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72 comments on Horizontal and Vertical Well Production

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John McFadden on January 18, 2007 - 9:19am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Why is it that we resent "our factories" which make "our products" paid for with "our debt" using "our oil?" Is it because some of the people who work in our factories would like to drive to work? Are they forgetting their place and getting too uppity?

If we don't want China to work for us all we have to do is boycott WalMark, KMart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, et al. Then China will stop using "our oil."

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InfinitePossibilities on January 18, 2007 - 12:51pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

But since China is way more cost efficient using "our oil" (despite rumors claiming the opposite, the Chinese factory worker still does not drive an SUV), the Walmarts of this world are the cheapest source of high quality goods (oh, well... medium quality goods). Joe Average can not afford to buy the same products from American or European manufacturers.

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Nagorak on January 19, 2007 - 9:00am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Their labor costs are lower. In terms of efficiency using energy that is a totally different issue, and I suspect on the whole their energy efficiency is generally worse.

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Valuethinker on January 19, 2007 - 1:01pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Higher energy use per unit of GDP *but*

that is normal. Poorer countries have lower GDP but also do more things with that GDP that require relatively more energy.

(example: Healthcare is 1/6th of the US economy, and relatively low energy intensity. It is a much smaller proportion of the Chinese or the Indian economy).

The question is whether the Chinese use 'best practice' on technology ie where the 2 economies are comparable, are they using as modern technology as the US?

In the typical exporting factory I would say yes. In terms of technology and productivity, the Chinese are up there with the best of them.

In the economy as a whole (including transport, power generation, domestic manufacturing, farming etc.) I would say no. For example their typical design of passenger car seems to be about 10 years behind the US.

One complication in the Chinese economy is that because they don't have a full market economy, the prices of energy may be distortedly low. This would seem to be particularly the case with electric power, but to a lesser extent with gasoline.

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