doglatine
22d ago
I do think a lot of the conversations that used to happen here have moved to TPOT and postrat twitter. It’s a great space and there are surprising number of present and former mottizens there. Mostly pseudonymous of course but occasionally it’s come up in PMs or via dogwhistles. The notable thing with Trace and Kulak is that they kept their pseudonyms constant between here and there. A lot of people either have separate aliases on twitter or just post under their real name. I’m still trying to figure out which of you here is JD Vance.
doglatine
25d ago
China has seen a massive increase in GDP and quality of life, as has the small segment of American society that has leveraged integration of new technology either directly into their industries or been able to exploit its integration elsewhere. And everyday American consumers have also seen a big increase in purchasing power thanks to cheap manufactured goods from China; the cost of textiles, consumer electronics, and household appliances has absolutely plummeted in real terms. However, lots of American industries have remained extremely stagnant in terms of productivity because they didn't/couldn't/wouldn't integrate new methods, so their purchasing power relative to the rest of the country and the rest of the world has declined.
doglatine
25d ago
A key factor is how productivity improvements are handled by legacy companies vs new entrants. The digital revolution probably didn’t change much for Ohio Widgets PLC, with its large unionised workforce and complex compliance requirements. For Shenzhen Widgets LLC, on the other hand, digitisation is essential for its ability to take customised CNC machined orders from anywhere in the world, translate them into Mandarin, and have them shipped anywhere in the world in 5 days.
Behold the thirdworldification of American politics. “If we make the country better off, our political opponents will probably benefit more from it than us, so better for us to continue looting and pillaging from our common legacy until the country dies.” The reason you balance the budget is because you actually care about your country and its long-term well-being.
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