Hi Jihn,
it´s hard to imagine to live under such circumstances, and by that cold. I think that most of the migrant workers and others are now home for spring holiday. But after it? When they don´t get work there, they´ll come back to the great cities, in the hope to find work there.
A real uncertain future for so many people.
When I read, that so many companies have been shut down, what is with the so called “middle class”? They will loose their jobs, too.
Do they find new jobs?
It´s hard to believe, that there will be enough work for so many people, there are also the college gratuades, other young people on the search for a job.
Not easy times for China, but not only for China.
May be that´s not so worse as in other countries, but you can see it in Germany,too.
As always, hope never dies, and I hope it will get better soon.
I remember the pictures we got last year from China, the big cities with the huge skyscrapers, the people so proud of what they have reached. Sometimes I ask myself, what do they think now?
I´m always astonished at the huge gap between the big cities and the rural areas in China. I think Beijing and Shanghai are not “China”.
How many Chinese people live in these cities?
I don´t mean it in a bad way.
Best wishes
Elke

Imagine what if they had Social Security payment.

The minimal payment from Social Security is probably about $25-30/day. 7-10 times more than Zhang’s daily worth. With these much, a person, can go to a corner store, say a Seven-Eleven in North Philadelphia, and get four three large hot dogs, a pack of cigarrett and a 12 pack of Budweiser. (The City provides free gas and water to the houses with broken windows).

What can Zhang get? Let’s say, he straight goes for the beer. After 12-pack of Budweiser, he is unlikely to get up to collect his garbage anymore. He ain’t to get nothing the day after because he is down from the hungover. (Fortunately Zhang has smaller metabolism, therefore, three hotdogs are probably going to sustain him three days.)

At meanwhile, the person in Phili will get his 12-pack and hot dogs again, because the Social Security payment arrives automatically.

Apparently China needs hotdogs, Budweisers or ability to print more dollars or Yuans for its people’s three meals. There you have it: a Government uanble to print more dollars ain’t going to provide. Then its people have to work for it.

… Next day, the person in Phili gets sick. And he is sent to U Penn’s hospitals via an ambulence, where the world’s most advanced medical services is provided for free. On the other hand unfortunately, Zhang has to stay at home and gets better with his diarrhea by drinking a lot of tap water (river water in India).

But both guys ain’t going to eat hotdogs for a few days. … and garbage piles up in where they live, slowing down the world ecconomy. …

Man, when are they going to learn to wash their hotdogs, so they don’t get diarrhea!

China has a long way to go before everyone in the country can live a good life as in the west. China’s total GDP passed that of Germany last year. It will take another 20 years before they can pass that of US if the gap of growth remains the same for the next 20 years. Chinese population is 4 times of the US population. The average Chinese will still be poorer than an average American by 3/4. The Phili can still waste that 3/4 of worth on 12-pack Bud and medicine. Chinese Navy will be able to afford 11 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers as the US Navy by then. Interesting math!

In this report: “Zhang said this was a good day because of the deal for the metal which normally would of earned him 60 Yuan (U.S.$8.70.) But in this market, the pay-off was just 25 Yuan (U.S.$3.60.)”

The oil’s price was about $150 a barrel at its peak about a year ago, and now it is only about $36, just 25% of its peak. According to John Vause, Zhang is getting 41.6% of his normal pay now at 25 Yuan (down from 60 Yuan) reguarlly. Zhang is apparently doing better than the market.

Further more, Zhang actually was expecting minimally 70 Yuan that day described in this report. If you speak from the numbers here, Zhang is doing even better!

A lot better, if comparing to those who invested on the Wall Street. When a financial institute goes down, the investors lose all of their money, down to zero, just like if they gave their money to Bernie (Madoff). All the way down to ZERO. I don’t have to explain the mathmetical significance of comparing zero with 25 Yuan. John Vause may not have the brain himself to understand (his faithful friend Elke may, but he “cannot imagine”).

I can tell David has never been in America. He does not know what North Phili look like. Last Nimitz he saw was probably the plastic one floating in his bathtub, made in Guangdong. Heh, heh. But Zhang is gonna very hopeful. In twenty years, he is gonna have of a lot of scrap metal to collect, since each Nimitz weighs 90 to 100 thousands tons! Man, 11 of these made of special metal! Man, that’s to much for me! I would be just fine with the smaller ones. Anyho, Zhang ain’t going to be very unhappy regardless the unit price of the scrap metal!

25 Yuang x 100K x 1000 kg = 250,000,000,000.00 Yuan. … … My God. Be careful, Zhang, don’t invest your money with the Chinese Bernies … Blah, blah.

A barbie doll on the Walmart shelves tagged for $9.98. The whole sale price from the Chinese factory is 38 cents. After the cost of materials and labor, the profit for Chinese could be estimatedly in the range of a couple of cents – a drop of rain walter.

A few drops of rain walter, here and there, trickling down, eventually accumulate into a large river, a river of dollars, rush back to the Threasury in exchange into bonds, in number of thousands of billions. People in America, therefore can borrow mortgage to live in a nice house and sleep on a spring mattress. When the spring mattress gets old, it is shipped back to China for scrap and for the children of the people who make the barbie dolls to jump on like a trampoline.

A spring mattress on the shelves of Walmart is tagged for a few hundred dollars. The whole sale price from a Chinese factory is less than twenty dollars. The profit of making this mattress after material and cheap labor is …

…

What’s Jihn’s point?

‘… Next day, the person in Phili gets sick. And he is sent to U Penn’s hospitals via an ambulence, where the world’s most advanced medical services is provided for free.’ Free? That’s a great sense of humor there….

Yes, why not, Mike? Have you ever heard of freedom? That’s what is abundant in Philadelphia. Free is from freedom. The other thing plenty in Phili is democracy. Demo is from democracy. Free things are for self consuming. Democracy is for showing, sharing and exporting to others, so it is demo!

Some are free, some are demo depending on who is served. The Chinese are known opiate addics (the Brits found that out before the Chinese even ever used it – so they traded opium with them). The Chinese spent all their freedom in opium trade with with British people early on. Now they work very hard so they can afford the democracy (they used to import Marxism from Russia and Communism to become even poorer). So far, they barely got the demo part in their major cities (but a larger combined population than Germany’s). The Germany is an advanced and innovative nation and now its entire population is rich enough to jump on trampolines. In the real world the Germans developed Marxism, Fascism as well as Democracy whereas the Chinese attributions are merely socks, shoes, underwears, cheap TVs, tea, silver, scrap metal, etc. the rest of low-valuable things. So the Chinese can only afford to jump on old mattresses.

Interestingly, Peiking and Shanghai are not China according to Elke. What are they? Tibet? No Tibet is not China. Must be Germany, eih?.

In this story, Jihn Vause is telling you: if the world ecconomic crisis goes on, the Chinese children will have to jump on mattresses indefinitely. Children are innocent, Jihn Vause CNN feels comfortable mocking them because that’s his job. Should Elke too? I just cannot imagine Elke is gonna jump on a mattress if things are really bad, although we all remember that the German children used to jump on mattresses happily in the ruins of Berlin in 1945.

It’s always sobering traveling around China, a stark reminder of how difficult life is for many people in this country.

John you should get out of China now!

Can’t do. Has mortgage and gas for heating to pay.