From: Charlie (charles1848@SBCGLOBAL.NET)
Date: Mon Dec 31 2007 - 18:10:11 EST
I recall a statistic (anecdotal quality only) to the effect that the manufacturing workforce in China peaked several years ago and was shrinking. It was not a cyclical event, instead evidence that automation was even replacing workers at low Chinese wages. Don't know if evidence confirms or denies this. In addition, a portion of the manufacturing jobs in low-wage Asian countries exist despite the possibility of automation only because the wages are so low that automation does not pay. Cerni's article conveys a sense of successive imperialist centers without overall forward motion such as the above indicates. A related consideration: Although the U.S. borrowed and stole British technology early in the 19th century, by the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851 the U.S. was an engineering leader. In other words, the up and coming capitalist country was a technological leader, too. The German case was similar. China does not yet display the same lead. These points suggest that Chinese capitalism is up and coming at a time when the economic space for capitalist development is narrowing. Charles Andrews
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