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> it seems they've latched on to something that works better than even democracy and capitalism

Wouldn’t this just be plain old fashioned authoritarianism? America can latch on to this too, and we might based on how the Trump admin turns out.

▲ foxglacier 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

No. One required component is plain old fashioned oversupply of labor. America doesn't have that because all employable people are too rich. China also has an oversupply of skilled labor like engineers, in part because the threat of poverty is a strong motivator to get rich. America also lacks that which you can see in capable young people doing arts degrees with no thought to their future income because it doesn't matter - they'll still live comfortably even on minimum wage.

▲ throwaway2037 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

    > they'll still live comfortably even on minimum wage.

You made a few good points until this one. No one in the US is living comfortably on minimum wage.

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aurareturn 10 hours ago | parent [-]

It's relative. Relative to the rest of the world (and China), you can still live comfortably on minimum wage.

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rob74 8 hours ago | parent [-]

You can still live comfortably on US minimum wage if your cost of living is like in China?

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meiraleal 4 hours ago | parent [-]

What question is this? With a US minimum wage with China CoL you are rich.

	▲	throwaway2037 a few seconds ago \| parent [-]
		Definitely not in the major cities, like Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

▲ Epa095 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's not that life on minimal wage is comfortable, it's that we have been told for a generation now that 'just get a college degree and it will be fine'. Happily amplified by for-profit education investing a lot of money lying to young people (ads).

Ask your local waiter with a college degree if they would have studied something else if they got the chance. My experience is that many would.

	▲	meiraleal 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Ask your local waiter with a college degree if they would have studied something else if they got the chance. My experience is that many would. The problem of bad choices is orthogonal to the problem you are describing.

▲ rangestransform 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That’s an easy enough problem to solve if we had the appetite to solve it, why couldn’t we legitimize the roles illegal immigrants currently do right now with a Singapore style migrant worker program?

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aurareturn 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Probably because the average Chinese is far more skilled than your average illegal immigrant.

It's not just raw labor force. It's capable engineers, designers, architects, etc. How is illegal immigration going to solve this?

	▲	meiraleal 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The amount of skilled people wanting to migrate to the US is almost infinite (unfortunately). If the US decided to open 20million green card spots, they would be filled.

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throwaway2037 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

To be clear, I think that there is an existing, legal migrant worker programme. They do most of the non-automated farm work in Central Valley California. Also, the Singapore system is a bit ugly if you look closely. I hope the US can do better.

▲ meiraleal 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There is an estimation of 11-30 million undocumented immigrants in the US. The biggest difference is that in the US they are working on fast food jobs, house cleaning, babysitting. Different priorities.

▲ DiogenesKynikos 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If the Trump administration (or the Biden administration) tried to enact an industrial policy like China, I think they would fail. It's not easy, and plenty of authoritarian governments fail at it.