End of the "Made in China" Era?, It very well could be. Options

[Serialkillerwhal...]

Look What you see there is something we've never seen before.

No more manual labor. I don't even know how much this changes the economy.

Labor unions will lose their deathgrip on manufacturing.
New medical information.
Science.
And of course, china loses it's greatest advantage, It's cheap labor. Even now, stuff like Google has left china due to blatant IP theft (Intellectual Property). We could have a revolution like the Internet or Steam engine.
Heck, it could be something as epic as the invention of sliced bread.

[CoLT]

Just to clarify, for those who believe this is a good thing.
Losing China as a major base for materials processing and manufacturing will have many effects that we will all feel.

Firstly, China's long reputation of cheap labour will disappear. This means that as manufacturing shifts elsewhere, not only will production output drop, costs will rise dramatically as well. The main reason for this is the increased running costs of manufacturing plants. Workers in the western world will also demand higher pay. When this paradigm shifts, the labour unions will never allow the people to be paid less than what they currently are. So if the workers will be asked to do more work for the same pay, what do you think will happen? Once they go on strike, however, that's where the real problems start. Because once they strike, the output drops even more. Therefore, the supply of products reaching the retailer's shelves (Capitalism after all) will diminish. This will force retailers and suppliers to mark up their prices to compensate for the higher demand but lack of supply. Simple economics, really.

So expect to be paying double, if not triple, of what you are paying for things now.

Also, with China then holding all the economic power, and the US and EU running in to financial problems, what do you suppose will happen to the value of the major western currencies? After all, what happens to any economy once their country spends more than it earns? Depression, hyper-inflation, exorbitant price mark-ups are just some of many problems that everyone will face.


And the irony of it all? The one system that'll save you then. Communism. So all you 'mericuh lovers, can you see yourself living in the United Socialist States of America? Because I can, unless something is done to prevent this shift of power. But then, what can really be done about it now?