| 1. But the reason US labour costs are higher is because the US has a legislated minimum wage that is much higher than any equivalent the Chinese have. The US has a massive population of poor people that could otherwise have been employed at the same rate as the Chinese. One of the explicit points of minimum wage laws is that they prevent Chinese-style sweatshops. People bring that up less these days though since those sweatshops ended up bringing wealth to China. 2. If you pick one of the studies linked in that article, you'll see that Xu & Wiener conclude "the US written rules were more stringent for risks of toxic chemicals and most air pollutants, whereas China's written rules were more stringent for risks in agriculture" [0]. I think that supports my theory that US particulate air pollution is lower because of environmental regulation. 3. > That seems like a leap when China is installing a lot of nuclear and solar energy. Yes they’re also still building coal plants but that’s intended to be as a backstop for solar until they build enough nuclear capacity. The US has effectively banned nuclear power, so we're still talking ideology for that one. The vast, vast majority of China's energy comes from fossil fuels [1]. 4. > I’ve noticed Tucker Carlson does the same thing... I don't know why you're criticising style but leaping straight to someone who is highly successful in his field as a comparison, but sure. If only millions of people would take my opinions seriously! [0] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/risa.13797 [1] https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/china |