The China puzzle (created by useful idiots)

The "Chinese miracle" has been the biggest economic story for several years now, a tale of a nation rising from the ashes of a Stalinist command economy to become the world's premier trading partner. But China reminds us with distressing regularity that the progress has been selective.

The latest reminders are reports of slave labor in Chinese factories and the discovery that some of the popular Thomas the Tank Engine toys manufactured in China have lead in their paint. Before that, it was the contaminated dog food, the stubborn support of Sudan for its oil, the regular reports of human rights abuses, the huge economic disparities between city and country, the controls on the media.

Why rehearse these faults now? Because governments and companies tend to become so seduced or intimidated by China that they won't hold it to high standards of human rights and business ethics.

(And before someone asks, I will post this until the idiots in government alter this insane and now dangerous UNILATERAL trade policy with China and the fools in the multinationals STOP exporting the production of EVERYTHING to China and bring those jobs home. As you think about that, recall that in ancient times, the Romans and others would catapult disease-riddled corpses over the walls of cities they besieged to sicken and kill the enemy. The Chinese know that history even if we obviously have forgotten it. (Get my drift there?)

On a recent visit to China, a friend spotted this ad in a Beijing newspaper. He sent me the photo with a translation of the ad copy.

BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR AND JOIN CHINA’S NEW MONIED ELITE!

Yes, you can now join the millions of happy and prosperous Chinese citizens taking advantage of the growing numbers of American and Western multinational corporations “outsourcing” their production to the hard-working and industrious people of China. This outsourcing has now spread to their food supplies and ingestible items. Since these firms pay us for gross weight – and this new weight will be pretty gross – and the stupid American government only spot-checks imported items in these categories (they just got lucky on the anti-freeze thing), it has opened an entirely new opportunity which our beloved Chairman is offering to any Chinese citizen willing to do a little of what the foolish Americans call “grunt work.”

Installing one of these state-of-the-art food additive production facilities behind YOUR hovel is as simple as clipping the coupon below and sending it to the address shown. Your production plant will be shipped to you in 4 to 6 weeks. Supplies are limited so don’t fart around. ACT NOW!!

These silly Americans have an expression we have “borrowed” and modified to describe this new and exciting venture: “Don’t give me any s**t.”

Our motto will be “We won’t GIVE you any s**t. But we’ll SELL it to you fools at a really great price.”

AND LOOK FOR A NEW DROP-DEAD MONEY-MAKER COMING SOON. SOYLENT YELLOW PROMISES TO BE BIG!!

I think the analog is Nazi Germany. The state owned you, but if you had an industry or business that would benefit the state, they would rent you back to yourself.

China is a large state run conglomeration. They make money on slave labor produced export goods, and cut costs with adulterated products. I suspect that one difference is that the Germans produced high quality goods which they did not export.

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