Sure. It’s also brought misery to many areas of the world in order to protect markets or provide it with cheap labor. A bar of soap in America is the same price in the Congo.
WuWei
43
The Chinese were all over Ecuador when I was there 15 years ago.
You aren’t reading what @Safiel is writing.
Blaming Trump for something he did or didn’t do two weeks or 2 years ago is completely missing the point.
They are not earning the influence, they are buying it. Just like we did.
The civilized world voted against, the savage world voted in favor.
Go figure, most of those in support have no business on the world stage. 
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Kuwait and Iraq are on that list, not a great return for all that blood sweat and tears.
There are a few Caribbean countries there, isn’t that a little close to home?
There’s no such thing as far away anymore.
WuWei
48
They don’t have the same grievances now they did then. It took several bad actors and world wars to create the conditions that drove them to those alliances.
China is a bad actor. Alliances come and go.
JayJay
49
Your own experience is not the end all be all of reality.
And even in your case as I have pointed out repeatedly your market has been distorted by forcing us to underwrite the costs of your industry for dubious value in return.
This is not a knock on you personally…but it’s a truth of your industry as a whole.
Smyrna
50
I often hear about “cheap labor” but in many cases, labor represents a small percentage of the over all costs. The pollution regulations required to produce products that are overlooked elsewhere are a huge cost savings component but it isn’t discussed much. The politicians that signed agreements allowing this production to pollute the world are also demanding cap and trade taxes. It’s one of the most egregious truths of our time and so many do not look any further than the pennies they’re saving at Walmart.
Aside from China’s, which alliances are coming at the moment?
The West seems to be going through a period of weakening of alliances at the moment, without a clear idea of what follows.
Smyrna
52
My industry on the ground level I work in is one of the, if not the most challenging business in this country. It’s why so many are going under and being replaced by conglomerates.
I agree. I suppose I should have added that the materials they acquire through cheap labor are also inexpensive.
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WuWei
54
The coming alliances will be because of China’s. Sometimes you have to await developments.
Did the traditional alliances weaken?
JayJay
55
That doesn’t change the fact that in a non-distorted system of capitalism it is highly likely your industry would not be valued by the consumer and thus if it existed at all it would be as a niche supplier of services…at best.
Smyrna
57
…and yet, in this pandemic, was considered, “essential” and remained open?
They’ve withered on the vine.
Europe is selfindulgent, cowardly and overly introspective.
America is divided and narcissistic.
Russia is a diminishing kleptocracy reduced to trolling.
China’s cleaning up at the minute, hard to see that trend changing any time soon.
WuWei
59
And adversity builds unity.
“America” has always been divided.
Alliances come and go. They are METT-TC dependent.
Would you be kind enough to explain the nuance of that acronym beyond a simple Google search?
