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What We Can REALLY Learn From China

Chinese president Hu Jintao has almost completed his 4-day hang in DC with President Barack Obama. The two of them inked a snazzy little $45 billion trade agreement that won’t do much for working Americans, but will help both leaders improve their image with US consumers and job seekers.

Here’s a great post by former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, that explains exactly why this big deal isn’t a very big deal. Read the whole thing when you get a chance, but here is the part that resonated most with me.

China has a national economic strategy designed to make it, and its people, the economic powerhouse of the future. They’re intent on learning as much as they can from us and then going beyond us (as they already are in solar and electric-battery technologies). They’re pouring money into basic research and education at all levels. In the last 12 years they’ve built twenty universities, each designed to be the equivalent of MIT.

Their goal is to make China Number one in power and prestige, and in high-wage jobs.

The United States doesn’t have a national economic strategy. Instead, we have global corporations that happen to be headquartered here. Their goal is to maximize profits, wherever they can make the most money. They’ll make things in America for export to China when that’s most profitable; they’ll make it in China and give the Chinese their know-how when that’s the best way to boost the bottom line. They’ll utilize research and development wherever around the world it will deliver the biggest bang for the dollar.

Meanwhile, Republicans and deficit hawks are cutting publicly-supported R&D. And cash-starved states are cutting K-12 education, and slashing the budgets of their great public research universities, such as the one I teach at.

The bottom line? China has a national economic strategy that is based in the understanding that education will make them the economic powerhouse of the present and future. The US has no national economic strategy, and is cutting investments in education to the detriment of its middle and working classes.

When are we going to learn that investment in education is our best ticket out of this economic quagmire? Never if we keep closing schools and cutting higher ed spending.

What We Can REALLY Learn From China

Chinese president Hu Jintao has almost completed his 4-day hang in DC with President Barack Obama. The two of them inked a snazzy little $45 billion trade agreement that won’t do much for working Americans, but will help both leaders improve their image with US consumers and job seekers.

Here’s a great post by former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, that explains exactly why this big deal isn’t a very big deal. Read the whole thing when you get a chance, but here is the part that resonated most with me.

China has a national economic strategy designed to make it, and its people, the economic powerhouse of the future. They’re intent on learning as much as they can from us and then going beyond us (as they already are in solar and electric-battery technologies). They’re pouring money into basic research and education at all levels. In the last 12 years they’ve built twenty universities, each designed to be the equivalent of MIT.

Their goal is to make China Number one in power and prestige, and in high-wage jobs.

The United States doesn’t have a national economic strategy. Instead, we have global corporations that happen to be headquartered here. Their goal is to maximize profits, wherever they can make the most money. They’ll make things in America for export to China when that’s most profitable; they’ll make it in China and give the Chinese their know-how when that’s the best way to boost the bottom line. They’ll utilize research and development wherever around the world it will deliver the biggest bang for the dollar.

Meanwhile, Republicans and deficit hawks are cutting publicly-supported R&D. And cash-starved states are cutting K-12 education, and slashing the budgets of their great public research universities, such as the one I teach at.

The bottom line? China has a national economic strategy that is based in the understanding that education will make them the economic powerhouse of the present and future. The US has no national economic strategy, and is cutting investments in education to the detriment of its middle and working classes.

When are we going to learn that investment in education is our best ticket out of this economic quagmire? Never if we keep closing schools and cutting higher ed spending.

The Great Disruption, Deception, Dismay?


NOW PLAYING:
Workin’ For the Man
(Badmitten’s Workin’ Overtime Mix)

We can’t even pretend that the current global crisis isn’t real – we’ve been suffering a harsh reality in Michigan for a long time – but, much of the insanity that is going on could be lessened if we could manage a lot less greed and a little more common sense. Over lunch yesterday, my friend, Carmen (not her real name) relayed a story that offers a striking example.

Last fall Carmen was laid off from her job at Ford after 22 years of service. Like many others, she’s had trouble finding a new job, and for now is surviving on her severance package and work as a freelance creative.

In an effort to be responsible, Carmen called her credit union to refinance her mortgage. She’s only four years away from paying off the house she and her ex-husband bought years ago. Her hope was to negotiate a lower payment so she can keep her home for as long as possible. She recognizes that she has an obligation to pay, and wants to handle the situation while it’s manageable.

The loan officer told Carmen there is nothing they can do for her. Why? They can’t refinance and lower her payments because she doesn’t have a job.

Has the world gone crazy or what?
Continue reading

The Great Disruption, Deception, Dismay?


NOW PLAYING:
Workin’ For the Man
(Badmitten’s Workin’ Overtime Mix)

We can’t even pretend that the current global crisis isn’t real – we’ve been suffering a harsh reality in Michigan for a long time – but, much of the insanity that is going on could be lessened if we could manage a lot less greed and a little more common sense. Over lunch yesterday, my friend, Carmen (not her real name) relayed a story that offers a striking example.

Last fall Carmen was laid off from her job at Ford after 22 years of service. Like many others, she’s had trouble finding a new job, and for now is surviving on her severance package and work as a freelance creative.

In an effort to be responsible, Carmen called her credit union to refinance her mortgage. She’s only four years away from paying off the house she and her ex-husband bought years ago. Her hope was to negotiate a lower payment so she can keep her home for as long as possible. She recognizes that she has an obligation to pay, and wants to handle the situation while it’s manageable.

The loan officer told Carmen there is nothing they can do for her. Why? They can’t refinance and lower her payments because she doesn’t have a job.

Has the world gone crazy or what?
Continue reading

‘The Bankers Think We’re Chumps’

President Barack Obama’s financial stimulus package does nothing to change one fundamental problem with the current economic crisis: It fails to hold accountable the greedy bankers who caused the financial meltdown in the first place.

As former chief economist for the IMF, MIT professor Simon Johnson told Bill Moyers on the February 15 edition of Bill Moyers Journal, “The structure [of our] banking system, the concentration of power in big financial institutions has to change.”

But Obama’s plan, which at best will put a band-aid on the crisis, does not hold bankers accountable, and does not do anything to really curtail exhorbitant executive bonuses. The BlackCommentator.com cartoon below demonstrates the point well. It’s a dream to believe that the avaricious oligarchs in the banking system will repay the American taxpayer once the economy rebounds and the finanical system is stable.

They are playing us for chumps.

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© Nadir Omowale