my_perfect_mistake
I just watched this documentary last night on Netflix. I just turned 44 last month, so I feel I can safely say I have been "around the block" at least once in this lifetime, so far. I also stay abreast of current events, and am moderately conservative, literally and figuratively. A few observations I have made in my lifetime so far: my grandfather on my mothers side was a painter. He raised 6 kids and supported a stay at home mom on a painters wages. They lived a modest lifestyle and nobody wanted for anything. My fathers parents both worked for Hershey foods. She was a secretary, he was a warehouse worker. They put both children through college. They lived an upper-middle class lifestyle. In other words, my grandparents and their families all "lived the American dream" (without college educations), and did it with little to no drama. Just another day in America. Fast forward to 2014. The US is a mess, in wars all over the world, record unemployment, supposedly clawing our way out of a recession, I live paycheck to paycheck with mounting debt... Why? What happened? What has changed?This movie may give some insight. As already mentioned in other reviews, it doesn't offer the solution. Duh... if somebody had a solution we would have good paying jobs, a manufacturing base, low unemployment, less people on welfare, children that weren't raised by "devices" rather than parents, etc. etc. There was a shift in the dynamic of the corporations catering to the share holders rather than the employees, which is explained in the documentary. The greed of the boards of directors and the share holders is what drove the jobs overseas to take advantage of cheap labor. That is an absolute no-brainer.Something else that is explained is once foreign labor is trained to do a particular task, instead of importing those widgets for their own consumption, they will just manufacture it themselves, essentially making US based R&D moot. How many products have you seen in the last few years that say "Designed in USA" followed by "Made in China"? Off the top of my head I can think of one huge multi-national company in particular that uses fruit as a corporate logo. China may not copy those products on a large scale... yet... but how many smaller companies that may not be able to afford hundreds or thousands of hours of litigation will just throw their hands in the air and say "I give up!" I have a protective case for aforementioned fruit-based companies product I bought on the big auction site. It shipped new from China, even though the manufacturer is a well known US company. It's a copy, because China doesn't play fair.I haven't even touched on the fact China is raking in US dollars and building an army that could theoretically be five times the size of the US military. Scary stuff.I could go on and on with this, but I would rather just suggest taking some time and viewing this documentary. Form your own opinion. If it upsets or angers you, take action! Call your representatives in DC. Vote - at the ballot box and with your wallet. Seek out American made products, they are out there! There is a 2 part review on here that gave a "no stars" review and a 1 star review. Please pay attention to that users name. It does appear there are some pro-China sympathizers/nationalists posting negative reviews about this documentary. Be mindful of that fact.
ThomasJeff
I'm docking one point because of the preachy / hyperbolic graphics.However, it does go over the facts that seem very well researched.Including Chinese professors and experts--who know better than some of these Chinese nationalists who are trying to badly-rate/badly-review this documentary.And I'm glad it doesn't try to work so hard to focus on the debt problem as it's the least terrible part of the Chinese-US problems.You should watch this to see how China's air pollution is destroying the climate--how China's lax labor laws allow for all sorts of human rights abuses--how nations are turning a blind eye to the world's largest totalitarian state that is building a massive military--how US corporations choose to cooperate and comply with China to cause many problems in the world.This problem in the end will affect us all--not just Americans.
chnfilm
The documentary can best be described as an hour long infomercial for the UAW.While there are some valid points as to the loss of U.S. manufacturing due to uneven trade with China the past ten years the film fails to focus on NAFTA passed during the 90's and even farther back during the 70's,80's time period when the term "Rust Belt" came about as manufacturing disappeared. Both the U.S. and China are cheating when it comes to trade within the World Trade Organization. The United States gave tens of billions to GM and Chrysler in rescue funds,$500 million loan to bankrupt Solyndra, and billions more to companies like Boeing and General electric all of which China views as illegal Government subsidies. China could make an hour long movie titled Death by America which demonstrates how the U.S. is in violation of fair trade. I do believe that a revival in U.S. manufacturing is possible, but it will in no way resemble the manufacturing that are Dads and Grandfathers knew....
