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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| 'I found the American dream… in China |
| 2026-08-09 |
| [Rational Optimist Society] In today’s Diary: America’s builder revival starts in... China? Buffett’s $37 billion bet A factory that updates like software The secret spreadsheet treasure map "Save the West." Hey Rational Optimist, The whole world is talking about the SpaceX IPO. Even Elon sounded surprised: "It’s hard to believe a little company started in a warehouse in El Segundo is now the largest IPO ever." You’ve heard me rave about El Segundo before. It’s a 5-square-mile beach town in the shadow of an oil refinery, 10 minutes south of LAX, that’s now the beating heart of America’s hard-tech revival. Last month I spent time inside one of its most storied buildings: the factory where America tested Space Shuttle engines and built the Minuteman nuclear missile. The factory stood dark for years and became a monument to things America used to make. A new tenant just moved in, and the building is making critical parts again, for fighter jets, nuclear reactors, and the AI boom. The company is called Rangeview. Its founder, 26-year-old Cameron Schiller, is one of the most impressive entrepreneurs I’ve met. Every time I meet a new founder, I ask... What did you build as a kid? Building things when nobody is making you is the hallmark of a great founder. As a high-school freshman Cameron won the world’s largest robotics competition... as a one-person team, beating squads of kids. But Cameron’s real education happened 7,000 miles away. His father worked in offshoring and started bringing him inside Chinese factories at age eight. By 14 Cameron was flying over alone to manage production runs. China seduced him first. He rode bullet trains while California couldn’t lay a mile of track. He worked in an 11-story building where his entire supply chain was one elevator ride. "I found the American dream in China," he says. Then it horrified him. Factories with suicide nets. Workers color-coded by performance score. Today, he says, "all I want to do is get America working as hard as China has." Cameron doesn’t look like your typical factory worker. He has flowing hair, the good-looking California surfer type. A Joe Rogan CEO who could carry three hours of airtime. And a great storyteller, which you learn the moment you walk into his factory. Past the customary giant American flag, down the entrance hallway, Cameron stops me in front of four posters. Together they tell the whole arc of American manufacturing: |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
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| Posted by: Skidmark 2026-08-09 12:44 |