this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2025
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China was a small fry then
Yes, which is why sending all the business to them kicked off the current imbalance.
Easy to say in 2025
It was obvious back then too.
Easy to say in 1970.
"Let's send the factories to another country. Then we won't have factories anymore. What could possibly go wrong?"
And we know they understood this, because they explicitly didn't outsource food production to another country. They subsidized local food production to keep it around.
By “they” you mean us?
I'm 1933 they knew the importance of keeping local industry alive https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/AgriculturalSubsidyPrograms.html#%3A%7E%3Atext=Modern+agricultural+subsidy+programs+in%2CAgricultural+Adjustment+Act+of+1933.
Yes, but the US doesn’t have a directed economy. Consumers and businesses choose where to manufacture their goods. The US does subsidize auto manufacturing, for example.
Subsidies and taxes are how they direct the economy, yes. It's not command and control.
But for national safety reasons, it's stupid to lose certain functions. Food is one of those.
To me, manufacturing capacity would've been another, but Reagan.
We have manufacturing subsidies. Theres a lot of space between ideal market and national security risk
We won the last two world wars with out producing everyone and engaging in attrition. Hey, let's outsource our manufacturing capacity so we can fuck over unions! What do you mean we're not prepared for a world war of attrition???
So it’s wrong that China manufactures everything, simply because we sent it all there?
No, Im saying its a free market and not a directed one