More jobs and money lost

"“There is no question that renewable energy companies in the United States feel pressure from China,” said David B. Sandalow, the assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at the United States Energy Department. “Many of them say it is cheap capital, not cheap labor, that gives Chinese companies the main competitive advantage.”"
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/business/global/us-solar-company-bankruptcies-a-boon-for-china.html?pagewanted=all

Solar manufacturing is highly automated and doesn't require much labor.

I see.

I think it's a whole different ball if wax in China. I don't want this country to become like China. They are basically able to under sell us in manufacturing because there are few regulations, and no human rights to speak of. Not necessarily the model I would like this country to adopt.

That, and free land from the Chinese government to put their factories on, and super low interest loans from the Chinese government, and export controls on minerals used in manufacturing that are against WTO rules.

We don't have to play China's game in order to compete, but we need to be able to compete. I think a focus on skilled manufacturing, rather than de-skilled manufacturing, and high quality product would be a good start. More vocational schools would also help.

I work for one of the few companies that actually exports finished products to China. We can do this because the initial overhead in setting up a glass factory like ours is so expensive, and requires a large number of skilled workers. It's also a union factory, so I know it can be done.

Sounds like what Germany's been doing, and they seem to be doing pretty well.

Didn't Germany also manage to oust Wal-Mart?

I don't know that Germany ousted them, but the German consumers didn't seem to like shopping there.

Sorry, that's what I meant. It would be nice to live in a culture that is more focused on quality rather than quantity and mass consumption. For instance, I would rather have a pair of nice hand made shoes that last me the rest of my life(with some inexpensive repairs), than have to replace cheap ones every six or nine months.

German has its share of consumerism, but there tends to be smaller shops or stores specializing in certain types of items. The larger department stores are more along the lines of Dillards or JC Penney than Wal-Mart.