I'm uncomfortable with the feeling of the government helping out the auto industry. It's almost like the CEO's of these big corporations are trying to play like they don't make millions of dollars and completely whine and cry about how they need the money or they'll go bankrupt. It seems to me they're more worried about their own pocketbooks instead of the consumer's that pay for their nice homes and big bonuses... Would you believe that the CEO of Ford company makes less than the CEO of the Toyota company? I didn't know this until my cousin pointed it out to me over Thanksgiving break. There is a major 20+ million difference in their salaries.
FORD'S CEO only makes like one or two million while Toyota's makes a whopping 33 million. And he's complaining about going bankrupt??? It's outrageous that these major heads are so obtuse enough to think they are struggling like the rest of us. If they would stop selling those big trucks and SUVs that guzzle gas like a fat baby and start going the way of smart cars and eco-friendly mini coopers then they wouldn't be broke. But they won't because there is a lucrative business in the big truck and automobile industry.
Actually, there is a deal between automakers and celebrities-preferably the rappers- that includes them endorsing the trucks and cars in their videos and songs. The auto industry makes money off of this yet and still they are begging for more. I learned about this as I was reading my monthly issue of Blender magazine. They were doing an appreciation of cars in Hip Hop through the ages.
This disturbs me that we are in a recession, two wars, and possibly the worst downturn of stocks in the past 50 years and we still have big businesses worried about themselves and not the people that made them who they are.

China's traditions and culture is somewhat put in danger by advancing technology and exposure to global ideas. However, there is also a huge oppurtunity to grow.
Wal-Mart is the godzilla of large, discounted-everything stores. According to Wikipedia (THE most relaible source, i'm sure), it is the world's largest public corporation by revenue and the fourth largest commercial employer. It has stores in Mexico, the UK, Japan, Argentina, and now has opened 3 more in these rural chinese communities. Of course, some local vendors may find the change detrimental, but how could the majority of the members of these communities not benefit?
Wal-mart's not looking for rocket scientists to point out which aisle paper towels are on-just hard-working people with friendly smiles. With the employment oppurtunity that the company offers, the average (insert typical Chinese name here) is exposed to a global corporation with expanding ideas. Sure, most will be looking to simply feed their families, but others could find themselves climbing the Wal-Mart ranks to become international businesspeople.
Don't get me wrong- i understand that the company is not all about making dreams come true (after all, that's Disney's job :)) and giving everyone a chance. If wal-mart truly wanted to benefit these communities, it would support local farmers like Nathan suggested. Unfortunately, it will most likely use the cheapest and most convenient goods. I guess we'll just have to see how it plays out...
So, like everyone said, there's a good and bad side to the company's arrival in these "small" Chinese communities. All I know is, it's gonna make for a killer presentation. Go team!

Wal-Mart moving into these rural areas will be good in some aspects such as consistent product quality and cheaper prices, but I'm worried that it might eradicate local customs and specialty items. We have seen Wal-Mart do this already here in the US, where local business people with markets and speciality foods or traditional products are forced out of business because they simply cannot compete on such a large scale. China has been in a sense sprinting towards modernization and new technologies, fashions, and lifestyles, while this is a good thing, it would be a huge shame if they completely lost their rich cultural heritage. I'm not saying Wal-Mart, by itself, is going to force this to happen, but it would be a huge contributing factor. 

I think that it would be extremely successful for both the locals and Wal-Mart if somehow a system could be worked out where Wal-Mart bought a majority of its products from local farmers etc. putting money into the local market and helping it to expand. In return people could do all of their shopping at Wal-Mart. Maybe they could help each other to both be more successful. Also, Wal-Mart will be able to expose the rural chinese population to a wide variety of consumer goods, which could potentially make there lives easier. 

The Benefits of Walmart

As everyone has said the small business owners will be effected, but I think this is a minor detail that in the long run will be worked out. What i am trying to say is that walmart could potentially hire these small business owners and many more, therefore, creating more job opportunities than before. I think this is definitely a good thing for these small Chinese cities. The benefits are endless: cheaper goods, availability, and hopefully an economy booster. Also, walmart will adapt to the people of the areas special needs (speciality foods, etc). And though at first it may be difficult and profits may be slow, walmart can afford a slight decrease in profits when its sure to increase in the next few years. For example walmart said its China sales rose 32.2 percent in the second quarter, while international sales overall were up 16.9 percent. This is a sign for success. But no matter the arguments on whether it is the right thing to do, we must all eventually get ready for this change because walmart is becoming the one and only competitor in its field. They have successfully taken over the industry but have also made it easier on all of us. We must think...What if we could not make that midnight walmart run? or tackle both food and clothes in the same store? Now with this new change more and more people will have the answers to these questions.

I think that establishing Wal Marts in China would be bad as far as for the people that sell goods on the street in markets because most will go out of business and could possibly slide further into poverty if they already are poor. I also think that it could be beneficial because it may instill within the people a better sense of understanding of how big businesses can help the country/cities economically. By building Wal Marts it creates a need for employees, better quality items as well as education by learning about economic matters.

As far as a desire to be a monopoly being Wal Mart's main motivation, I think they accomplished monopolization a few years ago, haha! But seriously, I'm not sure what motivates Wal Mart to invade these rural areas, however, regardless of their motivation, they always seem to be able to figure out what they need to sell in order to properly turn a profit in those areas. Sure, they will be taking some small business owner's jobs, that's inevitable when a multinational sets up shop in your backyard. However, it is not all bad. I know we've already talked about this but I'm just going to say again that I know I for one am glad that I can go to Wal Mart and pick up virtually anything that I would ever need, at a cheap price. The Chinese people will feel the same way. Really, it only hurst the small business owners. Adaptation is key, and for their sake I hope that they can adapt and keep some of their loyal customers.

Walmart's Fiasco

I believe that Walmart will probably be the downfall of those communities. It's a point-blank thought. The desire to be a monopoly is what's driving Walmart to try and survive in a community where many people don't even make minimum wage. Regardless of the fact that it's population is almost as large as Mississippi's, the GDP isn't sufficient enough to support it through the next decade. Plus, I'm pretty sure the global "recession'' definitely will jab a hole in the plan. But, alas, nothing can be done because Walmart is too internationally powerful and America is too hungry for more money.
Also, while we were talking about this in the meeting, I was trying to see if comparative advantage fit into all of this. There must be some point for Walmart increasing its monolithic hold on cheap consumption of goods. I couldn't see the tie. Nonetheless, I fear this is just the start of something that will probably hurt the economy and employement both here and in China instead of helping.

And thanks Brad, :-). I guess you posting the questions here is good enough.

Order of Operations

The following is the order in which our presentation on Wednesday will take place:

1.) Lee Barkley - Summary of Article
2.) Brad Young - History of Wal-Mart, Introduction
3.) Amanda Anderson & Nathan Wofford - Article Specifics and Effects of Wal-Mart on local markets.
4.) Melanie Smith - Q & A
5.) Kelsey Norris & Mary Alice Howard - Tech Support

If you need any help with your part of the project...Don't ask me, haha kidding, call or txt me or Lee. See you Wednesday!

Walmart...is taking over.

Hey guys, I think we have selected a knock-out topic for our presentation on Wednesday. I think it'd be crazy to walk up in a Wal-Mart to see "just-killed" animals hanging from the ceiling in order to draw in consumers that are into that kind of stuff...Okay maybe that was a little over-dramatic, but catering to the local population is what Wal-Mart is best at and I believe that the local markets in these particular Chinese cities are going to suffer greatly; definitely more than a local market would in the United States. I could be completely wrong in my assumption, but I just don't see the local food markets in these rural Chinese places competing with the quality of goods at the cheapest availabe price offered by Wal-Mart. I believe that the standard of living will rise substantially among the Chinese consumers of Wal-Mart, but the local vendors will bear the brunt of this "invasion."

By the way...Melanie, these are the questions we discussed for the presentation.

1.) What will the effects on the consumers be?
A) Availability and low cost of goods
B) Employment
C) Benefits of local society

2.) How is the standard of living of the local society affected?...Are consumers able to afford a better life?

3.) Do these new Wal-Marts affect the local markets, and if so, how severely?

4.) How is competition measured due to these new establishments? Is it a good thing or bad? Is there even any competition period? (A substantial amount of inside information hopefully provided by Nathan and Amanda will be needed here).

5.) Overall cocluding effect of Wal-Mart introducing franchises into these specific areas of China.

required reading for Monday

ok so we have to read the first two chapters of the online WTO thing and do what else?

This ridiculous recession

It seems as though this economic recession in our society as well as others from Asia is in a downward tailspin. Although bailout plans from other countries and our own government were put into affect to pull us out and increase our stock percentages, at the moment our economy is at a state of confusion and a beginning panic. Government officials are searching for the answer...trying to find the solution to this problem before a second "great depression" takes affect. We need another direction...a new leader to carry us out of this and stop our spending to prepare a future for ourselves. Our government needs to use the failed policies of the first depression. History repeats itself and something has to be done before we get to the level of poverty from the greatest recession in our country.

Ok new topic

Feel free to continue discussing the previous topic that we were settling on, I just wanted to inject something new into this debate. As of this morning, October 9, the U.S. government was strongly considering injecting so much money directly into some of the nation's largest failling banks that they would actually have a controlling share in these banks. Basically, the government would be in control of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. That doesn't really seem like an international business issue until you consider two things: first, that we are considering this because the British government just did something very similar with moderate success, and secondly, this would mean that , in a legal sense at least, the government would obtain even more vast control of the economy. Is this a good idea? Personally, I believe that it will take something drastic like this to get our economy off the floor and jumpstart our frozen bank lending situation. I've been watching Bloomberg today and some of their "experts" are going crazy over the idea, projecting real doomsday scenarios if the government does indded obtain majority shares in these banks. What do you think group?

China jobs

It could be a good thing but it also seems as if you are putting the people of China down as inferior to us. We, the USA, may be creative but they too should be given some credit for all of the work they have done for us. Look at the items at Wal-Mart for instance. Almost everything in that store was made by the Chinese but they have to have some kind of creativity to come up with the ideas as far as how to make the things they export. Basically you're saying that we should have all the creative projects and that they should have the "easy" work.

A Few Issues

Two things that should be taken into consideration are; one, that China is known somewhat for poor product quality and issues with tainted products, and also the 'One Child Policy' and the effects it will have. 

Within the past year we have seen poisoned dog food, lead tainted toys, tainted Colgate, and most recently in China a large portion of dairy products have been found that contain a toxic chemical which is killing fairly large groups of children. If people in China cannot even trust some of the goods produced there, how can we?

Even with today's resources it is difficult to predict what the effects of the 'One Child Policy' will have on Chinese economy. It is however, clear that there will be a HUGE drop in the total population, for every two people only one is being reproduced. Therefore by 2030 will China be able to keep all these jobs if they don't have the man-power? Where will they go then?

Don't get me wrong, I love China. I spent the summer before senior year in Beijing and it was the best time of my life. Even today I talk almost weekly with my friends in China and I plan on working there after college, and I find the language and culture fascinating. Still I cannot let some of these issues not be brought up and thought about. 

As they say, here goes nothin'...

Obviously, we all agree that any shift in the dominant production location from China to the US would be a gradual change spanning decades. After all, everything from toy cars to laptop computers is stamped with the phrase "Made in China".
If the US has any chance of regaining outsourced jobs and becoming the production mecca of the world, it needs to get a move on. With rising fuel prices (which in this case, are beneficial, believe it or not), and the falling cost of the dollar, the US definitely has the oppurtunity to take back what it has lost to China with respect to mass-produced goods, as well as bring more European business in. The question now is whether or not it posesses the incentive and resources necessary to rise to the occasion.
The article states that the significant rise in China's productivity levels, both current and future, is due in large part to the fact that Chinese manufacturers are investing into more efficient facilities. As was stated before, while the US's productivity did increase, our average was completely blown out of the water by that of China.
So if the US is planning on bringing jobs back from China, or is hoping to develop new technologies on a large scale, it's got some major brainstorming and hard work ahead.

Indeed Mary Alice I agree with most everything you said. In response to Nathan's concerns, i feel sure that the United States Military has the resources we would need should a military conflict arise with China. We have certainly struck a decent balance as a nation with exports and imports. Don't forget that all the experts are saying that during the last few terrible months, one of the only sectors of the U.S. economy keeping us above water was the export market. Trying to bring back many of the jobs we have given to various locations would not only put us behind pace, as Mary Alice said, it would also disturb the export business that we have gained by putting jobs somewhere besides our own mainland. For example, if an auto company opens a plant in Beijing that creates 5,000 jobs for Beijing locals, they will be more inclined to import products from the U.S. since we are providing something useful to them. Should we decide to suddenly pull those jobs back and shut down that plant, would the Chinese people be near as willing to import goods from us and give the U.S. any money? I sure don't think so.

Ok so as I was reading everyone's post, I can see the reasoning behind those who think leaving things the way they are is right and those against it. I, however, think we should just leave things as they are. As of this moment, we are receiving the goods we need and still balancing our money. It would cost of millions of dollars to build manufacturing companies in the United States. It would cost more to do that than paying the increasing prices with China right now. However, I am not saying that in the future if prices continue to increase we should not consider other alternatives. Furthermore, the article tells us that bulk goods made in China such as clothing, toys, and small appliances could not come back to the United States anyways because they require abundant cheap labor. In my opinion that just reinforces the idea that the United States should not try and bring jobs back from China. Also, this would put the United States playing "catch up." All these other countries such as China are familiar with the manufacturing process, have willing workers, and already have the buildings to produce mass amounts of goods, whereas the United States would be starting from scratch. When we begin to change things, we are not always sure of the outcome, therefore, risking a lot of time and money. So until things begin to become financially unstable, I am for leaving the jobs in China.

Some downsides of so much outsourcing to China

While I can definitely see some good benefits of outsourcing to China (and India etc.) a few things in particular are still troublesome to me. 

While, I'm not trying to be paranoid, if theoretically, we were to have some armed conflict with Mainland China, how would we produce the necessary materials here for the military if all of our goods are being made over there? I think you can draw some parallels to the Civil War when all of the manufacturing industries were located in the North which left the South extremely vulnerable and without means to supply itself. There will always be some goods that will be outsourced but I think we should keep this in mind when deciding whether or not to ship the manufacturing of certain products overseas. 

Another point I think that we should consider is if we are sending all of these 'assembly line', 'blue collar' jobs  to China, and we are becoming a more service oriented and specialized society, we are trapping the foreign workers in a factory setting and not letting them develop new ideas and create new technology, etc. This might be kind of a 'naive' idea, but I feel like it would be selfish and harmful to advances in all sectors of the economy if we don't have people from different cultures and schools of thought pursuing their interests. We could be, in a sense, creating a strictly unskilled work environment in a whole country, and I just don't think that would be a positive thing.

Really, I'm not sure how relative these points are, but it's what came to mind after reading the article and everyone else's posts.

Bringing them Back

I believe that Lee and Melanie both have good points, however, even though the majority of major manufacturers in the U.S. have already begun outsourcing almost all of their production to China, I do not see these jobs going anywhere else anytime soon. Granted that shipping costs continue to rise, it will still be cheaper to stay in an area where manufacturing has been established for several years. In the article we read about productivity growth in the U.S. has risen almost five percent in the last decade. That's great for the companies and manufacturers that are still in the U.S. Unfortunately for us, our Chinese competitors' growth in productivity has shot up some nineteen percent in the same amount of time. So, despite the outrageous shipping costs, the Chinese are producing the same goods they have already been producing for the past few years, now only more efficiently. If these major manufacturing contracts go anywhere outside of China I believe it will be another smaller asian country with cheaper wages and benefits than that of China. A major move back to the U.S. would involve too much risk and too much money.

I agree that to a certain extent the outsourcing of the manual and "mundane" jobs could be a benefit to America, but you have to consider that there are many people in America who are only equipped with the skills to do those boring and mundane jobs. While the college educated population could definitely become the workers who gain from new, specialized jobs developed due to outsourcing, the blue collar worker with no skills save for their one trade would be left out without any real possibility of re-learning their skill set.

Not only that, we also have to consider what sending the majority of the lower level jobs of a company does to the company as a whole. While it may be cheaper for them to send the manufacturing or quality control segments of their company overseas, the result more often than not is a decrease in product regulation, which sometimes leads to worsened product quality. Sure, the occasions in which this causes actual losses for a company are very limited but when something does go wrong and the problem is located halfway across the globe, it makes it much harder to diagnose and fix.

Also, consider what effect this outsourcing could have on consumer satisfaction. Could a corporation that manufactures a good get to a point where so much of their operation is done overseas that they can not get a realistic view of what they need to do to satisfy their domestic consumers? i don't know the answer I just thought i would pose the question.

USA gettin jobs back from China

So... i was thinkin earlier as i was doin some kind of manual mundane labor..... maybe it's not so bad that the chinese have the dull jobs that require little creativity. The way I see it the US could prosper from this. Think of it like this: we've always been a nation known for its creativity and constant innovation. With all the jobs that use very little creativity in another country, this country could prosper and develop new jobs just for specially trained people. It could be a good thing.