[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

China's entire economy is based on not consuming, and instead exporting everything. I'm not an economist of any sort, but it almost seems to me that their economy is going to need an overhaul, starting with their philosophy. Once the nation gets rich enough, people are going to want to start consuming the way Western nations, or Japan, or S. Korea, etc., do. Hard to do that when your entire economy is based around poor, cheap-ass labour that sends everything it makes to other countries.

Not really, no. You are a century behind there. In the field that I work in and I'm familiar with (semiconductors) there is certainly design centers and research being done in China (and India). I loosly follow pharm and I see stuff coming out of Asia as well. It would be foolish to think all China does is make cheap ####. Again referring to a industry and area I live in (Silicon Valley, semiconductors) Asians comprise approx 75% of the workforce here, a portion of which came over in the past decade and have talked about going home one day. Not to mention that the top schools aren't just USA schools, there are top schools that many consider better than USA's best like the IIT's.

Ex: Using Intel, http://www.techeye.net/chips/intel-r...ese-dalian-fab

The $2.5 billion Intel spent to build a fab in Dalian in China will be ready to roll by the end of its month. And Intel's $1 billion testing and assembly factory in Vietnam is ready for production, too.

http://www.infoworld.com/t/hardware/...n-in-india-525

Intel announced Monday that it will invest over $1 billion in India. The money includes $250 million it will invest in a venture capital fund, to help stimulate technological innovation in the country and drive the growth of the country's IT industry. The company is also investing $800 million over the next five years to expand its business in India, including its research and development center in Bangalore, marketing, education and community programs.

Or Cisco in China, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63E4RN20100415

(Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) is poised to step up investment and acquisitions in China regardless of trade frictions between Beijing and Washington, aiming to secure its place in a tricky but pivotal market.
Already the world's largest Internet and mobile phone market, China is likely to become even more crucial to the network equipment maker's growth as the country's burgeoning middle class gains access to new technology.
What's more, Cisco faces growing competition from Chinese companies, unlike other U.S. tech heavyweights like chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) or Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) that enjoy overwhelming leads in their markets.
The result is that Cisco will likely pursue local joint ventures and acquisitions to compete against the likes of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL and ZTE Corp (0763.HK). That could also help it work around difficult regulations to ensure it fully benefits from the market's explosive growth.


"China is a high growth market that comes with opportunities but also challenges and unique ways of doing business. Foreign companies will find they will have to rely on joint ventures, local partnerships, and multiple ties across various Chinese agencies," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue.

etc etc