Will We Choose a Chinese Future?
http://inthesetimes.com/article/12758/will_we_choose_a_chinese_futureFor the last two decades, weve heard many myths purporting to explain the loss of American manufacturing jobs. CEOs, for instance, typically say they have sent jobs overseas because they cant find skilled American workers. Conservative economists say the giant sucking sound is that of technology replacing obsolete workers. And conservative politicians say job loss is the result of high corporate tax rates, even though ours are among the lowest effective corporate tax rates in the industrialized world.
All of these explanations are fables with a purpose: they are designed to deny the obvious by pretending that exploitation and policies that encourage exploitation arent the root cause of offshoring. More specifically, they ask us to ignore the fact that tariff-free trade agreements and tax loopholes incentivize companies to shift production to countries where slave wages, environmental degradation and human rights abuses are tolerated.
But now at least a few manufacturing jobs are suddenly coming back to America, and the same CEOs, economists and politicians who have tried to squelch any honest discussion of exploitation are inadvertently admitting that exploitation has always been the manufacturing economys invisible hand. They are admitting it when they concede that jobs are returning primarily because American wages are precipitously dropping at the same time Chinese minimum wages have slightly risenfrom awful (in some places, $100 month) to a mere terrible (still just a $240 a month).
This is not some fringe theory. Its a widely acknowledged fact.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)I've got a hundred or so fortune cookies leftover from the Lunar New Year party....
xchrom
(108,903 posts)sad sally
(2,627 posts)will always look for the cheapest labor, regardless of where it is. Look at what some African nations think:
This was followed by the consumer sector, which accounted for 17.8 percent, registering 34 deals valued at a total of $3.8bn. The consumer space was also home to what is arguably the most interesting deal of 2011, with US retail giant Walmart acquiring a 51 percent stake in South Africas Massmart for $2.4bn. The deal is the latest sign of the growing importance of consumer markets to regional growth, as well as international capital looking for opportunities on the continent. In the extractive industries, a noteworthy deal was the acquisition of South African copper miner Metorex, which owns assets in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It looks set to be sold to Chinas Junchuan Group International Resources for $1.39bn, but only after outbidding a $1.16bn offer from Brazilian iron ore giant Vale. The direct competition for mining assets between the two countries is a reflection of the intensifying competition for access to natural resources between the worlds major emerging markets a trend that will continue in 2012.
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The next 12 months could see the emergence of new opportunities for countries in the region to seize, he argues.There is high potential in the manufacturing sectors, especially with an estimated 85 million jobs leaving China (as a result of higher wages there). Some countries, such as Ethiopia, Tanzania and Burkina Faso are poised to take advantage of these developments, provided they can improve infrastructure services and other aspects of the business climate.
http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/377/The_economic_outlook.html?current_page=3