China Losing Manufacturing Cost Advantage- WTF?

I saw this article here that the costs in China have risen 20% due to inflation and other things. The impact of this is that many businesses are pulling out of China and going elsewhere.
My question is how the hell does a country with over 20% of all the people on the planet and about 40% of whom live on 1U$ per day and live in caves not manage to be cost competitive? How much can these Chinese companies be squandering on cooze and demon rum?
article also posted here

Chinese Fashion- Round Hats and Miss-Matched Clothing

Here is more Chinese fashion. The lady seems to have an interesting idea of matching colors and patters, but does have the compulsory round hat so typical of the Chinese….

from here

Fire Breaks out in Restaurant in China- Customers Made to Pay Before Leaving

Chinese are tight, or they have a different appreciation for the value of money and a human life. Over the weekend this notion came to pass in startling fashion.
The patrons of some local store were informed that the flames emanating from the kitchen were cause for concern so yes they must leave. But first it was demanded that they pay their bills, lest they run off.
Hmm, seems normal to me. After all, the patrons and man serving them were only humans and thus expendable, but the fare had to be around fifteen US dollars, thus irreplaceable….

Dude Where’s Our Jobs- Looking at China

Interesting quote from here

“According to the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, more than 2 million jobs have been lost to China since 2001…”
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7679584&page=1

Comments from the Chinese Government- Hard Hearted Big Brother

Chinese leaders don’t have to worry about things such as elections and gallup poles, they tend to concern themselves with things like off shore bank accounts, mistresses and the like. Thus, when they come up with dismissive remarks that seem to be hurtful or full of contempt for the locals, it only serves to anger the populace even more. The following are examples of such remarks or ‘big noise’ as they are known here.
From here
Rude and dismissive remarks by officials reported by the media and web users around China include:

— A resident who filed a complaint with a water supply service center to be told by the mayor’s office: “There’s always a first time for everything.”

— An official in charge of housing projects who told TV news reporters: “I refuse to accept interviews unless you make only positive reports.”

— Some farmers who asked a party official whether he wanted them to “eat the wind” (have nothing to eat) if the government refused to give them new land or compensation after their farmland was expropriated for other projects. His answer to TV news cameras was: “As party secretary, I simply want you all to ‘eat the wind.'” The official was subsequently dubbed by internet users as the “Wind Secretary.”

— A middle school teacher who reported to the police that she was raped by a local official. She was told: “It does not count as rape if a condom was used.”

Mass Protest in China Over Chemical Plant

The Chinese have had a rough year. They’ve proven that inanimate objects be they move fast or slow can still take a life. aside from that they’ve proven that lead, poison and human intestines are not a good trio and have the unintended effect of producing cancer, the leading cause of death in China. So it should come as no surprise to learn that the people of Dalian China are pissed and are protesting over a chemical plant. Their fear, which anyone with a brain would assume is rational, is that the plant will suck and collapse or whatever it is that plants do, and spew toxic all over the place. The protests are somewhat peaceful, but big bro is getting nervous. It would appear that with each passing day the locals are clamoring for something akin to rights….

US Ruins China’s Coming Out – Sends USS Ronald Reagan to Hong Kong

China has an old tub that carries airplanes and bounces along the water. They like to call it a machine of war, an aircraft carrier. The Chinese are urinating in their Mao suits over the prospect of having a real naval war machine that they can hardly be still. The problem is that they are creating quite a fuss with their neighbors who frankly do not trust them.
In what can only be seen as an appreciation for the sense of humor of Obama et. al. the US has sent a real aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan, over to Hong Kong just in time for the festivities.
It has to gall the Chinese to see the US taking a methaphorical shit on their coming out party. As for me, I tend to see a bit of humor in it all….

Mao and the Cultural Revolution in China

Last Monday was the 45th anniversary of the formation of the Red Guards in China. Lest one be ignorant as to what a red guard was, I shall assist you. The red guards were a faction in China during the cultural revolution that had no legitimate authority nor power yet wielded both completely and utterly, thus one could consider them a microcosm of the governing party over the past six decades. The red guards were nothing more than high school and college students , with middle school future red guards thrown in for good measure, who were allowed to roam the streets of China exacting retribution from those they did not like or from those whom the guards believed to be disloyal to Mao.
Their punishment for alleged infractions against Mao thought was quick and dramatic and included humiliation, torture and death. (actually I have a friend whose father was set before a firing squad of red guards. He was forced to kneel by others who were gunned down, yet he was spared. All at the hands of the red guard)
While I think the acts of this group are nothing less than a form of anarchy spurred on by Mao, I still think that some of those who were ‘struggled against’ were probably pos’s like many of those who inhabit this place today. Not that treating other human beings as waste is reason enough to end their lives, but seeing some of them kow tow to the masses with signs with snake head would be mildly humorous, or am I being cruel?
Yeah I guess Mao thought that in order to make and omelet you have to break some eggs and break they did. Allegedly from hundreds of thousands to millions died in this ten year period and sadly enough most of them were probably innocent.
Enoughfor my philosophizing. Here is a quote from the Cambridge
History of China that deals with the cultural revolution in China.

“The message of these developments was clear: No one in China, save Mao Tse-tung himself, was to be exempt from criticism; and the methods of criticism could be harsh indeed. The collapse of provincial authority The result of the escalation of the Cultural Revolution in the last three months of 1966 differed from one part of China to another. In more remote provinces, where the mobilization of radical students was difficult, provincial leaders remained well entrenched. But where mobilization did occur, the consequence was not the rectification of local officials, as Mao had hoped, but rather the nearly complete collapse of provincial authority.”
(photo from theepoctimes.com)