The knight in the big world of American TV series

Chapter 2380

Chapter 2380

S.H.I.E.L.D. has long been interested in why Kay was able to maintain good relations with those ancient civilizations, and has even tried to find out the secret more than once.

Unfortunately... before they could actually do anything, S.H.I.E.L.D. ran into trouble.

Later, Kai's influence grew, and the things he got involved in became bigger and bigger, causing everyone to be hesitant to act, making it impossible to really explore Kai's secrets.

In the eyes of many, Kai was simply the biggest comprador.

The reason he has been able to remain at large until now is because he can use the power of others to bully others. Although they don't understand what on Earth is worth selling.

But for them, preventing them from touching their interests is tantamount to harming their own interests... What is this if not comprador?

Why are compradors so despicable?

Etymologically, the term "comprador" should be neutral, meaning steward, manager, or executor—a term without derogatory connotations. However, due to the unique class affiliation of compradors in the late Qing Dynasty, coupled with their actions within a specific historical context, the term acquired a negative connotation. Initially, compradors primarily handled the procurement of food and supplies for foreign merchant ships and trading posts. They were essentially paid employees with little power and were initially looked down upon, holding a low social status. This required a certain level of education, especially in foreign languages. In the late Qing Dynasty, only the more enlightened intellectuals of the coastal regions were qualified for this role. Furthermore, because it involved "diplomatic affairs," compradors required special approval from the Qing government, adding an official dimension and granting them a certain aura of power. Although compradors initially lacked capital, their dual backing—foreign capital and imperial power—along with their immunity from Chinese law, made them the sole "bridge" between China and the West. A vast amount of asset and wealth transactions passed through their hands, creating ample opportunities for rent-seeking. With these resources, the comprador class rapidly rose to prominence. Later, they combined with bureaucrats and capitalists, forming the "bureaucratic comprador bourgeoisie," one of the "three great mountains" that oppressed the Chinese people in old China. Because they worked for foreigners, they often lacked national righteousness, repeatedly infringing upon the interests of the nation and its people, and even breaching basic moral boundaries. Compradors played a crucial accomplice role in China's gradual transformation into a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society. They oppressed Chinese merchants, extorted money, evaded taxes, smuggled, sold opium, and even profited from the indemnities demanded by foreign powers from the Qing government. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, they further integrated with warlords and bureaucrats, severely monopolizing the national economy, exploiting the people while a few families amassed enormous wealth.

Some compradors never gave up any means of profiting, including collusion between officials and merchants and enriching themselves at the expense of the public. For example, Wu Jianzhang, a representative figure of the comprador bourgeoisie, donated 500,000 taels of silver in 1847 to obtain the lucrative position of Acting Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Suzhou, Songjiang and Taiyuan Military Circuit and Superintendent of the Shanghai Customs. Later, he sold out the administrative power of the customs for personal gain, resulting in the complete loss of the national customs administration. And this was just the tip of the iceberg of comprador treason.

As the saying goes, "A rogue isn't scary; what's scary is a rogue with culture." Compradors, however, were more than just cultured; with the support of various abilities and resources, their destructive power was amplified many times over. Compradors, along with feudal bureaucrats and capitalists, drained the entire country dry. Although among them were some patriotic individuals with insightful ideas, such as Xu Run, Tang Tingshu, and Zheng Guanying, the term "comprador" is undeniably generally negative and derogatory.

In the eyes of these government officials, Kai was the biggest comprador.

He relied on diplomatic pressure from Asgard and Atlantis, which prevented them from doing anything to him.

What could be more annoying than this?

"So what do you suggest we do? It's not just us anymore; that big country across the sea has already started signing framework agreements with multiple countries! If we don't do something, we won't even get a taste of the benefits!"

Benjamin said irritably.

Over the past few days, everyone has been arguing back and forth, but there hasn't been a single truly feasible strategy.

In contrast, there is the country on the other side.

Their progress is unbelievably fast!

"It's all because of those damned Atlanteans!"

Upon hearing Benjamin's words, a political figure immediately expressed his indignation.

No one reacted much to this, although they were afraid of the power of Atlantis. After all, those Haitians destroyed 80 percent of the world's shipping power with just one attack!

"That country across the sea is definitely colluding with the Atlanteans! Otherwise, why would they have suffered the least losses?"

This has made many people feel resentful.

That massive tsunami devastated coastlines around the world.

Only one major Eastern power suffered very little damage. Although many of its ships were lost, its naval structure remained intact, making its navy the world's strongest.

The key point is... a certain major Eastern power possesses the world's most powerful shipbuilding capability!

Before the massive tsunami, a certain mysterious Eastern superpower possessed a shipbuilding capacity of over 2320 million tons... In comparison, the United States only had 10 tons left.

Along the long and winding coastline of a certain major Eastern country, heavyweight port cities like Dalian, Shanghai, and Guangzhou boast over 100 large, modern shipyards. These colossal production lines are brightly lit almost 24 hours a day, sparks fly from welding, and giant gantry cranes shuttle back and forth—a truly spectacular sight. Their annual shipbuilding tonnage exceeds half of the global total!

Behind the cold, hard numbers lies a stark contrast that is clearly visible to the naked eye.

Among the top 75 shipyards in a certain Eastern power, at least 20 possess a "magical skill"—the ability to quickly switch modes, instantly transitioning from civilian shipbuilding to the fast track of military naval vessel production. What makes their American counterparts even more envious is that this Eastern power owns several super dry docks capable of simultaneously building aircraft carriers! Such a scale of manufacturing infrastructure and flexibility is unparalleled globally.

The camera then shifts back to the United States. The once-glorious American shipbuilding industry now appears to be struggling.

Large shipyards are few and far between, mainly concentrated in the hands of a handful of giants such as Newport News (primarily building aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines) and Ingalls Shipbuilding (building destroyers and amphibious ships). The predicament is obvious: the workforce is dwindling, with a lack of successors (only tens of thousands of skilled workers remain), and many of the cranes and slipways in the shipyards are decades old and dilapidated. Building a new warship, from commencement to commissioning, is like squeezing toothpaste; delays and postponements are commonplace, leaving the navy anxiously awaiting its completion.

The American shipbuilding industry had a glorious past, but by the Reagan administration, it had fallen into a general decline. The civilian shipbuilding industry contracted continuously, with the number of shipyards shrinking by 40% and the workforce decreasing by 30%. After the Cold War, the situation worsened. The United States completely halted merchant ship construction, its shipbuilding capacity plummeted by nearly 90%, and its share of the global shipbuilding market fell from around 9% to below 2%. During this period, 35 shipyards in the United States went bankrupt, while the remainder were consolidated into Huntington Ingalls Industries and General Dynamics. General Dynamics focused on building destroyers and nuclear submarines, while Huntington Ingalls Industries was responsible for aircraft carriers and dock landing ships, almost completely ceasing its involvement in civilian shipbuilding. Since the beginning of the 21st century, even the military shipbuilding sector has continued to decline. Apart from a few shipyards such as Newport News, Ingalls Shipbuilding, General Electric Boat and Bath Iron Works, which have stable orders, shipyards such as Avondale, National Steel Shipbuilding, Marinette and Aosta have extremely unstable orders and even face the dilemma of having no orders at all.

The lack of orders has slowed the progress of automation and modernization in the US shipbuilding industry. Fewer than 20 dry docks remain available for the construction and repair of military vessels, and these facilities are outdated, with backward shipbuilding technology and poorly maintained equipment. Due to the limited number of dry docks, only 47% of warships and 24% of submarines can complete repairs on schedule, leading to a backlog of ships awaiting repair. Rushing to meet deadlines has also caused numerous accidents, with fires occurring on ships under construction or awaiting repair. Over the past 20 years, the US shipbuilding industry has lost 2 skilled engineers and technicians, and only 0.3% of high school students have received vocational education; even fewer are willing to learn ship assembly, welding, and casting. Weaponry manufacturing requires years or even decades of continuous research and development, emphasizing continuity and stability. A series of interconnected projects is crucial for talent development. Generally, it takes 10 years to train a technical backbone in the weapons manufacturing industry. Once subsequent projects are interrupted, the accumulation of technical experience within the research team is disrupted, and restarting is almost equivalent to starting from scratch.

Now the Americans want to restart industrialization... and they're facing this problem.

There is a shortage of workers, a shortage of technology, and a shortage of infrastructure!

Some people argued that the United States is the most advanced country in the world, so how could it lack these things?

Let's go through them one by one.

First of all, there is a shortage of workers... Some people think this is nonsense, how could Americans, who are so highly educated, possibly lack workers?

First, you need to understand one thing... The workers here are not the low-end manufacturing workers in so-called sweatshops!

70% of manufacturing companies in the US are unable to find suitable workers. Over the next five years, the number of workers needed in infrastructure manufacturing and related industries will exceed the actual number of people receiving such training by 68%. This is due, in part, to the significant changes in skills and knowledge required for many manufacturing jobs as technology advances and automation increases. Employees need retraining or new education to adapt to these new job demands. However, this transformation has been slow, and government policy support has been sluggish, resulting in an inability to meet the manufacturing sector's demand for highly skilled labor in a timely manner.

On the other hand, some traditional perceptions associated with manufacturing jobs also hinder people from choosing this industry. Many people believe that manufacturing jobs involve harsh working conditions, low wages, and low social status. Although this is not the case in reality, most people are unwilling to change their ingrained ideas, let alone lower themselves to work in manufacturing. After all, compared to working in finance, as an office worker, or even in the service industry, factory work is simply too tiring!

Many people simply don't want to.

The most typical example is construction workers. In the United States, the labor shortage in the construction industry is particularly severe. While the working environment, intensity, and content of construction work are indeed quite challenging, the salaries are quite considerable. However, the reality is that even with annual salaries reaching $90, the construction industry cannot recruit enough talent. Young people generally perceive construction work as a high-intensity, low-skilled job, thus failing to attract more young people to the industry.

Lack of technology... Why would the technologically advanced United States lack technology?

The reality is that the United States has a significant technological gap.

With the hollowing out of American industry, their technological research and development in industrial sectors has essentially come to a standstill. Except for a very few high-end manufacturing industries, most manufacturing has relocated. However, the world doesn't stand still. Over time, more and more industrial technologies are developed and applied, but the US simply doesn't have the relevant factories. Therefore, they naturally have no demand for those technologies; no demand means no one researches them, and no research means no accumulation of knowledge!

This isn't something you can just send someone out to learn for a couple of days and then put into practice!

This requires experience!

It takes time and money!

As for infrastructure... that's even more critical.

You can easily find information about the condition of American railroads and highways by searching online. Even Americans themselves complain about them.

This is just public transportation.

True industry is not simply a few factories. It requires a self-sustaining ecosystem. From screws to specialty coatings, from machine tools to industrial software, local suppliers, skilled workers, and long-term R&D funding are all indispensable. This is precisely the problem in the US now. They have lost this ecosystem. The industrial support system is the core. Manufacturing inherently requires clustering. Imagine a car factory. It needs seat suppliers, headlight manufacturers, wiring harness workshops, and even small businesses specializing in screws. Every link is indispensable. Detroit once perfectly exemplified this model. At its peak, it had tens of thousands of supporting manufacturers clustered around it. The situation is completely different now. A report from the National Association of Manufacturers last year is quite interesting. In 2000, there were 32,000 small and medium-sized factories in the US producing precision industrial components; by the year before last, only slightly more than 10,000 remained. This number has changed dramatically—nearly two-thirds less in just over two decades. Large companies have moved their production lines overseas. Small domestic factories, unable to secure work, have had to close down or change industries. This trend began at the beginning of the century. There is a company called Precision Power. They started manufacturing automotive engine bearings in the late 1970s and had supplied both General Motors and Ford. In 2018, GM moved its engine production line to Mexico, and they lost 70% of their orders. They held on for two years, but ultimately couldn't survive.

Now, American automakers need to buy bearings from Germany's Schaeffler or Japan's NSK to make high-end engines. Costs are 30% higher than before, and delivery takes two months. This situation is quite difficult. The US now even has to buy the most basic industrial seamless steel pipes from China or India. They only have five steel pipe factories left domestically. These factories can't even meet half of their own domestic demand. With steel pipes being imported, their complete industrial system is a joke.

In this situation, the United States is not without the possibility of re-industrializing... but it would require time and a great deal of resources!

The problem is that they're short of this right now!

Fortunately, there's plenty of these on the other side of the sea...