Posted on 04/10/2011 5:40:51 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
APRIL 7, 2011.
A Businessman's Guide to China's Collapse
It might not happen soon, but when it does it will pay to be prepared..
By JOSEPH STERNBERG
Months of turmoil in the Middle East have focused attention on two points. First, authoritarian regimes are inherently unstable. Second, this poses some significant problems for businesses. Consider managers trying to evacuate staff, safeguard physical property or keep supply chains operating as smoothly as possible.
Think it couldn't happen in China? Four months ago, no one would have predicted imminent mass unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen or Libya, either. While signs of discontent with those governments were obvious, the authoritarians seemed by all accounts to have the situation firmly in hand.
That is precisely the case in China today, too. Disaffection over inflation and official corruption are rising rapidly, while the government has further reduced, to 7%, its official growth target for the year. Beijing clearly is worried, to judge from the lengths to which authorities have gone to suppress the whiff of any Jasmine protest.
Businesses don't have to believe that regime collapse is imminent—it probably isn't—to look at these events and conclude some planning might be prudent just in case. Herewith a brief guide to keeping your business afloat if China goes kablooey:
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
P!
Giovanna-To go along with yesterdays discussion.
(Sound of grey_whiskers PURRING!)
Thanks for posting.
I’m glad people are waking up to the giant bubble and economic deception that is China.
I was starting to doubt my own sanity when I was screaming about the signs over a year ago.
When this blows, it will be massive, and will very likely result in warfare.
I haven’t changed my tag in a long, long time.
Iran has no influence in China.
The authoritarian regimes are the Iranian targets because there is a large young population seeded with fanatic malcontents.
There is no such condition in China. China has no Mecca
What if every country in the world collapsed at the same rate? Would anyone notice?
Authoritarian regimes are not inherently unstable - no more or less so then ‘mockracies. This article only makes sense if you’re one of those naive people who still believes that this middle east unrest is a spontaneous ‘mockracy movement instead of a coordinated effort to overthrow largely secular despots and replace them with mullahs on the way to a caliphate.
In reality, none of the fundamentals that apply to the middle east uprisings apply to China. Are there folks in China who would like to see the status quo overturned? Sure. Today, they amount to a fart in the wind. China is doing just fine for itself, and is very near to winning its decades long economic war on the United States.
>> What if every country in the world collapsed at the same rate? Would anyone notice?
Everyone would notice. And (economically speaking) I’m guessing that’s pretty much what’s going to occur.
Has WSJ changed the rules for online access? I used to be able to read past the paywall notice...
bttt
You have to hope that the laws of Chinese empire won't be the one's under which we live. And hope is for dopes. But other than buying American and keeping my fellow citizens employed I don't know what else I can do as an individual to stop America's suicide.
Yes, we would notice. I think we would call it a “lowered quality of life”, materially anyway.
“What if every country in the world collapsed at the same rate? Would anyone notice?”
That actually is going on with Western currencies, which is why you don’t see too much relative change between them, but you see commodities going through the roof.
As to China collapsing. The government there simply won’t allow it. They’ll pull the plug on us first and once they do, we’ll be so screwed that we won’t even remember China exists.
There are 800 million Chinese people not part of the economic boom of the past 30 years who will soon ask for their ‘fair share’. Social safety net, higher wages, healthcare. Inflation, especially food prices, is heating up. Factory workers can make more money staying on the family farm.
I expect China to have major social unrest within 2 years. Similar to the Mideast but on a much larger scale. (I’m in China now on business).
And you seem oddly rather pleased at the prospect. You'd think such perfidy would be rare on a Constitutionalist, pro-America conservative site as Free Republic. But, it's not. It's certainly gotten easier to see whose bread is buttered on which side by whom of late.
I have no desire to see America fail if anything I’d prefer us to remain dominate as long as possible but over the past fifty years we’ve been meandering and stagnating while the Chinese are actively building and booming. They’ve started “colonization” of Africa for resources rather than leave them lying fallow in the ground while we fritter away our industrial base.
I have no wish to see them as the worlds only superpower but if they have the drive and can push forward I wish them luck.
>>Inflation, especially food prices, is heating up.<<
China’s food prices face the same inflation burden that we do which is caused by rising oil prices. Their social safety net, higher wages, and healthcare are also affected by rising inflation.
I’m certainly not pleased at that prospect, but frankly those of us who support an America First doctrine of free trade that prevents offshoring and outsourcing have been in the minority. Even now, with our nation facing bankruptcy, there are ignorant blowhards - even on FR - trumpeting the benefits of trade with our Chinese enemies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.