
America owes China $1tn. That’s a problem for Beijing, and Trump knows it - dberhane
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/09/us-owes-china-billion-dollars-problem-beijing-trump-knows
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koolba
I just had a shudder seeing a headline like this on HN. This is the crap you
see on /r/politics.

The article itself isn't that bad either but I guess even the Guardian has to
compete with eye catching headlines now too.

~~~
mac01021
What headline would you prefer? This one seems to me to accurately describe
the thesis of the article.

~~~
koolba
The contents vs. the headline aren't that off in this case but the general
trend of phrasing all headlines in a gossip style is off-putting. If you
replace the names and amounts in the headline with celebrities it reads like a
Hollywood divorce article from the National Enquirer.

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X-Istence
The US consumer is the one that will be paying for the tariffs if they ever
come.

Which country would US consumers even purchase from instead? Mexico? Who even
manufacturers stuff cheap enough for most US consumers?

~~~
dragontamer
The idea is for Trump to encourage manufacturing to grow in the US.

There are regulatory hurdles to making a manufacturing plant in the US
however: minimum wage, safety regulations, etc. etc. So it will be more
expensive if made in the USA.

Alternatively, things can become like the Car industry. Where certain parts
are manufactured outside the US, while the final car is manufactured inside of
the US. Toyota has a major presence in the US.

I'm not saying I necessarily agree with it, but it helps to understand at
least why Trump's supporters support Trump.

~~~
tedd4u
'Q:What does China's competitive edge look like in practice?'

'A: One example from The Times article: When Jobs decided just a month before
the iPhone hit markets to replace a scratch-prone plastic screen with a glass
one, a Foxconn factory in China woke up about 8,000 workers when the glass
screens arrived at midnight, and the workers were assembling 10,000 iPhones a
day within 96 hours.

'Another example: Apple had originally estimated that it would take nine
months to hire the 8,700 qualified industrial engineers needed to oversee
production of the iPhone; in China, it took 15 days. Anecdotes like that leave
you "feeling almost impressed by the no-holds-barred capabilities of these
manufacturing plants," says Edward Moyer at CNET News, "impressed and queasy
at the same time."'

From: [https://theweek.com/articles/478705/why-apple-builds-
iphones...](https://theweek.com/articles/478705/why-apple-builds-iphones-
everything-else-china)

~~~
thomastjeffery
Don't forget that changes has a billion more people.

~~~
thomastjeffery
s/changes/china/

For some reason I can't edit the obvious mistake I made.

~~~
grzm
Likely you unfortunately just missed the end of the two-hour edit window.

~~~
thomastjeffery
Shucks. TIL.

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patrickg_zill
If you owe the bank 10,000, you have a problem.

If you owe the bank 1,000,000,000, they have a problem.

~~~
tree_of_item
Yes, we read the article.

~~~
devmunchies
no i didn't.

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HillaryBriss
if there was ever a president experienced at playing chicken with a large
creditor and coming out alive, it's Trump.

of course, giving the US a reputation for something resembling default
probably won't be a good thing in the long run.

and i'm sure there are ways any large creditor could "encourage" the election
of US politicians which favor the return on capital above other priorities.

------
cylinder
Default is not an option for the US. Most economic growth the last decade has
been from deficit spending. State and local pensions are headed to
catastrophic ends soon, and will need bailouts with federal dollars. Losing
deficit spending would bring the US to its knees. This is all rubbish.

