Originally Posted by Chas'88

Not to step on or dismiss GMB, however I've found from interaction with core Millies they tend to have this Panglossian viewpoint about our country

I've never noticed that, but that is very true.
I think however that it is a misrepresentation to assume that we are like this due to complacency. Moreover because we believe that there is a purpose to everything, and that everything happens for a reason, one that will eventually produce good.

In defense of my subgen, how can one expect to find a better world? We cannot just jump between universes like in The Golden Compass. Since this is the case, does the amount of "goodness" this world happens to have even matter? As there is no other way to find a better world than, in my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with assuming that we could be a lot worse off.

Originally Posted by James50

More difficult news from China. There are probably social strains building in China which we have no clue about. Not enough females to go around and the one child policy could be leading to societal breakdown. This is horrific.

One thing about China - they don't waste time. They executed one perpetrator 30 days after the incident.

AP

BEIJING -- A farmer attacked and injured five kindergarten students with a hammer in eastern China before burning himself to death Friday in the latest in a string of horrific assaults on children at Chinese schools, state media reported.

The attacker used a motorcycle to break down a gate of the school in Shandong province's Weifang city, struck a teacher who tried to block him and then used the hammer to attack the children, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The assailant then grabbed two children before pouring gasoline over his body and lighting himself on fire, but teachers at the Shangzhuang Primary School were able to pull the children away to safety, Xinhua said. The man died, but none of the children had life-threatening injuries, Xinhua said. Xinhua identified the attacker as Wang Yonglai, a local farmer, but had no further details.

China has been reeling from a series of attacks on schoolchildren, with the latest incident coming just a day after a 47-year-old unemployed man rampaged through a kindergarten in Taixing city in Jiangsu province, wounding 29 students aged 4 or 5 years old, five of them seriously.Experts called that a possible copycat rampage triggered by similar incidents Wednesday and last month. They said the wave of school attacks falls amid poor care for the mentally unstable and growing feelings of social injustice in the fast-changing country.

The attacker in Taixing, identified as Xu Yuyuan, pushed his way into a classroom with an eight-inch (20-centimeter) knife after two teachers and a security guard failed to stop him. No motive has been given. Mr. Xu had been a salesman in a local insurance company until he was fired in 2001. Since then, he has remained jobless, Xinhua said.

On Wednesday, a man in the southern city of Leizhou broke into a primary school and wounded 15 students and a teacher in a knife attack. The suspect, Chen Kangbing, 33, was a former teacher who had been on sick leave since 2006 for mental health problems. The assault left fourth and fifth graders with stab wounds on their heads, backs and arms, but none was in life-threatening condition.

That attack came the same day a man was executed for stabbing eight children to death outside an elementary school last month in the southeastern city of Nanping.The attack in March shocked China because eight children died and the assailant had no known history of mental illness. At his trial, Zheng Minsheng, 42, said he killed because he had been upset after being jilted by a woman and treated badly by her wealthy family. He was executed Wednesday, just a little over a month after his crime. Another attack earlier this month occurred when a mentally ill man hacked to death a second grader and an elderly woman with a meat cleaver near a school in southern Guangxi, and wounded five other people, including students.

After a 2004 attack at a school in Beijing that left nine students dead, the central government ordered tighter school security nationwide. Regulations that took effect in 2006 require schools to register or inspect visitors and keep out people who have no reason to come inside.

James50

My husband has been in China for about 3 weeks. I talked to him this morning and mentioned this news story. He said he has heard nothing about it on the news over there. Interesting, but not surprising. China is pretty good with propaganda and limiting what their citizens hear. He has been going over there frequently on business for the past 4 years. He said he definately senses and a real change in China cracking down on freedoms in the past year or so. When he first started going over there, he said it didn't feel like communist country at all, now it does. They have also blocked a lot of interent access to things like Facebook and other social networking sites. With more economic advantages to the people of China in recent years, I think the government feels that the natives are beginning to get restless.

Originally Posted by Rose1992

My first reaction to the child killer was that he was under biological strain. It is a common primal instinct among males in the animal kingdom to kill young that isn't their own.
Combined with the imbalance of females to males in China, I wonder if it could be putting men under biological strain causing a few who were never sane to begin with to snap.

I had not thought of the parallels to the animal kingdom. Very thought provoking comment.

James50

Originally Posted by Rose1992

I've never noticed that, but that is very true.
I think however that it is a misrepresentation to assume that we are like this due to complacency. Moreover because we believe that there is a purpose to everything, and that everything happens for a reason, one that will eventually produce good.

Not everything under the sun is wholely good, nor is everything wholely bad. Nor does everything have a purpose--nothingness & meaninglessness exists and scares the sh!t out of everyone in Act V of King Lear. Meaning and purpose can be thrown away (like Lear throws away in Act V the wisdom he gained in Act IV) and terrifying wastelands that senselessly destroy without reason also exist. The more comfortable we can get with that, the sooner we can accept it and move beyond this fear of nothingness & meaninglessness.

In defense of my subgen, how can one expect to find a better world? We cannot just jump between universes like in The Golden Compass. Since this is the case, does the amount of "goodness" this world happens to have even matter? As there is no other way to find a better world than, in my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with assuming that we could be a lot worse off.

Just make sure when you say that things could be a lot worse you don't mistake that opinion for "this is the best of all possible...", and you don't try to "glitter and be gay" to oppose & blind yourself to the mass corruption surrounding you. What we need to do is beyond any and all of these thoughts. We need to see reality for what it is and "make our garden grow".

~Chas'88

Originally Posted by General Mung Beans

The Crisis of 2020 will probably see China's communist government fall.

Most of the posts on China perceive conflict between the US and China as world powers. However the reverse may be true. China's citizens hunger for developed nation capabilities may lead to an open door policy.

The worlds major corporations see China as a huge market for their products and services. The investment in China by the Chinese and the foreign corporations continues to be dramatic. However there is a signficant trap inside China (learned the hard way by the Japanese military) and one that many corporations will experience first hand if they are not careful.

So what do you do if you’re a car maker with a home market that’s not buying as many cars as it used to?

If you’re General Motors (GM), you invest as fast as you can in making and selling cars in China.

Great plan.

So great that Toyota (TM), and Nissan, and Volkswagen (VLKAY), and BMW (BAMXF), and Honda (HMC) and Hyundai (HYMLY) have all adopted the same plan.

The result is a capital spending spree so large, and resulting new manufacturing capacity so great, that it could be the cause of the next collapse and shake out in the global auto industry. And the best guess is that this shakeout could arrive as early as 2015. That’s long before companies such as General Motors that are still working to emerge from bankruptcy or companies such as Toyota that are struggling to rebuild profitability have put away cash for a rainy day.

The collapse is likely to be even more brutal than that of the U.S. car industry in the recent recession. (The auto industry story is just an extreme version of what I’ve called the danger of a profitless economic recovery. For more on what that means across the global economy, see my post http://jubakpicks.com/2010/01/19/get-your-portfolio-ready-for-the-profitless-global-economic-recovery/ )

I don’t think there’s any way that the auto industry can avoid this collapse. The logic behind expanding in China is just too irresistible.

The rest of the quoted post can be found at: Http://jubakpicks.com/2010/05/04/can-chinas-auto-market-save-gm-do-pigs-fly/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=jubakpicks%2Brss &utm_campaign=jubakpicks%2Brss

If this happens to the auto industry then what happens to the fuel and gas industry? The environment industries? Perhaps the 4T war is an economic war?

I think it's very hard to speculate about the future of China--but I do expect to live to see the end of Communism there, or shall I say, the end of the rule of the Communist party, since Communism as such has not existed there for quite a while. They had a 30-year crisis in the first half of the last century and they had a huge artist generation which is still in power. Meanwhile, a lot of their Prophets were rendered irrelevant by the Cultural Revolution. (S & H used to speculate about what would happen when ex-Red Guards came to power, but it turns out that ain't going to happen--they became outcasts in the new China.)

There's a faction in the Pentagon talking up China as a rising power that will inevitably challenge us. I don't see it. There's no problem between that diplomacy should not be able to solve.

I don't really see China as a real threat to us. My husband is an engineer for a company that manufactures mining equipment. Last year he spent a total of about 9 months in China. Quite frankly, if it wasn't for China my husband would have probably been out of job. They were about the customers his company had that were placing orders for new trucks. I'm not suggesting that the trade between the US and China is balanced. Obviously we are buying much more goods from them than they are from us, but I do feel they are just as dependant on us as we are on them. I think the following post summed it up pretty well.

Originally Posted by aadams1980

Well put herbal tee! Are you specifically referring only to a scenario where we default on our debt and they lose on all their investments here, or other scenarios as well?

The question is (I don't know who said this) if you owe the bank most of the money it has leant out, does the bank own you, or do you own the bank. China's investments here give them leverage over us, but it also gives us a mutual interest. However, they're dumping their debt now (40 billion or so within the past month) - that scares me.
However, I'd say their government has more corruption than ours (which is also corrupt). I feel like we could fix anything if we could get out of this debt.

My husband does not trust them when it comes to business. He says they lie a lot. But there are Chinese people who he likes and considers friends. And then there are those, he doesn't. Same as with anyone else.

Many specialists on China say it is in a rapidly growing bubble that could implode like the US financial/housing bubble. Huge sums are being spent by China and corporations to provide the infrastructure and products for a modern economy. Corporations like GM and the world automakers could get caught up in this "boom." Also bidding on raw materials could get super competitive as nations try to feed their economic needs for fuel, food, copper, etc.

If there is a power struggle between the US and China it will be an economic one as opposed to an ideology or geographic turf. (North Korea's antics are the weak link in turf side).

Originally Posted by Silent39

Many specialists on China say it is in a rapidly growing bubble that could implode like the US financial/housing bubble. Huge sums are being spent by China and corporations to provide the infrastructure and products for a modern economy. Corporations like GM and the world automakers could get caught up in this "boom." Also bidding on raw materials could get super competative as nations try to feed their economic needs for fuel, food, copper, etc.

If there is a power struggle between the US and China it will be an economic one as opposed to an ideology or geographic turf. (North Korea's antics are the weak link in thurf side).

I've been saying for a while now, in this Crisis we've thus far been playing the role of England in the last Crisis, while China's been playing our role from the last Crisis. 1927 England looked to America to "bail it out". 2009 America looked to China to "bail it out". I'm not liking the parallel...

Although if the parallel continues, I hope we're as wise as England was and look forward into growing into the role of "grandparent world power".

~Chas'88

Originally Posted by Chas'88

Although if the parallel continues, I hope we're as wise as England was and look forward into growing into the role of "grandparent world power".

As national grandparents do we have the same privledges as we do with our grandchildren? Can we enjoy our emerging "grandnations" when they are good and send them to "parent" China when they are bad?

More seriously I believe you have a solid observation here. It certainly needs more exploration and discussion.

Silent39

This is beyond belief:

WSJ:

BEIJING—A prosperous village merchant, described as soft-spoken and gentle, armed himself with a meat cleaver and hacked to death seven schoolchildren, their teacher and her mother before taking his own life, the deadliest in a spate of school attacks in China that is fueling growing anger at the government's inability to keep children safe. Unlike perpetrators of several of the previous four attacks, 48-year-old Wu Huanming exhibited no signs of mental illness, according to residents of Lincheng village in southwest Shaanxi province. He was well-off by local standards, and a respected member of the village government.

Yet a scene of bloody carnage confronted villagers who rushed through heavy rain to the two-story schoolhouse shortly before 8 a.m. Wednesday morning after hearing frantic cries for help.

"I saw blood everywhere like a stream, on the wall, on the floors," said Wu Yaojin, 51 years old, who lived just a few steps from the school where 20 children, ages four to nine, had just gathered for class. "Some kids were lying on the floor or with their chest against the floor. All the kids were hacked. Most were slashed in the head." The teacher, Wu Hongying, was attacked with such savagery her head was almost severed from her body, he said. Her mother lay dying nearby."

The article goes on to say it was because of a property dispute with the school.

What is going on with these people?

James50

I live in China there is a lot of unrest because in many villages people are very poor. The middle class is growing, but it's still upper and lower classes for the most part. China caters to people living in the cities "legally" much more than those living in the country side. Those in the country side know what's going on and don't really know what to do about it. Then, an argument and they just snap. These are probably copy cat crimes though, but it highlights the frustration of the people here that isn't really brought to the forefront all that often.

I teach in China and I had a student in an English contest. The topic was Sunny 90's (the 90's cohort). I heard lots of statements about how confident they were, how they are going to change the world, and some more specific rhetoric about things they could right now to help the city.
Most of the speeches were about being positive no matter what and how sometimes they are misunderstood.

Afterward, I talked to my student and asked "How do you think these speeches would have been different 10 years ago?" He said that his cohort is much more confident and not as worried about financial stability. I just thought it was interesting to hear it from the horses mouth. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by Silent39

Many specialists on China say it is in a rapidly growing bubble that could implode like the US financial/housing bubble. Huge sums are being spent by China and corporations to provide the infrastructure and products for a modern economy. Corporations like GM and the world automakers could get caught up in this "boom." Also bidding on raw materials could get super competitive as nations try to feed their economic needs for fuel, food, copper, etc.

If there is a power struggle between the US and China it will be an economic one as opposed to an ideology or geographic turf. (North Korea's antics are the weak link in turf side).

My Chinese girlfriend's dad is an accountant and sometimes just buys and sells stocks for a living. He says now is not a good time to buy a house and he isn't buying one till the bubble bursts.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/35826/

This happened in the city where I live. Instead of a kindergarten they attacked a college in town. My girlfriend is a student at a different University. It definitely scary I hope they beef up security to stop these attacks.

The beginning of something?

"Chinese workers who normally work 12-hour days, six days a week for low wages are on strike at a Honda (HMC) factory, reports the' New York Times. The government, which owns the media outlets, normally wouldn’t allow the strike to happen so publically. In fact, Chinese officials and economists agree with the workers that they “deserve higher wages for their role in the country’s global export machine.” If Chinese workers get better wages, it would help the nation’s economic growth."

James50

Originally Posted by James50

The beginning of something?

"Chinese workers who normally work 12-hour days, six days a week for low wages are on strike at a Honda (HMC) factory... Chinese officials and economists agree with the workers that they “deserve higher wages for their role in the country’s global export machine.” If Chinese workers get better wages, it would help the nation’s economic growth."

-In the short run, Honda will give in.

In the long run, Honda will will plan to let the factory run down, then move to a place where the workers will work for what they actually seem to be worth. Then the PRC can fighure out how to make jobs out of thin air. They can use Greece as their model.

Originally Posted by haymarket martyr

WARNING: The poster known as jamesdglick has a history of engaging in fraud. He makes things up out of his own head and attempts to use these blatant lies to score points in his arguments. When you call him on it, he will only lie further. He has such a reputation for doing this that many people here are cowed into silence and will not acknowledge it or confront him on it.

Anyone who attempts to engage with glick will discover this and find out you have wasted your time and energy on an intellectual fraud of the worst sort.

...So cry many Boomers like Haymarket whenever they fail to explain their hypocritical self-justifications, their double-standards, and their double-think forays into evil. Perhaps their consciences bother them, perhaps not. Who knows!

Report: China, Cuba more peaceful than US

Honda China strike could spur broader worker demands

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-c...f-the-issue-19

Huge algae bloom off the coast of China continues to grow. How much longer can the Chinese let their environment deteriorate? Pretty soon its going to look like one of those science fiction movies where a far off planet is nothing but smoke, soot, and people with gas masks.

"A floating expanse of green algae floating off China's eastern seaboard is growing and spreading further along the coast, state-run media has reported.

The algae bloom has expanded by about 50 percent since it was first reported by state media earlier in the week to 320 square kilometres (120 square miles), or about four times the size of Hong Kong island, Xinhua news agency said."

More here:http://bit.ly/98PEAO

Snarky comment of the day: "Thomas Friedman must be so proud."

James50

I've been living in China for about 5 years now and I still can't put my finger on their different generations characteristics. I teach in an elementary school and it seems like the kids are civics although most of the kids are sent off to boarding school; that can be construed as neglect, but Chinese really tend invest in their children.
I think the lack of freedom in China makes it harder for a generations characteristics to come to light. The media is all filtered by the government to an extent not seen in America. Most of the vices in China are not done out in the open, but secretly. Selling drugs is punishable by death.
I had a Chinese teacher tell me about 3 years ago that it was good to be old and young, but his age was the worst. He was 30 at the time.

Another aspect is that China's during China's "High" the country was poor, but now the country is getting richer.

Here are my observations of the generations in China. Have you I'm mostly in contact with Civics and Nomads. I don't know many prophets or Artists.

Civics: Spoiled, but grateful. Very team oriented and confident. (About 100% of them are 100% positive that China will be the main world power in their lifetime)

Nomads: Money = survival so they are focused on being financially secure much like generation X, but you don't see the same kind "life is hard" world view you would see in gen x. For example almost everyone loves bubblegum pop music just to name one. I think they are more likely to do drugs and what not. My girlfriend was born in 88 and that might still be Nomad here. I think it is a 3T, but she had a friend who died in a fight in a club a friend that became a prostitute and a lot of her old high school friends are drug users.

Prophets: I've really only had superficial interaction with most of the Chinese prophets I know, but they do seem to be full of themselves and very preachy (more so than boomers) So explaining cultural differences to them is about impossible.
Being a third turning my guess is the prophets are in charge that being couples with forced retirement at 55 for women and 60 for men in many jobs you get an idea what generation is in charge. Now when the sichuan earthquake happened Chinese employees were basically shamed into giving to charity through their work place. Many places posted people names and how much they gave if they didn't give they were reprimanded.

Artists: I really have no idea.

So there are some of my observations. It is difficult to see how the generations here differ because I'm looking through a cultural lens. It's easy to tell superficial some of the differences, but as it goes deeper it's hard to know where each respective generation is coming from.

Companies brace for end of cheap made-in-China era

U.S. Tomahawk Missiles Deployed Near China Send Message

Originally Posted by Xer H

Companies brace for end of cheap made-in-China era

It seems like Strauss and Howe's predictions about Millennials are more true of Chinese than they are of Americans. I'm really happy for the Chinese work force. It's about time that they stoop up for themselves. Their bosses drive around in Mercedes while they ride around on rickety bikes. A normal Chinese work week consists of 6 or 7 days a week. 10 to 14 hours a day and the make about 700 yuan (100 dollars) where I live. That's like what a waiter or waitress will make. Oh, and no tips. That is not a lot of buying power. Houses cost as much or more than they do in the states just to give and example of the discrepancy of the rich and poor. They should strike until they are given a living wage.