Thanks for the correction, @elonmusk. It’s great that we can have a good exchange about such economic things. When I said Chinese manufacturing production is greater than that of the US, Europe, and Japan, I meant to say that it is greater than the US, Germany, and Japan combined. (I was talking too fast and was a bit sloppy.) But the numbers in Grok are right and still striking, so the point remains the same, which is that China is the dominant player in global manufacturing. Your numbers and my numbers both show that China manufactures ~30%, the US manufactures ~15%, Germany manufactures ~5%, and Japan manufactures ~6% (total of ~26% vs. China’s 30%). If you adjusted these numbers to reflect that the Chinese typically sell comparable items cheaper, the magnitude of Chinese manufacturing would be even more striking. (By the way, I thought Grok’s answer and analysis on this were great.) While we’re exchanging thoughts, I think that if we don’t get the US budget deficit down to about 3% of GDP, there will be too much supply of US bonds relative to the demand for them, which will produce real problems. What do you think? Here’s my more in depth view: bit.ly/41vCSQ0
