Philosophy Now Forum

What we are seeing these days, Chaz, as a comment to your last post, is already the effects of a more competitive world for Europe. As China's wealth increases, Europeans will have to pay more money for the resources and products in the third world, and coupled with loosing jobs we are increasingly reaching a desperation to maintain superiority. The heaviness of European economical culture is at the moment shielding us all from seeing an effect of the competition, but it is growing, coming for us, and when it comes and gains force we all better be prepared because European welfare states may find that their heavy expenditures and relaxed consumer population has severe disadvantages against a fiercely competitive new wave of capitalism and passionate fortune seekers.

The Chinese purchases of European firms is one of them. So it's not only the US which is starting to get owned by China. We may also very well see that China can offer more opportunities in the future for qualified personnel to resettle there, or professors to go and teach there. Cheap Chinese- and other countries' prices can earn engineers, scientists and business managers luxury unthinkable in Europe, and career-opportunities locked for them in Europe. Remember, China is a big country, so with a population almost 20 times that of France a country like China should have a vast economy capable of giving a lot of leverage for some relatively few successful from Europe to get proportionally a lot, whereas those few from Europe could be a relatively much bigger loss. So forth.

Europe must raise standards as other countries raises theirs, but extra so as long big headstart ensures a proper grand finale. Europe must not become a service-business continent where all we do is consume the accumulated wealth we already have without producing further more capable of exceeding the last.

The Voice of Time wrote:What we are seeing these days, Chaz, as a comment to your last post, is already the effects of a more competitive world for Europe. As China's wealth increases, Europeans will have to pay more money for the resources and products in the third world, and coupled with loosing jobs we are increasingly reaching a desperation to maintain superiority. The heaviness of European economical culture is at the moment shielding us all from seeing an effect of the competition, but it is growing, coming for us, and when it comes and gains force we all better be prepared because European welfare states may find that their heavy expenditures and relaxed consumer population has severe disadvantages against a fiercely competitive new wave of capitalism and passionate fortune seekers.

The Chinese purchases of European firms is one of them. So it's not only the US which is starting to get owned by China. We may also very well see that China can offer more opportunities in the future for qualified personnel to resettle there, or professors to go and teach there. Cheap Chinese- and other countries' prices can earn engineers, scientists and business managers luxury unthinkable in Europe, and career-opportunities locked for them in Europe. Remember, China is a big country, so with a population almost 20 times that of France a country like China should have a vast economy capable of giving a lot of leverage for some relatively few successful from Europe to get proportionally a lot, whereas those few from Europe could be a relatively much bigger loss. So forth.

Europe must raise standards as other countries raises theirs, but extra so as long big headstart ensures a proper grand finale. Europe must not become a service-business continent where all we do is consume the accumulated wealth we already have without producing further more capable of exceeding the last.

Quite true.
But I did not want to waste my time trying to explain it all in that much detail to Bob, who does not seem to get it.
The problem with the current situation is that whilst Chinese are still willing to work for $100 per month, don't mind relocating, and sent half their money home to the farm to buy seeds, we are currently engaged in a race to the bottom wiping out all the benefits that workers rights, wealth sharing and social benefits that have been fought for in the last 100 years in the west.
An unfettered market is ultimately destructive with downwards pressure on wages, and upward pressure on profits. A point is reached where demand fails due to wealth imbalance. The lower end can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that provide jobs. What seems to have happened is that the West has been borrowing to keep ahead, whilst CHinese students fill our Universities and go home and outcompete the west. China entering the market has upset things, but the balancing act does not look good if we have to match Chinese wage levels to compete.
The economic changes of the west in the last 100 years have been achieved by democracy by interventions that fight against wealth polarisation, maintained the demand in the markets by forcing wealth downwards.
Unless the people of China get wise, we will loose all of that improvement.
And whilst the rich oligarchs, now in control of the democratic process, try to protect their diminishing power in the west by buying into the East, the myth that the 'market cures all' will persist, and the poor will get poorer to level down with the Chinese.