Where to locate your factory? I've been to Shanghai once, China looks good.

Here's an interesting twist on the question: "where do you want to be?"OBAMA:  “Everybody's watching what's going on in Beijing right now and the Olympics.  Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure.  Their ports, their train systems, their airports are all vastly superior to us now, which means if you're a corporation deciding where to do business, you're starting to think, Beijing looks like a pretty good option.”So why if Beijing is such a good option are the Dems so gleefully bashing McCain for exporting 2.3 million jobs to China?!?!  Sounds like pretty smart business (and pretty fuzzy math) to me.But this is more about infrastructure than politics.  Everyone’s guilty of political pandering.Chinese infrastructure in many places is newer than that in the US, true.  China’s market is larger than the US’s so it should be a bigger draw to companies than the US.  Labor is cheaper, regulations are lower (enforcement much lower), cost of living is lower. But “all” of their airports and ports are better than ours?  Come on, I can understand a bit of exaggeration when stumping—but “ALL” of China’s infrastructure is better than that in the US?  Really?  Western China?  Guiyan?  Inner Mongolia?China indeed does have some advantages and as any free-market, free-trade promoting country will tell you.  But I think that we should be taking advantage of it, not complaining about it. Obama has never been to China, doubtless most of his staff haven’t either.  There is more to China and to manufacturing than infrastructure on the east coast.But assume he's right--China has a better environment for business than the US.  Let me ask those of you who do work in China regularly (all the time!), when was the last time you said: “You know what?  The traffic in ________, China is so much better than _______, USA!”  Or how about this one: “The legal system here rocks!”  Maybe you’ve said: “The QC in this factory is world class.”  Or: “Human rights/standard of living/political freedoms are totally leading the world here.”  Maybe you’ve said: “I just love the free flow of information here.”  How about: “Who would ever want more than one child anyway?!”These questions do NOT mean that you shouldn’t work in China nor do they directly answer the infrastructure vs infrastructure question.  But there are issues in that maybe significantly different from other locations you are considering doing business.  More importantly, international business is not, unlike politics, a zero sum game.  What protectionists on both sides of the isle like to forget is that trade is generally very good for both the Chinese and the US economy and the poor, recently homeless, unemployed, flag-waving American consumers too.Take me, for example.  I could choose to work at a job in the US (that’s +1 domestic US job).  Instead I own my own company and live in China.  A net loss for the US?  No way.  SRI has had, at different times 5-10 employees in the US (+5, just to be nice).  Not only that, but how many clients in the US do we support?—more than 25 different US companies this year.  A couple of examples, we have three clients who have person by person moved their line workers into warehouse workers and office people.  They employ more people and pay them more than they previous did when they did line production/assembly in the US (that would be at least another +30 just counting the people I know).I may be a small example, but I can count at least 35 white color jobs in the US that my small company facilitates by being in China compared to maybe 2 “jobs sent overseas” by “staying home” working for someone else, like I was in ’99.  And, I still pay taxes (corporate and individual) in the US, I travel to and shop regularly in the US and I hope to maintain a residence there soon too.The stupidity of the arguments about the jobs that US companies hire out in China is that they are flat out untrue.  Trade generates wealth which in turn generates jobs—trickle down economics ring a bell?  When jobs do leave (plant closures), many (not, all, I know) are low-end labor jobs which are, on balance replaced by higher end jobs necessary to coordinate importing.  White-collar job flight is a bit different, sure, but (1) “flight to Chindia” is not the disaster the economy that it was predicted to be years ago.  (2) Many of the white collar jobs didn’t “leave” as many are only temporarily in China and then will return home to the US, still working for the same companies they were with before they came to China.  And (3) the exchange from blue to white color (or even just moving from blue collar to service oriented jobs) is at least a trade off if not an improvement.  Finally, (4) the US has had a net job increase (and not in low in labor positions) since NAFTA was signed—which incidentally, coincides with the rise of the Chinese economy.  This last point being the most important—NET JOB INCREASE in the last decade despite NAFTA, economic downturn and the rise of China.What no one will say, especially in political events is that most of the jobs moved over here can be traced to foreign companies that are moving their lines to China but keeping offices/HQ in their home countries (and contributing money to both campaigns).  Many companies exist because of the jobs that are created from processing imports.Exports (jobs, goods and money) are the price we pay for imports (jobs, goods and loans).  Who in the US wants to live without imports, including oil, loans and Wal-mart?  No one with a view past their own wallet.So here is that bigger picture view.  China in (my) perspective.If China is not the biggest economy in the world there is something wrong.  Take the argument that environmentalists use about carbon output and use it on the economy.  How can the US, with only 300 million people, have a larger economy than the PRC with their 1.5 billion?  India should be included here too.  China will soon be the biggest _______ (fill in the blank) like it or not.  So get used to it—better yet, prepare for it, embrace it, make money from it, support your family/lifestyle future from it.  Or stick your head in the sand.If China does not have newer infrastructure than the US there is something wrong.  China had NO infrastructure at all just 30 years ago.  Of course everything they have is “newer” than what most of the US has.  So what?  The US has something like 1 airport for every 900 people (300 mill/3,300), China has something like 1 airport for every 6.4 million people (1.5 bill/250). Their building 100 a year just to keep with the population.  The US doesn’t need to “update” all 3,300 airports every two years to keep up.  Honestly, the date things were built is not as important for most manufacturing as a few other things (like corporate tax breaks, utility subsidies, cheap labor, income tax rates, etc.).If China doesn’t win the most gold medals there is something wrong.  There are a couple of realities that the rest of the world has to face: China is bigger than anyone else.  They should be winning most “total” number counts in any competition or business.  They have a huge government funded sports program that prepares kids for decades to compete in the 0lympics.  Even without this national level program, they have a middle class that is as big as the entire US population not to mention another billion plus people to draw athletes from.  If you’re not comfortable with China being involved in just about every global conversation from here on out, you are in for a rude awakening.If China isn’t the largest market on the plant there is something wrong.  Again, 1.6 billion people x rising standards of living = biggest (potential) market ever in the history of the world.  Who doesn’t want to be here (some in T!bet and T!aiwan excluded)?!Obama's comment shows two things, one, don't beleive anything you hear from politicans this year (or maybe ever).  And two, someone commenting on China who has never been here, doesn't work here or isn't involved in business here (regularly working with govt regulations, company registrations, employees, suppliers, logistics) probably does not have much more diversty of perspective than NBC (Nothing But Crap, Jeff Dunham).Finally, you should be in China or India or Vietnam or Thailand or the US for the right reasons; and that is because it works financally for your specific business.  And, as I've detailed here before--you'd better be making an extensive study before you make the final decision.