As IF Times

link UAW’s King Says Workers Must Share in Auto Turnaround Update1 – Bloomberg.com.

There’s a Yiddish word, chutzpah, which is best described by the famous anecdote.  A boy kills his parents and then throws himself at the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan.   This word so aptly describes the latest bleat from Bob King,  the head of the UAW, because unmitigated gall doesn’t really describe it.   According to Mr. King:

“…union members’ sacrifices allowed U.S. automakers to survive and that workers deserve to share in the industry’s new prosperity.  All the sacrifices that our members made to turn these companies around were part of the process that’s really led to this amazing turnaround,” King said in a telephone interview yesterday. “We want our membership to share in a very meaningful way in the upside of these companies…”

Uh, no Bob.  The reason the companies were in trouble in the first place was largely in part due to the laughable compensation packages doled out to union employees.  Secondly, the public were the ones who got nailed on the bankruptcy of GM since all their equity went to zero.

While management can more than take it’s share of blame for the demise of the automobile business in the U.S. with poorly executed products and a history of concessionary labor agreements, the cause of the demise can rest squarely on the cost disadvantage that American manufacturers faced versus their international competitors.  If it was just a case of making the best widgets for the least money, it would be easy.  However, auto manufacturing is probably the most political of industries.  Governments at all levels try to exact their influence and extract their pound of flesh at every step of the manufacturing process.  Auto companies are expected to comply with volumes of regulatory red tape and restrictions.  In addition, labor contracts are typically full of quid pro quo so that over the years, untenable long term compensation was traded for short term sales numbers.

Globalization is a buzzword we hear all the time, but its effects are nowhere more influential than in the automotive market.  To be competitive, automakers had to outsource supply and manufacturing to areas of the world most facilitative to costs and efficiencies.  Even Daimler Benz and BMW opened up operations in the U.S. deep south as part of  their push to be competitive.  GM, Ford and Chrysler were saddled with compensation structures that priced them out of the business.  GM for example operated for decades with a cost disadvantage of $2000 per car as compared to their Japanese rivals.  It became a running joke that GM was a health care company which happened to make cars.

All of this came to a head late in 2008 as the auto manufacturers finally succumbed and had to receive government bailouts to survive.  After a restructuring which cast off billions of dollars in debt and legacy health obligations into a separate entity, the US manufacturers are arguably on the comeback.  Now, without the previous encumbrances, they appear to be competitive again.  The most interesting part of the recovery is now upon us.  Unions want in on the ‘success’.  Well actually, they are now shareholders in GM and Chrysler so it will be amusing to see how they balance the needs of corporate profitability with the demands of their labor ranks.   As far as ‘share in a meaningful way in the upside of the companie’, they will, as risk taking shareholders like every one else.

This notion is likely lost on Mr. King  since the real intent is betrayed by his last comment:

“…You’re going to see the UAW membership grow because the industry is coming back,” King said. “As it’s been a long decline, hopefully it will be a long incline…”

As if.

link AFP: China bars English words in all publications.

Oddly, I will bet lots of money that in barely a generation, the use of English will become as common as Chinese as the operating business and cultural language of that country.  That’s  a pretty bold prediction since at the moment, the population of China at an estimated 1.3 billion Chinese speakers, is more populous than any other nation in the world.  The reality though, is that the jungle drum-like lure of English is pervasive and persistent.  While China may have the edge as far as descriptive and lyrical language, English has the advantage of being the preferred language of most popular entertainment and technology. 

The reach of American media and entertainment extends far beyond the defined boundaries of the U.S.  Whether people like it or not, entertainment innovations still sprout from American shores.  With the proliferation of media devices such as Iphones, IPads and Blackberrys, the influence of American and therefore English speaking culture hits every corner of the globe, including China.  The popularity of You Tube, Facebook and Google all create a need for a grasp of English to enable plugging into the modern world. 

This recent measure by the Chinese government to stem the tide of “English creep” into popular use is futile.  They may as well try to ban nose picking.  The French found out as much decades ago when they tried to maintain the ‘purity’ of French culture by insisting on the use of appropriate French words and adjectives for common cultural things.  As we know now, this didn’t work since they are not an isolated nation.  Even in that bastion of snobby cuisine, a hamburger is called a hamburger, mais avec une accent.  I’ve never been to a McDonalds over there, but doubt that anyone orders pomme frites instead of french fries.   As it happens, the French have more cause to worry from the creep of Muslim culture into that society than they do American culture.  Nevertheless, the influence of American pop culture shows up in their music as well in the form of hip hop music, at the moment, tres au courant.

This same type of cultural hegemony will happen to China as well.  Via the social and cultural media conduits mentioned earlier, Chinese kids will be exposed to the novelty and lure of Western entertainment.  It’s tough to keep the kids focused on the party line when You Tube videos depict fast cars, fast women and unfettered hedonism.  In addition, they will have to master some semblance of English in order to navigate the social networking apps and be conversant with the associated lingo.  A Blackberry is not called a ‘hei shiguo’. Let’s face it, who are the kids going to idolize more, Jason Statham in the latest shoot ’em up or their national table tennis champion Ma Lin? Yao Ming and Jet Li may be big name stars, but arguably largely  because they are big stars in the West.  As the younger generation becomes more accustomed to the cultural ‘offerings’ from the West, English will start to become more pervasive in China.  In the meantime, we get to enjoy a few more years of mangled English, or Chinglish as the transition moves forward.

One more compelling reason in support of my prediction is simply the will to learn.  Chinese kids have a thirst and a capacity to learn.  There is a mentality of curiosity to learn and adapt there because they are an emerging economy.  As discussed in previous postings, Chinese students will learn what’s neccessary to ascend to greater things.  We would never see the mass learning of Chinese by kids over here.  Heck,  it’s enough of a challenge  for them to learn proper English.