American down fall & Chinese prosperity

Balatarin
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Faramarz_Fateh
by Faramarz_Fateh
06-Dec-2009
 

Masoud had been an engineer for 29 years.  In late 2006 he was laid off.  After 2 years of not having a job, he became a real estate broker.  Sima had also been an engineer for over 25 years.  After she was laid off, she became a mortgage broker.

I am pretty sure all of you have friends in their mid fourties to mid fifties who have have followed the same carreer path as Masoud and Sima.  But lets face it, how many realtors, mortgage brokers, insurance agents or financial advisors do we need in the U.S. ? 

When I first started working in the U.S. there were many many manufacturing companies.  They made computers, washing machines, VCRs, auto parts, Tvs, furniture, socks, suits and pretty much anything else you could think of.  These companies hired a whole lot of engineers, technicians, accountants, production workers etc.  Engineers made a good living.  Not like doctors or surgeons but middle or upper middle class comfortable lives.

Today, 80% of what we buy in the U.S. is made elsewhere.  From the Chilean grapes we buy at the supermarkets, to shirts made in Bangladesh, to computers and TVs that are made in China, there is nothing with a made in the U.S. lable anymore.

A few hours ago I had dinner with an American couple. The wife is a friend of my wife and the husband works for a very large semi conductor equipment manufacturers in the U.S.  He was in China to strike a deal with a Chinese company to take over production of extremely sophisticated machines that are currently made in Japan and the U.S.  When I asked this guy as to why they were doing this, he said pressure from wall street.  They were not making 65% gross margin on what they sold and the only way to get there, in their view, was to make the equipment in China.  He estimated that this move which was to be finalized in 6 months would cost between 200-300 high paying U.S. jobs in the Silicon Valley.

China today is prospering because every province you go to, you see signs of manufacturing; people are actually making things (goods) that are sold to other countries or consumer domestically.  Don't get me wrong; there is no shortage of service workers in China.  But there is at least a couple of manufacturing jobs for every service type job.  This is why China is prospering. And this is why the U.S. is in its worst economic downfall which could prove to be unrecoverable.

I am really concerned for the future of my 2 boys. 

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more from Faramarz_Fateh
 
I Have a Crush on Alex Trebek

Who cares if China wins economic games?

by I Have a Crush on Alex Trebek on Mon Dec 07, 2009 05:30 PM PST

America has Jeeezuz. Have you seen the movie Jesus Camp??! These guys are getting ready for the second coming of Jesus and vote based on this. I think I'm ready to move to China. So yes we are manufacturing here in the USA. However the product is a bunch of dumb children who are more interested in boogeymen and apocalyptic wars. Ahmadinejad would LOVE them.


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Ali9 Akbar

Wall Street will be the DEATH of America

by Ali9 Akbar on Mon Dec 07, 2009 06:25 AM PST

Too many CEO's are making MILLIONS or BILLIONS while the American Worker [White and Blue Collar] are forced to work at restaurants or Stores such as Wall MART for 30% of what they were making before...

 

International Trade has DESTROYED the American Economy 


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kharmagas

what a surprise Fateh!?

by kharmagas on Sun Dec 06, 2009 07:11 PM PST

Fateh, making some sense and not talking nonsense, what a surprise!?

Fateh, make sure you make a note of today's date.


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yolanda

.......

by yolanda on Sun Dec 06, 2009 06:31 PM PST

Dear FF,

        I don't fully understand China at this point. Apparently Chinese government is super rich. They have lent US a lot of money and they hosted Olympic Games by spending a lot of money....they made no money for sure....NBC made a lot of money 'cause the ratings were sky-high....I watched the entire Opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, the Beijing mayor said that it is China's dream of the century to host the Olympic Games.....on the other hand, Chinese Uyghurs are super poor, 70-80% of them are unemployed, they have to go to other provinces to get jobs...Chinese government does not want to bail them out!....... OMG! The US debt is mounting and staggering...US is sending more troops to the war zones............I have no idea what is going to happen to the debt.....it is pretty depressing.....I know the world order is definitely changing!  China was once called a Slumbering Giant, now it has awakened and it is shaking the world!

AN made a speech at UN a year ago, he said that "US empire is collapsing..." I truly hope he is wrong!!!!

//www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/24/na-ahmadinejad-us-empire-collapsing/

Hi FF,

      Please take some pictures in China and post them on IC. Please!!!! Please! You have done enough blogs on Islam, Iran, Religions, Ramadan...:O)

I hope your whole family has a great time there! I hope the kebab in China tastes bearable! O:)

Take care!!

Delaram Banafsheh (Yolanda)

"Cactus in the Desert"


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OmidKarimi

Im going to teach my children Chinese or korean

by OmidKarimi on Sun Dec 06, 2009 05:41 PM PST

I expect you do as well.. the world will be economically much different 20 years from now..

----------------------------------

Discuss, chat and post your opinions about Iran on my new forum: www.IranBebin.com

 


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Faramarz_Fateh

Dear Yolanda

by Faramarz_Fateh on Sun Dec 06, 2009 05:21 PM PST

 
When you think about it, one out of every 6 persons on the face of the earth lives in China.  So, there is bound to be poor people there.  

For example, if you just add up the top 10% of the people in China with respect to their income net worth, you will have a country with population of 130 million people with a GDP close to Japan.

I am mainly worried about 2 things;  a) China's momentum.  It takes a country 1 to 2 generations to get some momentum going; and  b) the debt China is carrying for the U.S.  Unless the U.S. at some point says fuck the debt and we'll default, this is a whole bunch of money that needs to be returned.  Otherwise, the cost to the next generation will be very high and also the U.S. will have to give a whole bunch of concessions to the Chinese. 


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I Have a Crush on Alex Trebek

i'm sorry that you are worried

by I Have a Crush on Alex Trebek on Sun Dec 06, 2009 02:28 PM PST

i think you're right. manufacturing needs to return in order for there to be any serious RECOVERY in the USA. I laugh when I hear people talk about recovery.... recovery to what? false prosperity? I think your boys will be great. You seem like a great dad and you're in tune with the trends. Anyway we will always need teachers and doctors and lawyers. I think there will be more competition for this generation, however. 


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Cost-of-Progress

No surprise

by Cost-of-Progress on Sun Dec 06, 2009 01:29 PM PST

It is no big surprise that the American economy is moving more and more toward becoming a service oriented one than a manufactruing one. I am an engineer and have been working in the petrochem and chemicals industry for the past 25 years. The plant I work at now has been "idled" most of this year although most folks are still on the payroll. It's simple economics: no demand, no need to produce, limit production and hope for higher prices. The prospects are dim and I personaly do not believe the company will ever start this particular facility back up. We have manufacturing sites all over the world, but this one is the smallest with highest production costs, so I think we're done. The job market in our area for well-paying (or any) manufacturing jobs is pretty much non-existent....

As for China, they have a lot of enviromental problems. If they want to become an industrial giant, they need to clean up their act - otherwise, all will uffer. Alreday there are places in China where environmental problems are severly affecting the public. 

I too worry about my two kids.

____________________

IRAN BEFORE ISLAM 

____________________


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yolanda

......

by yolanda on Sun Dec 06, 2009 05:09 PM PST

Hi FF,

     Thank you for your blog! Thanks!

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

According to International Monetary Fund, the GDP per capita 

US ranks #6, Iran ranks #73, China ranks #100

********************************

According to World Bank, the GDP per capita

US ranks #4, Iran ranks #59, China ranks #89

************************************

According to CIA Factbook, the GDP per capita

US ranks #8, Iran ranks #68, China ranks #107

**************************************

It seems to me that Chinese work very hard and sell the stuff around the world, but they are still pretty poor...their standard of living is lower than Iranians (even though they have sanctions).......I can't deny Chinese government has a lot of $$$$, but people are poor. 

Here is the wikipedia's definition of GDP:

***************************

The gross domestic product (GDP) or gross domestic income (GDI) is a basic measure of a country's overall economic performance. It is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year. It is often positively correlated with the standard of living,[1]

**********************************

If there is the  opportunity, maybe you should encourage their sons to learn some Chinese alongside English and Farsi.

Thanks,

 

 

Delaram Banafsheh (Yolanda)

"Cactus in the Desert"


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