lol yeah, the economist is like a couple of decades late there

Kier Starmer is failing to stop the so-called 13 states from breaking away

China manufacturing saved the US after 2008, through deflationary pressures and helping the QE policies by buying US bonds.

If Aliens came to earth to trade us cheap goods for whatever value that seems fair to us, there would be a propaganda effort for war and protectionism instead. Even without the suicidal war part, it makes everyone poorer.

Make more useful things you can trade with the Aliens to get more stuff from them. Replacing Aliens with China, that is agriculture, housing, tourism/entertainment, airplanes, and electronics design. Isolating ourselves from the Aliens/China just makes goods/processes cheaper for those who do not isolate, and the isolated’s global competitiveness drops.