This is a surprisingly good article. Fairly neutral in its framing and numbers based.
It does a good of explaining how China is integral to the AI boom, particularly in the quite literally "nuts and bolts" of data centers including insulated wires, low voltage protection equipment etc. The article doesn't go into all the cooling equipment that China dominates including heat pads and heat exchangers without which, all those GPUs melt in minutes.
While China is still the workshop of the world in the sense that a company overseas is still able to outsource manufacturing, that same factory can now be counted on to also do the design. You have an idea for a product but have no idea how to even assemble a prototype? Well, that company in China can also help you design it.
The other change is the rise of indigenous Chinese brands (DJI, BYD etc) that are able to compete globally not just because of subsidies, but because they are hugely integrated. BYD is something like 75% vertically integrated, compared to 30-40% for a company like Ford.
Another change is the rise in the number of Chinese developed IP. In a reversal of the direction of this flow that has existed for decades, Western companies are now licensing Chinese developed IP. Some recent examples of this include the cross licensing deal between Qualcomm and Huawei and Astra Zenecca cross licensing cutting edge cancer meds like Sunvozertinib from Dizal (Astra Zenecca is now selling the same medicine in teh US for 10x the prices to Americans, but I digress).
The fact that Japan's and USA machineries had steady decline is catastrophic. Uncontrollable Oligarchy needs to stop period.
China didn't steal jobs. Greedy fat fucks did.
Edit: was listening to Chinese Americans on Podcasts explaining why EU and American companies move to China. One of the biggest reason was/is, they don't have to pay employees health insurance. China has universal Healthcare and private insurance is optional. Those companies save billions over there.
All for the low price of destabilizing the USA and destroying the broad economic prosperity for the country. Now the .1% profits while everyone else eats shit. What a great decision it was!
We let Wal Mart pricing power, as they grew in size and competition dwindled locally, dictate our entire economy, from top to bottom.
People were motivated by cheaper prices for everything. It couldn’t be Made in America for long, which was the tagline Wal Mart was so proud of as they rose in dominance.
Many of you don’t recall the time when brick and mortar stores were so prevalent, way more than now. You have had Amazon and others like them to order from for the necessities of life for 20+ years now. In the 1980’a and 1990’s, we didn’t have that option. I turned 16 in 1991, and worked for KMart as a stock boy. We were the only competition to Wal Mart as they grew, in the household items space. For groceries, there were still many options, but that has dwindled too.
How is this supposed to be an economics sub if people don’t understand comparative advantage? The world outsourced manufacturing to China because it’s cheaper to produce, yes, and that’s because people want things at low prices. It’s the same reason why France imports heavy machinery from Germany. France could make heavy machinery for itself, but it would be more expensive, so they import it. It’s also important to remember that 20 years ago, the US liked China. Back then, Americans viewed China with similar favorability ratings to how they view South Korea today. Should we be cutting off trade with South Korea? No, you don’t know the future.
Gotta love Western capitalism, where we’re incapable of looking further ahead than the next fiscal quarter while China plans decades into the future. Do people really think any of this will end well?
Typically yes. It's also increasingly common seemingly that public healthcare is underfunded but if you have a job you have access to private healthcare through your company insurance. Thus is technically not that dissimilar from the US, but more available to all classes of working people rather than only a more privileged few.
Worth noting that when Europe had better public healthcare and services wealth taxes and the like were also common, and of course private healthcare wasn't profiting off the sector so much, so this is all a pro-business liberalisation.
While it is true that technically a slim majority have some form of company health insurance, even decently well off Americans seem to regularly run into problems with healthcare costs, not being able to pay them or insurance not covering them in practice, so qualitatively I am sceptical that it is up to European standards even for much of the 60% or so.
This is not correct. Most American employees have company subsidized healthcare with good coverage and co pays and deductibles that are well within what people can afford. The horror stories you might have heard, while indeed horrible are about a very tiny minority.
You live in a state of delusion bud. My household income is 200k+ and my family has been rationing medical care for 15+ years. Out of pocket costs are insane, a single office visit with labs can exceed 1000$. We only utilize urgent care centers to control costs, and we only do specialist check-ins every 3rd year despite most recommending a yearly review.
^ That's life for a family in the top 10% income bracket. Employed by a Fortune 500 with 'great' coverage, of which our monthly premium co-pay keeps rising.
Soon I'll retire and face monthly insurance premiums of 2,000$/month for at least 8 years. Something only a multimillionaire can do in this country ( retire early )
Completely broken system, and you're completely wrong. Polling shows I am in the majority of Americans who ration healthcare.
I get healthcare, it’s directly tied to the amount of hours I work per quarter. Bare minimum hours (36-40/wk) = bare minimum coverage. I have also worked at a small company that wasn’t required to provide health insurance at all since there was only 15 of us. Last time I worked a job with half way decent insurance was for a large corporation and it was a fucking miserable experience and not worth it. Also, you are still paying for your healthcare plan when you have a job on top of your out of pocket expenses
Yes, and it varies from province to province. Some provinces’ citizens are provided with an annual allowance and if they overspend they pay out of pocket. Plus, in some situations the annual allowances have been reduced due to economic slowdown.
Oh no all those EU countries with universal health care must be exploding with job growth then right? Oh wait you list them as a major mover of jobs to China?
Hmmm maybe it’s not just health care benefits and greedy people. Maybe it’s comparative advantages in a global economy where countries advance enough that industries cannot be efficiently competitive in a global market.
No no it’s got nothing to do with the largest pool of cheap labor sitting in a resource rich country with more than a century of experience being the world factory before the WWs by virtue of the above and its location.
I'm Chinese live in china wtf this channel is. Looks like random propaganda shit.
In China company have to pay the so called universal healthcare. Although most local china company illegally don't pay it but foreign company in china as serotype pay that shit.
Thats why its pretty important to not trust every single podcasts , alot of misinformed people a bit like saying North Korea is Democratic without actually digging into the front and as we all know it is not democratic even a bit.
And the one you quote from is literally a chinese propagandist.
>
public health insurance generally only covers about half of medical costs
Oh cool, in the U.S. a previous employer offered that level of coverage to me (50% co-insurance, only usable after a $7,000 deductible) at a cost of $12,000/year.
So your anecdotal evidence is a horrible health insurance plan, followed by some straight-up whataboutism?
And then you use the US as a comparison, a country that doesn't even have universal healthcare?
Fine, let's look at the Netherlands.
They have universal healthcare. Insurers cannot refuse people because of pre-existing conditions, and the government determines what the basic package covers.
The average premium is around €157 per month, with a mandatory annual deductible of €385.
That's what universal healthcare looks like.
You can't argue that healthcare is affordable simply because procedures cost five times less in China when people also earn five times less.
What matters is affordability relative to income and whether getting seriously ill can financially ruin you.
And Cyrus Janssen is a disgusting example of someone pushing claims that simply aren't true because he doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds him.
You talk about universal healthcare in the Netherlands but then go on to include health insurance prices? Universal Healthcare doesn't require insurance. Also it's completely pointless to base your whole point on one example, over 70 countries have universal Healthcare and it works differently country to country. The USA has some of the most expensive and worst healthcare outcomes.
But the US has never claimed to have universal healthcare... China, on the other hand, claims to have universal healthcare, and it simply doesn't.
In the netherlands if you get sick you don't have to worry if you get cancer because even if you can't afford to pay it the goverment will cover it .
In the end, it's Chinese propaganda, making it seem as though healthcare is well taken care of in China and that you don't have to worry if you get sick. Meanwhile, if you get seriously ill and don't have the money to pay for treatment, you will die. It's really that simple.
Here this is the defintion of the WHO about universal healthcare:
Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.
In China there is financial hardship so it simply isnt universal healthcare like the GTR claims because he listens to a chinese propaganda parrot.
50% percent coverage is good enough because the price isn't so inflated to bankrupt people without insurances. FYI, a CT scan costs 100-300 RMB in China but 1000-3000 dollars in US.
Congratulations, you've compared the price of one diagnostic procedure and somehow think you've proven an entire healthcare system is affordable. The US doesn't even have universal healthcare. Let's use the Netherlands instead.
Everyone is covered by mandatory basic health insurance. In 2026, the average premium is €157/month, with a €385 annual deductible.
So tell me, how affordable is that CT scan to someone living on 179 RMB a month?
Do you genuinely believe cancer treatment, major surgery and long-term medication consist of nothing more than a CT scan?
Healthcare being cheaper means very little if people also earn substantially less.
The question is whether ordinary people can afford the treatment they actually need without risking financial ruin.
Cherrypicking the price of a CT scan isn't an economic argument. It's avoiding the bigger picture.
And we both know that repeating talking points without doing the basic purchasing-power calculations isn't exactly what an economics subreddit is for but you earned your 50 cent.
I get it, it's simple, Chinese people are simply poorer than you westerners. A poor country cannot pull money from thin air to provide free CT scans for everyone. A poor country should have lower life expectancy, that's a reality. But can the same amount of money, whether it be insurance or saving money, can get you better service and keeps you alive for longer? That's the comparison.
>50% percent coverage is good enough because the price isn't so inflated to bankrupt people without insurances. FYI, a CT scan costs 100-300 RMB in China but 1000-3000 dollars in US.
Those are your words, not mine. You have turned this into straight whataboutism.
I'm simply pointing out that people in China also face financial ruin when they get seriously ill.
That is the entire point: cheaper healthcare doesn't automatically mean affordable healthcare. And 50% coverage hardly supports the claim that China provides universal healthcare.
I despise people who spread chinese propaganda and unlike in China here we have freedom of speech where i can just grab basic facts and show that its factually incorrect what they are claiming.
PS: The US doesn't claim universal healthcare ;) , so compare it to countries that do else your nothing more then a wumao.
Cool the point that you get more at comparative cost is still true. You're fighting arithmetic at that point. Additionally, our healthcare is more expensive AND has worse outcomes.
You're arguing arithmetic while ignoring purchasing power.
Yes, healthcare procedures are cheaper in China. But incomes are also considerably lower. If patients still have to pay a substantial share out of pocket, cheaper treatment doesn't automatically mean affordable treatment.
You're comparing nominal prices while ignoring what people can actually afford relative to their income.
And that's precisely the point you're missing. Cheaper healthcare doesn't mean much if getting seriously ill can still financially ruin you.
Here i already posted it here but so tiresome how badly most of you are informed.
I was a healthcare professional. I'd rather get cancer as an urban dweller I. China or Europe than in the USA. We have poor outcomes while being more expensive.
And before someone starts arguing about participant numbers, approximately 180.39 million people were actually receiving benefits under the resident scheme in 2024.
That's roughly 180 million people receiving a basic pension of around $28 per month.
Let that sink in.
When you tell me healthcare is cheap in China, I suggest you first consider what 200 yuan a month means to someone who has spent their life working in rural China.
A CT scan costing 200 yuan might sound incredibly cheap to someone earning a Western salary. But for someone whose monthly pension is also 200 yuan, that's an entirely different economic reality.
The price of a service means very little without considering the purchasing power of the person expected to pay for it.
Your perception of affordability, as someone earning a Western salary, has very little relevance to the financial reality of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens.
Yeah… the reason definitely was/is lower labor costs, but it has nothing to do with some dogshit universal healthcare system. Labor rights in China were/are basically nonexistent by Western standards. You can’t unionize or organize for shit, and in some cases, a worker’s death in a factory accident might cost the company as little as $20K USD in compensation. Life is cheap there.
If the goal was reduce labor cost alone, they could have gone with most other 3rd world countries that are still developing. Chinese labor is no longer cheap, but it is worth it because the productivity is very high.
And productivity is high because they’ve spend the last 30 years building out the infrastructure to manufacture. Nobody else can currently do it like them.
You are comparing apples to oranges. What you believe is a union in the United States, the ACFTU is a Government apparatus embedded within companies to ensure social stability and harmony.
Feel free to chat with some members and get a sense what collective action they can pursue.
Unions are illegal in China, as they have been in most socialist countries.
The fiction is they don't need a union because the government is their union.
This is obviously terrible because the government treats them as expendable labor, hence the poor working conditions.
If you had tried to read your own link then you would have realized the link is broken and you would have seen that the China Federation of Trade Unions is run by the government
> The ACFTU is managed by the CCP Secretariat.
and is not a real union.
> The ICFTU [the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (now the International Trade Union Confederation)], noting that the ACFTU is not an independent trade union organization and, therefore, cannot be regarded as an authentic voice of Chinese workers, reaffirms its request to all affiliates and Global Union Federations having contacts with the Chinese authorities, including the ACFTU, to engage in critical dialog. This includes raising violations of fundamental workers' and trade union rights in any such meetings, especially concerning cases of detention of trade union and labor rights activists.
Trade unions organize workers against capital within the existing political economy. Under socialism, their function necessarily develops to include participation in economic administration and political power.
Nobody is arguing against workers organizing. China explicitly recognizes workers' right to organize and join trade unions. What it prohibits is organizing unions outside the ACFTU system. Dont assume liberal institutions are the universal standard against which every socialist institution must be judged.
> You can join a "union" as long as your boss runs it.
Forget the religious mumbo jumbo. Your workers have no power. They cannot strike. They cannot organize to oppose management. They cannot protest terrible working conditions.
But they get free suicide nets, so I guess that just about makes up for it.
The link isn’t broken, I’m sorry you couldn’t figure out how to click it.
their issues with the all China trade union has nothing to do with the political differences between the Marxist-Leninist approach and the syndicalist approach, I’m sure. Perhaps when the western governments have wrestled control of their state away from the capitalists, they will understand the Chinese method more acutely.
Feel free to keep back peddling your initial claim in the meantime.
Amazon literally only has to pay a few thousand every time an employee dies. Life is even cheaper in America . Amazon had to pay 9k for a worker death in California. Just like 7 thousand for a worker death in Indiana,which the state gov even reversed so that Amazon had to pay nothing .
America is so unequal, most Redditors have no clue how blue collar workers are treated . White collar us professional workers have incredible privilege and the worlds best salaries. Meanwhile blue collar workers are treated like disposable slaves and have to piss in bottles and have absolutely zero rights and can be fired in seconds. If a white collar worker gets hurt it’s millions in some lawsuit but if a blue collar worker literally dies no one gives a shit and it cost the company pennies and you’re replaced the next day. I worked at some prison and they boasted about the $7500 insurance payout If I loose a fucking limb or die.
7k fine in Indiana for amazon worker being crushed to death. For a multi trillion dollar company. And Amazon still appealed and didn’t even want to pay that paltry sum.
“According to OSHA records, Amazon, which earns hundreds of billions in revenue each quarter, was slapped with a $7,000 fine, the maximum penalty in the state, even though Indiana regulators found that the warehouse could have done more to fix or manage hazards that were "causing or likely to cause death," the Post reported.
"There's no real financial incentive for an employer like Amazon to change their working environment to make it more safe," Stephen Wagner, an attorney based in Indiana, told the Post.”
Also I was wrong, case I mentioned where Amazon ended up paying nothing was another worker death in Indiana. Amazon paid literally nothing after they decided to blame the worker and the state gov just went along with it. The governor made the paltry fine go away as they were competing to get Amazons 2nd headquarters. Now that the Feds took over Indiana OSHA due to that incident , companies have to pay a max fine of a whole $7k for each worker death! Instead of zero. As seen in the more recent incident. I’m sure that will really teach these multi trillion dollar corps a lesson!
Indiana law also prevents these workers and their families from suing their employer due to a OSHA safety incident. So the families of these dead workers get absolutely nothing. Zero compensation costs. Most red states are like this. And most states have laws preventing employees from suing for workplace injuries.
There’s so many examples of Amazon paying almost nothing or literally nothing that it’s hard to keep track. Your life has no value here.
Also only 10% of American workers are unionized , only 6% for non government workers. Vs 44% for China. You can’t unionize for shit in most red states. They’ll just fire you.
America is also the world’s only country without any mandatory paid maternity leave, paid time off or sick leave. Life in America is practically free if you’re working class/poor.
You are comparing apples to oranges. The $7k is an OSHA fine, not compensation to the family. Workers' comp is already in place to cover that, and it's the reason workers generally can't sue their employer. In China, many companies don't pay the required work injury insurance. As for the 44% union rate, the only legal union is the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is controlled by the CCP. 😂
That’s part of a whole though, plenty of other countries have cheap and “expendable” (gross i know) labor but chinese labor is also well educated, has a strong industrial base, and accessible (urbanized)
“Uncontrollable oligarchy needs to stop.” That’s a normative statement, but how? Where do we start? Corporate greed isn’t a flaw; it’s a design. Even putting aside political realities and assuming we have unlimited legislative power, which doesn’t exist in the real world, do we just abolish the foundation of the capital market, which is to maximize returns for shareholders? What’s its replacement? If social goods, how do you quantify that and avoid the stagnant, inefficient communist past that China itself ditched some 50 year ago? Speaking of oligarchy, if the complaint is they are too big and powerful, should we go for stricter antitrust enforcement and break ‘em up? That also means a much weaker Tesla, meta, or Microsoft that wouldn’t have captured global markets like they did. I’m not looking to argue. I see the flaws in the American system. But I’ve thought long and hard and genuinely can’t think of a way to “fix” it.
You stop it be hampering networking effect. That is bigger you are, faster you can swallow everyone else. Yes there isn't a single magic solution but it can be achieved.
This is the real answer - as someone who is beholden to shareholders, you have to do what it takes to increase earnings or you’re fired. It’s the nature of the system. Capitalism works only to the extent you have strong regulations keeping the greed in check. Unfortunately those regulations have gotten paired back in efforts to continue stocks rallying. And those were lobbied for by corps. To me, the best place to start is to get rid of citizens united, ban congress from investing or owning anything other than index funds, and give them term limits. That way they won’t be incentivized to vote for corp regs so that they stay in office and get kickbacks and outsized returns.
The statement misinterprets Chinese medical‑insurance statistics.
1. Within the national medical‑insurance drug/service catalogue, inpatient reimbursement rates stand at around 84% for employee insurance and 66‑70% for resident insurance, far above 50% .
2. The “roughly half‑of‑total‑cost” figure mixes catalogue‑covered expenses and fully out‑of‑pocket items such as imported special drugs and premium consumables. It reflects fund share of overall spending, not reimbursement rate for eligible treatments.
3. China operates a three‑tier security system: basic medical insurance, critical‑illness insurance, and medical assistance. For severe and chronic diseases, critical‑illness insurance provides additional reimbursement after basic insurance; vulnerable groups receive further assistance, instead of getting lower‑level coverage .
I'll let my friend know, who begged me last year to pay for her dad's cancer treatment, that I was incorrect according to you , i dont think it will bring her dad back to life but im sure she will love hearing that a wumao is spouting propaganda.
Universal Healthcare... if you can afford it.
Stop acting like China is like the Netherlands, where you pay a very small fee and then, if you get cancer, you're taken care of. It simply isn't true, no matter what propagandists like Cyruss Janssen want you to believe , its alot more like America where even if you have health insurance you can still expect to get royally screwed unless you have ample savings.
The reason Chinese people save like crazy is precisely because, if you get sick, you're royally screwed in China. And I won't even bring up the red envelopes, but that's another part of the problem.
Worker greed need to be stop too if you are want to complete with China. Please do not complain longer hours, 1/0 day per week rest, union bursting, low wage, safe workplace first ,if you are working in factory. You can easily look up how the giant factory worker is being treated online, even CNC operators are not making good money unless you are a boss.
Edit: also you can't talk to your coworkers on the line, constant AI camera surveillance to check what you are doing, and more
The capitalists? Never mind the capitalists. They'll slit each other's throat to sell us. The rope we will use to hang them with. This quote is attributed to one of the famous Communists. I don't remember which one, but it certainly applies in this context.
Most manufacturing is robotic and only increasing. Companies could come back to the US in the future if strong supply chains and cheap power (the US has neither) existed.
Financialization and Stock Buybacks: In the 1980s and 1990s, corporate focus shifted toward maximizing short-term shareholder value. Legal changes, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission's 1982 adoption of Rule 10b-18 (allowing large-scale stock buybacks), encouraged companies to use cash for inflating stock prices rather than reinvesting in domestic plants, research, and workers. 
Companies moved factories to countries with cheaper labor and developing infrastructure—such as Mexico, and later China (accelerated by China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001). High domestic production costs made labor-intensive goods like clothing and basic electronics much cheaper to produce overseas.
Economic Shift to Services: As tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the broader U.S. economy naturally transitioned from a goods-producing base into service sectors like healthcare, education, and technology.
For a while already both cheap and quality goods have been made in China. However, the difference now is that quality goods coming out from China are stamped with Chinese brands, for example, BYD, TCL, and DJI. “Made in China” is no longer something to conceal but to be evident.
>China’s factories are booming, buoyed by generous government subsidies aimed at keeping the economy ticking over until policymakers resolve a long-running property crisis and consumers, whose wealth is tied up in housing, feel confident about spending again.
Does writer live in a cave?
Also weird to mention iRobot died due to “competitors like Picea” since before acquiring the former they were OEM to more more established brands in the US.
The democratic world is in crisis. With the exception of South Korea, the manufacturing sectors of other major nations are losing their competitiveness to China and continuing to collapse. It seems the time has come for the EU to seriously consider expanding its reach beyond Europe—even into Asia.
ratbearpig | 9 hours ago
This is a surprisingly good article. Fairly neutral in its framing and numbers based.
It does a good of explaining how China is integral to the AI boom, particularly in the quite literally "nuts and bolts" of data centers including insulated wires, low voltage protection equipment etc. The article doesn't go into all the cooling equipment that China dominates including heat pads and heat exchangers without which, all those GPUs melt in minutes.
While China is still the workshop of the world in the sense that a company overseas is still able to outsource manufacturing, that same factory can now be counted on to also do the design. You have an idea for a product but have no idea how to even assemble a prototype? Well, that company in China can also help you design it.
The other change is the rise of indigenous Chinese brands (DJI, BYD etc) that are able to compete globally not just because of subsidies, but because they are hugely integrated. BYD is something like 75% vertically integrated, compared to 30-40% for a company like Ford.
Another change is the rise in the number of Chinese developed IP. In a reversal of the direction of this flow that has existed for decades, Western companies are now licensing Chinese developed IP. Some recent examples of this include the cross licensing deal between Qualcomm and Huawei and Astra Zenecca cross licensing cutting edge cancer meds like Sunvozertinib from Dizal (Astra Zenecca is now selling the same medicine in teh US for 10x the prices to Americans, but I digress).
GTR_11 | 12 hours ago
The fact that Japan's and USA machineries had steady decline is catastrophic. Uncontrollable Oligarchy needs to stop period.
China didn't steal jobs. Greedy fat fucks did.
Edit: was listening to Chinese Americans on Podcasts explaining why EU and American companies move to China. One of the biggest reason was/is, they don't have to pay employees health insurance. China has universal Healthcare and private insurance is optional. Those companies save billions over there.
A_Brown_Crayon | 12 hours ago
Yep. Western capitalists gleefully shipped entire manufacturing bases to China for short term profits.
Full-Sound-6269 | 9 hours ago
Well, 60 years is what Id call long term profits.
Gvillegator | 8 hours ago
All for the low price of destabilizing the USA and destroying the broad economic prosperity for the country. Now the .1% profits while everyone else eats shit. What a great decision it was!
Early-Ad277 | 9 hours ago
Yeah we are talking about decades of inflated profits. I'm sure these people are still pretty proud of their results.
082426grateful | 6 hours ago
We let Wal Mart pricing power, as they grew in size and competition dwindled locally, dictate our entire economy, from top to bottom.
People were motivated by cheaper prices for everything. It couldn’t be Made in America for long, which was the tagline Wal Mart was so proud of as they rose in dominance.
Many of you don’t recall the time when brick and mortar stores were so prevalent, way more than now. You have had Amazon and others like them to order from for the necessities of life for 20+ years now. In the 1980’a and 1990’s, we didn’t have that option. I turned 16 in 1991, and worked for KMart as a stock boy. We were the only competition to Wal Mart as they grew, in the household items space. For groceries, there were still many options, but that has dwindled too.
CreativeFig2645 | 8 hours ago
I mean we also just let them, capital controls (like the kind China has) would help with that but it’s “too authoritarian”
AvocadoAlternative | 7 hours ago
How is this supposed to be an economics sub if people don’t understand comparative advantage? The world outsourced manufacturing to China because it’s cheaper to produce, yes, and that’s because people want things at low prices. It’s the same reason why France imports heavy machinery from Germany. France could make heavy machinery for itself, but it would be more expensive, so they import it. It’s also important to remember that 20 years ago, the US liked China. Back then, Americans viewed China with similar favorability ratings to how they view South Korea today. Should we be cutting off trade with South Korea? No, you don’t know the future.
dust4ngel | 51 minutes ago
opposing the economic dismantling of our country doesn't require misunderstanding comparative advantage.
Gvillegator | 8 hours ago
Gotta love Western capitalism, where we’re incapable of looking further ahead than the next fiscal quarter while China plans decades into the future. Do people really think any of this will end well?
Accidental-Genius | 5 hours ago
It will end with war, like it always has.
nacho_lobez | 11 hours ago
EU companies have to pay employees health insurance?
GalaXion24 | 9 hours ago
Typically yes. It's also increasingly common seemingly that public healthcare is underfunded but if you have a job you have access to private healthcare through your company insurance. Thus is technically not that dissimilar from the US, but more available to all classes of working people rather than only a more privileged few.
Worth noting that when Europe had better public healthcare and services wealth taxes and the like were also common, and of course private healthcare wasn't profiting off the sector so much, so this is all a pro-business liberalisation.
devliegende | 6 hours ago
The "privileged few" in the USA are the majority
GalaXion24 | 6 hours ago
While it is true that technically a slim majority have some form of company health insurance, even decently well off Americans seem to regularly run into problems with healthcare costs, not being able to pay them or insurance not covering them in practice, so qualitatively I am sceptical that it is up to European standards even for much of the 60% or so.
devliegende | 6 hours ago
This is not correct. Most American employees have company subsidized healthcare with good coverage and co pays and deductibles that are well within what people can afford. The horror stories you might have heard, while indeed horrible are about a very tiny minority.
ThisGuyPlaysEGS | 5 hours ago
You live in a state of delusion bud. My household income is 200k+ and my family has been rationing medical care for 15+ years. Out of pocket costs are insane, a single office visit with labs can exceed 1000$. We only utilize urgent care centers to control costs, and we only do specialist check-ins every 3rd year despite most recommending a yearly review.
^ That's life for a family in the top 10% income bracket. Employed by a Fortune 500 with 'great' coverage, of which our monthly premium co-pay keeps rising.
Soon I'll retire and face monthly insurance premiums of 2,000$/month for at least 8 years. Something only a multimillionaire can do in this country ( retire early )
Completely broken system, and you're completely wrong. Polling shows I am in the majority of Americans who ration healthcare.
devliegende | 3 hours ago
This is obviously fiction
cassinonorth | 5 hours ago
If we're doing anecdotes, my deductible is $1,500 and annual out of pocket max is $6,000 for a family and I pay $0 in premiums.
Almost everything in network is covered after that $1,500 too. We don't ration healthcare whatsoever.
Accidental-Genius | 5 hours ago
You have shit coverage then.
dust4ngel | 49 minutes ago
> The horror stories you might have heard, while indeed horrible are about a very tiny minority
what's a few dead americans between friends
writewithparagraphs4 | 5 hours ago
lol
lmao even
BadAtExisting | 5 hours ago
Depends on your company, I guess.
I get healthcare, it’s directly tied to the amount of hours I work per quarter. Bare minimum hours (36-40/wk) = bare minimum coverage. I have also worked at a small company that wasn’t required to provide health insurance at all since there was only 15 of us. Last time I worked a job with half way decent insurance was for a large corporation and it was a fucking miserable experience and not worth it. Also, you are still paying for your healthcare plan when you have a job on top of your out of pocket expenses
devliegende | 3 hours ago
You are a minority. Most US employees have a much better deal than that.
Memory_Less | 9 hours ago
Yes, and it varies from province to province. Some provinces’ citizens are provided with an annual allowance and if they overspend they pay out of pocket. Plus, in some situations the annual allowances have been reduced due to economic slowdown.
curry_wurst_36 | 11 hours ago
Yes. Even for part time job.
holdMyBeerBoy | 10 hours ago
No, it’s the same as in china.
Blackout38 | 6 hours ago
Oh no all those EU countries with universal health care must be exploding with job growth then right? Oh wait you list them as a major mover of jobs to China?
Hmmm maybe it’s not just health care benefits and greedy people. Maybe it’s comparative advantages in a global economy where countries advance enough that industries cannot be efficiently competitive in a global market.
No no it’s got nothing to do with the largest pool of cheap labor sitting in a resource rich country with more than a century of experience being the world factory before the WWs by virtue of the above and its location.
Diligent-Cream-6535 | 10 hours ago
？？？？？in china you also pay health insurance. Cheaper but not that cheap with china income
GTR_11 | 10 hours ago
Yes for the private health insurance. Here is the guy who knows about it and has several podcasts. Look it up
https://m.youtube.com/cyrusjanssen
You can e.mail him and do it in chats during his show, those guys do send replies.
Diligent-Cream-6535 | 10 hours ago
I'm Chinese live in china wtf this channel is. Looks like random propaganda shit.
In China company have to pay the so called universal healthcare. Although most local china company illegally don't pay it but foreign company in china as serotype pay that shit.
GTR_11 | 9 hours ago
https://youtu.be/BPPYZI0TfKo?is=SLu0gB_iGd7WVCP3
Thank you for pointing it out. Here, since our Billioners don't pay jack shit, prices go even higher. Chain reaction.
Diligent-Cream-6535 | 8 hours ago
纯傻逼，闹麻了
LostandFound255 | 9 hours ago
The guy is literally nothing more then a Wumao , If thats your channel to get info from China you might aswell just read the propaganda.
Economy_Elephant_426 | 6 hours ago
UEBMI(china’s universal healthcare) Is paid by the employers. However, the cost of labor is 1/4 cost in mainland China when compared to US.
das_war_ein_Befehl | 6 hours ago
China doesn’t really have universal healthcare. It’s all about low labor and environmental regulations
LostandFound255 | 10 hours ago
> China has universal Healthcare
Get cancer in China and you will find out that unless you have money they will let you die.
Universal Healthcare sounds nice but
>Despite this, public health insurance generally only covers about half of medical costs, with the proportion lower for serious or chronic illnesses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_China#cite_note-:8-1
Thats why its pretty important to not trust every single podcasts , alot of misinformed people a bit like saying North Korea is Democratic without actually digging into the front and as we all know it is not democratic even a bit.
And the one you quote from is literally a chinese propagandist.
Stunning_Jaguar7882 | 6 hours ago
> public health insurance generally only covers about half of medical costs
Oh cool, in the U.S. a previous employer offered that level of coverage to me (50% co-insurance, only usable after a $7,000 deductible) at a cost of $12,000/year.
LostandFound255 | 4 hours ago
So your anecdotal evidence is a horrible health insurance plan, followed by some straight-up whataboutism?
And then you use the US as a comparison, a country that doesn't even have universal healthcare?
Fine, let's look at the Netherlands.
They have universal healthcare. Insurers cannot refuse people because of pre-existing conditions, and the government determines what the basic package covers.
The average premium is around €157 per month, with a mandatory annual deductible of €385.
That's what universal healthcare looks like.
You can't argue that healthcare is affordable simply because procedures cost five times less in China when people also earn five times less.
What matters is affordability relative to income and whether getting seriously ill can financially ruin you.
And Cyrus Janssen is a disgusting example of someone pushing claims that simply aren't true because he doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds him.
observingurswerving | 3 hours ago
You talk about universal healthcare in the Netherlands but then go on to include health insurance prices? Universal Healthcare doesn't require insurance. Also it's completely pointless to base your whole point on one example, over 70 countries have universal Healthcare and it works differently country to country. The USA has some of the most expensive and worst healthcare outcomes.
LostandFound255 | 2 hours ago
But the US has never claimed to have universal healthcare... China, on the other hand, claims to have universal healthcare, and it simply doesn't.
In the netherlands if you get sick you don't have to worry if you get cancer because even if you can't afford to pay it the goverment will cover it .
In the end, it's Chinese propaganda, making it seem as though healthcare is well taken care of in China and that you don't have to worry if you get sick. Meanwhile, if you get seriously ill and don't have the money to pay for treatment, you will die. It's really that simple.
Here this is the defintion of the WHO about universal healthcare:
Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.
In China there is financial hardship so it simply isnt universal healthcare like the GTR claims because he listens to a chinese propaganda parrot.
Now go to your boss and get your 50 cent.
quan787 | 8 hours ago
50% percent coverage is good enough because the price isn't so inflated to bankrupt people without insurances. FYI, a CT scan costs 100-300 RMB in China but 1000-3000 dollars in US.
StickFree1359 | 6 hours ago
Except your wages are wayyy the hell lower, including the doctors wages.
quan787 | 3 hours ago
Including insurance company executives
StickFree1359 | 3 hours ago
Inequality is pretty bad in china. Would you really prefer to live in china over the us?
quan787 | 3 hours ago
depends
StickFree1359 | 3 hours ago
On what?
LostandFound255 | 4 hours ago
Congratulations, you've compared the price of one diagnostic procedure and somehow think you've proven an entire healthcare system is affordable. The US doesn't even have universal healthcare. Let's use the Netherlands instead.
Everyone is covered by mandatory basic health insurance. In 2026, the average premium is €157/month, with a €385 annual deductible.
Now look at China's pension system:
Source: CFR
So tell me, how affordable is that CT scan to someone living on 179 RMB a month?
Do you genuinely believe cancer treatment, major surgery and long-term medication consist of nothing more than a CT scan?
Healthcare being cheaper means very little if people also earn substantially less.
The question is whether ordinary people can afford the treatment they actually need without risking financial ruin.
Cherrypicking the price of a CT scan isn't an economic argument. It's avoiding the bigger picture.
And we both know that repeating talking points without doing the basic purchasing-power calculations isn't exactly what an economics subreddit is for but you earned your 50 cent.
quan787 | 3 hours ago
I get it, it's simple, Chinese people are simply poorer than you westerners. A poor country cannot pull money from thin air to provide free CT scans for everyone. A poor country should have lower life expectancy, that's a reality. But can the same amount of money, whether it be insurance or saving money, can get you better service and keeps you alive for longer? That's the comparison.
LostandFound255 | 3 hours ago
>50% percent coverage is good enough because the price isn't so inflated to bankrupt people without insurances. FYI, a CT scan costs 100-300 RMB in China but 1000-3000 dollars in US.
Those are your words, not mine. You have turned this into straight whataboutism.
I'm simply pointing out that people in China also face financial ruin when they get seriously ill.
That is the entire point: cheaper healthcare doesn't automatically mean affordable healthcare. And 50% coverage hardly supports the claim that China provides universal healthcare.
I despise people who spread chinese propaganda and unlike in China here we have freedom of speech where i can just grab basic facts and show that its factually incorrect what they are claiming.
PS: The US doesn't claim universal healthcare ;) , so compare it to countries that do else your nothing more then a wumao.
quan787 | 3 hours ago
Why are you so desperate I'm comment on you doesn't mean I'm threating on your free speech or anything geez
LostandFound255 | 2 hours ago
Ah, the next step in the wumao playbook: attack the messenger.
You can just admit it: I was wrong. 50% coverage is not enough and can bankrupt people in China if they develop a serious illness.
quan787 | 2 hours ago
I was wrong
LostandFound255 | 2 hours ago
Thank you.
And my apologies but i tend to have to argue with chinese bots here and you were following their playbook.
Striper_Cape | 7 hours ago
Cool the point that you get more at comparative cost is still true. You're fighting arithmetic at that point. Additionally, our healthcare is more expensive AND has worse outcomes.
LostandFound255 | 4 hours ago
You're arguing arithmetic while ignoring purchasing power.
Yes, healthcare procedures are cheaper in China. But incomes are also considerably lower. If patients still have to pay a substantial share out of pocket, cheaper treatment doesn't automatically mean affordable treatment.
You're comparing nominal prices while ignoring what people can actually afford relative to their income.
And that's precisely the point you're missing. Cheaper healthcare doesn't mean much if getting seriously ill can still financially ruin you.
Here i already posted it here but so tiresome how badly most of you are informed.
Let's look at China's pension system.
|Pension scheme|Participants| |:-|:-| |Urban employee pension|534.49 million| |Urban and rural resident pension|538.30 million| |Total|1,072.79 million|
Now let's look at the actual pension benefits.
>Retired urban salaried employees currently receive an average monthly basic pension of 3,326 yuan (about $461) per person.
>Retirees under the urban and rural resident plan receive an average monthly basic pension of merely 179 yuan (less than $25) per person.
Source: https://www.cfr.org/articles/what-chinese-pension-system-and-why-are-its-problems-hard-fix
So if you are rural ... your dying if you get cancer in China unless you can afford the 50% payment otherwise go and die.
Striper_Cape | 7 minutes ago
I was a healthcare professional. I'd rather get cancer as an urban dweller I. China or Europe than in the USA. We have poor outcomes while being more expensive.
ntlong | 7 hours ago
50% of something cheap is better model.
LostandFound255 | 4 hours ago
So tiresome... Yes, it's cheap... FOR WESTERN PEOPLE WHO ARE CONSIDERED MIDDLE CLASS EVEN WHILE WORKING A MINIMUM WAGE JOB IN THE WEST.
Most of you really should not be responding in an economics subreddit if you can't even do basic calculations.
Let's look at China's pension system.
|Pension scheme|Participants| |:-|:-| |Urban employee pension|534.49 million| |Urban and rural resident pension|538.30 million| |Total|1,072.79 million|
Now let's look at the actual pension benefits.
>Retired urban salaried employees currently receive an average monthly basic pension of 3,326 yuan (about $461) per person.
>Retirees under the urban and rural resident plan receive an average monthly basic pension of merely 179 yuan (less than $25) per person.
https://www.cfr.org/articles/what-chinese-pension-system-and-why-are-its-problems-hard-fix
And before someone starts arguing about participant numbers, approximately 180.39 million people were actually receiving benefits under the resident scheme in 2024.
That's roughly 180 million people receiving a basic pension of around $28 per month.
Let that sink in.
When you tell me healthcare is cheap in China, I suggest you first consider what 200 yuan a month means to someone who has spent their life working in rural China.
A CT scan costing 200 yuan might sound incredibly cheap to someone earning a Western salary. But for someone whose monthly pension is also 200 yuan, that's an entirely different economic reality.
The price of a service means very little without considering the purchasing power of the person expected to pay for it.
Your perception of affordability, as someone earning a Western salary, has very little relevance to the financial reality of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens.
Extra-Ad3488 | 9 hours ago
Yeah… the reason definitely was/is lower labor costs, but it has nothing to do with some dogshit universal healthcare system. Labor rights in China were/are basically nonexistent by Western standards. You can’t unionize or organize for shit, and in some cases, a worker’s death in a factory accident might cost the company as little as $20K USD in compensation. Life is cheap there.
Fairuse | 8 hours ago
Reduce labor cost and increase productivity.
If the goal was reduce labor cost alone, they could have gone with most other 3rd world countries that are still developing. Chinese labor is no longer cheap, but it is worth it because the productivity is very high.
Eric848448 | 7 hours ago
And productivity is high because they’ve spend the last 30 years building out the infrastructure to manufacture. Nobody else can currently do it like them.
Mundus_Vincendus | 7 hours ago
China has the world’s largest union. Their union has almost as many members as the entire US population.
Remarkable_Many_1671 | 4 hours ago
You are comparing apples to oranges. What you believe is a union in the United States, the ACFTU is a Government apparatus embedded within companies to ensure social stability and harmony.
Feel free to chat with some members and get a sense what collective action they can pursue.
ants_are_everywhere | 6 hours ago
Unions are illegal in China, as they have been in most socialist countries.
The fiction is they don't need a union because the government is their union.
This is obviously terrible because the government treats them as expendable labor, hence the poor working conditions.
Mundus_Vincendus | 6 hours ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-China_Federation_of_Trade_Unions
ants_are_everywhere | 5 hours ago
Unions are illegal in China, as they have been in most socialist countries.
The fiction is they don't need a union because the government is their union.
This is obviously terrible because the government treats them as expendable labor, hence the poor working conditions.
If you had tried to read your own link then you would have realized the link is broken and you would have seen that the China Federation of Trade Unions is run by the government
> The ACFTU is managed by the CCP Secretariat.
and is not a real union.
> The ICFTU [the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (now the International Trade Union Confederation)], noting that the ACFTU is not an independent trade union organization and, therefore, cannot be regarded as an authentic voice of Chinese workers, reaffirms its request to all affiliates and Global Union Federations having contacts with the Chinese authorities, including the ACFTU, to engage in critical dialog. This includes raising violations of fundamental workers' and trade union rights in any such meetings, especially concerning cases of detention of trade union and labor rights activists.
sshamby | 5 hours ago
Trade unions organize workers against capital within the existing political economy. Under socialism, their function necessarily develops to include participation in economic administration and political power.
ants_are_everywhere | 5 hours ago
Crazy to see people arguing against the right of working people to unionize in 2026
sshamby | 4 hours ago
Nobody is arguing against workers organizing. China explicitly recognizes workers' right to organize and join trade unions. What it prohibits is organizing unions outside the ACFTU system. Dont assume liberal institutions are the universal standard against which every socialist institution must be judged.
ants_are_everywhere | 4 hours ago
> You can join a "union" as long as your boss runs it.
Forget the religious mumbo jumbo. Your workers have no power. They cannot strike. They cannot organize to oppose management. They cannot protest terrible working conditions.
But they get free suicide nets, so I guess that just about makes up for it.
Mundus_Vincendus | 5 hours ago
The link isn’t broken, I’m sorry you couldn’t figure out how to click it.
their issues with the all China trade union has nothing to do with the political differences between the Marxist-Leninist approach and the syndicalist approach, I’m sure. Perhaps when the western governments have wrestled control of their state away from the capitalists, they will understand the Chinese method more acutely.
Feel free to keep back peddling your initial claim in the meantime.
Longjumping-Turnip97 | 3 hours ago
I think he's either a bot or extremely annoying. He keeps posting the same three lines.
ants_are_everywhere | 5 hours ago
Unions are illegal in China, as they have been in most socialist countries.
The fiction is they don't need a union because the government is their union.
This is obviously terrible because the government treats them as expendable labor, hence the poor working conditions.
AdCool1638 | 2 hours ago
Independent unions are ambiguous legally, but isn't union-busting the norm in western democracies too? Don't be a hypocrite
Legal-Chocolate8482 | 7 hours ago
Amazon literally only has to pay a few thousand every time an employee dies. Life is even cheaper in America . Amazon had to pay 9k for a worker death in California. Just like 7 thousand for a worker death in Indiana,which the state gov even reversed so that Amazon had to pay nothing .
America is so unequal, most Redditors have no clue how blue collar workers are treated . White collar us professional workers have incredible privilege and the worlds best salaries. Meanwhile blue collar workers are treated like disposable slaves and have to piss in bottles and have absolutely zero rights and can be fired in seconds. If a white collar worker gets hurt it’s millions in some lawsuit but if a blue collar worker literally dies no one gives a shit and it cost the company pennies and you’re replaced the next day. I worked at some prison and they boasted about the $7500 insurance payout If I loose a fucking limb or die.
https://www.wane.com/top-stories/amazon-fined-7k-in-worker-death-company-appealing/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/26/amazon-warehouse-death-7000-fine/
7k fine in Indiana for amazon worker being crushed to death. For a multi trillion dollar company. And Amazon still appealed and didn’t even want to pay that paltry sum.
“According to OSHA records, Amazon, which earns hundreds of billions in revenue each quarter, was slapped with a $7,000 fine, the maximum penalty in the state, even though Indiana regulators found that the warehouse could have done more to fix or manage hazards that were "causing or likely to cause death," the Post reported.
"There's no real financial incentive for an employer like Amazon to change their working environment to make it more safe," Stephen Wagner, an attorney based in Indiana, told the Post.”
https://revealnews.org/article/indiana-shouldnt-have-let-amazon-off-the-hook-for-workers-death-new-investigation-says/
Also I was wrong, case I mentioned where Amazon ended up paying nothing was another worker death in Indiana. Amazon paid literally nothing after they decided to blame the worker and the state gov just went along with it. The governor made the paltry fine go away as they were competing to get Amazons 2nd headquarters. Now that the Feds took over Indiana OSHA due to that incident , companies have to pay a max fine of a whole $7k for each worker death! Instead of zero. As seen in the more recent incident. I’m sure that will really teach these multi trillion dollar corps a lesson!
Indiana law also prevents these workers and their families from suing their employer due to a OSHA safety incident. So the families of these dead workers get absolutely nothing. Zero compensation costs. Most red states are like this. And most states have laws preventing employees from suing for workplace injuries.
There’s so many examples of Amazon paying almost nothing or literally nothing that it’s hard to keep track. Your life has no value here.
Also only 10% of American workers are unionized , only 6% for non government workers. Vs 44% for China. You can’t unionize for shit in most red states. They’ll just fire you.
America is also the world’s only country without any mandatory paid maternity leave, paid time off or sick leave. Life in America is practically free if you’re working class/poor.
Extra-Ad3488 | 6 hours ago
You are comparing apples to oranges. The $7k is an OSHA fine, not compensation to the family. Workers' comp is already in place to cover that, and it's the reason workers generally can't sue their employer. In China, many companies don't pay the required work injury insurance. As for the 44% union rate, the only legal union is the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is controlled by the CCP. 😂
CreativeFig2645 | 8 hours ago
That’s part of a whole though, plenty of other countries have cheap and “expendable” (gross i know) labor but chinese labor is also well educated, has a strong industrial base, and accessible (urbanized)
Twaffles95 | 6 hours ago
I mean it’s not like there hasn’t been a 60 year project to destroy America’s union/labor rights
Successful_Cap_2675 | 2 hours ago
Still lower labor cost? I’m waiting for that “but at what cost” line
GTR_11 | 9 hours ago
What is Amazon than for one?
Pretend_Handle_7639 | 10 hours ago
Then tell American workers to accept less.
You're tilting at the windmill of living standards and industrialization
jinglepepper | 10 hours ago
“Uncontrollable oligarchy needs to stop.” That’s a normative statement, but how? Where do we start? Corporate greed isn’t a flaw; it’s a design. Even putting aside political realities and assuming we have unlimited legislative power, which doesn’t exist in the real world, do we just abolish the foundation of the capital market, which is to maximize returns for shareholders? What’s its replacement? If social goods, how do you quantify that and avoid the stagnant, inefficient communist past that China itself ditched some 50 year ago? Speaking of oligarchy, if the complaint is they are too big and powerful, should we go for stricter antitrust enforcement and break ‘em up? That also means a much weaker Tesla, meta, or Microsoft that wouldn’t have captured global markets like they did. I’m not looking to argue. I see the flaws in the American system. But I’ve thought long and hard and genuinely can’t think of a way to “fix” it.
vgodara | 9 hours ago
You stop it be hampering networking effect. That is bigger you are, faster you can swallow everyone else. Yes there isn't a single magic solution but it can be achieved.
ucmecheng | 7 hours ago
This is the real answer - as someone who is beholden to shareholders, you have to do what it takes to increase earnings or you’re fired. It’s the nature of the system. Capitalism works only to the extent you have strong regulations keeping the greed in check. Unfortunately those regulations have gotten paired back in efforts to continue stocks rallying. And those were lobbied for by corps. To me, the best place to start is to get rid of citizens united, ban congress from investing or owning anything other than index funds, and give them term limits. That way they won’t be incentivized to vote for corp regs so that they stay in office and get kickbacks and outsized returns.
Moral-Relativity | 5 hours ago
There are still mandatory contributions employers have to make though to various benefits programs.
MaapuSeeSore | 58 minutes ago
Germany imports more machinery from China than they export themselves, that’s the reality now
German engineering, not anymore
GODMarega | 7 hours ago
EU also has universal healthcare.
vowronkrayt | 7 hours ago
China does not have universal hair healthcare the government provides very little social entitlements.
But you're right the companies don't provide it either.
Families have very poor healthcare.
Dull-Restaurant6395 | 11 hours ago
Chinese healthcare is a joke but no one can protest
photoacoustic | 10 hours ago
How is it a joke?
LostandFound255 | 9 hours ago
>Despite this, public health insurance generally only covers about half of medical costs, with the proportion lower for serious or chronic illnesses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_China#cite_note-:8-1
If you make a 100 bucks per month ... getting a 50% discount on a 10k surgery still means youll be wiped out or die.
photoacoustic | 9 hours ago
The statement misinterprets Chinese medical‑insurance statistics.
1. Within the national medical‑insurance drug/service catalogue, inpatient reimbursement rates stand at around 84% for employee insurance and 66‑70% for resident insurance, far above 50% . 2. The “roughly half‑of‑total‑cost” figure mixes catalogue‑covered expenses and fully out‑of‑pocket items such as imported special drugs and premium consumables. It reflects fund share of overall spending, not reimbursement rate for eligible treatments. 3. China operates a three‑tier security system: basic medical insurance, critical‑illness insurance, and medical assistance. For severe and chronic diseases, critical‑illness insurance provides additional reimbursement after basic insurance; vulnerable groups receive further assistance, instead of getting lower‑level coverage .
LostandFound255 | 9 hours ago
I'll let my friend know, who begged me last year to pay for her dad's cancer treatment, that I was incorrect according to you , i dont think it will bring her dad back to life but im sure she will love hearing that a wumao is spouting propaganda.
Universal Healthcare... if you can afford it.
Stop acting like China is like the Netherlands, where you pay a very small fee and then, if you get cancer, you're taken care of. It simply isn't true, no matter what propagandists like Cyruss Janssen want you to believe , its alot more like America where even if you have health insurance you can still expect to get royally screwed unless you have ample savings.
The reason Chinese people save like crazy is precisely because, if you get sick, you're royally screwed in China. And I won't even bring up the red envelopes, but that's another part of the problem.
gf6200alol | 7 hours ago
Worker greed need to be stop too if you are want to complete with China. Please do not complain longer hours, 1/0 day per week rest, union bursting, low wage, safe workplace first ,if you are working in factory. You can easily look up how the giant factory worker is being treated online, even CNC operators are not making good money unless you are a boss. Edit: also you can't talk to your coworkers on the line, constant AI camera surveillance to check what you are doing, and more
nfstern | 10 hours ago
The capitalists? Never mind the capitalists. They'll slit each other's throat to sell us. The rope we will use to hang them with. This quote is attributed to one of the famous Communists. I don't remember which one, but it certainly applies in this context.
NoEquivalent3869 | 9 hours ago
Most manufacturing is robotic and only increasing. Companies could come back to the US in the future if strong supply chains and cheap power (the US has neither) existed.
Onespokeovertheline | 9 hours ago
What good would that do for lower and middle class Americans? Very little
Un-Chien_Andalou | 8 hours ago
Financialization and Stock Buybacks: In the 1980s and 1990s, corporate focus shifted toward maximizing short-term shareholder value. Legal changes, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission's 1982 adoption of Rule 10b-18 (allowing large-scale stock buybacks), encouraged companies to use cash for inflating stock prices rather than reinvesting in domestic plants, research, and workers. 
Companies moved factories to countries with cheaper labor and developing infrastructure—such as Mexico, and later China (accelerated by China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001). High domestic production costs made labor-intensive goods like clothing and basic electronics much cheaper to produce overseas.
Economic Shift to Services: As tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the broader U.S. economy naturally transitioned from a goods-producing base into service sectors like healthcare, education, and technology.
mekongriver-turtle | 13 hours ago
For a while already both cheap and quality goods have been made in China. However, the difference now is that quality goods coming out from China are stamped with Chinese brands, for example, BYD, TCL, and DJI. “Made in China” is no longer something to conceal but to be evident.
Moral-Relativity | 5 hours ago
>China’s factories are booming, buoyed by generous government subsidies aimed at keeping the economy ticking over until policymakers resolve a long-running property crisis and consumers, whose wealth is tied up in housing, feel confident about spending again.
Does writer live in a cave?
Also weird to mention iRobot died due to “competitors like Picea” since before acquiring the former they were OEM to more more established brands in the US.
Apprehensive-Fox5801 | 10 hours ago
The democratic world is in crisis. With the exception of South Korea, the manufacturing sectors of other major nations are losing their competitiveness to China and continuing to collapse. It seems the time has come for the EU to seriously consider expanding its reach beyond Europe—even into Asia.