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You Want to Deal With a Humanitarian Crisis, Mr Obama?
“Right now Israel, with full support from the U.S. is denying 1.5 million people in Gaza ALL the necessities of life.” Read Kathleen and Bill Christison’s searing emergency bulletin to Obama. “This is a U.S.-created, U.S.-supported disaster…Put meat on the bones of your talk about compassion…” Also in the new issue of our subscriber-only newsletter, Barbara Rose Johnston brings us a detailed report on the drive for justice in Guatemala after another catastrophe sponsored by the U.S. – the building of the Chixoy Dam. Finally, Alexander Cockburn sets out the record of assaults on freedom in the Bush years. Get your Legacy Edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
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Today's Stories December 12 / 14, 2008 Michael Hudson / December 11, 2008 Patrick Cockburn P. Sainath Vicken Cheterian Ray McGovern Dedrick Muhammad Lee Sustar Peter Morici Ayesha Ijaz Khan George Wuerthner Christopher Brauchli Worthy Group of the Day December 10, 2008 Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Mary Lynn Cramer Manuel Garcia, Jr. Joshua Frank Steve Conn Lee Sustar Glen Ford Stephen Lendman Nadia Hijab Dave Lindorff Website of the Day December 9, 2008 Mike Whitney Fawzia Afzal-Khan Ghada Karmi Dave Lindorff Steve Breyman Lee Sustar / Rev. William E. Alberts Martha Rosenberg Sam Husseini David Macaray Website of the Day December 8, 2008 Steve Early Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Diane Farsetta Paul Craig Roberts Daniel Gross Saul Landau Harvey Wasserman Mike Ferner Norman Solomon David Michael Green Website of the Day
December 5 / 7, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Brian Cloughley Paul Craig Roberts Liaquat Ali Khan Farzana Versey Peter Lee Peter Morici Ralph Nader / Yinon Cohen / Wajahat Ali Johnny Barber Alan Farago Jeremy Scahill Mike Whitney Ranjit Hoskote Carl Finamore Marjorie Cohn Norm Kent Missy Beattie Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Nancy Stohlman Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 4, 2008 Ece Temelkuran Ralph Nader Harry Browne Eamonn Fingleton Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Stewart J. Lawrence Paul Fitzgerald / Karyn Strickler Jennifer Matsui Website of the Day December 3, 2008 Andrew Cockburn Sheldon Rampton Robert Weissman Yifat Susskind William Blum Alan Singer David Macaray Martha Rosenberg Mats Svensson Website of the Day December 2, 2008 Jeremy Scahill Paul Craig Roberts Ayesha Ijaz Khan Sarah Anderson / William Blum John Ross Dave Lindorff Nicola Nasser Steve Conn Robert Bryce Website of the Day December 1, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Damien Millet / Vijay Prashad Deepak Tripathi Joshua Frank P. Sainath Alan Farago Binoy Kampmark Chris Genovali David Michael Green Stephen Martin Website of the Day November 28-30, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Mike Whitney Ted Honderich Tom Kerr Mike Ely David Yearsley Deepak Tripathi Sonja Karkar Ramzy Baroud Robert Weitzel Robert Roth Carlos Fierro David Macaray David Rosen James Cockcroft Stan Cox Steve Conn Stephen Martin Richard Rhames Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement November 27, 2008 Tariq Ali Steve Hendricks Ralph Nader John Walsh Dave Lindorff Christopher Brauchli Matthew Koehler Website of the Day
November 26, 2008 Michael Hudson Alan Farago Stanley Heller Kevin Zeese Steve Conn Ray McGovern Ron Jacobs Eric Walberg Martha Rosenberg Matt Siegfried Website of the Day
November 25, 2008 James Abourezk Ralph Nader Patrick Irelan John Ross Fred Gardner Dan LaBotz Tom Barry Norman Solomon Richard Morse Chris Strohm Website of the Day November 24, 2008 Mike Whitney Pam Martens Laray Polk David Ker Thomson Uri Avnery Joe Mowrey Ramzi Kysia Kevin Zeese Dave Lindorff David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Website of the Day November 21 / 23, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Michael Hudson Mike Whitney Barbara Rose Johnston / Serge Halimi Alan Farago Ralph Nader Saul Landau Robert Bryce Shannon May Binoy Kampmark Jack Ely Ramzy Baroud Missy Beattie Larry Portis James McEnteer Christopher Brauchli David Yearsley Adam Engel Ron Jacobs Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend November 20, 2008 P. Sainath Brian McKenna Paul Craig Roberts Andy Worthington Peter Lee Dr. Eyad al-Serraj Sen. Russ Feingold Lance Selfa Ray McGovern Benjamin G. Davis Tracy McLellan Website of the Day November 19, 2008 M. Shahid Alam Mario A. Murillo Martine Boulard Robin D. G. Kelley Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi Jonathan Cook Steve Conn George Wuerthner Michael Winship Stephen Martin Website of the Day November 18, 2008 Chellis Glendinning George C. Wilson Franklin Lamb Bill and Kathleen Christison Roger Burbach John Ross Wajahat Ali Damien Millet / Marc Gardner Eric Walberg Wendy Williams Website of the Day November 17, 2008 Michael Hudson Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whitney Steve Conn Andy Worthington Jonathan Cook Rannie Amiri David Macaray David Michael Green Charles Modiano Website of the Day November 14 / 16, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Mike Whitney Sasan Fayazmanesh Moshe Adler Anthony DiMaggio Jean Bricmont Sheldon Rampton Douglas Valentine Joseph Nevins / Tom Barry Ron Jacobs Larry Portis Mary Lynn Cramer Obama's Brain Trust: Seems Like Old Times Sherry Wolf Peter Cervantes-Gautschi Jacob Hornberger Lance Selfa Benjamin Dangl Seth Sandronsky Russell Mokhiber Allan Stellar Kelly Overton Martha Rosenberg Richard Rhames David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
November 13, 2008 Pam Martens Vijay Prashad Patrick Cockburn Jonathan Cook Ralph Nader Bill Quigley Lee Sustar Omar Barghouti Steve Conn Howard Lisnoff Jeff Cohen Website of the Day November 12, 2008 Johanna Berrigan Steve Conn Patrick Bond Bokar Ture / Alan Farago Dave Lindorff Karl Grossman David Macaray George Wuerthner Susie Day Website of the Day
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Weekend Edition A Time Bomb China Can't DefuseThe Housing CrisisBy BEHZAD YAGHMAIAN Foreigners who visited Beijing last summer witnessed a city made of state of the art skyscrapers, fancy hotels, luxury condominiums, high-end shopping malls, and ring roads. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other big cities have been experiencing a construction boom helped by China's impressive economic growth, and more recently, by the government's efforts in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. Underneath this impressive development, however, China has been facing an alarming housing crisis, a time bomb ready to detonate. The housing crisis is intimately linked China's successful economic reforms, and its model of low-wage capitalism. Prior to the reforms, Chinese working in factories and state-owned enterprises lived in company housing, modest apartments provided by the government. The market reforms put an end to that practice. To lower the cost of production, millions of new workers laboring in private enterprises were placed in overcrowded factory dormitories. Housing 10-12 people in each room, factory dormitories helped China offer unbeatable wages to local and foreign investors. Living in dormitories was convenient and practical for the first generation of workers, farmers leaving their land and flooding the factory towns in the coastal areas with the hope of working long hours and saving money to build a better home on their farms, or starting a small business in their villages. The dormitories were dirty and overcrowded, but in many ways, they were no worse than the mud houses back on the farm. To most migrant workers, factory work was a means for a better life in the village. The overall poverty in country, especially in rural areas, and the migrant workers' attachment to land helped create China's great leap into the world market. However, all that changed with the second generation of migrant workers, and with that, dormitory housing is proving unsustainable, and destabilizing. Today, China's factories are filled with the children of the first generation of migrant workers, or young men and women from small and remote townships. Born in the late 1980s and the 1990s, they had an improved living standard, attended high school, and, only in their free time, helped their parents with farm chores. Now, away from home, and earning money in the city, they cherish what their new life offers: window shopping in malls in their spare time, occasionally outing in McDonalds and KFC, visiting karaoke joints with friends, going to movies, dating freely, meeting foreigners, and feeling a part of the open China. They do not know farming, and detest life on the farm. To most, the farm life belongs to the old China, the China of their parents. City provides hope; farm does not. They do not intend to return. The migrant workers accept the harsh life in factory dormitories during the first months or years of their arrival in the city. However, what they see after the dormitory life is a chance to have a private home in the city, marry, raise a family, and send their children to city schools, even if they remain factory workers. They are members of China's new working class, expecting to benefit from all the promises of the modern China, most of all, a home, and life in the city. Their current wages, existing residence laws that limit access to public services, and the state of China's industries make this impossible for many. To buy, or even rent a private home requires a level of wage increase that is beyond the means of most Chinese manufacturers (exporters) who are already hurt by rising energy and other raw material prices, and face fierce competition from India and other emerging low-wage countries. "Today China is enjoying a rapid growth and stability. A large wage increase will send investors to India, Vietnam, or other countries. Unemployment will skyrocket, and people will pour into the streets protesting," Stanley Chen, the general manager of New Balance China operation told me. "If people realize that there are no jobs out there any more, the leader is going to face some personal risk. I don't know what incentive he has to say no investment." Most entrepreneurs share Stanley Chen's concerns. The India fear is pervasive. For years, corporations in the West responded to demands for wage increases either by moving to China, or threatening to move. They are now threatening to move to India, keeping wages down in China. Meanwhile the housing crisis continues. Sooner or later, China has to provide government-subsidized housing, or normal factory housing—single apartments—for millions of workers now living in dormitories. Having embraced the free market ideology, the Chinese government has no plans to provide public housing for the workers, or to subsidize private housing. Most current exporters, even the large enterprises hiring thousands of workers, could not afford changing the dormitory system. Their low profit margins do not allow the change. To make matters worse, many foreign companies operating in China are demanding even lower prices from their subcontractors, threatening to move to India, and Vietnam. Three decades after its inauguration, China's low-wage capitalism has become a trap for the manufacturers, the workers, and the government. Hoping to escape the country's position as the producer of cheap and low-end products, the Chinese government is moving towards what it calls Scientific Development: upgrading the economy, discouraging low value added export industries through various tax laws, and pouring resources into high tech R&D and production. In the long run, perhaps another twenty years, the move will create better paid-jobs for many migrant workers, helping them realize their dreams. In the meantime, China will experience widespread bankruptcies in export industries. More than one-third of all existing exporters will be out of business in the next three years according to some estimate. The move will also cause massive unemployment of workers who would remain in the cities, demanding jobs and other services. Pushed out of the dormitories, and unemployed, their demand for housing will be even more immediate. Once an important pillar of China's unprecedented growth, dormitory housing poses a threat to the political and social stability so scrupulously created by the Communist Party of China. The instability feared by Stanley Chen and others may arrive even without substantial increase in wages. Behzad Yaghmaian, a professor of political economy at Ramapo College of New Jersey, is currently in China working on a book about the Chinese economy. He is the author of Embracing the Infidel: Stories of Muslim Migrants on the Journey West. He can be reached at: behzad.yaghmaian@gmail.com
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