Article intéressant tiré de Forbes sur l'immobilisme qui frappe l'occident

[WestAust]

Can We Afford Liberalism Now?

Paul Johnson 10.29.08, 6:00 PM ET

Forbes Magazine dated November 17, 2008

 

The financial crisis, detonated by greed and recklessness on Wall Street and in the City of London, is for the West a deep, self-inflicted wound. The beneficiary won't be Russia, which, with its fragile, energy-based economy, is likely to suffer more than we shall; it will be India and China. They will move into any power vacuum left by the collapse of Western self-confidence.

 

If we seriously wish to repair the damage, we need to accept that this is fundamentally a moral crisis, not a financial one. It is the product of the self-indulgence and complacency born of our ultraliberal societies, which have substituted such pseudo-religions as political correctness and saving the planet for genuine distinctions between right and wrong and the cultivation of real virtues.

 

India and China are progress-loving yet morally old-fashioned societies. They cannot afford liberalism. Their vast populations have only recently begun to emerge from subsistence living. Their strength is in the close, hard-working family unit in which parents train their children to work diligently at school and go to university when possible so they can acquire real and useful qualifications to then go out into the world as professional men and women determined to reach the top.

 

I am impressed at the rapid headway Indians (benefiting from their knowledge of spoken and written English) are making in all the advanced sectors of the global employment market--science, technology, medicine, communications, the law, engineering and mining. They are ousting Westerners from top jobs, and rightly so. They are better qualified, more highly motivated and more reliable and honest. They have the old-style work ethic that we, in many cases, have lost.

 

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was sneered at for stressing the Victorian virtues of industry and thrift. But she was right. These emergent Asian professionals have precisely those virtues, which is why they're moving forward and will eventually conquer the world--not by force but by hard work, intelligence and skill.

 

Equally impressive is the sheer physical power of the Chinese workforce. Anyone who goes to Beijing or Shanghai can't help but notice the astonishing speed at which buildings are rising.

 

There is nothing new in this. It was once the West that taught the world how to change its skylines through fast and furious efforts. One of the first examples was the Eiffel Tower, designed by engineering genius Gustave Eiffel (who also created the Statue of Liberty's internal structure). It was the centerpiece of the Paris Exposition of 1889. Using the principles of prefabrication, the 150 to 300 workers on the site put it up in only 26 months.

 

Another example is the Empire State Building, which officially opened on May 1, 1931. Masterpiece of the firm of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, the Empire State Building was completed in only one year and 45 days, a testament to business efficiency and the determination of the dedicated workforce.

 

We couldn't match those time frames today, despite the advances in technology, because the advances have been outstripped by an even more rapid growth in complex and idiotic planning procedures, bureaucracy, myopic trade unionism and restrictive legislation.

 

Wake-Up Call

 

In London today, for example, residents are infuriated and visitors horrified by the way in which the main sewer and water lines are being replaced over much of the city. The work is agonizingly slow. Contractors claim they are paralyzed by the laws (especially so-called health and safety regulations) that now govern work practices. Depending on the type of activity, these regulations can lower productivity by 15% to 25%. They don't save lives or prevent injuries; they provide lucrative jobs for bureaucrats and fit in well with the ideas of union officials on how things should be run. They are a typical by-product of a liberal society.

 

In an earlier age New York City would have defied the terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center by speedily rebuilding what they destroyed. What's happened instead is a sad and revealing story.

 

In August China pulled off a propaganda triumph with its staging of the Summer Olympic Games, which involved huge construction projects--all completed on time. London is currently preparing for the 2012 games. All indications, so far, are that this is going to be an embarrassing and hugely expensive fiasco.

 

I don't know whether this year's financial catastrophe will shock the politicians and people of the West into a new seriousness. There's certainly no sign of it yet. I had to laugh when a Chinese visitor recently said to me: "I see you're going back to the windmill in Britain. We Chinese cannot afford that."

 

That comment puts things in a nutshell: We are traveling along the high road to incompetence and poverty, led by a farcical coalition of fashionably liberal academics on the make, assorted eco-crackpots and media wiseacres. This strain of liberalism is highly infectious. The Indians and Chinese have yet to be infected. They're still healthy, hard at work and going places, full speed ahead.

 

Paul Johnson, eminent British historian and author; Lee Kuan Yew, minister mentor of Singapore; Ernesto Zedillo, director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, former president of Mexico; and David Malpass, chief economist for Bear Stearns Co., Inc., rotate in writing this column. To see past Current Events columns, visit our Web site at http://www.forbes.com/currentevents.

[Habsfan]

Ayoye, si il y en a un sur ce forum qui est anti-syndicats, c'Mest bien moi, mais ce gars me fait passer pour un mou de la gauche, tellement il est à la droite!!

 

J'ai toujours dis, 50-60 années de cela, les compagnies abusaient des employées...mais aujourd'hui les syndicats sont rendus trop puissant. Il faut trouver le juste milieu. Aujourd'hui ce sont le syndicats qui sont trop puissants!

[MTLskyline]

That comment puts things in a nutshell: We are traveling along the high road to incompetence and poverty, led by a farcical coalition of fashionably liberal academics on the make, assorted eco-crackpots and media wiseacres. This strain of liberalism is highly infectious. The Indians and Chinese have yet to be infected. They're still healthy, hard at work and going places, full speed ahead.

Quote of the century!

[JFrosty]

En gros il dit qu'on est plus dans une société où on exploite nos travailleurs?

 

Merde.

 

J'adore aussi comment il dit que la Chine est "morally old-fashioned".

[yarabundi]

En gros il dit qu'on est plus dans une société où on exploite nos travailleurs?

 

Merde.

En effet !! Signe de notre déclin. Nous ne sommes plus civilisés. Dieu merci ce gourou de l'économie nous a mis sur la bonne voie.

[ericairlines]

Forbes..la bible du néocapitalisme en faillite.....pffffffffff qu'ils regardent dans leur tasse de thé.....la chine c'est pas un modèle social du tout du tout à suivre non merci !!

[MTLskyline]

Forbes..la bible du néocapitalisme en faillite.....pffffffffff qu'ils regardent dans leur tasse de thé.....la chine c'est pas un modèle social du tout du tout à suivre non merci !!

Communisme non merci.

[cjb]

Ce qui a mené les États-Unis dans leurs problèmes actuels: exactement ce que dénonce cet article.

Une quête éfrênée du succès, du pouvoir et de la richesse.

 

De plus, les faits dans cet article sont faux.

 

Il vante la nouvelle 'classe moyenne' indienne et chinoise d'universitaires compétents et travailleurs.

 

Un diplôme universitaire en ingénierie à l'université de Shangai est équivalent à un DEP en mécanique à l'institut Téccart dans l'Est de Montréal.

 

Ce qui conduit la Chine en ce moment, c'est une main d'œuvre docile et naîve issue des campagnes, qui n'a pas l'expérience de coupures massives et de fermetures sauvages.

 

Ce que je vois aujourd'hui à Hong Kong ou Guanzhou, c'est la même main d'œuvre bon marché et mal éduquée qui a bâti Detroit, Buffalo ou Shawinigan il y a 100 ans ici.

Des salaires de misère, une génération perdue, au nom du 'progrès'.

 

Voici le futur selon cet 'auteur':

[peluche]

I consider myself on the right economically speaking......but this author is a complete idiot. What does he expect........for workers to give up their rights and salaries and imitate China? Jesus. China workers must become like us......and not the other way around.

[ericairlines]

exactly peluche let him dream ....la richesse des etats unis est uniquement battie sur une montagne de dettes (privées et puniques)un jour cela sera la faillite