Here comes the new truth: China is stealing jobs from poorer countries?

In one recent commentary column in The NY Times, one respectful and one of the many famous economic professors, Paul Krugman, said he believed China has played a role in bringing harms to other nations in the midst of recent economic recession.

China has been keeping its currency pegged to the dollar — which means that a country with a huge trade surplus and a rapidly recovering economy, a country whose currency should be rising in value, is in effect engineering a large devaluation instead…And that’s a particularly bad thing to do at a time when the world economy remains deeply depressed due to inadequate overall demand. By pursuing a weak-currency policy, China is siphoning some of that inadequate demand away from other nations, which is hurting growth almost everywhere. The biggest victims, by the way, are probably workers in other poor countries. In normal times, I’d be among the first to reject claims that China is stealing other peoples’ jobs, but right now it’s the simple truth. 

That would probably mean China’s such behavior has brought harms to those countries which have always been the biggest markets (the U.S. in particular) for products produced in poor countries and thus indirectly affects those poor countries and leave many of their citizens out of work. Though the world economy is reported to have returned back to normal track, is it still right to suppose that much more aid to beg for (for those poorer countries) in such a situation. When those richer nations are also struggling to deal with all the troubles brought in by the 2008’s crisis, does it mean the often-claimed more generous China’s aid is becoming more appealing? At least it has already become the most generous assistance to Cambodia (at least the government thinks so).

Dependent modern citizen

I look at my cloth, my computer and everything around me. My shirt is made in China, my pants in Indonesia, my shoes in Vietnam, my computer in Taiwan, and even the food I am eating everyday comes from various place around the glob. This is how trade has made people at one side of the world dependent on those who live at the opposite corner of earth. I found an interesting pic on a blog I am currently following:

Source: Marginal Revolution

Obama's reception of nobel peace prize surprises me

Here is the press release on it. Obama is taking his presidency for less than a year; plus, he has always been busy dealing with economic trouble at home during these times. Given these facts, I wonder how much he has done to be highly qualified for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Be noted that the prize committee is based in Europe (Norway in particular), leading some commentators to view the The Nobel committee’s embrace of Mr. Obama as a rejection of the unpopular tenure, in Europe especially, of his predecessor, George W. Bush, who had involved in fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq during his presidency. 

Have no idea what it is about and what it is for but it is damn funny

Tell me how amazingly big the U.S.'s economy is!

I read this blog, according to which the U.S.'s manufacturing sector alone is said to be comparable to the whole German economy.

According to the Federal Reserve data,
the U.S. produced almost $3 trillion of industrial output in 2008,
measured in 2000 dollars (or about $3.7 trillion in 2008 dollars). In
other words, if the U.S. manufacturing sector had been counted as a
separate country, it would have been tied with Germany as the world's
fourth largest economy, behind the U.S. (non-manufacturing), Japan, and
China, and ahead of the entire economies of France, U.K., Italy and
Russia (data here).

More poor people on the planet?

“Voices of the Vulnerable” says in 2009 about 100 million more people will be trapped in extreme poverty because of the economic crisis hitting the world just recently. I wonder how many more will be added to those already in poverty in Cambodia. Many recent news articles said a number of cloth-making factories in the country closed their doors, leaving thousands of workers in this industry jobless, affecting not only their own livelihood but also their poor families hundreds kilometers away in rural Cambodian villages. Also noted that the industry has been the main polar industry supporting the country's recent growth; with their operation closed, the country's growth is expected to fall (also worried by many of its development partners including world's agencies such as IMF and World Bank). 

This may be another form of help

It makes sense to claim development starts from the field of education. In Cambodia, children who want to go to school but could not go due to many obstacles (particularly girls) need helps. While government is doing something but it is very far from enough; corruption is another barrier for children from poorer families to enjoying education service in the country. While the government is getting so much aid from international community to rebuild the country at macro level, help in smaller scale like the one in the following video clip is often regarded as a more efficient help that can actually reach those who needs it the most.

...the government did not do something to assist us…the government did not give us any fund…but the government website listed our dormitory as the government’s own project…!