2016 Postmortem

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I took a global emerging economies course over the summer.

China is kicking US and EU ass right now because we are pushing for Millennial Development Goals to prop up global income.


The EU and US goes to a country and lays down all kinds of trade requirements. Sales are company-based, for the most part and the company can cancel contracts whenever they want. China says, "Hey, Brazil! Fuck dealing with the US, if you deal with us, we'll give you a 25 year guaranteed contract, with built in price increases -AND- we won't hold you to any labor, environmental, banking, etc. requirements that the other countries are pushing." In another 2 years, China will be the major trading partner with 1/2 of Central and South American countries--forsaking the US.

China acts as a mercantile nation, they don't deal on an individual business level, they deal on an entire country need level. They are positioning themselves for the next 3 decades ahead. They have over a million square miles of African croplands... (who knew there was that much?) and almost as much in other nations combined.


If TPP were to pass, China is the only country not signing onto it. Why not?

Because when all of the Pacific Rim countries are locked in with specialized trade agreements that force social needs and demands to audits, inspections, regulations, etc... China will do what they did in the Americas, and say "Hey, Indonesia! Fuck the U.S., trade with us and we'll lock you in for 25 years and we won't hold you to any other demands!" They will have cornered the market.



Now, how China is like Wal*Mart (besides all the Chinese stuff Wal*Mart sells):

Wal*Mart pays low wages so labor is forced to subsidie their income by going on public assistance. This is something that most businesses can not get away with. When a new Wal*Mart moves into an area, they sell goods below the area or even below costs, as the other store pick up that loss. Local companies go out of business because people flock to the cheap stuff. As more and more people lose wages, as the local economy depresses, more people are force to shop at Wal*Mart--further accellerating the economic decline and bolstering Wal*Mart's profits.

China is that as a mercantile nation, they buy raw goods from a country, say Ecuador. Ship it over to China and return with a finished product that sells for less than what the US or EU provides. Since the pay is lower, and as more and more people are forced to buy cheaper Chinese goods, that gives China employment while putting Ecuadorians out of work--further driving demand for cheap Chinese goods.



Now, I'm leaving out a whole pile, such as how US Aid and World Bank are agents to make countries dependent on the US.

But, your plan sounds good in theory, but lacks in the implementation phase, because as the delays in ramping up industry occurs, more jobs are lost. The billionaires are offshoring their money in Luxembourg to dodge US taxes, as the US is now seen as a declining economy. They are positioning themselves for the next markets that are starting to emerge--which is NOT the US.



And, with many corporations, if there is a publicly traded stock, the board members can be sued if they do not look out for the shareholders. This means, if there is an option to offshore, they are legally bound to assess those options.

Nothing will change unless that exposure is removed from corporate board decisions. And, we all know that the major shareholders want to see returns over the commodified costs of labor.

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