Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a really interesting generation gap issue in the replies to your comment. What I perceive as younger people are horrified at the idea of fifty year old tools while the older folks are thinking (I imagine) “if the tools have lasted that long they must be well-honed and very good”. Of course, this could simply be the perspective of someone turning 50 this year.
Less interested in America's expensive and slow manufacturing than in Chinese processes. They can retool faster, handle far more volume, and except for specialized industries (medicine, aerospace) their quality is better.
It's all fun and games when everything (your trains, your new bridges, your manufacturing process) is the brand new cool version. I went through that cycle (starting family, brand new house, new cars, new boat, high paying tech job working on early 2000s cutting edge tech). Our house was the cool house for a bit. Then is was just another house. Then is became a burden with maintenance expenses on top of the mortgage. I became a grey beard with legacy tech skills.
For China, what happens when things settle more? The market flushes out half the companies making the tools (there's tons of companies during the 'fill out' cycle, but at some point that slows/industry consolidates), or new product lines replace the old, now your factory is on borrowed time until the machines break down, you aren't the new hyped cool kid (I'm talking about you USA as a country/Ruby on Rail devs/Angular devs). Like with a new home, slowly your mortgage gets supplemented with appliance repair bills and other maintenance, what was cool and new is outdated and replaced with 'better'. China is doing good with robots, but what happens next gen when roboto/AI interaction is native built in. Does China scrap their entire 2025 robot infra and replace it with 2030s? Or does someone else gain the advantage of not having those 'legacy' slower to retool, slower volume Chinese 2025 robots/infra?
It's wild how smart people don't seem to understand basic cycles anymore. China is in a growth cycle and everyone is going to their 'new home party' and saying man this is all great (it is awesome. It is amazing how China went from poverty to current success, so many improved lives I love it) and we are acting like this is the first time someone bought a new home ever and the home will always be perfect and new and cutting edge.
Let's just celebrate that so much poverty and suffering has been eliminated in China, and wish them well and continued improvements especially as they transition from the generations that suffered to their newer generations without all that trama. That is also tricky to navigate for a society as life expectations become wildly different.