When It Comes to China, Google’s Experience Still Says It All

Of course there are advantages to planned economies. In the 60s, the US was absolutely terrified that the Russian command economy gave them overwhelming advantages that we couldn't compete with.

And If you went to school in the early 90s you'll remember that there was a real fear that we'd have to start going to school on Saturdays to keep up with the Japanese.

I can almost guarantee that in about 30 years, we'll have a panic about India.

>I didn't say they built the tallest building in the world. They built a 54 story buildings and five story buildings are certainly realistic.

Never said you did. My argument is that the company is essentially a propaganda machine, as evidenced by their repeated claims (and failed attempts) that they are going to build the world's tallest building.

>The whole "they cheat" meme is part of every criticism of China.

I'm not making a moral argument about China. I'm telling you the reason that they can accomplish many of the things that they are accomplishing is because they aren't restricted by the same rules.

They can have cheap factories because they don't have strong labor laws, and they don't have strict emissions controls.

The thing is though, all of that will end as their standard of living increases. It's already happening. People are tired of living in smog, so they are introducing stricter emission controls. People aren't living like rural peasants anymore so they are demanding higher wages.

As these things happen, growth will slow. Sure they're GDP will eclipse ours one day, so will India's most likely, but it's going to take a lot longer than naive extrapolation predicts it will.

"This is not to say that Chinese government regulation drove Uber’s deal with Didi, which was clobbering Uber in the ride-sharing market; in fact, Uber felt it was treated fairly by a government interested in transportation innovation. According to reports on the ground, Didi used its local knowledge to act more nimbly in satisfying Chinese customers.

...

Google’s retreat came in 2010, so it’s fair to ask whether those regulatory issues still exist.

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To be fair, the American marketplace has not exactly been a fertile ground for Chinese internet companies hoping to break in. Though many of the really big players — Baidu, Alibaba, TenCent, WeChat — have moved on from clone-ish beginnings and actually come up with important innovations, none have made an impact here. But that’s due more to a lack of resolve than any regulatory barriers."

'“Economically counterproductive tariffs have artificially made solar panel prices in the U.S. the most expensive in the world,” Shah said. CASE was formed to represent most of the U.S. solar industry against the petition.

Solarworld AG, a German company with a factory in Oregon, persuaded the Commerce Department in 2012 to apply tariffs on imports of solar cells from China.'

One common theme is completely exaggerated fines leveled against foreign companies. Look at the banks: while doing very little to punish U.S. banks (if you take net transfers into account) who where without a doubt the main culprits in the sub-prime crisis and thereby causing a global financial crisis, the U.S. almost exclusively punished foreign banks - and with that also foreign tax payers - for wrong doings like dealings with countries the U.S. dislikes, etc..

Another striking example is the fines imposed in Volkswagen. While it certainly was immensely stupid to cheat on the emission test, the fines are completely over the top: $16b and counting. After every state and agency is through with VW, it might be $30b or more. At the same time, U.S. car companies that caused actual casualties with there shoddy engineering are left of the hook with a slap in the wrist.

Some sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/12/22/isnt-it-s...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/business/dealbook/volkswag...