caring
- 2017-02-25
The fear one may wear a strap or one may rattle your molded cage isn't the same fear. We truly are entitled to have our views on forums, so you're right that the US folks worry eventhough about different things than the Chinese ones.
I don't think Chinese fear foreigners but I do think many U.S. citizens do fear foreigners.
FTinPRC
- 2017-02-23
Xenophobia implies fear.
I don't think Chinese fear foreigners but I do think many U.S. citizens do fear foreigners.
China, like Japan and Israel and Saudi Arabia and a few other middle east countries, has a unity of race and culture (though not religion as in the middle east).
Their 'interest' in foreigners is based on this powerfully homogeneous experience that offers them little exposure to foreign culture, race, and religion.
Yes: you and I and even your children will never be truly 'Chinese' in the eyes of the Chinese. Nor can we ever be truly Israeli or Japanese or Saudi.
We have been fortunate to have been raised in a pluralistic society. The Chinese carry a great burden of 'consensus' and 'face' as a result of their unity.
Caring
- 2017-02-23
The xenophobia in the US is uncomparable to the one of China. My kids that were born in China may never become Chinese presidents for obvious reasons; they don't have their "Chinese eyes". Locals break into regular "Ha, Ha, Ha.." when my children respond to such questions as "where are you from" with "I'm Chinese". Americans are usually laud about their often temporary attitudes that aren't so uniformed while Chinese are most often quiet with their characters that have deep roots in their society. Americans vs Indians vs Blacks is one thing but Chinese vs the world is another. Anyhow, this is the current and a, mark my words, very temporary billionaires' White House leadership that's so hungry for recognition; this isn't the centuries old tossing. Whether Trump compromises himself to extinction remains to be seen by many people, whether the communist leadership burns itself beyond recognition carries on only as a wishful thinking of some western capitalists.
FTinPRC
- 2017-02-21
If even America can't counterbalance automation (because it just
elected idiots), how is China - that is always far behind - going to do it?
Examine Northern Europe. Is it in a sacred text somewhere that employees must work 40 or 50 hours during 5 days?
If employees cut their hours in half tomorrow with the same pay, we would end unemployment and underemployment by the end of the year, vastly distribute wealth to where it will be spent, increasing consumption and booming all markets.
Elites would like you to think the problem is 'efficiency' and 'productivity' or robots. The actual problem is two fold:
1) Capitalism does not deliver the society's work that needs to be done to the society's citizens that want to work. Profit alone will not solve problems in healthcare, education, and housing.
2) Just as 'work' is not distributed to citizens willing to work, capital always concentrates. The wealth of society needs to be 're'distributed in a variety of manners, as your article suggests.
For the past 50 years the .01% of the U.S. population by wealth have been feasting at the trough. Unfortunately for us, they also control the government through campaign finance, lobbying, and revolving-door patronage. As far as they are concerned, this is Gatsby time; the system works.
Telling unemployed young men living in the inner city in rat-infested housing, adjoining crumbling schools and hospitals, that there are no jobs available for them is a condemnation of Washington Consensus Capitalism. Blaming them for the problem is either stupidity or guilt.
Concerning China, globalization DID generate jobs and wealth in China during the past 30 years. Those gains are diminishing as China's economy matures to focus on domestic consumption. The wealth generated in China DID diminish middle class income in the U.S. But that was because of 1 and 2 above. It did not have to be so. Again, observe Northern Europe. They did business in China before the U.S. arrived. But they distributed the benefits of globalization to their citizens.
The Northern European .01% have moved to the U.S. and Switzerland for their place at the trough.
Most FTs in China who want to be aware of their environment beyond the walls of their classroom probably feel they are being tossed like drift wood in the middle of the forces that are pulling and pushing the Chinese society in opposite directions. The xenophobia that many FTs have to deal with in my opinion is partly the result of economic pain and fears created by those forces. One of those forces that I used to worry about in China is the fast paced replacement of workers with robots. But then I just read "No, Robots Aren’t Killing the American Dream" (NYT's editorial board) and I started feeling tired like Taffy, I just felt it would be nice to post a recipe or copy and paste a footnote about the Barbary Coast of the 1600s. But it's wrong. We all have to stay awake.
1- Part of trump's electoral platform was that American jobs were/are taken by China or Mexico.
2- Until 5 minutes ago, I was proud to consider myself one step above in my thinking, with the likes of Christine Lagarde and Barack Obama: I used to believe - of course no, no, it's not China or Mexico - that American jobs are taken by robots/microchips.
3- And now... boy it's complicated... "If automation were accelerating rapidly, labor productivity and capital investment would also be surging. Instead, they are growing at the slowest pace in decades." A graph shows that both are quite low compared to any time since the post war. So, the problem is not automation...
...the problem with automation isn’t robots; it’s politicians, who have failed for decades to support policies that let workers share the wealth from technology-led growth.
The article describes the various mechanisms since the beginning of the 20th century, that allowed distribution of wealth despite automation: first, there was high school education, G I Bill, unions, robust minimum wage and overtime pay, fair taxation: they made productivity and pay rise in tandem. But counterbalancing measures stopped a few decades ago (the article does not say when but I would point at the Reagan years).
As a result, gains from improving technology have been concentrated at the top, damaging the middle class, while politicians blame immigrants and robots for the misery that is due to their own failures. Eroded policies need to be revived, and new ones enacted.
Economic history shows that automation not only substitutes for human labor, it complements it. The disappearance of some jobs and industries gives rise to others. Nontechnology industries, from restaurants to personal fitness, benefit from the consumer demand that results from rising incomes in a growing economy. But only robust public policy can ensure that the benefits of growth are broadly shared.
The editorial board then suggest a series of counterbalancing measures to help the middle class like:
- tax reform to pay for retraining and education in the middle of foreseeable technical advancements
- child are, elder care, fair scheduling
- a curb on stock buyback
Adding that all are unlikely to be implemented under this administration.
So, coming back to China: If even America can't counterbalance automation (because it just elected idiots), how is China - that is always far behind - going to do it?
I am slowly learning to think like Bernie, but right now, I am going to read about the Barbary Coast before going to sleep... I will be awake tomorrow, though.