Empty Vessels And All That Jazz

friend: [Do you really think that a substantial portion of that 218 billions went to China? ]

I said about half of the Wal-Mart products were made in China. It means about 109 billions. Accounting for Wal-Mart`s mark up of somewhere between 30-50 percent, it is reduced to about 60 billion. Middlemen and manufacturers probably earned from their mark-up of say 50 percent, reducing the products value before leaving China to around 30 billion dollars. Taking into account the cost of manufacturing at Chinese factories, China perhaps made 5-7 bilion dollars - I guess. Now Pakistan`s total exports are around 10 billion dollare. If I am right, 5 billion dollars is not spare change for a poor country. How else can they make such a big Boing order that Boing Company takes out all the stops whenever any US policy is deemed detrimental to China. Also the Three Gorges dam can not be built by cheap labor alone. This is a huge, 100`s of billion dollar project.

Sure, 5 billion dollars for worker nation and 210 billion dollars for the capitalist nation looks lopsided but the ball is in China`s court to refuse if they do not like it. It is exploiation but the whole natural and life cycle is based on exploitiation - isn`t it? Life eats life to survive. Don`t we exploit the rights of not-pretty when we seek beautiful wife or handsome husband? Son`t we want our children to come out at the top in School, knowing too well that it means no other kid should make it to the top?

Zeemax #147
Zeemax collectively on chowk, posters seem to have a lot of experience of interacting with archives, so kindly interact right back :)

Re the end of your article, sorry I couldnot understand what you meant to say and I don`t remember either my Bible or my BoneyM(if I ever listened ie)

re Zeemax #145:

Sir: I am hearing you loud and clear. Go ahead. Men with big egos can be a lot of fun sometimes :)

later

-sac

Zeemax: How do you keep this board alive? By sending some other other board (along with the discussion taking place there) prematurely to the archives instead?

Yes my friend, you indeed have a big ego.

Zeemax #142 ``I`ll respond to this if the board is alive. I don`t want to talk to archives.``

Excuses, excuses.

tahmad:---139

We Pakistanis?

What about Christain South Americans & Mexicans,Atheist Russians,Whatever East Europeans,------in short almost 4/5 billion souls living in over 98% of countries,otherwise known as the Third world.

Looking in the rear & side-view mirrors does result in safe driving.And once one has safely backed the vehicle one does want to go in forward gear...otherwise why the analogy.

Could it be the huge truck-drivers,the 24-wheelers,the motor-cycle gangsters who are bent upon ramming into the dinkies,and then pulling out the bodies from the carnage(by their ears) into the 20the century transplant centres & morgues--for a fair price?

Now that I assure you is no accident.

SameerJB #148

``Wal-Mart Stores reported 218 billions dollar sale during 2001. Anybody can go to Wal-Mart and notice that more than half of their products were made in China. Do you think it is pure exploitation of cheap worker nation with nothing in it for China? They are already moving from producing cheap labor products to value-added products. They are pouring their huge trade surplus into infrastructure and big projects as fast as possible. ``

Sameer,

Do you really think that a substantial portion of that 218 billions went to China? And how much of it went to actual producers. If I talk to my chinese friends, tt appears that chinese worker get mimimum wages. ( However, it still appears to be better than earnings from farm wages etc). They are basically able to survive due to state supported housing, transport and medical system.

Regards

tahamed #139

[``... we Pakistanis seem to be interested only in what we see in the backview mirror, not in what lies in the road ahead. And that is why we keep getting hit by reality over and over again (the latest being the attempts of misguided generals in Pakistan to introduce a 14th century ``Islami Hakumat`` in Afghanistan, and ended up being pulled by our ears into the 20th century. But we will of course slip back into our dream world of Islamic glories if only the world would let go of our ear...ouch!...``]


Excellent, excellent, excellent.

...SR

Reply #: 141 sadna

``God is indeed watching, but only man can intervene in this lifetime.``

Okay so now we go on to the real stuff. If you really want to know.

But this is heavy. Do go back to my article and read the last observations and contemplate. Then we`ll talk.

Rgds

Zeemax

Reply #: 141 sadna

``God is indeed watching, but only man can intervene in this lifetime.``

Okay so now we go on to the real stuff. If you really want to know.

But this is heavy. Do go back to my article and read the last observations and contemplate. Then we`ll talk.

Rgds

Zeemax

Sac my friend,

I still have to answer your question re which one of the Soros Quantum Funds made $100 billion. I also have to answer your question as to who killed the British Pound in 1992. You didn`t ask though who rescued it.

Do participate more. You`re one person who knows a lot of things. I`ll tell you the answers to the above if you`re there to hear.

Rgds

urstruly #140 ``when it only makes sense to the third world?``

Glad to see you have been elected to speak for the entire third world on chowk.

Reply #: 129 tahmed321

I`ll respond to this if the board is alive. I don`t want to talk to archives. And yes I have a big ego. I don`t have a problem with that.

Rgds

Zeemax: I will raise my hands to keep this board alive if you raise hands with me as in taking oath of becoming active participants again on a variety of issues.

I agree that globalization is somewhat capitalist and worker nations concept but at the same time, the rate of economic growth for workers can surpass the rate of capitalist nations. You know, what it means in terms of reducing gap between rich and poor nations.

Wal-Mart Stores reported 218 billions dollar sale during 2001. Anybody can go to Wal-Mart and notice that more than half of their products were made in China. Do you think it is pure exploitation of cheap worker nation with nothing in it for China? They are already moving from producing cheap labor products to value-added products. They are pouring their huge trade surplus into infrastructure and big projects as fast as possible.

Zeemax:

I am still waiting for someone to give me their opinion on Anthony Sampsons` book ``The money lenders``---you & Fuzair can oblige.

Also your comments on the other books would be welcome as well.My cut-&-paste about Enron & its con-game also went unread--I suspect,but it was so relevant!

____________________________________.

Zeemax:

Please access www.IslamiQ.com----I`m sure you must be aware of it.I`ve been able to wow a lot of non-muslims,goras particularly,who can widen their markets by catering to muslim sensibilities.

A start HAS to be made somewhere & somehow ZEEMAX.

Every system is subservient to Desire & then will.

``Aaj bhee ho jo `Braheem kaa eemaan paidaa

Aag kr sktee hai,andaaz e gulistaan paidaa``

________________________.

I have a lot of rumbling & jumbling going through my mind ever since I read your article Zeemax (still trying to contain myself), but somehow I have been unable to harness my thoughts.There is much, way too much, stuff to consolidate & then concise.

PS:Please count me in to continue to inter-act.

Zeemax #137
Thanks I was joking, I know Leila :)

``Spirituality in Islam is an essential ingredient of Good Governance. The whole system revolves around it as one can cheat anyone but God is always watching. That Faith is supposed to prevent corruption, injustice, cheating and so forth. ..``

Zeemax, one cannot elect a Prime Minister and let him go unpunished for corruption because God will anyway take care of it. God is indeed watching, but only man can intervene in this lifetime. Then how is man to judge whether someone is cheating or not? A person who goes to the extent of cheating can just as unashamedly present himself as a spiritual person too. Better judge him only by his actions. By taking interest in the spirituality of public figures, you just provide an extra covering story for the same old charlatans which they didnot have earlier.

``Certainly spirituality can neither be taught nor accounted for .. so it`s a dilemma.``

I agree, thats why faith and spirituality are good values to `encourage` but not to `verify`, because anyway people make a choice to take it or leave it, as Zafar said elsewhere, solely in their own individual consciences.