Did the USSR ever manufacture 80% of the stuff in your house?

JumpCrisscross 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Did the USSR ever manufacture 80% of the stuff in your house?

China makes about a third of the world’s stuff [1]. Soviet Union probably peaked around a fifth, though it might have been as high as a fourth.

China is undoubtedly stronger today, absolutely and relative to the U.S., than the Soviets ever were. But history is littered with self-obsessed autocrats ruining a good thing.

Part of what makes the world today frustrating is both America and China are squandering their advantages in remarkably-similar ways, with each regime’s defenders speaking almost identically.

[1] https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/china-worlds-sole-manufacturi...

	▲	alephnerd an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> Part of what makes the world today frustrating is both America and China are squandering their advantages in remarkably-similar ways, with each regime’s defenders speaking almost identically. Personalist rule be personalist. Also glad to see you also appear to recognize our "Wolf Warrior" moment.

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iancmceachern an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah but they don't design the stuff

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NoMoreNicksLeft 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If they had manufactured 80% of the stuff in my house, wouldn't Reagan have concluded that they had won the war before it started? A country that manufactures 80% of the things you need to live might just decide to not sell them to you if you misbehave.

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smallmancontrov 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Yes, but the real question is if Reagan still would have pushed as hard for financialization and deindustrialization if he understood that he was ultimately selling American industry to communists.

I think he would have. I think he hated American labor more than he hated foreign communists. If his head were still around in a Futurama Jar to comment on the matter, I think he would be blaming American workers for the consequences of his own policies.

	▲	triceratops 14 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> I think he hated American labor more than he hated foreign communists Ironic, considering his own history as a union leader.
	▲	chrisco255 an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Reagan didnt push for deindustrialization and "the world is flat" world view didn't take precedence until after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 90s. At the time, everyone was still optimistic that China would eventually become more open and even democratic, that Russia would not regress, etc. It was still common for electronics and microprocessors to be made in USA well into the 90s. Reagan had nothing to do with the expansion of WTO and trade deficits with China that ballooned under HW, Clinton, Bush Jr and Obama.