100,000 engineers a year
Der Invest
Informant
Randy Buss
21 October 2004
The recent politic-talk show on TV entitled "Hard but Fair"
here in Germany had a mix of guests from industry and politics
debating the current atmosphere in which the lowly worker finds
himself here in Germany. Opel/GM threatening 10.000 jobs, Karstadt
threatening 6.000 jobs, etc. etc. Everybody is laying off or
threatening to.
What they didn't mention, but which is known to the Der Invest
Informant readers, is that this deflationary debate is a truly
a global issue. And it is not set to stop anytime soon. One of
the guests, representing a global manufacturer of auto parts
who has gone offshore to make those parts and no longer employs
in Germany, made the following example:
They manufacture in China now.
And all the politicos on the show went wild and said, "You
can't do that" or "You can't compare China to Germany"
or "You are unpatriotic." Well, he basically answered
"Go stuff yourselves people - this is a globalized world
and we either do that to compete in a global world or we close
shop completely." And, he mentioned, everybody wants a nice,
affordable Mercedes Benz to drive. Well, he said, "if we
would produce our parts in Germany and sell them to MB, then
the price of that new SLK 300 would rise by 25-30% and nobody
would buy it and then MB would go out of business." So basically
he's saying "People, get real." And then somebody said
"Well, you can't compare a German engineer to a Chinese
worker." Again, bigotry and wrong. His answer: "Put
the raw material in, watch and control the process, out drops
the widget and it's packed and freighted." It does not take
a rocket scientist to do that! A German, a Chinese or a Mexican
can do that. And they are doing it. And just for your info, in
China they produce 100,000 engineers a year. That is 10 times
the US. And they are better educated. So, please, get real.
The crux is: the politicians
who are paid to look ahead and form national policies have been
sleeping and missed the reforms which were required years ago.
Reforms have a latency period of years, if not decades, before
they start to take hold and thus we in the West failed to get
on the boat in time and make the necessary changes. We are starting
to pay the heavy price of that missed opportunity. Equally, human
behaviour is to live in denial. The good times will forever be
around. Well, I say, the good times are starting to wane.
And to note: Anybody here speaking half-way passable Chinese
seems to have a job for life. LOTS of Chinese here on visits
to learn the manufacturing sector... I think it was Lenin who
said "The capitalists shall sell the rope from which they
hang." Or was it that famous German Karl Marx?
21 October, 2004
Randolph Buss
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Disclosure
and Disclaimer Statement: This document is intended for informational
purposes only. DINL is not a registered financial advisor in
the USA. Not advice or intended as advice. The author has not
received any payment or reimbursement of any nature for writing
this article. The author's objective in writing this article
is to raise awareness within the reader and to further their
understanding of international and/or monetary issues and to
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Investors are recommended to obtain the advice of a qualified
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© Copyright 2004 DINL / R. Buss
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