Economic balance shifting to India, China

[OhioChick]

Source: Economic Tmes of India

Oct 2009, 0452 hrs IST, AGENCIES

BEIJING: The auto-parts maker Delphi Corp. is headquartered in Troy, Mich., in the heart of the region that made the United States the car capital of the world. It's a place where the phrase "buy American" is right at home.

Now the 3,000 employees of Delphi's brake and suspension unit are getting a new boss. Battered by weak sales, Delphi is selling the unit to investors led by a company named Shougang Corp.

Shougang is a steel maker owned by the government of China — a government that calls itself communist but espouses a "socialist market economy" as it marches down globalization's road toward a capitalistic future.

"Everyone's so desperate for cash that the Chinese show up with a checkbook and people say, `Yes, please'," says Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Dragonomics, a Beijing research firm.

Explosive growth in China and India, coupled with Japan's clout as the world's No. 2 economy, has long been expected to shift economic power from the United States to Asia as this century progresses. The financial crisis and resulting Great Recession are accelerating that process.



Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/Economic-balance-shifting-to-India-China/articleshow/5099857.cms

[msongs]

1. The US would rather spend OUR money on wars and corporate welfare bailout schemes nt

[2Design]

8. exactly n/t

[CHIMO]

2. Calls Itself

Communist and follows a Capitalistic model.

[KansDem]

3. Well, there's the "I" and "C" in BRIC...

"B" being Brazil and "R" being Russia. I understand BRIC will be the economic powerhouses of the 21st century...

[AllentownJake]

4. Nothing to see here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49jKeGyUCJE

[MichiganVote]

5. Gee, I think we got that memo clear back in the days of Bill Clinton.

[Selatius]

6. This became evident when our stuff started saying "Made in Japan." Then...

it started saying, "Made in Taiwan." Now, they all say, "Made in China."

The US allowed its corporate industrialists to move the manufacturing base overseas into the control of a dictatorship that cares not about the well-being of America except for how much cash is coming in.

[KillCapitalism]

16. It's a never ending quest for cheaper labor.

10 or 15 years from now you're going to start seeing "Made in Somalia"

[KakistocracyHater]

18. yup! It's a race to find the world's cheapest labor

all the way to the bottom. Bull's eye

[unkachuck]

7. well ain't that something....

"Shougang is a steel maker owned by the government of China"

....so in order remain capitalist and be able to 'buy American' we must now be owned by the Chinese Communists....

"The financial crisis and resulting Great Recession are accelerating that process."

....this is what happens when you're sold-out by capitalists....why do I get the feeling, in a few more years, Worn and Billie will declare that they've been good Communists all along....

[sarcasmo]

9. Welcome to the United third world States of America.

[troubledamerican]

10. MUST-see film clip on this topic --

Watch the first 60 seconds.

Then start packing your bags & practicing your Mandarin/Hindi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jWujAmLjS4

[mule_train]

11. a breathtaking change in our lifetime

......for the worse

[AusDem]

12. yeah, sorry folks. the american era is over.

was probably going to happen anyway maybe 20-30 years from now, what with globalisation and demographic trends, but Bush and those crazies just made it happen a lot earlier. But people are jumping on downfall of the states a little too early. Sure the USA will not have hegemonic power in this world, and potentially US incomes will not rise for a while as a great flattening process happens around the world in terms of incomes, but you guys are not going anywhere just yet. The great power of America to reinvent itself is not as yet dead, and there are small steps being made in the right direction.

[xchrom]

13. yeah -- and we're paying the moving expences. nt

[Romulox]

14. When I said I supported "free trade", I meant for YOUR job, not MINE! nt

[Jester Messiah]

15. We're traveling a well-worn road.

Britain and France trod it before us, formerly top-ranked powers who are now second-tier. That's where we're headed, and to tell you the truth it doesn't seem like that bad of a thing. Maybe this country can finally chill out and see to its own prosperity, and leave the rest of the world mainly to its own devices. Let the era of "not our concern" begin!

[Yehonala]

17. Excellent Observation

The biggest problem with America is that we've been so busy taking care of the rest of the world that we have completely neglected our own. America isn't the best and most successful country on the planet now. Our education system is in shambles, our businesses are being squeezed by too many regulations, and too many of our medical workers are getting overburdened. Families are getting squeezed and there are too many things that cost too much.

America is literally a country that is living in denial. We keep saying we're the best, but China is beginning to outrank us in education, businesses, and also they actually punish criminals. Before Enron there was a similar scandal in China and the people involved got either life in prison and the rest got the death penalty. Over here, we didn't do anything. We let them get away with it, destroying the livlihoods of so many people who were left with nothing. Over at FR they said that to choose to invest in a company is their choice, but it's the responsibilty of the execs to maintain the company.

All of our businesses are being run into the ground by these irresponsible idiots and they go off gaily and then leave everyone stuck with nothing. In Asian countries they view people who build small businesses and companies with respect, but over here it's like businesses are nothing but places to put business theory into practice. We experiment too much with businesses rather than let them grow. We don't reward small businesses that put out a quality product. I worked at Meijer for several years and what made me proud is that I was part of a company that wasn't so stretched that they provided a garbage product.

As for education, don't get me started. All of us read about how such and such geek was tormented to suicide and then we've lost another brilliant mind that could have done so much for the world. And then the idiot jock who messed the kid up goes about life, continuing his bullying and then having a happy, fulfilled life while the parents of the geeky kid pick up the pieces and mourn for the rest of their lives. It's no longer about brains, it's about being well 'socialized.' Meanwhile in China/India the geeky kids are the social creme de la creme and have the government bending over backwards to help them through.

All it is these days is about being as brutish as possible and totally lacking in self discipline. I may very well leave this country for another and good riddance. America is like Imperial China. The Mandarins have the keys to success, but aren't opening doors like they should. They're totally entrenched and making it nearly impossible for people who don't socialize well to go forward. Yet our Mandarin classes swear that America is too civilized to fail and form takes precedence over substance. The new credo is "be like everyone else or have nothing." If you're too geeky or eccentric or simply awkward, you can't make it.

[swaroop]

19. Big money influences goverment. America is not different from the rest of the world