Exporting Our Economy
Currently our economy has experienced off shore expansion at an exponential rate, that fact almost sounds impressive, almost positive in fact. Ironically, it means that we are shipping our jobs to Asia and other areas of the world where cheap labour abounds and raising our own unemployment at an alarming rate. Corporations through their efforts to be profitable in the short run are in reality shooting themselves in the proverbial foot and hobbling themselves and the economy in the process. They are charging the cliff like lemmings to produce their products in China and elsewhere. Look at the labels on your clothing for a lesson in place name geography.
The sad state of affairs concerning economic growth and harnessing the elements of production is that CEO’s, CFO’s and Boards elect to seek out cheap sources of resources, transportation and especially labour with the ultimate aim of reducing production costs and maximizing profits. Makes total sense, sounds efficient even commendable and in so doing the movers and shakers of the economic world reap disproportionate bonuses for their efforts. In Fortune 500 companies last year alone 10 top earning CEO's collected approximately 450 million dollars in bonus pay in addition to their regular, generous salaries. The regular American worker would take about 1000 years to earn the equivalent. Just a little imbalance perhaps.
These Chief executive officers are hard working men and women for sure who also need to stroke their egos, drive a Beamer and live in a gated community to prove their self worth, achieve ego gratification and be on the apex of the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. Another similar example, The Bank of Nova Scotia had near record profits this year and are still cutting 1500 jobs and closing hundreds of branches so they can be even more profitable. In terms of corporate profit when is enough enough. The answer is never and that is the problem in our economic system, at least one of many problems. It is based on short term objectives designed to please boards, and investors who are simply greedy for short term gain. Little thought is given for environmental impact, social realities and off shore transfer of jobs.
Our government is off little help in slowing down foreign ownership of our country, in fact they seem to encourage it, as democracies are generally incapable of long range planning. We as citizens, along with the corporate world, also cherish short term gain and gratification, so sadly in a sense we are also to blame for our situation. Maybe we should all just watch what we buy and where it comes from, or we may have to resort to my solution.
Nothing is sacred. In Canada I think of Canadian icons such as Tim Hortons, now owned by a hedge fund, a group of anonymous investors in Brazil and elsewhere who own and control a symbol Canadians hold dear. The Bay probably the oldest retail icon in Canada is now American. The Toronto Maple Leafs is still Canadian but really what’s the point if they can’t win. Recently, I read that a major pork producer in the United States has been bought out by a Chinese firm meaning that food supplies will be going to China for processing and then being resold here in North America. That is disturbing on so many levels. The Ritz Carleton Hotel in New York, another American icon, is owned by a Chinese insurance company and the list goes on and on.
Once we have transferred the last job, icon, company, pig or grain farm, and tar sands to foreign ownership even the wealthy in this country might realize, too late, that they went too far. There will be such a gap between rich and poor with a huge hole in the social fabric, with the absence of the middle class, that we will be left with only the really rich and the really poor and nothing to bridge the gap but anger and resentment. I don’t like using the R word but that does sound like the seeds of social destruction.
But before we get to the violence in the street, Tea Party solutions, a gun in every hand bag and terrorism around every corner I do have a solution. I have lived in China, scouted out the territory and know we can get through this. This is not ideal but now that the corporate world has made us into beggars and we all buy Chinese anyway, we can not be choosy.
I call it the Elliot Lake Solution for obvious reasons that you will see in a moment. Elliot Lake is in Northern Ontario, a former mining town whose economy collapsed. Think of it as a mini analogy for North America. The leaders there had to have a plan to re invent themselves or die. To survive they attracted people from Toronto and other southern Ontario urban areas where real estate prices were high and the economy was healthy. These people could retire from the South, sell there costly properties and buy cheap in Elliot Lake and have money to spare to go South and be Snow Birds. It was a win win situation and Elliot Lake is still on the map.
I propose that while we still can, we should sell our properties here in Canada before the last jobs, icons, farms and food supplies etc are sold and while the price is still good and buy cheap in the new “Elliot Lake” which of course is China. Our jobs are already there; so it only make sense that we sell out completely to the Chinese. They have everything else, or soon will have, now we just have sell our properties, our homes and buy cheap in China to complete the economic cycle. They move here. We move there. Not a shot is fired. Everyone is happy.
Who knows we may even find employment over there, the odds are good because our jobs are already there.
Marty Rempel
Shanghai from the Marriot
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