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by s73v3r_ 2991 days ago
"I think we need to be careful about attributing all of the China's success and splurge of VC funding to IP theft, hostile domestic market for foreign players, etc."

All of it? Clearly not. But it would be pretty disingenuous to claim that it's not related.

"With manufacturing in US hollowed out in last couple of decades"

The US is still the #2 manufacturer in the world.

"Why hasn't US achieved the level of digital payment smoothness that China has been able to?"

We've had credit cards for quite a long time.
2 comments
Latteland 2989 days ago
but in the crucial area of consumer electronics, ie cell phones and computers, the us seems to be far behind asian manufacturing (china & taiwan). Perhaps because of cost, I doubt much is made in the us. A quick search reminded me that the us is still a manufacturing powerhouse, depending on metric probably number 2, but I couldn't find much about specifics on where things are manufactured. It's a complicated world with intel designing cpus, at least to a large part in the us, but making them to some extent in other places.
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D_Alex 2990 days ago
>The US is still the #2 manufacturer in the world.

It is a clear #3 by population, so I don't know how significant that statement is.

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adventured 2990 days ago
It's very significant, because the parent claimed US manufacturing had been hollowed out. That hasn't actually occurred.

The Fed's measurement of real manufacturing output is 70% higher than it was 30 years ago (the population is merely 1/3 larger).

Further, manufacturing is booming in the US. [1] In China it has been barely expanding for years, and that's despite China supporting their manufacturing base with vast state subsidies that have generated extreme over-production in things like steel.

The US has a perpetual cheap energy advantage over most of the rest of the world that is helping to spur that manufacturing boom. Natural gas prices are typically half that of the rest of the developed world or lower, as are electricity prices (US electricity costs are something like 35% that of Germany). Then throw on top the substantial corporate income tax cuts that will bolster manufacturing income margins.

The US outlook for manufacturing is brighter than it is for all other major economies. [2]

[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ism-manufacturing-gauge-hi...

[2] http://fortune.com/2016/03/31/united-states-manufacturing-ch...

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