China is producing 700,000 engineers per year.

[barbaraann]

China poised for further growth
It's clear to many people today that China is poised to take over the world's manufacturing. In China today, some 18 million people enter the work force each year, with typical wages of 60 cents a day. Manufacturing workers outside of China are being displaced on a large scale; even Mexico is losing jobs to China.

The idea that Chinese workers are replacing physical labourers elsewhere has long been a given. But now China is poised to replace the world's knowledge workers as well. China is turning out 700,000 engineers a year, 37 percent of all college graduates, all trained in a university system that is rapidly growing in size and quality. Engineer pay ranges from $4,000 to $8,000 a year, plus medical costs, housing and pension. As product design becomes more network-centric and less location-dependent, competition against Western engineers will turn fierce.

According to techno-visionary George Gilder, the 1980s was the decade of the Microcosm, when rapid advancements in microprocessor technology propelled the U.S. economy; the 1990s was the decade of the Telecosm, when high-speed fiber-optic communication channels generated growth markets around the world.

Now, says Gilder, a fast-rising China is emerging as a technological powerhouse, with deep and serious implications for the U.S. and world economies.

During a recent visit to China, Gilder was most impressed with the high-pitched level of capitalistic energy he found there. Gilder describes China as "in fact the greatest opportunity in the history of capitalism." He also heaps hyperbolic praise on Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin. "In Washington, Jiang is considered a dangerous Communist," says Gilder. "Jiang is the single greatest capitalist leader of the postwar generation."

http://www.advancedmanufacturing.com/December03/printer_friendly/colAutomation.htm

Gulp.

[DBoon]

1. Wow! that's almost as many as we have laid off nt

[Blue_Tires]

2. when they start producing

700,000 lawyers per year, then we're ALL in trouble!:silly: :evilgrin:

[Deja Q]

3. US citizens are bright enough to know there's no INCENTIVE to learn.

US corporations, who should bugger off to communist china because they don't deserve the tax breaks, gov't subsidies, and other perks being an American corporation is, have been abandoning us in favor of cheap labor.

Meanwhile they complain we're about to lose our position.

And then they blame everyone else for not being smart enough or not getting enough education.

Sorry, their excuses cut no ice. The issue is a simple case of costs and bottom lines; these CEO fucks don't give a damn about you or I. Hell, some whine that paying a Chinese worker $3/hr is too much.

While some Dems wanted to open up China for benevolent reasons, Nixon and Reagan opened it up for exploitative purposes only.

Edit: Spelling

[Tux]

4. Problem lies with Americans

Yes, Americans. Our culture is overloaded with consumer ideals. If I buy this product, I'll be happy/healthy/smarter/wiser/immortal/prettier/etc. We also developed a rich anti-intellectual system that removes the burden of proper education (public school cuts), ignorance of public broadcasting (CPB cuts), reading (latest Harry Potter critics basically said reading and thinking are evil), as well as hating intellectuals of all kinds (except RWers).

Just look at fundies storming the gates of universities and public schools over evolutionary biology and anthropology. They get upset over PBS/NPR news coverage. And many are siding with them. Despite the amount of info on the Net, libraries, and bookstores, Americans just want someone to tell them what to think and not bother with the process themselves. Even jobs in my area require at most an associate's and at least a GED. Many students want to learn a skill set (good) but don't want the critical thinking that comes from basic studies in literature, history, etc (bad).

Corporations are taking advantage of it but the main consern is our current anti-intellectual climate that leads to more offshoring/outsourcing so Americans can get back at intellectuals for whatever reason.