Families vie for their 9 year old boys to be taken into the service of Communism. They rely mostly on coal for energy and don’t care about raping the environment. I’m all in favor of using coal for energy but after seeing the Three Gorges Dam and how they killed millions of flora and fauna, displacing millions with no regard to the environment it’s a different matter there. China, you could have done much better.
Shanghai in appearance looks just like NYC with small homes interspersed within the skyscrapers. China has a work ethic which in unknown in the US because they are under the hold of Communism and have no entitlements like here in the US. I used to teach “English as a second language.” Many of my students were Chinese, industry and technology. I asked them what would happen if the government-mandated “only one child per family” was not adhered to. Oh, one is shunned by the government. No pension, no retirement, you are a pariah.
In my visit to Beijing I needed some sunscreen because TSA in Chicago thought it was a weapon and took it from me. The manager of the Westin in Beijing personally escorted me to a pharmacy which was the only place he told me I could purchase sunscreen. It was $25 for a tiny, small tube. Can one imagine what birth control protection must cost in that country and how many babies are aborted by the coat-hangar/mail opener system??? Just to adhere to government mandates??
I visited the silk factories. Girls at the age of 6, 7 or 8 are put into service to make silk rugs for the tourists, at little or no pay. It takes them a year and a half to make these exquisite rugs which the government in turn sells to the tourists for $4-5 thousand dollars. I’ve seen the factories where they can churn out transistors, batteries, radios faster than Ford in Detroit can make a carburetor.
Right before Christmas a diarist here advocated “buy American” which I am all in favor of, however:
I got curious. I have a Blackberry and pulled the back. Made in Canada by RIM. OK, good deal. But the battery, the DC charger and the car charger are made in China. Not much good without the accessories. We had a devastating tornado here in June 2 miles from my house. We barely escaped. Five people died. I bought a weather alert radio for myself, my parents and my kids which would wake us up if there was a tornado. Works great. We’ve been to the basement several times. But made, you guessed it. China.
I took 8 Chinese domestic flights. Yes, at least at the time they did use Boeings. And the service was like it was here in the 70’s. Flight attendants dressed to the 9’s and food and liquor included at no extra charge.
I’ve heard jokes all week a la “Horton hears a Hu.” Except Hu is no dummy. And neither should we be. I believe China is absolutely capable of making an aircraft to rival Boeing.
Don’t underestimate China. They have 1.6 billion people ready, willing and able to take on the US. And they put people into service at 5, 6, or 7 years of age. Five times as many workers as here. And with them being our largest creditor stakes are extremely high.
My friends, the “enemy” is NOT at the gate. It is already well past the gate, it’s over the threshold and inside the front door.
What remains to be seen is how we fight it. Freshmen Congress, are you ready?
Crossposted at Red State
Crossposted at Procinct.net
