Western Executives Shaken After Visiting China

@#3 ... Well, it's not going to. ...

I do not disagree.

Are corporations making factory investments for the next decades going to look more towards industrial robots or human workers?

And, fwiw, I often drive past the original site of Unimation (at 23 Shelter Rock Lane in Danbury, CT) the original factory robot company.

Unimation
en.wikipedia.org

... Unimation was the world's first robotics company. It was founded in 1962 by Joseph F. Engelberger and George Devol and was located in Danbury, Connecticut.[1] Devol had already applied for a patent an industrial robotic arm in 1954; U.S. patent 2,988,237 was issued in 1961.[2][3][4] ...

Then there's this ...

Firms make old buildings suit needs of new users (2004)
www.newstimes.com

... In Danbury, the Rodenstock building on Kenosia Avenue, the former Unimation factory on Shelter Rock Lane and the former Davis Geck factory on Casper Street have been overhauled.

"They're recycling buildings in Danbury for a number of reasons. The location is good, and there isn't an abundance of industrial or commercial land available. The buildings are already zoned for commercial or industrial uses," said Stephen Bull, president of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce. ...

They're already sunk.

I posted a thread a while back about how South Korea can build a ship and know the delivery date, and the US Navy was in awe.

But as usual it was while Biden was in office and Lumpers like Gaslighter said nothing trying to defend Biden, now you care.

You aren't an American, you're party first, America last.

Its sad, try to educate you guys, but you never listen.

@#5

Jimmy Eat World - The Middle (Acoustic Version) (2001)
www.youtube.com

genius.com

...
[Verse 1]
Hey, don't write yourself off yet
It's only in your head, you feel left out or looked down on
Just try your best, try everything you can
And don't you worry what they tell themselves when you're away

[Chorus]
It just takes some time
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride
Everything, everything will be just fine
Everything, everything will be alright, all right

[Verse 2]
Hey, you know they're all the same
You know you're doin' better on your own (On your own), so don't buy in
Live right now, yeah, just be yourself
It doesn't matter if it's good enough (Good enough) for someone else

[Chorus]
It just takes some time
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride
Everything, everything will be just fine
Everything, everything will be all right, all right
It just takes some time
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride
Everything, everything will be just fine
Everything, everything will be all right, all right
...

Don't worry....pedo47 is making coal great again....for the owners of the mines....not the actual workers...f**k them.

Pedo 47 lets the Heritage foundation write his policies. Heritage gets it's funding from fossil fuels. That is why oil and gas subsidies continue while renewable energy subsidies were killed by the big bulls**t bill.

The US has issues with power plants. Data centers are taking and will take more power. China had already taken steps.

Its great having laws to protect. It is also a hindrance to power plant creation.

Sooner or later,a choice must be made.

Ford is such a price gouger on parts it disgusts me as a tradesmen.14 dollars for 2- 6mm x 19mm grade 5 zinc plated bolts.Grade 8 cad plated are 30 cents a piece at hardware store.Ford can't pay more than a dime a bolt wholesale ,if that, since they use billions a year.

The US has issues with power plants. Data centers are taking and will take more power. China had already taken steps

#9 | Posted by Petrous at 2025-10-17 09:27 AM | Reply | Flag:

I'm sure their weak environmental laws helps them a lot.

What do we expect when protectionism meant to prop up profit margins because all decisions are centered around maximizing share holder value every quarter is the name of the game?

Despite all the blathering about innovation and creativity, domestic companies don't do much of either and what they do do is usually pretty superficial at best.

I watched a YouTube video a while back where an economics professor broke down why Teslas dominate in the US and why they're so pricy.

It basically boiled down to the maintenance of a false market propping up demand and prices relative to Chinese produced EVs that are superior and cheaper.

I am old, same age as Trump, but unlike Trump I care about America and its future, both as a democracy, and as a home for the many who are at the bottom of the income pyramid.
I have given up that in the few years left to me I will see a government at the national level that is dedicated to reason and kindness and health for all. We are dominated by a Republican Party aching, just aching, to take from the poor to the give to the rich. When the core of today's Republican Party is full on racist misogynistic bullies, little will be done.

Hmm. Maybe communism is the future.

"The competitive reality is that the Chinese are the 700-pound gorilla in the EV industry," Farley told The Verge last month.

The Ford CEO admitted he's already gotten a personal taste of what's out there.

"I don't like talking about the competition so much, but I drive the Xiaomi," Farley added. "We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago, and I've been driving it for six months now, and I don't want to give it up."

''
Make America China Again!

We are well on our way to drone and DNA surveillance already... not to mention One Party Rule, so I won't mention that.

China is a beautiful country with some very good people, and they have at least a bit of control over their Billionaires, where ours are living the Oligarch Dream.

So, replacing people with robots because of the declining population is the future? Isn't a lack of jobs what causes the population to decline in the first place? Chasing the bottom line is racing us lowly humans to the bottom. The trillionaires will be fine, though, with their robots

China did something America will never do.

Take money from their billionaires and invest it into their nation.

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"There are no people " everything is robotic" ...
Other executives recalled touring "dark factories" that don't even need to keep the lights on, as most work is being done around the clock by robots.

They shouldn't have been surprised, if they followed what's actually been happening. Most of them probably weren't, which is one of the reasons for outsourcing.

The problem in the US is that the left and MAGA right are treating manufacturing as nothing more than "good-paying jobs" programs, which is has long stopped to be, and failed to see that real "manu-facturing" has become "auto/robo-facturing." If/when money is provided by government as grants, loans or contracts, it's always described in terms of how many "good-paying jobs" it will create in construction and manufacturing.

Add to that the red-tape of federal, state and municipal government approvals and NIMBY environmental requirements, increasing cost of labor, as well as massive energy infrastructure required (with EVs, cryptos/blockchains, "AI" and "cloud" datacenters, in addition to increased residential and commercial demands competing - and raising prices - for electricity) that investment in "renewables" couldn't deliver inexpensively on industrial/utility scale, and it's not surprising at all that we are not where we need to be to be competitive in many aspects of economy.

For example, in 2023 China installed 276,000 robots; USA installed 38,000.

And China is no longer nearly as competitive in labor cost as many East Asia or East European countries, so companies have been moving some production to Vietnam, India and other countries.

#17 | Posted by ClownShack at 2025-10-19 07:54 PM
China did something America will never do.
Take money from their billionaires and invest it into their nation.

That's just ignorant - If you'd been to China, particularly Shenzhen or Shanghai, you'd know that in many respects China is more "capitalist" that current US.

The government of China has over-invested in and overbuilt many stupid make-work projects, and real Gen-Z unemployment is very high.

Chinese billionaires are doing very well, despite Xi's crackdown on Deng Xiaoping's "exuberant" trade policies that made China a lot more competitive in the world.

America Cannot Lose the Robotics Race - AH / a16z, September 26, 2025

|------- ... The United States was able to win the key industries of the twentieth century for reasons not so dissimilar to why China is winning now: a dynamic and open market, sometimes combined with strategic government support, created epochal American companies that unleashed immense economic value - from Boeing and Lockheed to IBM and Intel. But now we are undermining our historic advantage. Not only are we failing to thoughtfully modernize regulations created to address yesterday's challenges " before we faced the prospect of a global competition with China - but some policymakers are busy adding new barriers, like administrative requirements for AI startups or restrictive copyright proposals at both the federal and state levels. China is doing everything they can to ensure that they win the industries of the future. The same cannot be said for the United States. ...
-------|

In China these are not driven by stupid "industrial policy" like Trump's/Biden's here in the US, it's now mostly in the hands of companies that made their owners billionaires and millionaires.
__________

- "industrial policy" like Trump's/Biden's here in the US, it's now mostly in the hands of companies that made their owners billionaires and millionaires.

Hey, Musk, Theil, too many other Billionaires to name, are werkin' hard to catch up!

And Trumpers make some of the best robots out there!

China is definitely successful as a capitalists' economy... but when the young people start starving, they have a tendency to go all pitchforks and such.

@#18 ... The problem in the US is that the left and MAGA right are treating manufacturing as nothing more than "good-paying jobs" programs, which is has long stopped to be, and failed to see that real "manu-facturing" has become "auto/robo-facturing." If/when money is provided by government as grants, loans or contracts, it's always described in terms of how many "good-paying jobs" it will create in construction and manufacturing. ...

An excellent observation.

Yeah, when Countries negotiating trade "deals" speak of investing in US factories, they are not talking about creating jobs for workers.

They are talking about creating jobs for those who apply and place robotics in factories, replacing the workers.

"Not only are we failing to thoughtfully modernize regulations created to address yesterday's challenges"

Government is closed, that's the extent of Republican solutions to modernizing regulations.

@#18 ... The government of China has over-invested in and overbuilt many stupid make-work projects, and real Gen-Z unemployment is very high. ...

Also, an excellent observation.

China's internal economy is, I'll be kind, having issues.

But the China external (export) economy still seems to be quite strong, and that seems o be what is helping China along nowadays.

"And China is no longer nearly as competitive in labor cost as many East Asia or East European countries, so companies have been moving some production to Vietnam, India and other countries."

That was what Silk Road was about.
Trump destroyed that deal because it was that n----- Obama who did it.

__________
#23 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-10-20 08:41 PM
That was what Silk Road was about.

What are you talking about?

By "Silk Road" do you mean BRI / Belt and Road Initiative?

It pretty much failed bigly due to both long-term "debt traps" and bad "risk management" on the part Chinese government...
Just like most centrally planned "industrial policy" initiatives, or so-called "Five year plans" in communist countries.
.

Trump destroyed that deal because it was that n----- Obama who did it.

What Obama "deal" with China did Trump destroy?

www.pbs.org - Obama administration acknowledges Pacific trade deal is dead - 2016-11-11

And what does China's rising labor costs relative to some other countries have to do with BRI or any "deal"?

#21 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-10-20 08:39 PM
Government is closed, that's the extent of Republican solutions to modernizing regulations.

Government will reopen soon after Trump will beat his own previous record of longest shutdown - 35 days.

And what does it have to do with "modernizing regulations"?

What have been Democrats "solutions to modernizing regulations"?

You mean Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been or will start working on when the government will reopen?

They'll just get right on that?
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