WELCOME SPEACH
120 euro per day before taxes. This is how much money skilled workers in the Greek port Piraeus get. The Port like whole Greece is in crisis. Chinese are coming, they bring investments and... fire one sixth of the staff. Then they hire people for the fantastic by Chinese standards 40-50 euro per day. Who is historically right? To whom belongs the future? Does it belong to the Greeks for 120 («beyond the frames for 5 but today»)? Or does it belong to the Chinese for 50 («beyond the frames less but for 3 tomorrow»)? West has put himself in a trap. It has become too good. It started getting too high wages. And it didn t notice that it had become uncompetitive in a range of fields.
It happened insensibly. Firstly the production of toys moved to China and Eastern Europe, and then the production of irons, later the production of cars did the same.
Shirts began to be sewed in Pakistan, sneakers - in Indonesia and Vietnam. Previously prosperous European dominions flipped the coin and now the outflow of the Portuguese workers on the Angolan construction and movement of the British to the Persian Gulf countries don t not considered shameful, and so defenseless Africans, previously having left their countries for Europe, are increasingly thinking about going back to Africa. The world has turned upside down for three years...
That was a natural process - everything happened in strict accordance with the comparative costs theory of David Ricardo: to produce in the place where the costs are lower. Soon nothing can be produced in the same volumes in developed countries due to high wages and taxes. It is unprofitable. West will turn into a huge poorhouse of humanity.
The Russian, Arabs, Indians and Chinese will learn a little about the high technology and that s all - the West will be left with nothing. The widespread establishment of new industrialization and innovation centers will become natural - everyone has everything, or is in an active process of creating the prototypes of valleys and Singapore miracle.
Someone has hundreds of acres to the develop new industrial clusters, others create conditions for the outflow and residence of highly qualified personnel, and others pursue more prudent policy, trying to keep their brains when migrating to high-tech centers, creating the conditions immediately.
It turns out that the developed countries have two choices: to suppress the pride and go back to 50 euro, to close with duties to start making their own irons again by hands and to sweep the streets themselves. But somehow it is sad and depressing. Perhaps, then, there is another way - to become necessary to mankind again, to become competitive once again.
But how difficult it is to accept so clear thoughts when every third in the Moscow metro goes with IPad and IPhone for 400-700 euro and highly effective forms of production haven t exist for twenty years, and don t exist now. Industrial parks, most of all, are a set of ideas and fields with grazing cows and vast lands, allowing to realize any, even the most daring idea. The Arabs have been managing to do it successfully in the desert for 40 years...
Otherwise the Chinese will control not only the Piraeus... So we are working on that, by combining the markets!
Managing Director, STRATEGY Links - LUCHIAN Vladislav
