Depowerment II

It's been a while. Sorry.

Check this out.

Ipsos Reid Polls are always fun. They show attitudes useful to business. But sometimes they show attitudes useful to understanding power.

This one in particular.

A Public Opinion Survey Of Canadians And Americans About China
An Ipsos-Reid Report Prepared For The Canada Institute of the Washington D.C. based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars And The Toronto Based Canada Institute on North American Issues (CHINA)
June 10, 2005

Anxiety about China?s emergence as a superpower is unsettling to many in North America. Fifty-four percent of Americans and 40% of Canadians agree ?the emergence of China as a superpower is a threat to world peace?. And most Americans (54%) and many Canadians (45%) are concerned about the level of Chinese investment in their country.


Funny how when we are the ones with the power, we seem to think that corruption is a myth. But see power shifting into the hands of others and we start to question the morality of the powerful.

It is when you are subject to power, that you can understand it.

How does it feel to know that about 1/3 of the worlds population is about to enter the free market?

We have kept them at bay for 60 years.

We complained that they would not participate in our world market place. We told them they were bad. They were godless. They were evil. We told them that were not welcome at the table. We told everyone that because they refused to come to the market with the rest of the world that we should fear them. Now that they want to come to our party, we are told that we should fear them.

There is nothing to fear. Except that we will no longer be the biggest kid on the block.

Hmmm...The power of information. Who is spreading these lies?

They already supply more goods into the marketplace than any other manufacturer. They already account for a significant portion of the world's labor. If you shop at Walmart - and I know you do - you already have dozens, if not hundreds of goods in your home made in China.

We have been partnering in business with them for more than 25 years.

However, we have been buying from them. And if they start to buy, they will not be buying from us. They will be buying from themselves. And that means that the value of their cheap labor and starving markets, will remain in China to benefit the Chinese people. And we don't like that.

The power comes from need.

Ten years ago, China needed money. More than a billion people. Huge government costs. Health care alone was bankrupting them. The only way that money would come was if Americans used their incredibly cheap labor. And the North American CEO's thought it was great. And they used it. China allowed changes in their communism to facilitate American business exploitation. So we jumped all over it. We were happy to have cheaper goods.

All the while knowing that eventually the flow would change. All the while knowing that when enough of the money flowed into China the people would start to buy goods. All the while knowing that by moving manufacturing to China we were changing the market forever. All the while knowing that they had to make their wealth soon because once the flow shifted, we would be in trouble.

Greedy? Short-sighted? Sure, most power users are greedy and short-sighted.

We used their need to satisfy our need. Profits were dwindling. We needed to increase profitability to combat the rising cost of North American labor. We were at a time that saw large corporations having to face the law. Having to face the power of the labor unions. No more cheap labor. No more exploitation on the basis of race or gender. A day's work was worth a day's pay.

Moreover, unless taxes decreased the people would have no money to spend. We had to cut government and pay more. Even then, foreign markets were growing and we were shrinking.

In truth, we needed them. All power dynamics are bipolar in nature. You just need to look for the needs and abilities and you can see how it works. They needed money. We needed cheaper labor.

Now we have created a business model that requires Asian labor. We have created unsustainable markets. We need their labor. Our need has not gone away.

However, now they don't need our money. Nor do they need our products. The fact is, we are afraid that they don't need us at all. If they don't need us, they have the power.

In the past, when people haven't needed us any more, we have used our army to remind them that we are in charge.

Not long ago the oil of the middle east created enough money that they could say to us, "We don't need your money anymore. We don't want your culture or your interference. And if you want our oil you will pay."

Prior to their wealth, they needed our money. We needed their oil.

Now they don't need our money and we need their oil more than ever. They have the power because we have the most pressing need.

We were lucky however. We had the richest and best equipped army in the history of the world. So we went and took the oil. Their need for survival and peace was greater. We took power.

China is no Iraq. China is no little country. They have quite an army. They have the ability to win at war.

So now, for the first time in a century, we are scared. And we should be. We have been a manipulative bully for too long.

Power destroys trust. We have used power for a century. We have destroyed almost all the trust anyone ever had for us.

Power dynamics never end. Once we have no trust there is nothing left but power.

So we are scared. Bloody scared. Whether we can articulate power dynamics or not, we innately know them and understand them. We know when they are coming. We know that these coming power dynamics won't be so easily won. If fact we may lose. We are afraid that all we have left is power and it will be inadequate.

We should be afraid. We should all be afraid. In the past when North American businessmen are about to lose power (and their money) they send young men to war. And this is a war we will lose.

Is this going to end in war?

We still have depowerment.

Would we need our army in the middle east if we took the 150 Billion Dollars we spent on that never ending war on the development of renewable power sources like wind and sun?

We could have depowered the countries of the middle east by taking control of our own needs. By eliminating our need for oil we could have eliminated the need for a war. They would have no power because they would have no ability we needed. Their only mechanism - oil - would become impotent.

But we chose war.

Now, as we sit in fear of the inevitable domination of the world marketplace by China, do we have to consider war and manipulation or can we depower our needs and find a new way?