How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes. When I was working in engineering in the early aughts, we mocked the Chinese as being able only to copy American technology. Today, China is competitive with or ahead of America in key technology areas, including nuclear power, AI, EVs, and batteries.

We need to anticipate a future where China is equal to America on a per capita basis, but four times bigger. Is that a world where “Designed by Apple in California, Made in China” still makes sense? What will be America’s competitive edge in that scenario?

What seems most likely to me in the future is that the US will find itself in the same position the UK is in now. Dominating finance and services won’t mean anything when both the IP and the physical products are being produced somewhere else.

> Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes.

The vast majority of us were over that decades ago. Please catch up for the sake of all humanity.

Yesterday your vice president referred to the Chinese as "peasants".

No, he said “"We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants make”

He did not refer to all Chinese as peasants. China would like you think that though.

While it is true that Vance did not literally refer to all Chinese people as peasants, I do worry that such rhetoric will stoke the flames of racially motivated anti-Asian/anti-Chinese attacks.

I don't want to discuss whether he is genuinely racist; I think that's besides the point. Words can have a lot of impact, especially when uttered by a public figure in such a powerful position. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the Vice President of the United States to carefully weigh the consequences of his words before speaking.