When I was studying Chinese medicine, I had a teacher who had worked to develop blood banks from India to China. He said China was the only country where the people did not want to give their blood to other people. Think about that for a second. Are they being selfish? Are they seeing blood as sacred? Do they just not want to give of themselves to others?
My teacher tried to understand why. His conclusion was that the people did not want to give their precious blood to others. It was an obvious conclusion stating the observation, but still…
My view is that the Chinese will not be able to re-balance their economy in the future by raising wages enough. Culturally it will be impossible. They are a culture that can grow on the backs of low paid workers, but will be unable to mature by paying those workers like real people.
Let me explain with some examples…
The Chinese offered $100,000 to the Philippines after being hit by the strongest storm in recorded history. Again we see a desire to not give to others in need. It’s as if money is blood to the Chinese. (source Daily Conversation)
Robert Reich just posted about how Walmart should learn from Henry Ford and pay the workers more. I am so happy to see his post which points us in the right direction. However, Walmart is basically a Chinese-minded company. They may have an American face, but they have a Chinese heart.
To be transparent… In my own personal case, I had developed a complex and thorough theory to integrate Chinese meridian theory. It was the work of over 25 years. A top university of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing which was working with Harvard university was presented with my work by a leading international authority in Chinese Medicine. They were impressed and offered me an honorary doctorate. But they didn’t know anything about me yet. They asked for my picture. I waited 2 months in giving them my picture. Then they saw my picture and I didn’t hear anything from them for 3 months. I asked the authority what was happening. She said they saw that I was not Chinese, and that it would be impossible to accept such a high level breakthrough in their theories by a non-Chinese. But they said that if I wanted the doctorate I would have to pay full price to get it.
There is a deep and true knowledge in Chinese medicine based on centuries from insightful people. What I did was to integrate all of their diverse principles of meridian theory into one model. The model is complex, highly symmetrical and balanced. I went toe-to-toe with the authorities of Chinese medicine in the US… for years. Finally it was evident to me that authorities get invested in their own ideas. They are part of a group that shares the same developed beliefs. It is their job to protect their ideas, even if those ideas are readily challenged with a more comprehensive model. I see Mr. Krugman experiences the exact same frustration with fresh water economists. No matter how much he shows that their model was incomplete, they simply will not accept it.
By the way, with my new theories in economics about effective demand, I am unexpectedly experiencing a similar frustration from economic authorities. There is resistance to discuss my theories. However, theories in economics can be readily verified by the economy. Let’s say that the utilization of labor and capital cap off at the effective demand limit, and not where most economists think. Then my model will be seen to perform better. Then we will see if the resistance softens a bit.
The story is different in Chinese medicine where the results are isolated to individual people within a multitude of influencing factors, and the differences between a traditional theory and a more comprehensive theory are subtle to understand.
The hope is always to have a more comprehensive model that coordinates and integrates various theories. I did this in Chinese medicine. Now I am offering unknown equations to the field of economics for a more comprehensive model on the limits of the business cycle and maintaining a healthy economy within those limits.
Back to the Chinese…
From my experience with the Chinese, they are not humble. They feel they are superior in intellect and culture. They want to appear better, but not do what is necessary to actually be better in the highest sense. This is why they will ultimately fail in re-balancing their economy. My view is that it will be absolutely impossible for the Chinese to raise wages in order to develop a domestic demand healthy enough to validate years of massive investment.
The labor force of China receives wages that allow them to contribute only 35% from consumption to national GDP. Low wages in China reflect a cultural value system. The Chinese do not value the lower class. They work upon private interests, not social interests. They are not interested in the truth, because ultimately they cannot change.
The Chinese do not want to give to others whom they feel are less than they are. And so many US businessmen have gone to China to make lots of money. They have been infected by the culture of paying low wages to second-class citizens. Walmart is the most obvious example.
China will fail due to their culture, and the US has to be careful to not copy the Chinese cultural model of paying socially inept low wages.