Bush mind - boggled, amazed, startled by Shanghai

REUTERS ^ | 20 OCT 2001 11:35 | Patricia Wilson

[twntaipan]

Shanghai has something we no longer have--a seemingly endless supply of incredibly cheap labor.

A friend who moved there recently told me that of all the really large building cranes that exist in the world, more than one half are in and around Shanghai.

And Shanghai has its sights set on overtaking Hong Kong--and Beijing for that matter.

[norton]

Most of the posts in this chain are straight ideology - china good verus china bad.
Thanks for the one or two that actually address the city of Shanghai.
As it happens, China needs a window front and Shanghai is and has long been that poster for chinese trade and diplomacy.
As to building up a city (versus the decades it might take in the USA) - when you channel all your resources in one specific project it is likely to get done faster than when you assign a hundred bureaucratic government and NGO money drains the responsibility of coordinating public and private efforts.
The problem with even talking to central planning and execution (dictatorship) is that it can be made to work on small scale (a city) and fail miserably on the larger scale because of the diverted assets and interest - oh, and because the central planning really wants to make that one project work and may not care too very much about the other details.

[lavaroise]

I think part of the problem is our unions and crazy employment laws and minimum wages. For example Finland is ahead of the US in competitiveness because people are not paid for working over time there. At Nokia, for example, they are not paid over time but they do receive stock options as their overtime is considered part of the employee's participation in the risks that the company is taking.

Nokia is eating Motorola and Germany's Siemens alive while Ericsson in Sweden (I believe) is following Nokia's lead now. Fins who were reputedly deprived of well known rich families and circles, unlike England's, Germany's, American's or even French and Italian's traditional rich, is now seeing Helsinky virtualy flooded with new rich and millionaires who started in the mail or shipping hangars of Nokia and now are managing huge operations. Even Microsoft is very afraid of Nokia and the Fins. Anyone wanting to get rich now goes to Nokia. It'S been a "mad" house of hyper activity and efficiency for the past 5 years.

It's time corporate and liberal America woke up and smelled the coffee.

As for Shangai, it is a very modern city but it followed the lead of Hong Kong in very drastic ways. THe CHinese country side and freedoms have been virtualy left without industrial or educational incentive and moneys. THere it is a disaster like Bengladesh with high levels of superstition and witch doctoring. So Shangai is really not my cup of tea.

All I hope is that the NWO will not punish the real Finish miracle for the Chinese fakery of Shangai. China is nothing compared to Finland, yet, why is our President ignoring the Northern European dragons? Something just does not compute.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Please, get serious.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

The Chinese President, Zamin, is the first President of China that did not rise to power through the Military, and the power struggle between the two has been fierce. For the first time there may really be a move toward more democracy, albiet very slowly.

I am very proud of our President and his handling of world affairs now. For those of you that think free trade is going to go away it is here to stay.

[zog]

--there's just a small example of a couple of decades of exporting both american jobs and planeloads of greenbacks to china, mr prez. Now go on a tour of the armaments factories and the shipyards and the steel mills-remember those things? The things we actually need in CONUS if there's ever a big war, and not one of these toy baby wussy wars we have had lately?

Have a nice administration mr prez, free trade away! Profits! The ferengi would be proud! Hey, look at how much freer the chinese people are, they have freedom of religion-whoops, no they don't, freedom of the press, whoops, they don't, freedom to have political parties-whoops, still the one party communists. Oh well, nice profits though! check out the efficiently run re-education and labor camps, what a goal, we can have them here!

/sarcasm

[ThirdMate]

And now our cities are being sacked by barbarians.

[aculeus]

I see your priorities are in order. Punctuality will certainly end the communist regime.

I see you have little or no international experience. Keeping people waiting is a profound insult in Asian countries. Also, you seem not to notice that there are other people at this conference besides the Chinese.

[aculeus]

China is nothing compared to Finland, yet, why is our President ignoring the Northern European dragons? Something just does not compute.

I'm second to none in my admiration for the Finns but their population is what 20 Million (?) versus 1 billion in China. I think that computes just fine.

[Askel5]

He should get out more ... to the rural areas, perhaps, where reside the citizens forbidden entry to the cities but gifted with the ultrasound necessary to suss out their unborn children for slaughter should a province be found too lax in enforcing the pop-control measures, er .... "healthcare mechanisms" ... of which Bush's Daddy and Mommy are so fond.

[tracer]

Yes, but all of our manufacturing base are belong to us....

[Ohioan]

I'm second to none in my admiration for the Finns but their population is what 20 Million (?) versus 1 billion in China. I think that computes just fine.

Try dividing the Finns by four and multiplying the Chinese by 1.25. The thing that we have always liked best about the Finns is that they repaid their debt after World War I--the only people who did. Their word is their bond, and that is very exceptional in the post 1900 World.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Rebelbase]

Shanghai Waterfront....Impressive.