United States

"Once upon a time, America, too, had the musculature of an engineering state, building mighty works throughout the country: lengthy train tracks, gorgeous bridges, beautiful cities, weapons of war with terrible power, and missions to the moon. George Washington was a general, the first of many national security types who appreciated the value of building. As a young army officer, Dwight Eisenhower spent two months driving, or, more precisely, juddering, from coast to coast on unpaved roads. As president, he built the Interstate Highway System. When the United States had surging population and economic growth through the nineteenth century, political elites agreed that its vast territories needed canals, rails, and highways. Some of the leading figures in the Progressive Era embraced social engineering—and they conducted enough eugenics experiments to prove it."

"Until World War I, the Bank primarily engaged in discounting trade drafts between France and the United States. It also profited from what would be called today foreign exchange and what was then known as the "gold points," a system that prevailed until the establishment of the Gold Exchange Standard, in other words, the universal acceptance of the gold standard. Another source of profits for Lazard house: managing a few private portfolios, few in number but well-chosen. Finally, it is probable that it was in these years 1900-1910 that it took its first stakes in industrial companie"

"They targeted salespeople and their managers only—not customer service, not marketing. •    They targeted mid-market companies, big enough to need systems to compete with market leaders in their category, small enough to be unable to afford the IT investment required. •    They focused on the United States only, in part to stay close to the customer, in part because the United States has always been the early-adopting country in enterprise software. •    They focused on technology-savvy industries, beginning with high tech itself, then moving into telco, pharmaceuticals, and financial services."

"In the 1980s, there was a term called "Japan Bashing." It refers to the bashing of Japan carried out by the United States and European countries, which were frustrated by the strong competitiveness of Japanese products. During the Toshiba-Kokom violation incident in 1987, a member of the U.S. Congress performed a performance of smashing Toshiba products with a hammer in front of the White House. A huge trade deficit with Japan was said to be the background. However, at some point, Japan was bypassed in politics and economics. It's "Japan Passing." Now, even that word has become a thing of the past, and it has come to be ridiculed as "Japan Nothing." Japan has become a country completely ignored by the world."

"The super single-item strategy strengthened consumers’ high brand awareness of Moutai liquor while creating ample and leisurely marketing and profit space for channel merchants. Globally, only Apple’s iPhone in the United States achieved similar success."

"This strategy rested on three key tenets: 1. Anders, borrowing a page from his former GE colleague Welch, believed General Dynamics should only be in businesses where it had the number one or number two market position. (This was strikingly similar to the Powell Doctrine of the same era, which called for the United States to only enter military conflicts that it could win decisively.) 2. The company would exit commodity businesses where returns were unacceptably low. 3. It would stick to businesses it knew well. Specifically, it would be wary of commercial businesses—long an elusive, holy grail–like source of new profits for defense companies."

"Rockefeller devised a more efficient way to accomplish the objec¬ tive he had failed to achieve through collusion. His new solution was to create a monopoly. By acquiring most of the oil refining capacity in the United States, the Standard Oil trust was able to manage supply to its benefit. Unlike monopolists in other industries of his era, Rockefeller did not exploit his position to extract artificially high prices from consumers. Instead, he managed prices with an eye toward reducing the gluts and shortages that formerly made the business so risky. He also kept prices low in order to discourage new competitors from entering the refining in¬ dustry. In the neat, orderly world that resulted, Rockefeller earned excel¬ lent profits through the efficiencies of operating on a vast scale. He further leveraged his market power, and fattened his profit margins, by extracting preferential shipping rates from the railroads. This particular cost saving had to be obtained covertly, through secret rebates to Stan¬ dard Oil."

"Over the past four decades, China has grown richer, more technologically capable, and more diplomatically assertive abroad. China learned so well from the United States that it started to beat America at its own game: capitalism, industry, and harnessing its people’s restless ambitions. If you want to appreciate what Detroit felt like at its peak, it’s probably better to experience that in Shenzhen than anywhere in the United States."

"It is almost uncanny how much the United States and China have been complementary of each other. It was no accident that the two countries established, for a few decades, an economic partnership that worked tremendously well for American consumers and Chinese workers. But on a political level, these two systems are a study in contrasts. While the United States reflects the virtues of pluralism and protection of individuals, China revealed the advantages and perils that come from moving quickly to achieve rapid physical improvements."

"It’s another of the ways that the United States and China are inversions of each other. Americans expect innovations from scientists working at NASA, in universities, or in research labs. They celebrate the moment of invention: the first solar cell, the first personal computer, first in flight. In China, on the other hand, tech innovation emerges from the factory floor, when a new product is scaled up into mass production. At the heart of China’s ascendancy in advanced technology is its spectacular capacity for learning by doing and consistently improving things."

"*Breakneck* is the story of the Chinese state that yanked its people into modernity—an action rightfully envied by much of the world—using means that ran roughshod over many—an approach rightfully disdained by much of the world. It is also a reminder that the United States once knew the virtues of speed and ambitious construction. Traversing dazzling metropolises and gigantic factories, *Breakneck* will illuminate the astounding progress and the dark underbelly of the engineering state. The lawyerly society has virtues, too, to teach China. Each superpower offers a vision of how the other can be better, if only their leaders and peoples care to take more than a fleeting glance."

"At the time of writing, Gibbs is going to market with the world’s first high-speed amphibious vehicles. He’s starting with three versions: the Phibian, a large amphi-truck designed, amongst other uses, for all-terrain search and rescue activities; the Gibbs Humdinga, a four-wheel-drive beast that can also skim across rivers and harbours; and the Gibbs Quadski, a cross between a high-speed quad bike and a jet ski, targeted at the recreational market, particularly in the United States. These are the first offerings from a series of amphibians that he plans to roll out over the next few years."

"“In the autumn of 1940, I was in Châteauroux, and Hitler had just lost the Battle of Britain. One of my American friends, Ben Smith, who had contacts with ‘Intelligence’, insisted, despite enormous difficulties, on coming to announce a crucial piece of news to me: ‘Now that Hitler has had to retreat,’ he told me, ‘a treaty will soon be concluded between the United States and Great Britain, providing, in the form of a lend-lease, American military assistance to the British.’ He explained everything he knew about the anticipated course of operations. Listening to him, I recalled this very true statement: the nation that controls the seas always ends up winning. From that moment on, I knew that the right choice was the Allies’. I told myself: let’s play it, and I made that choice and have always kept it.”"

"Wednesday, March 31, 2010 Nicolas Berggruen makes his debut as a guest columnist in The New York Times. Together with Nathan Gardels, he analyzes in the article "The Fault Lines Of Democracy" what he believes to be the flawed course of American democracy, which leads to the government's inability of elected politicians. The article is akin to a college essay and argues that China's politics are changing more dynamically and rapidly than those in America. Unlike China, it is stated, the United States is incapable of carrying out constitutional changes. The very thought of it is an abomination in Washington, Berggruen says. In conclusion, it says: America should soon start learning from China – naturally under Berggruen's guidance!"

"In the winter of 2000, a new opportunity arose to acquire a shipping company in serious trouble, the Canadian company misleadingly named Golden Ocean. It had sailed from a golden sea to a sea of defaulted loans, and on January 14, 2000, they threw in the towel and asked the United States bankruptcy court in Delaware for protection from creditors. Thus, the wrecked shipping company was given 135 days to sort out its enormous debt. And as is usual in such situations, the bleeding victim immediately attracted the attention of the financial sharks. Fredriksen had been following Golden Ocean for a long time because he considered it a candidate for acquisition. Bergesen also followed the death struggle with interest, but what John Fredriksen didn't know was that the shipping management at Bergehus was loaded with billions, ready to buy the Frontline fleet at a bargain if the company went under. The danger was not yet over, according to Bergesen, and therefore, they chose to let Golden Ocean pass without making a bid. But John Fredriksen was not alone in setting his sights on Golden Ocean. Again, he faced competition from a small firm that specialized in buying debt to leverage such situations. This time it was little Bentley International. The first clash in the battle between Fredriksen and Bentley came in March 2000. Then, Fredriksen bought one-sixth of Golden Ocean's debt, amounting to just over three billion kroner. The price tag was only 40 million kroner, but the status as a creditor gave the Norwegian shipowner a say in the fate of Golden Ocean, which controlled 17 large tankers (VLCC) and a fleet of 11 modern bulk carriers. The battle for Golden Ocean was tailor-made for Tor Olav Trøim and Tom Jebsen. This was their home ground, unlike usual shipping deals where the two shipowners on each side are the main men. Because when Golden Ocean went to bankruptcy court, the owners lost their power. Now, it was a multi-headed troll of creditors and lenders on Wall Street who decided the fate of the shipping company. For Trøim, this meant a series of meetings with bankers in New York. The effort was crowned with success at the end of May, when Trøim managed to persuade the other creditors to approve a plan to save the shipping company. Frontline was willing to enter with 33 million dollars in cash – or Frontline shares for 48 million dollars – to take over. At the same time, Frontline bought the VLCC "Tina" for 74 million dollars from Golden Ocean, thus gaining steering speed through the heavy seas. As a financial maneuver, Golden Ocean was by the book. Frontline issued three million new shares, and placed them with new owners through Fearnley Fonds and Enskilda. This way, the shipping company brought in the 33 million dollars that the deal cost. Among the new major owners was Fidelity – the world's leading asset management company. It would be the beginning of an adventure for both parties and meant a breakthrough for Trøim's work to make shipping palatable to the financial environment in New York."

"In 1973, inflation was starting to pick up, and the stock market was beginning to sag. If the economic cycle was on schedule, the downside of expansion was about to take hold. Sometimes, an event will accel- erate the process; for example, the demand for military hardware at the start of World War II lifted the country out of the Depression of the 1930s. Once again, war would play a role, but with the opposite economic effect. On October 6, 1973, Israel’s Arab neighbors attacked the Jewish nation. As Larry Tisch spearheaded a $25 million fund-raising drive to help Israel in what became known as the Yom Kippur War, Presi- dent Nixon committed the United States’ unqualified backing to Is- rael. For Nixon’s transgression, the oil-exporting Arab nations in the Mideast launched a devastating economic war by imposing an oil em- bargo on the West. The embargo was custom-made to accommodate the cyclical trend. It sent the price of a major inflation component soaring. Motorists lined up for hours at gas stations for the privilege of buying increas- ingly rare gallons of gasoline at two to three times the previous price. Consumer confidence was destroyed. Car sales plunged. Factories were shuttered. Unemployment climbed. Air went out of the stock market and its premium-priced Nifty Fifty. The inflation run-up forced inter- est rates higher. The first oil-shock recession was under way."

"Similarly, I came to believe that an institution like the RFC could still be used to promote the economic revitalization of such crucial national assets as Lockheed. A government agency should be formed, I felt, that would work with business and labor to supervise a national recovery program. In exchange for new capital, this agency could demand the management changes, the increased labor productivity, and the price disciplines that would be necessary to bolster American businesses and even its cities during the economic and social crisis caused by the current recession and oil embargo. I had found a disciplined and yet effective plan, I was certain, for the United States to make its way successfully through a time of financial uncertainty and emerge with confidence into a new, prosperous era."

""In addition, banks irresponsibly lent money in the United States to borrowers who clearly did not have the means to repay, charging exorbitant interest rates. And without taking into account the value of the collateral, which was generally lower than the loan amount." "When they realized that they were starting to have bad business, they securitized these loans and transferred the risks to the market. I have always believed that transferring risk is not a healthy operation. Creating a market for risk transfers, it was certain that it would end badly...""

"The earliest telenovelas were not revolutionary; they had already been presented on radio and were, after all, melodramas, a kind of fantasy. However, the government was concerned about the influence of that fiction and the potential threat to social stability. So was the Catholic Church. The concerns grew when it became evident that television would very soon become the principal mass entertainment medium, as was already happening in the United States. With television sets being manufactured in Mexico, prices were falling and sales increasing. The growing popularity of television also led the ailing film industry to join the attack against the new medium."

"In this new world of economic opening and globalization, initiated by transnational corporations and technology, which at times seems to be retreating to economic blocs and protectionism due to the force of historical subsidies, which even the most developed countries such as the United States, European Union, and Japan firmly have in place. Especially in the agricultural sector, individual and social insecurity leads to protectionism and isolation, while the struggle for markets and excessive competition, 89 Carlos Slim are a modern substitute for warfare instincts."

"After devoting his first couple of years to constructing streets in Vancouver, in 1916 Kaiser shifted his attention to work in the state of Washington. Kaiser had good reasons both to leave Canada and to return to the United States. The British Commonwealth was at war with Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany, and Canadians reacted more negatively to the Kaiser name than Americans did."

"“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” “London can take it.” “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.” Often his most stirring lines were in simple language, as in his February 9, 1941, broadcast addressed to the United States: Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and, under Providence, all will be well. We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job."

"Until the early 1990s, most bluefin tunas went to Japan, and for a while afterward, toro became extremely popular in the United States. However, when the IT bubble burst in the U.S., demand increased towards Russia, and now it’s China. Hearing about the destinations of bluefin tuna gives insight into where the economy is booming. I genuinely think bluefin tuna has become a global commodity. However, I still wish something could be done about the price. Bluefin has become truly expensive, making it hard for ordinary people to afford."

"Outside the three networks, Metromedia had the best station group in the United States, covering 25 percent of the U.S. population. I was astonished that it might be for sale. I told Murdoch that when I was at Paramount, we had tried to launch a fourth network and that, aside from the economics, our biggest hurdle was not having a big broadcast group to be the backbone of a network service. I told Rupert that if we could ever buy these stations, they could be the catalyst in my longtime dream to compete with the big-three broadcasters. There is no dog with hearing as sharp as Rupert Murdoch’s when opportunity calls. It took him less than a second to say, “Ha! Let’s go after this!”"

"Before we let anyone in, I walked it alone, stopping at every viewpoint and marveling at what we had wrought. Whenever I’m out and about watching people crossing that bridge, a bridge that connects a little island to a big one, seeing them so happy-faced both coming and going, I know for certain it was worth all the storm and strife we went through to create this oasis from city life. Two million people came that first year, and many more millions since. Someday, a hundred or more years from now, if there still is a New York, if there’s still a United States that hasn’t been blown to bits by internal or external conflicts, people might wonder how this ever got built, and I hope they’ll marvel at it in the same way I do whenever I see something unique that wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for one person’s imagination and will (and yes, wealth). And, also… a little craziness."

"He decides to implement a pilot project in his Sedico plant, and at the same time in one in China and the United States, where the glasses are produced in every part. It starts with the optician's prescription and ends with the finished product along a single production line, which also includes the lenses."

"Despite the criticism, the mega merger goes under the scrutiny of all the major global antitrust authorities without a hitch: approved by both the European Union and the United States, for example."

"In a small city like Ube, information is quite isolated. To get the latest fashion information, I often buy and read fashion and jewelry magazines. I travel overseas once a year, especially to see stores in Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. I was particularly inspired by the advanced retail businesses at the time, such as ESPRIT, BENETTON, GAP, LIMITED, NEXT, and other chain store brands. Initially, I participated in business study groups organized by the industry associations and went overseas with my peers. Later, I would go alone to the United States to purchase items like t-shirts and jeans; I also went to London, England to purchase t-shirts, jewelry, and antique watches."

""Only those who think big achieve big goals. For Wild, thinking big primarily means thinking globally. In the early 1960s, the company was still heavily focused on the German market. But early on, Hans-Peter Wild decided to expand worldwide. He conquered one country after the other. In 1994, in cooperation with Kraft General Food, Capri-Sun also gained market leadership in the United States for flexibly packaged fruit-containing drinks. "Thus, a quarter of a century after production started in Heidelberg, the otherwise usual path in the beverage market had been accomplished in reverse. The surprise was perfect: A refreshing drink from Germany had conquered the American market.""

"In March 1848, the discovery of gold reefs in the western United States, California, was reported in various publications. News quickly spread to the southern coast, attracting many villagers. In 1849, shipping companies in China published advertisements recruiting laborers to go to the United States for gold prospecting. The advertisement read: "The American people are the richest in the world, and they welcome the Chinese. Once you arrive in the United States, there are big houses to live in, high wages, good clothes, and food... Do not doubt, and immediately embark on the road to prosperity." (Wei Guanzhong, 1977: 1)"

"As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels saw clearly, the 19th-century business class created more massive and more colossal productive forces than all preceding generations together. Subjection of Nature’s forces to man, machinery, application of chemistry to industry and agriculture, steam-navigation, railways, electric telegraphs, clearing of whole continents for cultivation, canalisation of rivers, whole populations conjured out of the ground—what earlier century had even a presentiment that such productive forces slumbered in the lap of social labor? Each generation’s inventors and visionaries surpassed their predecessors. In 1843, the London public was invited to make its first crossing underneath the River Thames by a newly dug tunnel. In 1869, the Suez Canal saved Eurasian shipping traffic from rounding the Cape of Good Hope. In 1914 the Panama Canal cut short the route from Atlantic to Pacific. Even the Great Depression failed to impede relentless progress in the United States, which has always been home to the world’s most far-seeing definite optimists."

"The Newton group had been shunned by the rest of the company, like it was a spin-off. But this curse was partly a blessing. Asking to have the Mac assembled in Asia would be fraught with politics, but nobody really cared where the Newton was built. Baker had freedom. The United States, he says, was bureaucratic and already falling well behind Asia in cost and quality. “If you decided you wanted to contract companies in Asia or in the US, you would hear back from the Asian companies within a day or two,” he says. “Then you’d hear back from the US companies two weeks later.”"

"First conclusions, first precautions. To prevent the invention, quickly perceived in Clermont-Ferrand as one that will, once peace returns, outclass the Metallic and the Pilot, from falling into enemy hands, all the files are clandestinely routed to Spain and then sent to the United States and Latin America to be safe during the duration of the conflict."

"It is necessary to learn to distinguish between what is important and what is trivial. The shabby facades of Place des Carmes, the monastic offices with lime-coated walls, the outdated furniture, the pencil stub that must be returned to get a new one, the envelopes turned over and re-sent, the memos written on the back of unsold or misprinted road maps, the stamp “Michelin & Cie” instead of a personal signature, the business card without any mention of academic titles, decorations, or even functions—all of this must be forgotten, it is incidental. On the other hand, the cleanliness of the workshops, the purchase of the latest equipment, suggestions for improving productivity or making savings, that’s what’s important. This is what will advance the Company, allow it to raise its “temperature” (commercial penetration in internal jargon). In these immediate post-war years, Michelin is the first industrial company in France to acquire an electron microscope imported directly from the United States."

"Joseph Hartmann was a sixteen-year-old immigrant from Germany seeking fortune in the United States. In 1877 he started his business to produce suitcases and travel trunks at a time of huge expansion of the economy and transportation. The period between the wars allows the American company to reach its peak, eventually having over eight hundred models in its catalog."

"Greenberg also perceived that while the foreign policy establishment of the 1970s in the United States tended to think of the world in geopolitical terms, the world would increasingly be defined in geoeconomic terms. With that inspiration, he created"

"Complementing these executives and staff was a truly distinctive breed of AIG executive, epitomized by John Roberts, called the “mobile overseas personnel” or MOP. This group did service stints in numerous countries during their career, as many as 10 to 15, taking two-to-three year terms in each place. It was almost like the foreign service of the United States. They were corporate ambassadors who became legends within AIG. An experienced MOP could walk into any AIG office in the world, from Taiwan to Santiago, and know just about everyone. Having traveled widely, he could troubleshoot the thorniest problem successfully anywhere in the world, whether obtaining the release of colleagues captured by hostile governments or negotiating with customers perceived to have fabricated claims. The personality type could vary, from the diplomatic to the irascible, the elegant to the brusque. But they tended all to be wise, urbane, and multilingual—cowboys, pioneers, Indians, a cadre of colorful actors that made the company tick."

"BYD was founded in 1995 and is a private high-tech enterprise. At the beginning of its establishment, BYD had only 20 employees and was virtually unknown in Shenzhen, a city filled with many enterprises. However, unexpectedly, 14 years later, it developed into a high-tech private enterprise listed in Hong Kong. Now, BYD has built nine major production bases in Guangdong, Beijing, Shaanxi, Shanghai, and other places, covering nearly 7 million square meters in total area, and has branches or offices in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other places, with a total of more than 130,000 employees and total assets of nearly 35 billion yuan."

"Before I turned eighteen, I had already fled disaster three times, lived in six cities (Ningbo, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Chongqing, Shanghai), and changed schools ten times. I had experienced gunfire (Hong Kong) and bombings (Guangzhou, Chongqing), and crossed battle lines (from Shanghai to Chongqing). I had a carefree childhood (Hong Kong), and also tasted the impassioned life of a middle school student during the War of Resistance (Chongqing); still more, I tasted the sorrow of leaving home and country, not knowing when I would return (from Hong Kong to the United States)."

"In 1949, the United States stood at the pinnacle of prestige and authority. Only four years had passed since the end of World War II; it was the most important victorious nation, and also the only country whose homeland had not been destroyed during the war. Militarily, America’s army, navy, and air force had already displayed their might across battlefields around the world during the war, and it was also the only country to possess the atomic bomb. Economically, although its population accounted for only 5% of the world, its gross national product accounted for 40% of the world’s total. The standard of living of the American people at that time was unmatched by any other country: a U.S. worker’s wages for a few months could buy a car, and in two or three years could buy a house. Almost every household had a refrigerator and a washing machine, and many families were also purchasing the rapidly emerging television sets of that era. Employment among married women was still not common, so most families had only one working person, yet even a single salary could enable the whole family to enjoy a fairly comfortable material life."

"Raskob was an architect of the capitalist system. He was fascinated by the fl ow of money, the workings of the credit markets, the processes by which value was given to company assets, real estate, and stock prices. Without formal education, he drilled down into company reports and made himself a master of bond divestures and equity off erings. His interests were anything but academic. In partnership with the great industrialists and fi nanciers of his time he put his knowledge to work: buying up companies, leveraging investments, creating new pools of credit for both the rich investor and the middle-class consumer, reorganizing corporations, plott ing hostile takeovers, fi nancing skyscrapers, and channeling money into the political system. Raskob was one of a handful of men in the United States who created the credit revolution at both the elite and the mass level that fueled America’s spectacular, world-leading economic growth. 9"

"One might think that it’s not the end of the world for the United States to build gingerly and at extravagant cost; it is a rich country, after all. But slowness today risks global disaster. There is no way to achieve large-scale decarbonization without large-scale construction, of the sorts of solar, wind, and electrical transmission projects that China has been so good at."

"The United States must regain, at a minimum, the manufacturing capacity to scale up production that emerges from its own industrial labs. If it does not, continuing to value scientific breakthroughs rather than mass manufacturing, then it might lose whole industries once more—as it did by inventing the solar photovoltaic panel but relying on China to produce them. The United States likes to celebrate the light-bulb moment of genius innovators. But there is, I submit, more glory in having big firms making a product rather than a science lab claiming its invention. Otherwise, US scientists would once again build a ladder toward technological leadership only to have Chinese firms climb it."

"And which types of technologies the United States should pursue is also worth meditating on. Should it really go all in on artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, and other things that the Communist Party mocks as the fictitious economy? Or should it pursue the sorts of heavy industry that have long fallen out of fashion among American elites and out of favor among American investors?"

"China took up a lot of the dirty industries that the United States was happy to get rid of. In some cases, literally: Rare earth metals are not really rare. Processing them, however, demands enormous amounts of energy and water while spewing carcinogens into the atmosphere. Few parts of the Western world have the stomach for processing rare earth metals, which is why China controls this supply chain."

"At the same time, Americans should develop a bit more humility about their own technological capabilities. The sooner that the United States treats China as a peer worth studying, the sooner it can develop a new playbook for success. Chinese companies are currently beating the rest of the world in the production of electric vehicle batteries. So why not allow a few of them to build factories, as they are trying to do, in states like Michigan, and force them to give up their technology? The US government could force Chinese battery makers to transfer intellectual property in exchange for accessing the giant US market for cars."

"How can the United States do better? As a starting point, it could develop a better understanding of how China has grown into a technology superpower. If members of Congress continue to resort to the laziest explanations (“they’re just stealing all our IP”), then the United States will never grasp the importance of building up process knowledge. And it will fail to gain urgency to fix its technological deficiencies."

"[Batson has furthermore detected](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor382) a shift in Xi’s rhetoric on manufacturing. Previous Chinese leaders have talked about the importance of upgrading industry, which sometimes means limiting investment into labor-intensive or highly polluting sectors that China no longer needs. Xi has declared that China targets completionism, which means that not even “low-end industries” should move out of China. Rather than follow economic logic, in which production gravitates toward countries with lower labor costs—which the United States and other high-income countries have more or less accepted—Xi does not want industry to keep shifting around."

"Many of the United States’ most storied companies have been ailing. Detroit’s automakers, having limped along for decades, are now stumbling through the transition to electric vehicles. US Steel, General Electric, and IBM are shadows of their past selves. Intel, mired in cycles of blown product timelines and layoffs, went from a semiconductor trailblazer to a clear laggard behind Taiwan’s TSMC. After two of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets crashed in 2017, the company promised strenuous efforts to guarantee the safety of its aircraft. Then a door blew off midair in 2024. Boeing, like Intel, is constantly delaying the launch of long-planned products."

"Even the military-industrial complex looks challenged. The United States spends [nearly $1 trillion a year on defense](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor372), about as much as the next ten countries combined. The return on this investment is not clear. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine blew through several years’ worth of American munitions stockpiles in a matter of months, and American factories have struggled to scale up production. Fighter jets have faced enormous delays and cost overruns. The US Navy has reported that every single class of its ships and submarines is [one to three years behind schedule](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor373)."

"The results of the Chinese government’s unceasing interventions in the economy are at best ambiguous. [Economic studies have shown](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor378) that the recipients of Chinese subsidies have, on average, lower productivity growth. Xi’s aggressive promotion of industry has triggered trade wars with not just the United States but also many developing countries as well. China’s tech successes are no convincing demonstration that a wise state can plan the future. When the state shoves its weight around—forcing foreign companies to hand over technology, showering a favored sector with subsidies, injuring a firm while elevating another—it is often far from being helpful. The forced technology transfer agreements meant to prop up China’s state-owned automakers instead robbed their need to invest in their own innovative capacities. China’s automotive successes come from companies like privately owned BYD, which had no foreign partners, after the entrance of wholly owned Tesla forced the company to raise its game."

"One might think that it’s not the end of the world for the United States to build gingerly and at extravagant cost; it is a rich country, after all. But slowness today risks global disaster. There is no way to achieve large-scale decarbonization without large-scale construction, of the sorts of solar, wind, and electrical transmission projects that China has been so good at."

"Sometimes not even bankruptcy can stop an automaker from production. Zhido, a producer of small EVs, went bust in 2019; five years later, it had restructured, with government help, and [restarted its production lines](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor327). NIO Inc. was right on the brink of bankruptcy in 2020 until its home government of Hefei rescued it; the company has since turned around its fortunes and is once more shipping its electric vehicles. The United States offered extraordinary bailouts to Detroit automakers in the aftermath of the financial crisis. In China, local governments help companies out every day. As a result, few of the brands can achieve really big scale, and China has to depend on exports to absorb all the vehicles domestic consumers aren’t buying."

"Environmental reviews continue to delay renewable projects. In 2024, the United States had 42 megawatts of operational offshore wind production, 932 megawatts under construction, and an astounding 20,978 megawatts undergoing permitting review, most of which are [waiting on environmental analyses](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor339) to be completed. Meanwhile, China is building most of the world’s renewable energy. In 2023, while the United States [added 6 gigawatts](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor340) of new wind installations, [China added 76](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor341). That year, China built two-thirds of the world’s wind and solar plants, as well as [four times more than the rest of the G-7](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor342) group of rich countries put together."

"In 1957, the world’s first commercial nuclear plant started producing electricity in Pennsylvania. In 1991, China's first commercial nuclear power plant started producing electricity. By 2025, China caught up to the United States in the number of nuclear plants: fifty-five and fifty-four, respectively. Though the United States might restart a few decommissioned reactors, it has just one under construction. Meanwhile, thirty-one are under construction in China. The only US nuclear plant built in the twenty-first century took fifteen years and $30 billion. In August 2024, China’s nuclear authority [approved construction of eleven new reactors](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor303), which are collectively expected to cost the same amount."

"Even the military-industrial complex looks challenged. The United States spends [nearly $1 trillion a year on defense](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor372), about as much as the next ten countries combined. The return on this investment is not clear. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine blew through several years’ worth of American munitions stockpiles in a matter of months, and American factories have struggled to scale up production. Fighter jets have faced enormous delays and cost overruns. The US Navy has reported that every single class of its ships and submarines is [one to three years behind schedule](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor373)."

"The United States has immense advantages over China: robust economic growth, an expanding and more youthful population, innovation in digital technologies, a larger network of alliances, and more. But we need to recognize that the engineering state has a giant advantage: China can build. That will matter if the two countries ever decide, in an apocalyptic scenario, to go to war. No military can be powered by artificial intelligence alone; it will need drones and munitions. And the engineering state is better set up to produce these in overwhelming quantity."

"But there is hope for everyone. The most important thing that China and the United States share is a commitment to transformation. China is led by a Leninist party whose core aim is to mobilize society toward modernization. Its propaganda organs stage centralized campaigns of inspiration toward the centenary goal to achieve, by 2049, “a modern socialist country” and “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” The US commitment is more open-ended, inherent to the experiment to keep democracy going. That has been partly deformed, but we should revive the dream that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish."

"I am not saying, as Shakespeare’s Dick the Butcher snipes in *Henry VI, Part 2*, that “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” The system of checks and balances has been, and is, fundamental to the success of the United States. Since the government is capable of wielding terrible power, judges and the law are often the last and best hope against abuses. But the United States will not remain a great power if it caters primarily to the wealthy. Its failure to build enough has hurt working people and makes the country feel like a low-agency society."

"Lawyers enable some of the success of Silicon Valley. You can’t build companies worth trillions without legal protections. But lawyers are also part of the reason that the Bay Area and much of the country are starved of housing and mass transit. The United States used to be, like China, an engineering state. But in the 1960s, the priorities of elite lawyers took a sharp turn. As Americans grew alarmed by the unpleasant by-products of growth—environmental destruction, excessive highway construction, corporate interests above public interests—the focus of lawyers turned to litigation and regulation. The mission became to stop as many things as possible."