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| Europe |
| Jin Liqun: Europe induces 'sloth, indolence' |
| 2011-11-05 |
| As the global financial crisis continues to hit the eurozone, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and other European leaders have been banking on China to step in and wave its magic wand. But is China prepared to bailout Europe? Al Jazeera's Teymoor Nabili talks to Jin Liqun, the supervising chairman of China Investment Corporation, China's sovereign wealth fund, to find out whether China is willing to invest more money in Europe, in particular in the European Financial Stability Fund (IFSF), which European leaders now want to beef up for future bailouts. Jin, who has served as China's deputy minister of finance and vice president of the Asian Development Bank, manages $400bn worth of the nations money through the sovereign wealth fund. He says unless Europe changes its labour laws and adjusts its welfare system, he does not consider it to be a profitable investment. "If you look at the troubles which happened in European countries, this is purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn out welfare society. I think the labour laws are outdated. The labour laws induce sloth, indolence, rather than hardworking. The incentive system, is totally out of whack." "Why should for instance, within eurozone, why should some members people have to work to 65, even longer, whereas in some other countries they are happily retiring at 55, languisihing on the beach! This is unfair! The welfare system is good for any society to reduce the gap, to help those who happen to have disadvantages, to enjoy a good life, but a welfare society should not induce people not to work hard." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 Anonymoose, you're being sarcastic, right? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-11-05 19:40 |
| #1 The Chinese have long had a good head for business, and have no incentive at all to lie about bad business practices--or to loan money to those who engage in such practices. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-11-05 18:39 |