Quote:
Originally Posted by John21
Well “overall good” for whom and by what metrics is a big issue. But in an economic sense China is screwed. Their only out was to monopolize the tech market; after their “China 2025” plan leaked out, fat chance of that happening. Everyone is fixated on what the right hand is doing but take a glance at what the left is up to:
Remarks by Vice President Pence on the Administration’s Policy Toward China
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings...-toward-china/
I'm pretty bearish on the Chinese economic future, at least as far as taking over the world is concerned, but they are and will remain a long way from the days when their GDP per capita was $300.
And by "overall good" I mean humans generally. On some time scales it may not be clear what the environmental impact is, but in the long run I think China and India progressing as rapidly as possible towards a wealthier modern technologically advanced state will be good. The alternative is not them remaining in the pre-industrial age for a long time, but prolonging the worst of the industrial revolution along with population growth.
Even if you mean US 'Muricans only by "overall good" it's still probably for the overall good. Only if you mean a limited sub-set of 'Muricans is it maybe not for the "overall good" and a value system that places a modest negative impact on a small group of people still more than an order of magnitude richer than average over the lives of more than a billion people is awful.
Last edited by microbet; 01-21-2019 at 07:33 PM.