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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China's new 5-year plan aims to triple worker wages |
| 2011-03-06 |
| The complete 5-year plan summary at the link, but these are the interesting points as I saw them. Unleash domestic consumption Like America, domestic demand creates a self-perpetuating market for new goods. It was great for us back when we made all our own stuff and buying goods created American jobs. Develop service trade. Services currently contribute to less than 40% of GDP. The goal is to raise this number to 70% or higher. America is a service-based economy. Currently, for every 1% increase in GDP, China’s energy use increases by 1% or more. If this rate continues, China will need to increase its energy consumption by 2.5 times to achieve its 2020 economic goal. To put this into perspective, this would mean increasing the current consumption of coal from the current 3.6 billion tons per year to an astronomical 7.9 billion tons a year. No one in China thinks this can be done. One major way to reduce the amount of energy required for the Chinese economy is to implement energy saving practices throughout the economy. A second way to reduce is to shift from hydrocarbon based energy to alternative energy sources. The new plan advocates an all out program in this area. The Chinese have the government support to really hurt us in the solar/wind/nuclear area. Most solar and wind is already made in China, and they're innovating. Chinese wage are abnormally low. Most planners are pushing for tripling of the average wage for factory workers during this 5 year plan. Goodbye export trade. Foreign companies will pack up and move somewhere else. Of course, China will make it tough for them to do so, so they'll have to sell their factories cheap to domestic companies. Encourage cultural production in order to increase China’s “soft power”. China will seek to make its case for the world to avoid misunderstanding China’s goals and its role within the world economy. Good luck with this one. China doesn't understand the rest of the world and IMO will continue its ham-handed approach. The fact that they're racial supremacists who genuinely believe that they are the best race in the world doesn't help. |
| Posted by:gromky |
| #1 I've been hearing about China's 5-year plans since the '50s... I've yet to hear about one that actually worked. E.g. "The Great Leap Forward" (Meaning industialization) was immediately followed by "All Aid to Agriculture" (meaning oops, we F'd up). |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2011-03-06 13:48 |