SEARCH BLOG: CHINA
When you have 1.6 billion people in your nation, the idea of labor unions forming is a bit far-fetched. Even with a red-hot economy, there are more people available for jobs than jobs available. Do you want to go on strike? Bye-bye. Still, the news trumpets rising wages in China.
The shift was illustrated Sunday, when Foxconn Technology, one of the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturers and the maker of well-known products that include Apple iPhones and Dell computer parts, said that it was planning to double the salaries of many of its 800,000 workers in China, beginning in October. The new monthly average would be 2,000 renminbi — about $300, at current exchange rates. [full story]
Let's repeat that: $300
per month... not per week; not per day. Divide that $300 by the typical U.S. 160 hours per month and you get less than $2 per hour. A U.S. worker will get that in
one day with a couple hours of overtime included. That's roughly 1% of an executive's pay. You'd get shut down by the U.S. government in about 27 seconds with that situation in Biloxi.
So, if that Apple iPhone has 5 hours of labor to make, that's about $10 of labor cost
[in 2009, the total manufacturing cost was estimated at $6.50 for an iPhone 3GS]. It seems the "Workers' Paradise" has some really poor rewards for the workers. In fact, let's call it what it is...
slavery. Yes, "the Chinese" are making money... the elites, the powerful, the manipulators... who work hand in glove with our "free traders" who are also doing quite well, thank you.
... the factory only hires workers in their twenties. He was hired without issue. He signed only one special document: An overtime working agreement that says the company is not responsible for their long hours of working. According to Liu, this voluntary agreement overrules Chinese state regulation. [read the "slavery" link above]
"Voluntary" ... the key word in all libertarian arguments to justify any manner of commerce.
Hey, those workers don't
have to go into the factories... they do it
voluntarily [anonymous libertarian]. Right... they can work
hard labor in the mines [
picture source] or rice fields for less.
Our economists will say the Chinese are subsidizing us... as the Chinese undermine our domestic manufacturing and social structure by eliminating jobs at virtually every point from engineering to manufacturing.
Class warfare? Hardly, this is economic domination and evisceration using conditions and pay that are completely illegal in the U.S. The good news is that your unemployment checks go farther if you buy Chinese made products. The bad news is that your unemployment checks will run out, your home won't be sold, and you can't get out of the student loans you used to get the degree that can't get you a job.
You don't have to be a left-winger to see that the U.S. feng shui is quite bad. But, hey, we still have the "free market" for those who don't get bothered by details like those described above.
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