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China is where the USA was 100 years ago...We can hope the worker protections come as they did here in the US. Time will tell.

China is not where the USA was 100 years ago. The USA had effective rule of law and did have in place electoral systems that insured popular input into governmental decisions. The Sherman anti-trust act was in place and had been used by T. Rosevelt to curb some of the more egregious abuses of corporate power.

There already were some worker safety rules in place, especially on the railroads and in the electrical industry. Child labor laws were enacted in many states. There was no direct control of the economy by the Government nor direct control of the government by large corporations. The USA was a hotbed of innovation and discovery. The Wright brothers and Henry Ford were starting out. In short such comparisons are facile and hardly worth considering especially becuase of the lack of a First Ammendment in China.

Sorry but I think he is more correct than incorrect. First China does have the rule of law yes it is not as strong as in the US right now but neither was it as strong in the US then. Right now it is becoming stronger in China as two recent intellectual property decisions (One in Shanghai and the other in Beijing) in favor of US companies show.

I will give you the democracy bit although there were still many voting problems in a large portiion of America that would not be straightened out until the Civil Rights movement. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was and is so vague that its use and misuse has plagued America since its inception. Just look at Microsoft now.

In China there are also some safety rules in place. In fact the governement recently decided that the death penalty should apply to the use and distribution of a particular rat poison. The US had recently gone off the gold standard 100 years ago which I think qualifies as direct control of the economy. In addition with the 1920 Transportation Act the government kept alive the railroad. If those don't qualify then surely the "new deal" does. I think that the Teapot Dome Scandal of the 1920s does show that their also was control of government by business.

I think the impending launch into space of a manned rocket the first step on the way to moon (something the US space program has admitted that they cannot now do) and later mars is definitely a hotbed of discovery. As to innovation building the two fastest train lines in the world is only one of the ongoing innovations the Chinese are working on.

Finally, yes there is no first ammendment in China but at this time they are actually moving toward greater freedom of speech and the press (a condition of their entry into the WTO) while in 1919 the US Supreme Court decided that all speech is not free with the famous shouting fire in a crowded theater decision.