If anyone thinks that consumer electronics, jeans and chewing gum are produced in the USA, Europe, or Japan, then they are pretty fooled. For highly developed countries, it has long been unprofitable to produce, but it is much more profitable to buy in China or Mexico and sell under their own brands. Russia is no exception here – we are very good at building nuclear stations, nuclear icebreakers and space rockets, but cheap jeans and chewing gum are cheaper to export from China.
For some reason, many Russians believe that they live in a backward country that cannot even produce jeans and chewing gum. But in China, all this is produced in huge quantities, so this is a very developed country.
I wonder why the development of a country is measured by jeans and chewing gum? And why is this development not measured by space rockets, nuclear reactors, icebreaking ships? As you know, best of all these things can be produced in Russia, and China is not only in tenth place, but not in the ranking at all.
Even the Americans do not know how to make the world’s best space rockets, nuclear power plants and icebreakers. Just ask some American – how many icebreakers does the United States have that are capable of sailing in the Arctic and Antarctic? He will not say, and he will do the right thing, because America does not have icebreakers. And what can be called American icebreakers, in the amount of two pieces, looks miserable, being in the ranks for almost half a century, and has long been asking for a landfill.
Does America have nuclear icebreakers? Russia has as many as 20 of them, while America has not found a single one, even in projects.
But the point, in general, is not icebreakers, missiles or nuclear power plants. And the point is chewing gum and jeans, the production of which China breaks all records, supplying these products to the whole world. It so happens that China has the ability to produce all this, unlike Russia. The chewing gum and jeans should also be supplemented with consumer electronics, which are not produced in Russia. And why China can, and Russia – not?
The fact is that the Chinese who produce electronics, jeans and gum receive a salary that is less than the salary of laborers in Russia. Therefore, these products have low costs due to low wages. If anyone thinks that in China, manufacturers of gum, jeans, and PCBs are making $ 1,000 a month, let him take a break from that thought.
If hundreds of millions of working Chinese are paid a salary of $ 1,000 each – then the Chinese salary funds will simply go bankrupt. Therefore, one must understand that not everyone in China earns 1000 dollars a month, but only cool professionals. If a worker can only collect electronic boards, then even inexpensive Shanghai or Beijing he is unlikely to jump above $ 300-400 per month. But if he is a high-class engineer with experience, then 1000 dollars is not the limit for him.
To continue further, what does the Chinese save on in comparison with the Russian? If we calculate all the expenses of our person and compare them with the expenses of a Chinese person, it turns out that $ 100 a month is quite enough for a Chinese to feel himself a wealthy person. But a Russian will not live on $ 100.
And if someone begins to tell that in Russia the middle class receives only 25 thousand rubles (a little more than $ 300), then let him think – can a Russian person survive in the winter by $ 300, taking into account all the expenses described above?
Of course not. In fact, normal (and not lazy or drunkards) Russians earn much more, and this does not mean state employees, whose rate may actually be 25 thousand, but in fact, income does not depend only on the rate, each rate is attached additional payments. In Russia, for example, an auxiliary worker from China at a construction site earns at least 30 thousand rubles, which, by the way, is 400 dollars or more. How much does a Chinese worker earn in China itself? Well, not 400 – that’s for sure if even a qualified Chinese can count on $ 200-300, and that’s it. Otherwise, the Chinese would not have gone to “poor” Russia to earn money.
But it’s actually about why it’s not profitable to produce consumer goods in Russia. In order for the consumer goods produced in Russia to compete with the Chinese, our workers need to pay less than the Chinese.
As we saw from the data above, the minimum wage in China in industrial regions does not fall below $ 200. But this is all fake because in China the minimum wage is not set by the state, but by the local authorities, who have a free hand in this regard. Therefore, you can often see in China a monthly salary of $ 100, and in agricultural regions, it does not even reach $ 100 – $ 50 per eye is enough. And this is despite the fact that most Chinese people have never heard of retirement, and are forced to plow until old age, at least 100 years, otherwise they will die of hunger.