It's Time To Tell China To Get Nicked

[Value Collector]

The Chinese government reports expenditure information annually. In March 2019, China’s Ministry of Finance announced a yearly budget of 1.19 trillion yuan ($177.5 billion),1 marking a 7.5 percent2 increase from the 2018 budget of 1.11 trillion yuan ($167.4 billion).3 This follows a recent trend that has seen yearly percent increases in spending fall to single digits.

https://chinapower.csis.org/military-spending/

Yep, next to nothing compared to the USA.

The USA spent $1.5 Trillion in Afghanistan Alone.

For comparison China’s military spending is less than the value of the iPhones they export each year.

 

[SirRumpole]

Yep, next to nothing compared to the USA.

The USA spent $1.5 Trillion in Afghanistan Alone.

For comparison China’s military spending is less than the value of the iPhones they export each year.

You are aware of the concept of exponential growth ?

The iPhone reference is irrelevant, they can't fire missiles.

 

[Value Collector]

You are aware of the concept of exponential growth ?

The iPhone reference is irrelevant, they can't fire missiles.

the iPhone example is just to show how small that amount of money is in the big picture, as I also showed it’s nothing compared to the USA, who has actually deployed troops into multiple wars over that time frame.

Is there any major country with a large military who’s budget hasn’t grown at a similar rate over that time?

also China has had a lot of catchup to do, and unlike the USA their military has quite large domestic roles, they aren’t invading countries around the globe every 10 years.

 

[SirRumpole]

also China has had a lot of catchup to do, and unlike the USA their military has quite large domestic roles, they aren’t invading countries around the globe every 10 years.

Tell that to Tibet.

 

[SirRumpole]

Tell that to Tibet.

A nice peaceful country, no mad dictators, no terrorists , China just wanted it.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Now this may just b e a coincidence, and may not have any implications, but ..... in conversation with Bunnings about availability of stock imported from you know where, just lately some orders are not being filled, some shipments en route have been 'turned around' and sent to another country/ destination.

It's probably nothing, as the Australian Standard would be a specification, but why would this happen? And to what degree? For sure, the supply lines have been disrupted in 2020.

 

[Value Collector]

A nice peaceful country, no mad dictators, no terrorists , China just wanted it.

A bit like Hawaii, the USA just wanted it.

 

[SirRumpole]

A bit like Hawaii, the USA just wanted it.

The Hawaiians voted to become a US state, I don't think Tibetans have had that opportunity.

 

[Value Collector]

The Hawaiians voted to become a US state, I don't think Tibetans have had that opportunity.

they voted to become a state in 1959, they were annexed by force 63 years earlier in 1897 and became a US territory,

Not to mention the USA also took large parts of Mexico by force, for example The land where Disneyland and the city of LA sit was part of Mexico, hence why Los Angeles is a Spanish name.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

they voted to become a state in 1959, they were annexed by force 63 years earlier in 1897 and became a US territory,

Not to mention the USA also took large parts of Mexico by force, for example The land where Disneyland and the city of LA sit was part of Mexico, hence why Los Angeles is a Spanish name.

this is getting very selective.

(PS there's a town in nth California named Russian River.)

 

[SirRumpole]

they voted to become a state in 1959, they were annexed by force 63 years earlier in 1897 and became a US territory,

Not to mention the USA also took large parts of Mexico by force, for example The land where Disneyland and the city of LA sit was part of Mexico, hence why Los Angeles is a Spanish name.

Well, you would expect the human race to have evolved in 200 years, but we still have big countries taking over little countries for no good reason.

 

[sptrawler]

they voted to become a state in 1959, they were annexed by force 63 years earlier in 1897 and became a US territory,

Not to mention the USA also took large parts of Mexico by force, for example The land where Disneyland and the city of LA sit was part of Mexico, hence why Los Angeles is a Spanish name.

Italy took large parts of the U.K.
The U.K gave HK back to China.
China is encroaching into the South China Sea.
NZ is taking over Australia, by stealth, networking and one scaffold plank at a time.

 

[Value Collector]

this is getting very selective.

(PS there's a town in nth California named Russian River.)

Los Angeles was actually part of Mexico though, and the USA and Mexico Actually went to war, I don’t think Russia actually owned what ever town you are talking about.

 

[Value Collector]

Well, you would expect the human race to have evolved in 200 years, but we still have big countries taking over little countries for no good reason.

Well they probably feel they have a good reason, I don’t know the history of Tibet well.

but as I said China isn’t perfect, not country is, but they are fine as a trading partner, and they are talking good steps forward, even if they step on their dick some times, The trend is in the right direction, it’s just slow, big changes will be generational.

 

[Value Collector]

this is getting very selective.

(PS there's a town in nth California named Russian River.)

this video shows how much of the East coast of what is now the USA was owned by Mexico before the USA/ Mexico war.

Mexico didn’t used to be south of the border, they were west of the border.

 

[hja]

And much of the present day USA was New France. What's the point?

 

[Humid]

after traveling in the USA, Australian tomato sauce just seems to weak and watery, I like that ketchup Iliad a bit more tang and is thicker.

craving meat

 

[PZ99]

Italy took large parts of the U.K.
The U.K gave HK back to China.
China is encroaching into the South China Sea.
NZ is taking over Australia, by stealth, networking and one scaffold plank at a time.

If I had a choice of NZ (cranes) or China (cladding) I'll take NZ.. We're scaffolded either way.

However China is already encroaching into our land in Antarctica so I guess that choice is gone.

 

[Smurf1976]

why wouldn’t you count the chain stores? Not counting them is an appeal to nostalgia rather than to economics.

Bearing in mind I'm using it as an analogy, it's an appeal to the reality that very rarely did the owner of a generic take away shop complete with its Coke sign and so on make a successful transition. Few if any of those shops took down the sign which said "TAKE AWAY", scraped the tobacco company advertising off the windows and put up a new sign saying "McDonald's" and continued in business.

In reality those who invested heavily in such shops mostly ended up looking for the least bad exit. Reality though was that usually involved some other use of the building, the business itself not being worth overly much for those who failed to see the warning signs and hung around too long.

Milk bars and generic take away shops selling deep fried everything were just one of many possible examples I could have used.

Newsagents today are going down that track. Anyone who can't see that the business model is losing its relevance must be blind. It has the same basic problem - a move away from the core product meanwhile there's more competitors selling everything else.

Then there's things like careers in professional sports or modeling, pop music or even politics. The odd one makes a long term career out of it but for most it's a relatively brief thing even if they do "make it" for a time.

And so on. There's countless examples of the concept but point is we're living in a world where relying on something to last forever, or even just the ~40 years of someone's working life, is a huge gamble and that pace of change is accelerating it's not slowing down.

Now, is anyone going to seriously tell me that selling two basic product lines, that is raw materials for steel production and fuel for power stations, and having over a third of all exports going to one country is a sure thing with no chance of ending?

The writing's already on the wall for both with a greater emphasis on steel recycling and a push to use heat from sources other than coal in production. Meanwhile when it comes to power generation well there's a push against fossil fuels there to the extent of having an international agreement regarding climate change. And those risks are without even mentioning China itself.

The notion that Australia's even slightly concerned about economic retaliation from China is of itself evidence that we've got a problem. When a dependency starts intruding on decision making and you're under pressure to do things you otherwise wouldn't, that's a sure sign it's getting out of hand.

I don't hate China but we're being fools in relying on them to keep increasing their use and imports of coal, gas and iron ore indefinitely. At some point it's going to end and in my view we'd be wise to bear that in mind. That doesn't mean don't sell coal to China just as nobody would sensibly say that someone shouldn't pursue success in sports or music but it does mean having a definite plan for when it ends. A plan that doesn't involve prayers, groveling or ending up broke.

 

[Value Collector]

craving meat

Not at all, I actually switched to ketchup 4 years before I became vegan.

if you haven’t already, you should try it.