Well it’s also a fundamental difference in worldview. China see’s producing things people need until people don’t need them anymore as the obvious thing to do. The west sees it as a problem. Because the western economic model relies upon scarcity. Without scarcity it breaks down. It’s why we have the ability to produce way more food than people could ever eat, and yet people still go hungry.
China on the other hand is doing abundance economics. They see no problem having an abundance of goods. That’s a useful, and good thing.
Take gold. Lets say suddenly every person on earth had a big ass bar of gold appear in front of them. The price of gold would plummet, the west would be freaking out trying to do things like confiscate it, and throw it in the sea or something. China would be like “Ok great we can use this for industrial purposes the government will buy it all at a fair price from our people, and store it for when we need it.”
Because the west is fundamentally scared of a post-scarcity economy. Their model breaks down then. It’s why they don’t really like renewable energy too. It’s not just an addiction to oil. Though that is part of it. It’s also the fact that renewable energy doesn’t rely upon some scarce resource they can profit off of. And it’s not centralized. Anyone can have a solar panel. Poor people can produce their own electricity! And not pay for it perpetually! It’s basically their worst nightmare.
For sure, capitalism requires artificial scarcity to keep up prices which is another reason why western industries focused on keeping production at levels where the highest profit can be extracted.
I do think it’s funny how originally the west assumed they would be leading the renewables transition and reap the profit from it. Then as soon as it became clear that renewable energy infrastructure will be built in China, any pretense of giving a shit about the environment evaporated over night. All of a sudden all the western governments are doubling down on fossil fuels and are banning solar panels and windmills from China.
Well it’s also a fundamental difference in worldview. China see’s producing things people need until people don’t need them anymore as the obvious thing to do. The west sees it as a problem. Because the western economic model relies upon scarcity. Without scarcity it breaks down. It’s why we have the ability to produce way more food than people could ever eat, and yet people still go hungry.
China on the other hand is doing abundance economics. They see no problem having an abundance of goods. That’s a useful, and good thing.
Take gold. Lets say suddenly every person on earth had a big ass bar of gold appear in front of them. The price of gold would plummet, the west would be freaking out trying to do things like confiscate it, and throw it in the sea or something. China would be like “Ok great we can use this for industrial purposes the government will buy it all at a fair price from our people, and store it for when we need it.”
Because the west is fundamentally scared of a post-scarcity economy. Their model breaks down then. It’s why they don’t really like renewable energy too. It’s not just an addiction to oil. Though that is part of it. It’s also the fact that renewable energy doesn’t rely upon some scarce resource they can profit off of. And it’s not centralized. Anyone can have a solar panel. Poor people can produce their own electricity! And not pay for it perpetually! It’s basically their worst nightmare.
For sure, capitalism requires artificial scarcity to keep up prices which is another reason why western industries focused on keeping production at levels where the highest profit can be extracted.
I do think it’s funny how originally the west assumed they would be leading the renewables transition and reap the profit from it. Then as soon as it became clear that renewable energy infrastructure will be built in China, any pretense of giving a shit about the environment evaporated over night. All of a sudden all the western governments are doubling down on fossil fuels and are banning solar panels and windmills from China.