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"Struggle Of The Ant Tribe" - China's Broken Dreams
Those who think that China's centrally-planned transition to the world's leading, fastest growing economy in the shortest time in world history, coupled with its attempt to shift from a mercantilist, export-driven economy, to one sporting the world's largest middle class is progressing smoothly and according to plan, especially as related to millions of overeducated young adults who are finding it impossible to find a job in China's big cities, and find their diplomas uselss in the small ones, are urged to watch the following documentary exposing "China's Broken Dreams." From Al Jazeera: "[The Chinese] people are discovering that society's resources and opportunities are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few. People in the middle and lower strata of society are becoming increasingly marginalised and are finding that improving their lives is getting harder. [This imbalance could lead to] the rich getting richer and the poor poorer, the strong permanently strong and the weak permanently weak .... The biggest harm may not be in the gap between rich and poor itself, but the deterioration of the overall societal ecosystem." Translation: class war unlike anything seen even in America, where class war is the basis for the entire presidential campaign. Because unlike the US, "class war" in China will have a far more true to its name outcome.
From Al Jazeera:
Despite the country's rapid economic growth, many young Chinese are growing disillusioned as they struggle to find jobs.
After two decades of economic reform, per capita GDP has risen 13-fold, and average salaries in major cities are on par with those in many developed countries. The post-80s generation, the first to come of age in this era of opportunity, has been raised on a belief that if one can do well in school, graduate from a good university and work hard on his or her career, one can enjoy a measure of success.
Instead, many find themselves squeezed by skyrocketing housing costs, rising prices for basic necessities and family pressures. As a large percentage of the post-80s generation are only children, they alone will be expected to provide for their parents and older relatives.
As many as three million young Chinese professionals toil in slum-like conditions in cramped housing on the outskirts of big cities. They are known as 'ant tribes,' a term coined by scholar Lian Si, China's foremost researcher on post-80s graduates.
"They share every similarity with ants," writes Lian. "They live in colonies in cramped areas. They're intelligent and hardworking, yet anonymous and underpaid."
Li Zhirui from China's northeast is one of them. Home is an eight square metre space outside Beijing that costs 500 Chinese yuan per month, a quarter of his salary. He dreams of one day buying an apartment, but with average real estate prices in the capital soaring to more than 20,000 yuan per square metre, he could be in for a very long wait.
He has already lost his fiancée, who dumped him when he refused to buy a second-hand car and an engagement ring.
The experiences of Li and other 'ant tribes' resonate strongly with young Chinese and have spawned a popular song and a TV series called Struggle of the Ant Tribe.
But for some despair takes over. Suicide has become the biggest cause of death for Chinese between 15 and 34 years of age.
In a recent trend, some young graduates are deciding to flee the big cities and instead seek opportunity in smaller cities and towns. But there, too, they are frustrated, as they discover that good diplomas - and even ability - do not open doors. Local networks and family background do.
Leading Chinese sociologist Guo Yuhua calls this phenomenon of young Chinese "escaping and returning" an example of widespread disappointment that is spreading across China. She says people are bitter when they see their social status languishing in contrast to the "rise of a great and powerful nation".
"People are discovering that society's resources and opportunities are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few. People in the middle and lower strata of society are becoming increasingly marginalised and are finding that improving their lives is getting harder," she says.
She warns this imbalance could lead to "the rich getting richer and the poor poorer, the strong permanently strong and the weak permanently weak .... The biggest harm may not be in the gap between rich and poor itself, but the deterioration of the overall societal ecosystem."
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The Tiananmen square riot was the Shock in the western contrived "Shock Doctrine" which transformed Communist China to Elitist Centralist Marxist/Capitalist. Now that the Western Elites have gutted out their resources through slave labor an deflation importation, they are left on the scrap heap like we've seen so many times before, namely, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia and most of the middle east. IMO, end game for China is to quietly erase the debt owed to it by collapsing it's currency.
You have it all wrong.
Tiananmen was a grassoots response to five years of 20% inflation p.a. Government saw it coming. Censorship was relaxed months earlier, allowing discontent to rise up inside the radar screen and coagulate. It then struck down the phalanx of people who were protesting inflation and inflation -- and, above all, wanted a return to a socialist economy.
This is exactly the same backlash seen in Eastern Europe when these countries transitioned to a market economy.
The repression at Tiananmen sent a strong signal to the people that China was moving irreversibly into a market economy. Period.
Western investors were actually overjoyed over the repression for they knew that their investment projects for the establishment of high-pollution, high-margin subsidiaries on the Mainland would proceed as planned.
"They share every similarity with ants," writes Lian. "They live in colonies in cramped areas. They're intelligent and hardworking, yet anonymous and underpaid."
__________________________
Yes. Ants are that way. 'Americanism' warping perception.
If you read the fine print you'll see it's a Chinaman that's saying that.
Chinese can be proponents of 'Americanism' and therefore 'americans'
This chinese who make such comparisons gave out strong hint: you have to be an 'American' to come up with this kind of comparisons.
The last time AJ described people as antlike...it was Sudanese tribesmen. Just saying.
AnAnonymous, Chinpokomon Master of denial and offuscation, said:
Made me laugh. Anyone who reads the article can see through your deranged insanitation.
You're just grasping at strawsmen now.
'Americans' do that. With their taste for fantasy and propaganda...
By all means, the whole world waits patiently for the Chinese/Borg Collective to show us all the righteous path to eternal peace, prosperity, and brotherly love.
Er, we're still waiting. . .
That is your expectation.
Expectation does not bind reality though.
And the present reality is this world is an 'American' world.
'Americanism' prevails and such the world is as the result of it.
Holy shit, that was the same thing my fortune cookie said last night at the all you can eat china barfet.
Holy cow! If even fortune cookie bar philosophy can dispel 'American' fantasy... Bad days for 'American' fantasists, bad days...
But even negroes can and 'Americans' have not yet taken the signal into account.
Time to change the tune, time to change the tune. It is no longer 1777 and right now, 'Americanism' can no longer expect to fool the crowd as it used to.
Oh lighten up you silly slopey little bitch, we all know that! Look around you honourable Dipshittery-San, we've all been saying that sort of thing, and long before you showed up at zh to patronise everyone with innane pre-formulated catch-phrase crap, you fucking low-brow wonton toss-pot!
Look around you retard, people here are not even listening to you! They are just reacting, and not even interested in what you say at this point. Which means that as a communicator you are a complete fucking failure. Which is a pity as because as remote as it would seem, it's just possible you have something worthwhile to say, but at this point we'll never know.
This is because your repetitive drivel just makes you sound like a brainwashed incognizant dick-wad, and the ultimate dumb-ass thickie.
I don't know how else to explain that to you, as you just refuse to get the message.
Take a hint, first of all shut your wretchedly idiotic pie-hole, for a bit.
Then learn to converse, you know, like a human being would be good. And get off your arrogant fucking high-horse, and respond with some level of dignity, self-respect and humility, and then maybe people might actually attempt to converse with you, constructively, rather than write you off with disdain, without further regard.
I guarantee you, if you can't at least manage to make sense here, you're done.
Home of AnAnnoyingMouse revealed:
http://www.engrish.com//wp-content/uploads/2008/08/listen-to-mee.jpg
akak said:
ROR!!! That's him alright!
My fortune cookie read, "That wasn't chicken."
Mine said "You didn't bake this fortune cookie, someone else baked it for you."
Wait, so he's not Kenyan, he's Chinese? Ah, that explains much, thanks.
OK - then you can show us the way to eternal servitude while wallowing in filth. You're doing a better job at the latter, anyway.
What servitude? The world is global and this is an 'American' world.
You mean that 'Americanism' is all about submission?
Wake up, this is 2012 and 236 years ago, while proclaiming freedom as an unalienable human right, the US of A, the mecca of 'Americanism' started as a slaver nation.
So yes, hot news: 'Americanism' is all about submission.
http://chinaview.wordpress.com/2007/06/17/modern-slavery-in-china-status...
Somehow, I'm sure that's the USA's fault.
It is pretty awful over there. I know someone who went to college, studied, got a degree, and the first couple of interviews, the interviewer said "Sure, you got the job. That will be 225,000. In cash.". That is 4 1/2 years gross pay, almost no one has that kind of cash just to buy a job. The corruption is so deep, and so wide, and so pervasive, there's no way to fix the whole broken mess. As for the poster above who said "I don't have any sympathy for people who don't stand up for themselves". Heh, yeah right, You never lived in a dictatorship, have you. Stand up for yourselves means the police arrive at your door and cart your family off to jail for some trumped up charge.
WTF! You have to PAY to get a job? And 4 1/2 salary at that?? How the fuck do you manage to pay that? I doubt the banks will loan you 225 000$/yuan to someone who have no job and the reason for the loan.... hmmm.... bribery??
Or is this just for high level paying jobs?? To get there you probably need to work in a shitty job for years just to stack up the money... and is this just in government jobs or??
Just ask AnAnonomous - he'll tell you all about strategies to scrape up enough money just to be 1000th in line to suck a dick for a chance to be a wage slave.
Stockholm syndrome on a national scale is a real bitch.
Ah, the 'american' taste for fantasy...
Was a wonderful gift. So easily adopted and exposing so massively those self proclaimed anti herd thinking 'Americans'
What a gift.
Ah, the Chinese Citizenism taste for dogmeat, General Tso's kitten, fried tiger penis and human fetus broth ...
Consumptionizing endangered animal parts was a wonderful gift. So easily adopted and exposing so massively those self proclaimed herd thinking, hypocritizenistic Chinese Citizenism citizens.
The difference between Chinese Citizenism "doing as I say", and "doing as I do" --- what a rift.
WTF! You have to PAY to get a job? And 4 1/2 salary at that?? How the fuck do you manage to pay that?
____________________
'American' economics: it is happening by the way in 'American' societies but under different forms, like subsidizes to hirers, job providers, self employment scam etc
Chinese simply do that directly on an individual basis instead of relying on collectivist approach as favoured by 'Americans'...
Americans pay inflated amounts to support. Like latin america, you pay the cop to avoid a speeding ticket vs. in America you pay an attorney who knows the judge.
Student loans...
Yeah, lolomao. There are two groups in China, far more pronounced than even the USA as bad as it is here. Either you have family connections than can get you into one of those jobs, or you pay. No, there are basically almost no individual loans in China. People save their entire lives to buy an apartment, with cash. No loans.
This is for a moderate paying job, 50k a year. its really, really difficult to live on that wage in China. Over half the jobs are 'government jobs' in one way or another. Either you work directly for a government authority, like the power company or the transportation industry, or you work for a company that is controlled mostly by a very high level party official. Either way.... its the same.
This is partly correct, Redd-Green. The "Who you know" vs. "what you know" applies here as elsewhere and you pay to enlist in the PLA but there are student loans and people do borrow, but from each other, not banks.
I'm also sorry to disagree about the "50K": CNY 50,000 p.a. is quite enough to secure a mortgage on a new flat and raise your one-child family.
Stand up for yourselves means the police arrive at your door and cart your family off to jail for some trumped up charge.
That's why I always stay at my In-laws.........
Better hide under that secret trap door in teh basement floor. Naah, they'd find you there too.
Hard to build a middle class when you do not steal continents to distribute them over, huh.
Hard work can not beat theft...
So... Is this gonna slow down the delivery of my new $300 Nikes?
Get back into the coal mines, serfs- I need cheap stuff.
In other news, school shooting in Baltimore, Maryland.
1 in critical condition. Shooter in custody.
More gun laws. It is not like this is a new phenomenon. Back in the stone age, when I was in high school (in 1967 or 1968), a girl who got a D in home economics went home and got her father's gun and shot the home ec teacher in the neck. It was a 7-day wonder, but the teacher lived. I never knew what happened to the shooter, because she was a juvenile, and those were the days when such scandels were hushed up as much as possible, but on telling the tale to a friend of mine, who is a Nun, she told me that girl is a member of her order.
Damn straight they hushed it up. Can't be having people think that the oppressors can be intimidated.
My high school home ec teacher was hardly an oppressor. People's privacy was simply more respected back then. It wasn't felt that every gory detail of every tragedy needed to be made available to satisfy everybody's purient curiosity.
Consiering they have the tonnage in their gold reserves to rival Germany for 2nd on the totem pole maybe all they would have to do is revalue the yuan per their gold holdings and then they could import more than they are now.
I know, China looks like a shitshow, but considering all the pretty ponies at the glue factory, maybe they have some advantages.
Would I invest in China? No, but I don't really want to invest in anything other than bullion, so who am I to judge?
With all those Chinese, somebody probably needs their laundry done...
I smell a 'service sector' economy...
Ancient Chinese Secret, BLITCHAZ!
or a burger... oh wait ... serving burgers is manufacturing ... /snarc
toward end of 8 min mark, guy says, companies want skills that many were not taught in school .. reminds me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxkHM4DUDKM
Iron law of oligarchy strikes again...
A few rich capitalists and many exploited workers. Mao must be turning over in his grave. (Although, he didn't do any better for his people). Thousands of years of Chinese civilization and ordinary people always suffer.
The Chinese elites will soon learn that man who fart in church sit in own pew.
There are no capitalists in China.
Aljazeera forgot about the 8 trillion yuan stimulus...
The Chinese have managed to create for themselves a society that has all the worst characteristics of Communism and Capitalism.
A Communist totalitarian police state with no social safety net.
An incredibly unequal and corrupt winner-take-all Crony Capitalist economy with little-to-no upward mobility for all but the well-connected.
Way to go guys. I'm sure this will eventually have a happy ending. But probably not before another Chinese civil war that kills millions.
Communism aimed at getting rid of the State...
Yes, some early communists preached such nonsense to the masses, almost the perfect bait-and-switch setup, eh? Start them off with democracy, then move to socialism, then communism, then communitarian anarchism or some other self-contradictory tripe. In reality, by the time you're transitioning from socialism to communism, all according to plan (just ask Lenin), the state is utterly and completely dominant and it is well and truly too fucking late. No matter what your political and economic bents, you have to first class imbecile to believe a communist government is any more likely than any other government to allow itself to "wither away". It is one of the "Big Lies" of communism (there are quite a few), and frankly even by communist propaganda standards it is/was a stretch.
And the nicest exhibition of intelligence is to discuss lengthfully communism, that hopefully disappeared, while being unable to tell anything about the current dominant paradigm: 'Americanism'
At least, that is the 'American' perception of intelligence.
So what do you propose?
You're correct about one thing amidst all that crap: "communist government" is an absurdity. Marx was an OK philosopher but a lousy politician. He became his own enemy, just like so many of the guys running this shitshow in the US.
Of course, there can't really be such a thing as a "capitalist government," so that system isn't any help if you want to keep government around.
Yes, the Irony of Capitalism:
"The monopoly of capital becomes a fetter upon the mode of production, which has sprung up and flourished along with, and under it. Centralisation of the means of production and socialisation of labour at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist integument. Thus integument is burst asunder. The knell of capitalist private property sounds. The expropriators are expropriated." KMarx
That's why I always choose 'Mixed' brand economy for my money. (Results may vary; always use responsibly)
If there's no competing force in play, capitalism's final outcome should always be a single owner of everything. Wealth can only trickle up to the very last guy, and I guess at that point he becomes God or something.
oh no no. 'socially mitigated' plus 'capitalism' is a big nono around here bd. Capitalism is entirely self-balancing regardless of historical record, dontcha know. It just has to be 'pure'; you know, like the Marxist zealots say about communism.
Bingo.
The minute you're sure you've got it figured out, you're wrong.
We're all just muddling along. Every positive change that comes about is only the result of incredible effort and tremendous suffering.
.
AnAnonymism aimed at getting rid of the opium, one gram at a time.
Oxycodone must be better...
Rules for playing in AnAnnoyingMouseLand:
http://www.engrish.com//wp-content/uploads/2009/10/instructions-for-the-...
(TheFourthStooge-ing: please note the name of the shopping mall where the playground is located.)
akak said:
Oh, that's rich. I think they misspelled Parangong, though.
"Take off shoes before entering the naughty palace."
"Obey the naughty palace's safe navigation."
Of course, you knew something like this would have to be spelled out:
"Forbid stool and urine, spit in everywhere."
From the looks of this rule, our favorite Chinese citizenism citizen might not be allowed to play:
"If the tourist has heart disease, infection disease, psychosis disease, stupid disease. Any disease is forbid to play in it."
Sure - and I hear "wealth trickles down" too.
Face it, your overlords are lying sacks of shit, just like ours - nothing uniquely "American" about it.
In 'American' societies, the middle class is the King class...
As a member of the endangered and ever-shrinking American middle class, I can say with some authority that we definitely don't call any of the shots.
That's what makes this concept IMHO fascinating - it's actually almost a 'how it should be' middle class utopia.
If AA would go around calling on 'US imperialism' or 'US capitalism' opposed to 'Capitalism with chinese characteristics', i'd wager that he would only get 10 % of the responses.
No.
The middle class calls the shot.
But some members of the middle class, who wrongly thought their membership had to be eternal, are now discovering what it means not being part of the middle class.
With the nasty addition that they know how good it feels to be part of the middle class, of the ruling class.
Yep, it is quite common to meet 'Americans' who are losing, or have lost their middle class status, that keep talking as if they were still middle class when they are no longer.
The middle class train is still rolling. Just left you on the platform.
No.
On Chinese roadsides, the Middle Kingdom ass calls the shot.
But some members of the Middle Kingdom ass class, who wrongly thought their membership in the roadside-shitting fraternity had to be eternal, are now discovering what it means not being part of the Middle Kingdom roadside-shitting ass class, by being forced against their nature to use flush toilets in the cities or overseas.
With the nasty addition that they know how good it feels to be a roadside-shitting Middle Kingdom ass, or to say, the ruling ass.
Yep, it is quite common to meet foreign-traveling Chinese Citizenism citizens who are losing, or have lost their Middle Kingdom roadside-shitting status, that keep talking as if the roadsides were still public toilets in more civilized nations when they are no longer.
But in China, the Middle Kingdom ass is still trained to use the roadsides, even while on a train. Just left a turd on the platform.
akak said:
Actually, I think AnAnonymous still gets away with it in parts of France.
Sorry asshat - I'm still very middle of what's left of the middle class. And no, I don't think that gives me any claims to fame and certainly doesn't give me any superpowers. I have a hard enough time controlling my own destiny.
I'm sure it's hard being right all the time - So why don't you take a break from telling all us poor Kings of the World how the world works (because, for some reason we dont' know that we're actually in charge) and tell us something about yourself?
I'd love to know where/how you came accross your unobstructed view of the world.
Confusedcious say: Beware of Chinese Citizenism citizen removing asshat while on side of road, or might have sudden encounter with Hu Flung Pu.
AnAnon, did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?
No, he had the official breakfast of Chinese Citizenism champions:
Big Time Yum Yum!
OMFG - WTF?! =o
There are two classes of peope: rich folks and broke folks.
Broke folks comprises of two parts: a lower class that cannot borrow money and thus has to live within its means.
Then we have the middle class: broke people who can borrow money. The middle class gets into debt to keep an illusion of well being.
The billions of Chinese are trying to better themselves, our people are trying not to sink into the morass the worker ants in China are in, but it seems like our people are losing their grip as well.
"Only 56 percent of Americans laid off from January 2009 through December 2011 had found jobs by the start of this year, the Labor Department said Friday. More than half of them took jobs with lower pay. One-third took pay cuts of 20 percent or more.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/laid-off-us-workers-take-pay-cuts-at-new-jobs-2012-8#ixzz24macuImA
Anonymous, you kidding? Communism IS the state.
"Way to go guys. I'm sure this will eventually have a happy ending. But probably not before another Chinese civil war that kills millions."
"Billions".
Fixed it.
Hey, don't sweat it guys. They can always make more.
Those who think that China's centrally-planned transition to the world's leading, fastest growing economy in the shortest time in world history, coupled with its attempt to shift from a mercantilist, export-driven economy, to one sporting the world's largest middle class is progressing smoothly and according to plan, especially as related to millions of overeducated young adults who are finding it impossible to find a job in China's big cities, and find their diplomas uselss in the small ones, are urged to watch the following documentary exposing "China's Broken Dreams."
Guys can you please break this single goddammed sentence in readable parts?! Am I the only one who finds these excessively long sentences annoying?
lawyer wrote it. They are taught to write so no party understands...keep understanding dark so they can put more money in their pockets....nice gig!
Try Yahoo or CNN, might be more your speed.
The rich get richer
The poor get the picture
The bombs never hit you
When you're down so low
Some got pollution
Some revolution
There must be some solution
But I just don't know
The bosses want decisions
The workers need ambitions
There won't be no collisions
When they move so slow
Nothing ever happens
Nothing really matters
No one ever tells me, what am I to know
So what am I to know
You wouldn't read about it
Read about it
Just another incredible scene
There's no doubt about it
The hammer and sickle
The news is at a trickle
The commissars are fickle
But the stockpile grows
Bombers keeping coming
Engines softly humming
The stars and stripes are running
For their own big show
Another little flare up
Storm brewed in a tea cup
Imagine any mix up
And the lot would go
Nothing ever happens
Nothing really matters
No one ever tells me, what am I to know
So what am I to know
You wouldn't read about it
Read about it
One unjust, ridiculous steal
Ain't no doubt about it
You wouldn't read about it
Read about it
Just another particular deal
There's no doubt about it
The rich get richer
The poor get the picture
The bombs never hit you
When you're down so low
Some got pollution
Some revolution
There must be some solution
But I just don't know
Read about it
Read about it
Read about it
Read About It - Midnight Oil circa1982
Read about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9QzH4KOf9Bs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jV3sC0fFAU&feature=player_detailpage
"they alone will be expected to provide for their parents and older relatives."
The glorious people's revolution comes full circle and everyone loses - except the elite. Take one glance at the Maoists' political-economic philosophy and the history of the China after WWII then try to be surprised by anything you hear about China. It is feudal manorialism par excellence and in plain sight; the rhetoric is rice-paper thin.
Chinese political economy is rigged against 99% of the Chinese population? Gee, you don't say!
<Now I'm gonna be *rayciss* - uh-oh watch - out hide yo kids, hide yo cultural Marxists with the emotional sophistication of a menstruating teenager who's rolling on e>
The Chinese population has been brainwashed, both by the honor-based society/traditionalism/Confucianism and communism/Maoism/Marxism-Leninism to such an extraordinrary degree of success that the risk of meaningful threat to the state's (CCP's) continued total domination is essentially nil. They will shot and yell and make angry gestures and do absolutely nothing.
Now, because I'm obviously a hardcore reactionary white-supremacist klansmen neo-Nazi for holding this opinion, I will also mention that Americans, Europeans, and most other people, for similar but superficially different reasons, are in the same pathetic boat - traveling in steerage class of course.
</virulent hateful bigoted raycissum>
'Americanism' includes racism so no surprise.
Chinese doing nothing? There are countless of riots in China.
People who are doing nothing are the 'American' middle class. That is normal as this is an 'american' world and in 'Americanism', the middle class is the king class. A ruling class seldom riot against themselves.
Doing nothing? You littlie ignorant squint eyed cousin fucker, who in the hell do you think provides all the free cheese around here?
If your servile little asses would get in gear you could stomp those asshole elites and their toadies into the shit mush lining the sides of all your roads.
But you won't. And YOU especially will not, because you are among the toadies.
Ultimately, the best way to deal with you is just to let you starve. Fight it out amongst yourselves when you run out of tiger gonads to fry up and have to start eating one another.
LMFAO - between you and Akak I think I just had a mini-stroke! =]
You do realize that you guys are patronizing a complete moron?
+1 for tiger gonads, that's some good shit there.
Poetic justice. Hard work is no guarantee of succes--ask the Greeks! Ant Conlony meet Socialist Leisure Society.
To bee a Greek drone in the EU hive
I think the difference is that when it comes down to it dispossessed Chinese will have no trouble at all killing as many rich people as they can get ahold of regardless how many of them are slaughtered in the process by police and troops whereas in Amerika a few tear gas cannisters and tazers will break up any sized crowd and send them running for cover.
China is a complex country
A good site to follow events in both English and Chinese is
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/weblog.htm
Oldrepublic said:
Interesting site. Thanks for the link.
china, and most asia, as well as europe, have thousands of years of history of class warfare. It's the USA that's just catching up.
Actually, I do not see this Chinese story as being out of the ordinary. Many if not most young Americans experience the let down of the move from a life in the educational systems where they are presented with high expectations that their education will lead to good jobs and good pay.
This of course is true for some portion of students, usually the very gifted or family connected. The majority enter a scramble for what decent jobs remain that have not already been filled by those with family connections to the employer or by those with hogh skill levels that employers compete to add to their payrolls. SOme kinds are from already wealthy families and can coast on their family weath and work as desired.
For many educated young people here in America or around the world, they face much larger groups of similarly educated youth. In our parents day, college degrees were much fewer and more career oriented. Now many graduate with dubious degrees and face a job market seeking skill sets that translate directly into getting real work done.
It seems natural that China with it's vastly expanded education system would end up with a big surplus of degreed young folks. Being an "Ant" really is the majority position, as only a few can occupy the upper level of businesses. Workers must work, and be managed by a small minority. Not everyone can simply grab a dream job and have that be a life long career.
The shock of entering the labor force with an education that is not in high demand will always lead to fast food delivery or factory work. The grind of dead end jobs is what work is really about for most people. If everybody could "move up" to good paying careers, then who would do most of the economic heavy lifting?
My advice to young folks is seek an education directly connected to a needed job skill set. Otherwise, don't expect every degree to be in demand. We all know the weak degrees that millions get but have little value in the world of comptetitive capitalist business. AMerican kids learn a hard lesson the day after they make their first job search.
Did you actually mean to imply that fast-food jobs are "economic heavy lifting"?
Seems to me those are some of the best positions in the world to replace with machines. Putting human beings behind those registers is an enormous waste of potential.
"Seems to me those are some of the best positions in the world to replace with machines."
That's what they said about factories, blunderdog. And then all those jobs disappeared forever.
Why don't you try something for me, blunderdog? Go down to the nearest fast food joint with a bullhorn and tell the workers in that fast food joint that their jobs will be usurped by robots. If you don't wind up in the deep fryer ass cheeks first I'll be really shocked.
Something people never understand...automation makes widgets cheaper, but as fewer people have jobs, fewer people can afford to buy the widgets. So for short term profits, corporations sacrifice long term market share. Makes the shareholders happy, I guess, but eventually they run out of people who can afford to buy their shit.
Automation isn't the problem. The Luddites were wrong. The issue is *distributing* the improved and/or more plentiful output.
If you use machines to improve the safety and work conditions of the employees, OR if you use the savings to improve wages, you don't sacrifice jobs.
Those factory jobs left because it became cheaper to move them to China, and short-sighted corporate decision makers forgot that it takes adequate wages to maintain a supply of customers. As wages fell, government intervention increased to maintain so-called "aggregate demand."
By the way--I worked fast food a couple years. Doesn't sound like you did. Register-jocks don't care about those jobs--they would very much like to do something fulfilling, beneficial, or interesting.
There's not enough of that work around because no one can afford to pay for those products and services.
AnAnon, you get paid by the post? Arguing against every single post on this thread isn't gonna persuade anyone.
I do believe AnAnon is a troll, by its strictest definition
I do believe that that fact has been established beyond a resonable doubt.
However, he is so vastly entertaining that I shudder to even think of having him banned from here.
You're right. The dude is just so patently false about almost every observation he makes that it serves as comic relief. Or is it opposite day
I think he's using google tranlate while sitting at the party headquarters in China, but maybe it's disinfo agent based out of Iran, either way, he's a troll that does not speak English as a native language.
Although he could be a bot, programmed by a non-native speaker.
Lets reverse google translate it, and see if it comes out in perfect Mandarin. LOL
I tried that, but all I kept getting was "Paul is dead .... Paul is dead .... Paul is dead ...."
I suspect he might be part of the 50-cent Brigade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CpEcMP0O7XQ
I also suspect that he/she is multiple people posting under the same handle. The replies come much too quickly for one person, in my opinion. One can see some distinct differences in writing style across postings.
Oh, you noticed that too?
If one looks carefully at AnAnonymous' posting record, one will often find intense, rapid-fire bursts of posts, some of them quite lengthy, often posted only one minute apart. It is abundantly obvious that NOBODY could read a response to one of their prior posts, then compose a responding post of significant length, with only one or two minutes between them, least of all somebody who is not a native speaker/writer of that language, as AnAnonymous is obviously not of English.
I think you are correct --- that is why we sometimes get gratuitous slams at 'Americanism', in other posts it is "US Citizenism", in some posts his/her/their English is quite clear, in others posted immediately before or after their Engrish is mangled almost beyond all comprehensibility. Their troll characteristic of NEVER even hinting at any personal information is also a dead giveaway --- doing so would vastly complicate the narrative and the storyline between the various individuals posting under the one alias.
its going to be a long and painful ride for China. Unlike Japans 2 decade recession after they overextended, China has no industry of its own to fall back on. Western (mainly American) conglomerates can shut down their 50% share at will due to shrinking demand. What can China do? Where are the large transplants like the Japanese have to at least maintain a 0% growth?
Interestingly, I no longer get asked by my customer "what % of my BOM is from China?" In anticipation, my answer will be "0% and suck it if you don't like it".
China has no industry of its own to fall back on.
That's stupidly wrong.
Western business paid for the infrastructure to be built in China, sure, but they can't just pack it up and leave with it. All they can do is stop investing.
The Chinese get to keep all the factories and employees no matter what Apple or Intel or whoever decides to do. They also have never demonstrated the kind of strong commitment to IP rights that the multinationals have come to expect in the business-dominate "Western" countries.
There's no "threat" that Apple can make to knuckle the Chinese under if they decided to pull out.
"Ah, so greedy business pull out of China? Chinaman make iPhone, put different label, sell at half-price."
Really? and what exactly is the shelf life of technology these days? Who would they sell to if Apple, GM, 3M decided to close their China sites? They can most certainly walk away. It's what they did in the US before they moved to China.
They will build replicas and sell them, thats what. I once worked for a European manufacturer who moved most of their production there, the knock offs got better and better until they were finally indistinguishable- one company got caught making their product 3 times and never got more than a slap on the wrist from the government there. I have little doubt they are now making millions on that product, it cannot be distinguished from the real thing anymore.
They will sell kncok off iGizmos and everything else and flood the market with them, thats what.
we're not talking about die casting or making shoes here......
You've got a point. Go check out the webpage for AVIC - ChiCom's military and commercial aviation company: http://www.avic2.com/ This is a BIG global company - fortune 500 - and their webpage is more primitive than my local sandwich shop's - and I'm not kidding.
You said they had no "industry." That's what's way wrong.
What you're talking about here is having a MARKET. No one has much of a MARKET these days, because everyone on the planet (except for a few hundred thousand people who have everything they want/need) is BROKE.
That's the essence of a global depression. This one's just starting to get interesting.
China has to export more than they import. The money to buy the gadgets comes from the export surplus, which is getting smaller and smaller. Unlike us they don't trust their govt, so they save every cent they can. They wouldn't understand the concept of Social Security or Medicare other than ; "That's nice, bu you have to be rich and know someone here to get that".
They will get to a state of self sufficiency once they learn how to market, brand and sell their ripped off gadgets. Even then, that will have a short shelf live as change can easily be made in head-end equipment that make the iGadgets inoperable. Japan learned to market and sell by hiring US Citizens. Yes they chocked at the wages we demanded, but they had a end use for our knowledge. No one can match the USA when it comes to selling shit.
The USA is going to have to learn to sell the shit we make or we go out of business. The Chinese will have to learn how to sell the shit they make and it better be original or they go out of business. Instead we sell the shit they make while they try to sell the shit they make riding on our brands. "Just like iPad". believe it or not, selling knock offs is much harder there than one would think. People want the real thing.
The best way to do that is do what the Koreans do; have massive overruns of USA branded goods. Then sell the overruns out the back door. They do that in China now, but they are slow to learn. Korea has been happily doing it now for decades.
See above. No one can sell anything to a bunch of people struggling to eat.
Sounds more like America than China
The primary difference between China's young educated poor and America's young educated poor is that the Chinese really have it better since they don't graduate from College with a mortgage size debt. They learn early on how to live within their means . So as bad as it may feel in China, ask one of them "Now you have told me all your problems. Lets say you had one more BIG problem. Let say about 320,000 Yuan in debt that not only can't dissolved through your court system, it will be handed down to the rest of your family when you commit suicide.
So, you must feel better eh? See, Pizza delivery is a Good job. Say that with me one more time. Pizza Delivery to rich kids is a good job. Wasn't that easy? Much better than American kids who get degrees, still don't understand science or math and owe more than they can ever repay, who never learned to live within their means no matter what kind of sacrifice it involves.
Chinese Kid: "But they have Visa and Master Card right?" |
Interviewer "Aw fucking Citibank."
Chinese Kid "No Understand. You very funny though."
Foxconn still needs lots of near slaves that are not college-brainwashed.
Evans just said that the FED will print until everyone gets a job. I think he is talking abou a blow job.
Nice racist headline Tyler.
Did you even read the article, you douche?
If in the words of the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu 26 centuries ago, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” China has yet to take its first baby step from the days of Mao. And to believe that China's banker-created capitalism somehow compares to the miraculous growth of Western Civilization is to greatly misunderstand the foundations which give man his ticket to prosperity.
To believe that a Chinese economy dependent on the banker-created debt of the West and rusting on the foundations of single-party control, atheism and central planning can survive is to believe that’s there’s no difference between the fruits produced by individual liberty and collectivist humanistic communism.
Chinese economic power that was created by asset-stripping the United States is not genuine; it lacks permanence; it could be gone within two years. Therefore, to predict a trend line, is foolish.
A big part of the China story is the incredible damage that has been and is being done to the U.S. story. To use China’s resources to gain wealth and power, the banking cartel literally stripped the United States of its potential growth in jobs, resources, patents and political will. And what has China accomplished? It has built an engine of temporary growth but it has not built an engine of survival.
Frankly, the key growth factor underpinning United States prosperity was its solid foundation based on the religious principles of the Christian Founders. That’s why the Constitution’s Founders recognized an inherent God-given power in the people; remove that and you’re left with the kind of system China now operates. And you are left with a system that will not survive.
China's biggest problem is that they're too late to the party. The cheap and plentiful resources have all been stripped by now and the resulting scarcity and high prices will not allow China to maintain even the infra-structure they've built for very much longer.
Your are mistaken.
The World’s Most Resource-Rich Countries
Posted: April 18, 2012 at 6:48 am
T. Rowe Price Funds
10. Venezuela
> Total resource value: $14.3 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): 99.4 billion barrels ($11.7 trillion)
> Natural gas reserves (value): 170.9 cu. ft. ($1.9 trillion)
> Timber reserves (value): not in top 10
Venezuela is among the 10 largest resource holders for iron, natural gas and oil. The South American nation’s natural gas reserves are eighth in the world at 170.9 trillion cubic feet. These reserves account for just over 2.7% of global supply. Venezuela’s oil wealth of 99 billion barrels is the sixth-largest in the world, and account for 7.4% of total global supply. This is based on an estimate that does not include another 97 billion barrels of the country’s extra heavy sour crude, which OPEC included last year in its report on the cartel’s resources. When that estimate is included, Venezuela’s position on this list jumps substantially.
9. Iraq
> Total resource value: $15.9 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): 115 billion barrels ($13.6 trillion)
> Natural gas reserves (value): 111.9 trillion cu. ft. ($1.3 trillion)
> Timber reserves (value): not in top 10
Iraq’s greatest resource is its oil, of which it has 115 billion barrels of proved reserves. This accounts for nearly 9% of the world’s total. Despite being relatively easy to extract, much of these reserves remain untapped because of political differences between the central government and Kurdistan concerning ownership of the oil. Iraq also has among the greatest reserves of phosphate rock in the world, worth more than $1.1 trillion. However, these deposits are completely underdeveloped.
8. Australia
> Total resource value: $19.9 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): not in top 10
> Natural gas reserves (value): not in top 10
> Timber reserves (value): 369 million acres ($5.3 trillion)
Australia’s natural wealth comes from its vast amounts of coal, timber, coal, copper and iron ore. The country is in the top three for total reserves of seven of the resources on our list. Australia has by far the most gold in the world, at 14.3% of global supply. It also has 46% of the global uranium supply, also easily the most. In addition, the country has significant quantities of natural gas offshore the northwest coast, some of which it shares with Indonesia.
7. Brazil
> Total resource value: $21.8 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): not in top 10
> Natural gas reserves (value): not in top 10
> Timber reserves (value): 1.2 billion acres ($17.5 trillion)
Brazil’s sizable gold and uranium reserves largely contribute to its place on this list. It also owns 17% of the world’s iron ore supply, the second most of any nation. Its most valuable natural resource, however, is timber. The country owns 12.3% of the world’s timber supply, valued at $17.45 trillion. In order to maintain consistency in the international numbers we used to make our calculations, we did not include Brazil’s relatively recent discovery of vast quantities of crude oil offshore in what is usually called the presalt. The estimated crude presalt reserves could reach 44 billion barrels, which would propel Brazil’s place up the list.
6. China
> Total resource value: $23 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): not in top 10
> Natural gas reserves (value): not in top 10
> Timber reserves (value): 450 million acres ($6.5 trillion)
The value of China’s resources is heavily based on coal and rare earth minerals. The two resources, combined, provide more than 90% of the country’s total resource value. China also has significant coal deposits, which account for more than 13% of the world’s total. Recently, major shale gas deposits were also discovered in the country. Once estimates of their size become available, China’s status as a world leader in natural resources will further improve.
5. Iran
> Total resource value: $27.3 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): 136.2 billion barrels ($16.1 trillion)
> Natural gas reserves (value): 991.6 trillion cu. ft. ($11.2 trillion)
> Timber reserves (value): not in top 10
Iran shares the Persian Gulf’s gigantic South Pars/North Dome gas field with Qatar. The country is home to nearly 16% of the world’s natural gas reserves — just under one quadrillion cubic feet. The country also has the third-largest amount of oil in the world, with 136.2 billion barrels of proved reserves. This is more than 10% of the world’s oil.
4. Canada
> Total resource value: $33.2 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): 178.1 billion barrels ($21 trillion)
> Natural gas reserves (value): not in top 10
> Timber reserves (value): 775 million acres ($11.3 trillion)
Prior to the addition of its oil sands deposits to its proved reserves total, Canada probably would not have even made this list. The oil sands added about 150 billion barrels to Canada’s total in 2009 and 2010. According to most recent estimates, the country now has 178.1 billion barrels, giving it an estimated 17.8% of total global reserves, the second highest behind Saudi Arabia. The country also mines a good deal of the world’s phosphate, even though its deposits of phosphate rock are not among the top 10 in the world. The country also has the second-largest proved reserves of uranium and the third-most available timber.
3. Saudi Arabia
> Total resource value: $34.4 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): 266.7 billion barrels ($31.5 trillion)
> Natural gas reserves (value): 258.5 trillion cu. ft. ($2.9 trillion)
> Timber reserves (value): not in top 10
Saudi Arabia has nearly 20% of the world’s oil — the greatest share among all countries. In fact, all of the country’s resource value is derived from hydrocarbons — either oil or gas. The kingdom has the world’s fifth-largest amount of proved natural gas reserves. Because these resources are depleting, Saudi Arabia eventually will run out of them and lose its high standing on this list. However, this will not happen for several decades.
2. United States
> Total resource value: $45 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): not in top 10
> Natural gas reserves (value): 272.5 trillion cu. ft. ($3.1 trillion)
> Timber reserves (value): 750 million acres ($10.9 trillion)
The U.S. has 31.2% of the world’s proved coal reserves. Worth an estimated $30 trillion, this is by far the most valuable supply of any nation on earth. There is also 750 million forested acres in the country, which are worth nearly $11 trillion. Timber and coal combined are worth roughly 89% of the country’s total natural resource value. The U.S. is also in the top five nations globally for copper, gold and natural gas.
1. Russia
> Total resource value: $75.7 trillion
> Oil reserves (value): 60 billion barrels ($7.08 trillion)
> Natural gas reserves (value): 1,680 trillion cu. ft. ($19 trillion)
> Timber reserves (value): 1.95 billion acres ($28.4 trillion)
Russia is the world’s richest country when it comes to natural resources. It leads all other nations in the size of both its natural gas and timber reserves. The country’s vast size is both a blessing and a curse since economical transportation for gas (pipelines) and for timber (railroads) are significantly costly to build. In addition to having such large gas and timber reserves, Russia has the world’s second-largest deposits of coal and the third-largest deposits of gold. Additionally, it has the second-largest estimated deposits of rare earth minerals, although none are currently being mined.
Read more: The World’s Most Resource-Rich Countries - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2012/04/18/the-worlds-most-resource-rich-countries/#ixzz24n8CcyOC
Now, take that data and compare it with the curve of energy extraction per capita (falling) and look at the decrease in EROEI securing the energy to process those resources you identify and you'll see what I'm talking about.
e.g.: We built the highway system using .50 cent/gallon gas. China's going to have to try it with gas that costs them more than $4.00/gal. (http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/21/business/la-fi-china-gas-prices-...)
Rotsa ruck maintaining a Western standard of living with over a billion mouths and increasing energy costs.
Very good points.
But the form of government and the method by which rulers come to power can still be the overriding factor in the success of resource development. For the Soviets, extensive resources (Russia still ranks number one in resources) weren’t enough to save a complete breakup of the system because of its political ideology. And it is a mistake to believe that China’s current leadership, in its future relationship with other world powers, would go on to foster increasing capitalism; it may very well clamp down hard and bring on a totalitarian state and move to increase the tyranny over its people.
A government operated with a single party is a government operated by only one or two powerful men. Stalin was an intelligent man but he was a destroyer; not only did he destroy 65 million persons he was the destroyer of an economic system.
Where is it written that the Chinese dictator of the future will be more intelligent than that?
Alexander Solzhenitsyn defined it: “It is American trade that allows the Soviet economy to concentrate its resources on armaments and preparations for war. Remove that trade, and the Soviet economy would be obliged to feed and clothe and house the Russian people, something it has never been able to do. Let the socialists among you allow this socialist economy to prove the superiority that its ideology claims. Stop sending them goods. Let them stand on their own feet, and then see what happens.”
The space of time in comparing capitalistic systems based on free enterprise and individual opportunity with government-controlled capitalism is a very important factor. Many students are too young to realize that what we are seeing is just relatively slow movement in both countries. And over a period of years, a one-party system as in China will change the country considerably because decisions can be made rapidly by one man, particularly when things start getting rough. When China's military power almost equals that of the U.S., its economic system may bear no resemblance to what we're seeing today. IOW, China's form of government is deadly.
Really interesting points. Dovetails exactly with what Marc Faber was saying in that presentation that was posted a few days ago - that the Fed's low interest rate fueled monetary expansion was essentially funneled into China fueling their growth boom.
I totally agree with the uncomfortable efficiencies of dictatorships as compared to Republic/Parlementary systems. But Rome was only as good as its Caesars - and they steadily got worse as the Empire fell apart.
I just worry about how the hell China is going to feed all those folks coming up in the few years.
Bottom line is that China is too late. They are trying to do what Europe, North America, and Japan did, except this time there are 7 billion people on the planet and only so many resources to go around.
And like all latecomers they will arrive at the party only to discover that everybody's left and there are only empty beer bottles remaining.
And, like a patsy, it's their job to clean it all up.
If you are interested in how hedge funds like John Paulson (or his connection to madoff too) are shorting the HK and Chinese property market I suggest you take a look at my blog.
Its being done just how it was in 2007 in the states, but in China. I also have found where the other side of funds like Paulson and Burry hide their trades (they went somewhere)...
Explore some entries on my blog,
http://cycleofstructurednonsense.blogspot.com/2012/07/china-property-cdosmerged-on-youre.html
Communists.
Any questions?
"Duty now for the future!"
No worries, just distract them by stirring up a bit of anti Japanese sentiment over some insiginificant pieces of sea bound rock
It strikes me that China's biggest problem remains its strong tendency toward extreme oversaving, underconsumption, and underimporting. On top of the East Asian/Confucian value of family-based safety nets and high propensity to save, the Communist Party and the PBOC have added mercantalist policies that were designed to preserve high growth rates and strong labor markets with cheap labor. To artificially cheap labor was added an artificially cheap currency. Although much has changed since Tianammen Square in 1989, these policies and the resulting imbalances remain.
China (and other developing countries) have added mightily to world suppy, without adding commensurately to world demand. The result is a large gap in demand -- for a better standard of living across the board -- that China has tried to fill by exporting to meet consumer demand in wealthy countries and lending to those countries in a form of vendor financing. But that demand has faltered and will continue to remain sluggish. OTOH, the Communist Party is loathe to allow the Chinese people their full due, as determined by their productivity, because a more advanced Chinese society threatens its monopoly on power.
I, for one, am an optimist.
If people get trampled over, revolutions happen....
It has happened time and again in human history.
Nothing ever changes..we are moving in circles