Outsurcing

January 23
Mare scandal mare zilele acestea in UE! "Capitalistii nomazi" de la Nokia parasesc Germania pt Romania. Socialistii germani sunt extrem de indignati. Dar, dupa cate am inteles, acesti socialisti au tacut malc atunci cand WV s-a mutat din Belgia in Germania. De, Belgia e tara mica, are mai putini politicieni.

Sa nu se creada ca ma bucur ca a murit capra germana. Am inteles ca UE, care a fost alimentata in special cu fonduri germane, va ajuta pe cei din Bokum. Desigur, aceste ajutoare nu le vor mai permite nemtilor standardul ridicat de viata pe care il aveau. Probabil ca si multi emigranti care au trait acolo vor avea inca mai mult de suferit. Dar de ce au emigrat acei oameni (nu ma gandesc aici la emigrantii politici, care au cautat libertatea)? Pentru ca tara lor, mai putin dezvoltata, nu le asigura, de multe ori, nici macar cele necesare traiului (desi am dubii in aceasta privinta pt ca totusi, plecarea spre o tara straina presupune cheltuieli, macar de transport, iar pt clandestini platirea de bani, si nu putini, catre cei care organizeaza contrabanda). Din pacate, multi dintre emigranti constata ca realitatea e departe de implinirea visurilor lor. Iar pt unii din ei integrarea sociala pune mari probleme din cauza diferentelor culturale sau religioase. Si astfel apar frustrari care duc la revolte, ca cele din Franta, asasinate, ca in Olanda, sau terorism, ca in Anglia. Ma refer numai la Anglia pt ca acolo teroristii erau chiar cetateni englezi.

Si atunci, ca sa gandim pozitiv, nu e cumva outsurcingul o solutie mai buna? India, China, Irlanda sunt tari care s-au dezvoltat uimitor in ultima perioada tocmai prin acest fenomen, nu neaparat prin mutarea de fabrici, ci prin investitii de capital. S-ar zice ca in acest mod se produce o egalizare, o rerepartizare a resurselor si astfel o reducere a tensiunilor dintre tarile bogate si cele sarace. Tarile supradezvoltate pierd din confort dar castiga in siguranta. Corect? GRESIT!

Iata ce spun Lydia Polgreen and Howard W. French in New York despre investitiile chineze in Africa:
"We are back where we started," said Wilfred Collins Wonani, who leads the Chamber of Commerce here, sighing at the loss of one of the city’s biggest employers. "Sending raw materials out, bringing cheap manufactured goods in. This isn’t progress. It is colonialism."
Chinese officials and their African allies like to call their growing relationship a win-win proposition, a rising tide that lifts all boats in China’s ever-widening sea of influence.
From South Africa’s manganese mines to Niger’s uranium pits, from Sudan’s oil fields to Congo’s cobalt mines, China’s hunger for resources has been a shot in the arm, increasing revenues and helping push some of the world’s poorest countries further up the ladder of development.
But China is also exporting huge volumes of finished, manufactured goods — T-shirts, flashlights, radios and socks, just to name a few — to those same countries, hampering Africa’s ability to make its own products and develop healthy, diverse economies.
"Most of our countries have been independent for 35 to 50 years," said Moeletsi Mbeki, a South African entrepreneur and a political analyst. "Yet they have failed to develop manufacturing for a variety of reasons, and for the Chinese that’s a huge opportunity. We are a very important market for China."
On the one hand, Chinese imports give Africans access to goods and amenities that developed countries take for granted but that most people here could not have dreamed of affording just a few years ago — cellular telephones, televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, computers. And cheaper prices on more basic items, like clothing, light bulbs and shoes, mean people have more money in their pockets
Si totusi, africanii nu sunt multumiti. Sa vedem de ce.
But across Africa, and especially in the relatively robust economies of southern Africa, there are clear winners and losers. Textile mills and other factories here in Zambia have suffered and even closed as cheap Chinese goods flood the world market, eliminating jobs in a country that sorely needs them.
The Chinese investment in copper mining here has left a trail of heartbreak and recrimination after one of the worst industrial accidents in Zambian history, a blast at a Chinese-owned explosives factory in Chambishi in 2005 that killed 46 people, most of them in their 20s.
Si astfel, in ciuda investitiilor si a locurilor de munca ce s-au creat, ca si a dezvoltarii economice a Zambiei, de ex, situatia pe ansamblu e destul de critica.
China’s growing presence in global trade is wiping out thousands of jobs in countries with fledgling manufacturing sectors like Zambia and South Africa.
Despite relatively low wages in many countries, African manufacturers find it very hard to compete, arguing that China’s currency policies undervalue the yuan and give Chinese exporters a huge advantage.
Many industries in China also benefited at various points from subsidies and free or low-cost government financing, making their costs lower. Beyond that, there are major infrastructure problems in Africa, where industry struggles with inadequate roads and railways, and unreliable electricity and water supplies.
Suna cunoscut? Ne aminteste cumva de Rosia Montana, de Sidex? Dar sa ne intoarcem la Africa.
The textile and clothing industry, one of the engines China used to fuel its own economic expansion in the 1980s, has been particularly hard hit in Africa. For decades, African countries exported large quantities of clothes and textiles to developed countries under a trade agreement intended to protect European and American markets from competition from China and others, while encouraging exports from the world’s poorest nations. But the trade provision, the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, expired in January 2005, putting these countries in direct export competition with China.
Africa found itself once again on the losing end of globalization
In South Africa, dozens of clothing and textile companies closed, according to trade organizations representing manufacturers. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost because of Chinese imports, and in response the government negotiated temporary voluntary restraints on some items.
Ramane sa speram ca Romania, mai aproape de Vest decat Africa, va avea alta soarta dar, avand in vedere ca economia globala pare a fi in criza (lucru ce-mi reaminteste de situatia descrisa de Arthur C. Clarke la inceputul Return of Rama) iar leul scade mereu, nu stiu cat de intemeiate sunt sperantele.