Quote:
Originally Posted by XXPANTHAXX
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 30, 2008; A13
SHENZHEN, China -- The gray waters around the port of Yantian are
ominously empty. It's supposed to be peak season here, a time when the
docks are filled with exporters shoveling holiday goods onto freighters
bound for the United States faster than the ships are able to receive
them.
Instead, irritated truck drivers, logistics coordinators and other
workers stand idle, smoking and complaining that business is so slow
that their income has dropped by two-thirds, because of the
deteriorating U.S. economy, with which this region is so closely linked.
The community that once bragged about its close ties to the United
States now rues them.
========
For a while, Xiong prospered. Like other employees, he often made $4,400
to $5,800 a month with commissions -- a fortune in a country where the
average annual urban salary is $2,000.
But today most workers are making $750 to $1,500.
If the U.S. economy doesn't pick up, his current employer will probably
have to lay off some of its 20 employees in Shenzhen or even shut down.
"Right now we haven't hit bottom yet. We see things getting worse and
worse," he said.
Xiong, a marketing manager at Dragontrade Logistics, said that if he had
it to do over, he would choose to work more with Europe, or emerging
economies in areas such as the Middle East, or even with Chinese
companies that he once thought were old-fashioned.
The U.S. troubles have made him reconsider the benefits of communist,
state-run support, he said.
"In the U.S., the workers at the gold-chip companies are carrying out
their desks in boxes," Xiong said. "But in China, the jobs are still
here because they are more protected."
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Yeah, aint that a bitch.
Scuse my language, but it serves em right. Now he wants to go back to the old ways because the US aint doing so well. He wants to switch horses in mid stream. Thats all illogical and shows how the humanism has been squeezed out of society for the sake of a profit. What did he do with all that money? How was he living? Dont expect me to give a shuck.
I was thinking about the Russians in a similar vein. The Russians are approaching the question of capitalism from a humanist POV, however the competition for resources will force them to make a choice between that and capitalism, as the two are incompatible. I saw the Russian prime minister on Charlie Rose last Friday and his English is far superior to George Bush's. He is extremely talented and articulate, patient but firm. Charlie jumped on him like a plate of hotcakes, I thought I was watching FOX. But the Russian (regrettably, I forgot his name) didn't get flustered and he parried Charlie Rose very diplomatically. He answered the security questions about Europe better than any US policy advisor. Made me feel good about the Russians.
Then I followed up on Itar-TASS, came across the report about the Ukrainian trawler hi-jacked by Somali pirates. Said the situation was calm, that one Russian died of HBP, everyone else fine. Somalis fired off AKs in celebration of Eid, the end of Ramadan. However, the US reported they heard gunfire, as if the situation had intensified. Warmongering American media.