While I do agree with your point on the racial issue(Some people dislike the Chinese simply because they are different) most non-democratic regimes are not prosperous, historically it has been the opposite no matter what idealogy they choose.

Nope, the people wanted Audis, BMWs, Benzes, Buicks, and Rolls Royces. The central planners also failed completely in estimating how fast the Chinese economy was going to take off.

Where I feel sorry for the Chinese is that their air in Northern China is now horrible. And if their economy had taken off 10 years later they probably would have explored hybrids, hydrogen, all electric, diesels, etc. etc. in order to avoid the pollution.

China could have been a world leader in alternate transportation ideas instead of just copying and getting themselves into such a mess.

I also feel sorry for us in the U.S. because some of that bad air in China reaches us.

Sure, there are other means of ranking freedom, but we no longer have it. The last country to require its citizens to sign in and out of the country like we do was Nazi Germany under Hitler.

That said, GM and Ford are going to get hit hard by this. And once again they should have seen this coming well before now.

And another issue, market reactions…

In 2004, Chinese motorcycles started to appear in Turkish market. You could buy a 2000 Honda CG125 or a new 150cc Chinese scooter at the same price, and while a new Honda CBR125 was 4500YTL, a Chinese copy was 2500YTL (1$=1.2YTL). Chinese bikes were quite terrible in quality, completely falling apart after 10k miles, but many people still selected Chinese bikes, and Japanese manufacturers lowered their real prices on small bikes (up to 250cc) about 30% in the following two years. In the last 4 years, more than 80% of these “Chinese-bike-importing-companies” went bankrupt, but some of the survivors have real good financial statements at the moment, even competing with Suzuki and Kawasaki in Turkey in total business volume.

This year Chinese Cherry car brand came to Turkey, we’ll see if it will be like motorcycle market…

I think you have missed the point.

America’s attitude toward the Chinese did not start with Mao. It started in the nineteenth century, culminating with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. This shameful piece of legislation, periodically updated and extended, was not repealed until 1943 (when the Chinese were our “allies”), and some would argue, it’s effects were not overcome until the Immigration Act of 1965.

As for your assertion that I have easily dismissed authoritarian rule, nothing could be further from the truth. I merely stated that China long ago ceased to be a “Communist” state, either in the Marxist or Soviet model. Capitalism and democracy are mutually exclusive properties of a society. Plentiful jobs and relative economic prosperity do not automatically or necessarily suggest China will become “democratic”.

I’m certain that even if China were to be miraculously transformed overnight into a democratic utopia on the model of Switzerland, the “average American” would display the same level of affection for them as they do for our Central and South American neighbors. Our current political rhetoric suggests only a fraction of “exceptional” Americans are willing to extend “respect and dignity” towards our fellow human beings.

So, while America certainly has no global monopoly on bigots, never forget that 1 – Racism was in American long before there was a United States, and 2 – It’s not gone yet.

America’s problem with the Chinese is far simpler. It called racism.

Accusing TTAC commentators (by extension) of racism is not allowed under our flaming rules. But it’s a borderline call, so I’m going to leave it and trust that our Best and Brightest doesn’t rise to the bait. Or if they do, they do so with the respect and dignity with which the average American feels towards his or her fellow man and woman, regardless of race, color or creed.

BTW, the “authoritarian rule” that you dismiss so easily is responsible for (literally) untold suffering and the suppression of those rights that you enjoy here, and elsewhere. Google is your friend, and a resource the average Chinese fully exploits at his or her own personal peril.

As for cars… although America automakers in China provide a decent workplace and a living wage, they are still helping to prop-up a non-democratic government. I understand those who see capitalism as a means to an end (democracy). I hope they’re right.

With a raging capitalist economy, every vestige of Communism, save for authoritarian rule, is long gone.

America’s problem with the Chinese is far simpler. It called racism.

I think people underestimate what it takes to retail vehicles here. Just because you are capable of getting a boat to a port in Houston doesn’t mean poof, you’re part of the market.

A better financial bet would be to invest in whoever supplies the Chinese with crash-test dummies…that must be a booming market, what with them constantly getting their heads sheared off by the steering column…

95% of rare earth minerals used in hybrid batteries of all descriptions, as well as used in modern hybrid electric (and electric car) motors comes from Communist China.

So when the price goes up for commodities for them, they simply raise the price of “what they’ve got to trade” even more.

Hence about 4 years ago, I dropped $500 into a penny stock which involves a company in Canada that has a massive 100% ownership of the only substantial NON-Chinese rare earths mining area, and bought a processing company in Michigan to boot. Of course, so far, my $500 has lost about $75, but I didn’t really expect to turn any money at all (and if one day, I do, it’s gravy). In other words, knowing full well that a penny stock is super-high-risk, I only put $500 that I could afford to completely lose.

But I put my money where my mouth was (in addition to also having bought a 2005 Prius and now a 2008 Prius).

Just in case anyone cares, the Canadian company in question is called Great Western Minerals, and also own prospective gold mines (another very high risk proposition).

And if fuel costs remain as high as they are (or go even higher) the costs of shipping cars from China to the U.S. will surely be passed on to consumers, further eroding the remaining price advantage.

Watch for Chinese auto makers to push harder to speed up the process of exporting to North America. Like within 24 to 36 months, as a guess.

Needless to say, if any of the 2.801 Detroit car ccompanies are still surviving, they’ll face one HHELL of a price competition with Chinese wages.