Do you realize that almost all countries in the world now have high unemployment? If one country finds a solution to unemployment in their nation it most likely will be at the expense of higher unemployment in other nations. China’s great industrial expansion in the last two decades should make that fact abundantly clear.<\/p>\n
Industrialization of once largely agricultural societies like China and India have put out of business many manufacturing jobs in many nations in a very short period because with abundant cheap labor they can undersell them. The industrial workforce on our planet has almost double in a few decades and that is the reason for the high unemployment in the world.<\/p>\n
China and India are relatively poor countries without environmental regulation burdens and social welfare job benefits. Because of this and because they have new modern factories with modern equipment they can provide manufactured goods for far less than the more advanced nations of the world. In fact, China is sucking up manufacturing jobs from the rest of the world as if it were a big black (red) hole.<\/p>\n
Even other third world nations cannot compete with China because they do not have the capital to do the expansion that is necessary. With China running at 10 percent growth for two decades now, the growth is mostly at the expense of full employment everywhere else in the world. China’s $3.5 trillion national reserve surplus makes it abundantly clear that the trade game is tilted in favor of China.<\/p>\n
The world has never seen anything like this. Even the industrial revolution and the trade wars of the the 30’s pale in comparison to the doubling of the world workforce with China’s new advanced modern factories churning out products that can undersell most manufactures in developed nations.<\/p>\n
I guess the world could level the playing field with China through tariffs but then unemployment in China would explode and their speculative economic expansion bubble would burst and cause massive civil upheavals in China. The leaders of China simply will not allow that to happen without taking some rather drastic world actions. They have no desire to have their head hanging on poles with birds picking out their brains.<\/p>\n
China now holds $3.5 trillion of the world’s debt. They now have the leverage to conduct economic warfare against world currencies if they chose to do that. Not to mention, the trouble that they could drum up regionally to deflect criticism and end internal civil upheavals. Of course, at some point, the expansion in China is going to end anyway because it is not sustainable. When that happens it is not going to be pretty and we should be prepared.<\/p>\n
Most advanced countries outside of China just borrow more from them and create more paper money so that their people can continue to buy things that they really do not need anyway. Buying from China and India do not create jobs in their own countries so that is one reason why they have very high unemployment. China is not buying as much from these countries as what it sells them. Much of China’s money is spent on raw materials and that does not produce many jobs in the countries that sell them.<\/p>\n
The market is saturated with manufactured good. Prices are driven down and only those that can undercut all the rest that make a similar product survive. So there is a race to the bottom in prices but the bottom is on the other side of the earth from here. China and India almost invariably get the sales and that means factories in many countries close down and unemployment rises where they do. Newer factories in China are more efficient through the use of high technology ( e.g. – robots) so they create more products with less people that also get paid far less, so who can compete?<\/p>\n
It seems that about the only thing that can be done to reduce worldwide high unemployment in most of the world under present realities is to force decreased production in China and India through higher prices by imposing tariffs on their products but that could lead to an economic war or even a world war.<\/strong><\/p>\n With that said, there may be two saner solutions for developed countries to take. 1. Big nations like the US could become isolationist self sufficient nations and only trade with nations that they want to trade with. For example, they could buy Canadian oil and the Canadians could buy goods or services of equal value from the United Sates. Countries with their own resources really do not need to buy from emerging nations unless it in their own self-interest to do so. In all cases, they making make the trading even-steven.<\/p>\n 2. First world nations can reduce unemployment in their countries by reducing the working hours (you’re not going to get emerging nations to agree to this).<\/p>\n Futurists have been promising us for the last fifty years that increased productivity and robots would make the workweek much shorter by now. Yet, here we are in 2011 and we still have a 40 hour workweek just like in the 1940’s. Perhaps It’s time that the shorter workweek arrive?<\/p>\n The United States has about 20 percent unemployment when you factor in the underemployed and those that gave up. We in the United States can share the jobs or we will share our wealth through government forced welfare. Contrary to the hype from any political party, high unemployment is not going away before the next world war. Even if it does, it will be mostly minimum wage jobs that cannot support even a modest living. That of course would change if the workweek hours were reduced. Anyone qualified should then be able to find a reasonable job.<\/p>\n Along with reduced hours people and government will need to learn to exist on the income that they have and live within their means. Think of what a shorter workweek means socially. It would truly spread the wealth around but it would be through work instead of socialist entitlements. Reducing the standard workweek will mean that almost everyone would have a reasonable job. That would mean that most people would also be paying taxes in contrast to the 50 percent of Americans that now pay no federal taxes.<\/p>\n Few will be collecting unemployment, food stamps, Medicaid etc., and they would not be paid to sit at home to become depressed, lose their work skills and resort to stealing and insurrection. The increased taxes collected, along with less social welfare outlays will balance the budget almost overnight. The icing on the cake is that anyone that wants more leisure time and only wants to work three or four day weeks would now have that opportunity. Those who want to earn more should also easily be able to find a second job.<\/p>\n Its time for creative solutions to entrenched social problems and that means we need leaders that will find solutions by thinking outside the box. If high world unemployment continues social unrest is assured. What will be the cost of scores of burned out cities and martial law when people in the inner cities have neither handouts nor jobs?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you realize that almost all countries in the world now have high unemployment? If one country finds a solution to unemployment in their nation it most likely will be at the expense of higher unemployment in other nations. China’s great industrial expansion in the last two decades should make that fact abundantly clear. 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