I think that Rapha have a point regarding the availability of production facilities in the UK that can produce to the standard and in the volume they need. The skills to produce Primark stuff exist in Leicester but they achieve that with lower skilled workers, frequently in sweatshop set ups.

Proper, well made performance sportswear is another matter. One thing I have not heard of over the last 7 years is people complaining about quality of construction of their Rapha kit. You don't read about their jackets coming apart. I have heard of a few issues with the gloves, but they're made in the UK.......

Well, "welfare state" probably has many shades of meaning.

But did you know that corporate taxes and individual income taxes are actually lower in China than in the USA ?

I don't own any Rapha stuff, mostly due to price but I suppose I could someday... and after this... I really like my current stuff.

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But in China, if you get caught cheating on taxes, you can be executed. In the U.S., if you get caught cheating on your taxes, you can become Secretary of the Treasury, who among other things, is the person to whom the Director of the Internal Revenue Service reports.

Ha ha !

But seriously, I heard an interview with a man whose business runs in both China and America. He said that China was much simpler. In the USA there is a maze of regulations, and he is never sure if he is really complying. In China, he just attends a dinner every year where he hands a bribe envelope to the party officials, and thats it!

You play every game according to the rules. Not knowing the rules and not following them makes him in-compliant to the rules. Defeating the entire purpose of playing the game.
USA (as well as many other places) have a labyrinth of red-tape and bureaucracy. These are the Rules in order to play the game. In every game you have contingencies, and rules ensure you follow the game. If you don't follow the rules you are cheating. But if you find a contingency in the game which is not covered by the rules, then you have found a loophole and this can be exploited until it is closed down by yet new rules.

China is simpler because the rules are not as many in comparison. More open system. You can say the number of contingencies in the game have not come up as many times as in say USA, to be bound by rules. In time rules bind everything, everywhere.

There need to be fewer rules, but more integration of them.

Human civilixations are like a patchwork of humpty-dumpty dotted all over the place. Each with its own rules, own currency, own borders, own everything. Here-in lies many problems.

Well, in this guy's case, it seemed like the point he was trying to make was that he was trying to foollow the rules in the USA, but they were so complex that he didn't know if he was completely compliant or not.
China actually does have a lot of "official rules", but as long as you pay the bribes you don't have to really follow them.

....just my interpretation of the interview.