More Fun from our Most Favored Nation
It looks like ole General Chang is back to his no-good antics again.
China's Brutal Crackdown on Dissidents
China's Communist Party officials are employing brutal methods in dealing with difficult citizens. The most recent victim of what appears to be government-sanctioned brutality was a farmer who suffered a broken cervical vertebra when he was attacked by thugs.
Fu Xiancai, 47, is a far cry from an enemy of the state, as evidenced by the many portraits of Mao Zedong he displays in his house. However, the mustache-wearing farmer became a difficult citizen when he was forced to leave his village, Maoping, on the banks of the Yangtze River. Fu, like 1.2 million other Chinese, was in the way of a giant project, the construction of China's Three Gorges Dam. The budding superpower hopes to derive much-needed energy by damming the Yangtze.
"We have nothing against the project," Fu has said. "This is a good dam." But he did object to the fact that the relocation compensation he received was substantially lower than the amount he had been promised by the state. Instead of about 20,000 Yuan (€2,000), Fu received only 7,000 (€700). Many other residents of Maoping had the same experience.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/
international/spiegel/0,1518,423551,00.html
Ok - so I can understand the whole "good for business" thing about working with China. Cheap labor, cheap crap, why pay $70 for a blender that works, when you can get 2 that don't work for only $50?
Despite my anarcho-tribal leanings - I am truly a born-again Capitalist - but there has to be a limit somewhere.
The other day The Dude and I were talking about Walmart and he (a former union delegate and organizer) made the slight comment - "Looks like they are a long way from their "Buy American" past." It occured to me after all these years of Walmart bashing that part of the original Sam Walton vision was to really focus on stocking American goods - rather than their current policy of increasing China's GPD. Completely forgot.
Now I am not saying supporting Walmart helps buy more bullets for ole General Chang, but . . .
Oh wait - I just did.
It looks like ole General Chang is back to his no-good antics again.
China's Brutal Crackdown on Dissidents
China's Communist Party officials are employing brutal methods in dealing with difficult citizens. The most recent victim of what appears to be government-sanctioned brutality was a farmer who suffered a broken cervical vertebra when he was attacked by thugs.
Fu Xiancai, 47, is a far cry from an enemy of the state, as evidenced by the many portraits of Mao Zedong he displays in his house. However, the mustache-wearing farmer became a difficult citizen when he was forced to leave his village, Maoping, on the banks of the Yangtze River. Fu, like 1.2 million other Chinese, was in the way of a giant project, the construction of China's Three Gorges Dam. The budding superpower hopes to derive much-needed energy by damming the Yangtze.
"We have nothing against the project," Fu has said. "This is a good dam." But he did object to the fact that the relocation compensation he received was substantially lower than the amount he had been promised by the state. Instead of about 20,000 Yuan (€2,000), Fu received only 7,000 (€700). Many other residents of Maoping had the same experience.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/
international/spiegel/0,1518,423551,00.html
Ok - so I can understand the whole "good for business" thing about working with China. Cheap labor, cheap crap, why pay $70 for a blender that works, when you can get 2 that don't work for only $50?
Despite my anarcho-tribal leanings - I am truly a born-again Capitalist - but there has to be a limit somewhere.
The other day The Dude and I were talking about Walmart and he (a former union delegate and organizer) made the slight comment - "Looks like they are a long way from their "Buy American" past." It occured to me after all these years of Walmart bashing that part of the original Sam Walton vision was to really focus on stocking American goods - rather than their current policy of increasing China's GPD. Completely forgot.
Now I am not saying supporting Walmart helps buy more bullets for ole General Chang, but . . .
Oh wait - I just did.
posted by golgo13 at 10:19 PM
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