ipod,纺织品配额和管仲买鹿

所以,虽然今年年底世贸组织的纺织品配额制度将失效,各国不得再设置进口配额,但是中国政府却开始考虑设置出口配额。国际自由工会联盟曾经大喊:如果取消纺织品配额,中国的纺织品将占据世界纺织品市场,造成其它国家(包括发达国家和发展中国家)的相关行业大面积失业;但是现在看来纯属杞人忧天,中国不可能放任国内的纺织业肆意发展,相反的,中国将会用适当的出口配额限制纺织品的出口, 道理很简单:中国不能一辈子做发达世界的纺织工厂。

按照西方经典的经济理论,各个国家应该老老实实的根据自己的comparative adva ntage来选择生产什么,不生产什么,这样的生产再加上自由贸易对贸易各方都有好处等等,这套理论从亚当斯密开始,通过几代经济学家的发展,就理论而言确实是非常beautiful的了,可是最大的讽刺却是整个世界历史,除了英国在废除corn la w到德国开始兴起之间的一小段时间外(也就是前阵子和人在历史版提到的拿破仑战争之后到德国统一前),自由贸易从来没有实现过,各国也从未按照自己的compar ative advantage来进行过生产(很多后起国家开始疯狂工业化,譬如德国、苏联还有中国)。

经济学的这套理论事实上只对最强大的国家有利,以上面的英国为例,它废除corn law从欧洲大陆进口粮食带来的直接效果就是:欧洲大陆的国家(特别是统一前的德国)开始专注于粮食生产而不去进行工业革命,德国的地主把大量的资本和劳动力都投在了土地上并心甘情愿的从英国进口工业制成品,一旦这个框架形成,贸易的模式将非常有利于英国(出口工业产品,进口农产品)。欧洲强国尚且如此,更别说后来的发展中国家了。(经济学家又要说政治学家以小人之心度君子之腹了^_ ^,经济学家的解释是英国受自由主义经济意识心态的影响开始自愿的单方面削减关税,kinderberg)。

呵呵,其实想想,这也是中国老祖先早就用过的,引《管子·轻重戊第八十四》中的一个例子:

「桓公问于管子曰:“楚者,山东之强国也,其人民习战斗之道。举兵伐之,恐力不能过。兵弊于楚,功不成于周,为之奈何?”管子对曰:“即以战斗之道与之矣。”公曰:“何谓也?”管子对曰:“公贵买其鹿。”桓公即为百里之城,使人之楚买生鹿。楚生鹿当一而八万。管子即令桓公与民通轻重,藏谷什之六。令左司马伯公将白徒而铸钱于庄山,令中大夫王邑载钱二千万,求生鹿于楚。楚王闻之,告其相曰:“彼金钱,人之所重也,国之所以存,明王之所以赏有功。禽兽者群害也,明王之所弃逐也。今齐以其重宝贵买吾群害,则是楚之福也,天且以齐私楚也。

子告吾民急求生鹿,以尽齐之宝。“楚人即释其耕农而田鹿。管子告楚之贾人曰:”子为我致生鹿二十,赐子金百斤。什至而金干斤也。“则是楚不赋于民而财用足也。楚之男于居外,女子居涂。隰朋教民藏粟五倍,楚以生鹿藏钱五倍。管子曰:”楚可下矣。“公曰:”奈何?“管子对曰:”楚钱五倍,其君且自得而修谷。钱五倍,是楚强也。“桓公曰:”诺。“因令人闭关,不与楚通使。楚王果自得而修谷,谷不可三月而得也,楚籴四百,齐因令人载粟处芊之南,楚人降齐者十分之四。三年而楚服。」

管仲高价收鹿其实就是想改变楚国的产业结构,与英国的如意算盘一样。中国如果不人为的对纺织品的生产做些调整,那纺织品便成了鹿。这点也是后马克思主义对经济学的批判。ipod也与纺织品类似,究竟怎样规划,心里要有个谱。

归根到底,富国之道不同于强国之道,也是经济与政治的不同分工。k,我都扯到哪里去了,跑题,跑题:)

【 在 Taliban (老婆是检验真理的唯一标准) 的大作中提到: 】

:  中美贸易逆差到底对谁有利?华尔街日报:我们思考,他们流汗:  有人说阅读纽约时报的人是自以为自己“应该”管理美国的人,而阅读华尔街日报的人才:  是真正正在管理美国的人。读一读华尔街日报,我们可以大概了解美国的“统治阶级”

在:  想什么。这份报纸因为是针对美国人的,没有什么花哨动听的语言,说话往往是直截了当:  ,我因为看惯了谁都不敢得罪的报纸语言,看华尔街日报的文章有时候感慨“这话你都敢:  直接说啊”!

:  中美贸易目前的情况是中国顺差,美国逆差,而且这个数字还特别大。表面看来,中国向:  美国买了不少产品,搞的美国产业工人失业,工会组织逼的政府今天整个配额,明天整个:  反倾销,为了减小中国的出口能力还整天请求中国让人民币升值。结果是美国到处是中国:  产品,中国外汇储备越来越高,要变成世界工厂了。给人的感觉,就好像中国在步步进攻:  美国,美国只有招架之功而无还手之力。

:  但工会组织可不是美国的统治阶级。为什么美国国内反对声音越来越大,美国产业转移反:  而越来越严重,难道是美国政府没办法管了么?其实真实的情况是目前这种中美贸易状况:  对美国大大有利,这是华尔街日报一贯的立场,也可以说是美国的统治者真正的看法。

今:  天该报有一篇文章《We Think, They Sweat》,说得再明白不过,简直是赤裸裸的帝国主:  义言论,我不禁想起电视剧《走向共和》里面李鸿章的一句台词:“这才像是狼说的话嘛:  !”

:  文章并不长,以下我把其要点编译一下,原文附在后面。

:  - - 作者首先提到苹果公司现在的主打产品,mp3 播放器 iPod.现在美国市场上的这个产:  品是中国组装,加州苹果公司设计。这个东西无非是苹果的软件,很便宜的磁盘和一个价:  值12美元的芯片,该芯片由美国硅谷某公司设计,台湾生产。

:  - - 整个 iPod 售价差不多 $265,其中的纯利润是怎么分配的呢?负责组装的中国公司的:  利润大概只有4美元,设计芯片的公司利润是5美元,苹果公司的利润:65美元。

:  - - 因为这个 iPod 的成功,过去一年苹果公司的股票价格从 $21 涨到 $64.:  - - 因为从中国“进口” iPod,中美贸易中美方逆差增加了15亿美元,而这15亿美元的逆:  差造成美国国内财富的增加是160亿美元。作者说,我愿意天天要这样的逆差,那些苹果股:  票的持有者当然也愿意。

:  - - 在这种情况下让人民币升值美元贬值有什么意思?如果美元贬值,外国人在买美国的:  奔腾芯片,iPod,windows xp 和 oracle 数据库的时候就获得了一个“根本不必要”

的便:宜。根本没必要把这些东西贱卖,因为反正他们为了运行自己的经济不买也不行。"They:  have to buy them anyway to run their economies (well, maybe not iPods) so why:  discount?":  - - 作者说,美国愿要保持强势,美国要做高端。让外国人做低收入的体力活,美国要做:  的工作是高科技知识产权,药品,好莱坞电影,和 U2 乐队。

:  - - 中国和日本两国的外汇储备大多又重新借给美国,买了美国的国债,对此作者是表示:  欢迎的。作者说,外国人差不多拥有全部美国国债的 43%,这样一来我们就不用买了。

谁:  想要只有 3% 汇报率的国债?我们要买应该买那些高利润公司的股票……

:  - - 最后作者说,我们没必要让美元贬值,就让中日两国不停的购买美元资产吧,这样他:  们才能使自己的货币保持低价,以便继续向我们出口他们的工业产品。而我们靠向他们卖:  能更好的生产这些产品所需要的工具致富。

:  *** *** *** *** ***:  强国论坛愚蠢小猪说,是刷盘子呢,还是读书。当某些国人为这些涮盘子赚来的钱而沾沾:  自喜的时候,美国人非常明确的知道自己是读书的。

:  我很喜欢这篇文章的风格,有什么说什么,真是痛快。希望我们中国人都能了解到我们现:  在干的是什么活,我们赚的是什么钱,我们在国际经济食物链上是什么地位。

:  We Think, They Sweat:  Andy Kessler. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition)。 New York, N.Y.: Dec 23,:  2004. pg. A.10:  You want a scapegoat for the dollar's almost daily decline —— the Chinese wate:  r torture on the U.S. economy? I blame Steve Jobs. Apple is the worst offender:   in the decline of U.S. manufacturing. Their engineers sit around in air-condi:  tioned offices on streets with cutesy names like Infinite Loop in Cupertino,C:  alif., and have others make stuff for them. They imported two million iPods as:  sembled by thousands of Chinese workers just last quarter —— an almost $1.5 bi:  llion annualized trade deficit in iPods alone.:  Those in D.C. who can do something about this —— former railroaders and breakf:  ast cereal moguls, are so worried about trade deficits that they refuse to def:  end the greenback, even begging China to unpeg the yuan from the dollar so we:  can decline against it as well. We're in a place called Vertigo. Economists we:  ep that foreigners will no longer fund our spending and that America surely ha:  s peaked. The dollar is destined to the depths of despair until it drops so lo:  w that we get those manufacturing jobs back. Gee, thanks Steve Jobs.:  I checked my wallet and realized that I own dollars, including my bank account:  , house and stocks. Lowering them in value hurts every American. I was in such:   a funk thinking about all this that I played my own infinite loop of Muddy Wa:  ters on my appropriately blue iPod mini. I happened to turn it over and read t:  he fine print. Sure enough —— "Assembled in China." But it also says "Designed:   by Apple in California." In the middle of the song "Trouble No More," it all:  started making sense.:  Over the last year, two things have happened. First, Apple has increased sales:   by over a third, almost all from iPods —— those two million of them at $265 e:  ach last quarter and 100 million songs sold via their iTunes service. An iPod:  is just the combination of some Apple software, cheap disk drives and a $12 ch:  ip from a Silicon Valley company named PortalPlayer. I calculated that Apple p:  ays $200 per iPod to Chinese assembler Inventec to slap it all together. Even:  with cheap labor, Inventec has almost no profits, I'd bet under $10,probably:  more like $4. PortalPlayer, by the way, e-mails its design to Taiwan to be fab:  ricated, with profits of $5 per chip.:  The second change is that Apple's stock has gone from $21 to $64. Pretty cool,:   capitalism at its best. Why? Because Apple keeps $65 per iPod —— money chases:   profits! If you assume the stock-price increase is all due to the iPod (it is:  ), then that business is worth some $15 billion. Add in PortalPlayer's market:  value of $1 billion and you get a feel for how the world works. A $1.5 billion:   trade deficit increases wealth in the U.S. by $16 billion. I'll take that tra:  de any day. So will all the holders of the retirement accounts who own Apple's:   stock. So, why am I caring about deficits again? Trade deficits are an econom:  ic construct, and lowering the dollar won't solve a thing. We are moving low-m:  argin, low-pay jobs overseas, but fortunately, are left with high-margin,high:  -pay intellectual-property jobs. Would you rather own Apple making a margin of:   $65 or Invetec with $4, on the same product? Me too. We may have trade defici:  ts of $550 billion this year, but we enjoy a huge margin surplus.:  The very illogical way (so no one believes it) to get this all back in balance:   is for the dollar to rise. A lower dollar means foreigners get a needless dis:  count on our productive stuff —— Pentiums and iPods, Windows XP and Oracle dat:  abases, and Cisco routers. They have to buy them anyway to run their economies:   (well, maybe not iPods) so why discount? Add non-productive but life-enhancin:  g intellectual property to complete the sweep —— drugs, Hollywood movies,U2.:  A weak dollar won't bring back manufacturing jobs —— with $20/hour here vs. $2:   in China, the dollar would have to drop 90%. And why should we encourage low-:  paying jobs in this country?

:  Foreigners buy Treasury bonds —— they own 43% of them —— so we don't have to.:  Who wants 3% returns? We should own stocks of the high-margin companies that b:  enefit from this design vs. manufacturing divide. As we move to an intellectua:  l-property economy, our wealth will come from exporting profitable designs and:   importing more finished goods. Higher salaries and our stock market balance t:  his all out as those dollars flow back in. Of course, bean counters can't find:   the money that flows into the stock market, it is just bean dip. The $4-trill:  ion-plus in trade deficits since 1976 has been matched by an $11 trillion incr:  ease in value of our stock market. That's about all you have to know. Plus,as:   Jack Nicholson might say, they can't handle our dollars. Too many dollars in:  foreign central banks leads to overlending to wasteful domestic companies. Jap:  an is just emerging 15 years later from a nonperforming-loan hangover. China i:  s face-first in the punc</font>
Blog分类: