Tag: POLITICS

EQUALITY

Discrimination is certainly based on the color of one’s skin but also on gender, ethnicity, and income inequality. Those nations that embrace equality of opportunity for all will be the leaders of the future in the age of technology

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Caste (The Origins of Our Discontent)

Author: Isabel Wilkerson

Narrated By:  Robin Miles

Isabel Wilkerson (Author, American journalist, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in journalism in 1994 while serving as the Chicago Bureau Chief for the NYTimes.)

Isabel Wilkerson has written a provocative book about what she characterizes as a rigid social hierarchy in America that undermines the ideals of democracy. Wilkerson weaves her personal life and the history of black experience with the sociological failings in America’s treatment of race. She notes the past and present truth of white America’s unequal treatment of its citizens based on race. However, her characterization of America’s discrimination as a caste system and its comparison to India’s and Nazi Germany’s governments is hyperbolic. Nevertheless, it creates a sense of urgency for those who believe in the ideal of human equality. It is difficult, if not impossible, to compare other nation’s inequality with America’s effort and present-day failure to fulfill the ideals of democracy.

The timeliness of Wilkerson’s book seems appropriate in relation to the backward steps being taken by Donald Trump.

Some Americans feel threatened by demographic change that will make white citizens less than 50% of America’s population by 2045. In theory, no one should care if all people are treated equally. What history shows is that the ideals of equality have never been achieved in America or in any other country with a dominant race and/or ethnicity.

Trump’s effort to return America to its past is interpreted by some as a return to industrial production.

America’s return to industrialization is a false flag that will not make America Great. Reindustrialization and keeping America white is a fool’s errand based on demography and the age of technology. Trump’s desire for power, adulation, and loyalty have little to do with prejudice but everything to do with appealing to the worst fears of middle-class America. Trump is willing to use whatever dog whistle is required to satisfy his desire for power and prestige. He understands the fears of the middle class and where American power lays. Power and money are the driving forces of capitalism. Middle class American’s buying power has stagnated or fallen since the 1970s despite the increasing wealth of the top 10% of American citizens. The middle class of America is something Trump appealed to in his re-election for a second term because of their disproportionate loss of income and the rising wealth of America’s business leaders. The irony is that Trump is one of the beneficiaries of that income gap between the very rich and the working-class.

Income growth in America.

Income disparity trend in the U.S. through 2015.

Wilkerson is right in the sense that America’s real objective should be to ensure equality of all. She is arguing we should have a greater sense of urgency in achieving equality. Equal treatment for all is a formula that can maintain America’s position as an economic, military, and political hegemon. American industrial hegemony is yesterday’s goal. Technological advancement is today’s goal. To achieve today’s goals, equal treatment of all becomes essential in technology because intelligence, innovation, and persistence does not lie in any one race, sex, or creed.

America is class conscious but not in the same way as either India’s or Nazi Germany’s histories.

Wilkerson notes a caste system can be built around ethnicity, religion, language, or gender but race discrimination is what she has personally experienced and underlays much of her comparisons of American history with India and Nazi Germany. Equality of opportunity is key to continued growth of human beings and national economies in the age of technology. In the short term, one may see an autocratic country like China become an economic and military hegemon, but maintenance of that success is dependent on equality of opportunity for all, not just those in power.

One can sympathize with the author’s view of discrimination but her comparison of America to India and Nazi Germany misses too much of what unequal treatment in America is based upon.

Discrimination is certainly based on the color of one’s skin but also on gender, ethnicity, and income inequality. Those nations that embrace equality of opportunity for all will be the leaders of the future in the age of technology.

EDUCATION’S BOUNTY

Ibram Kendi’s book is about Malcolm X’s transformation from a poorly educated Black youth to man of erudition and importance–a remarkable tribute to the equality of all human beings.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Malcolm Lives! (The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Listeners)

Author: Ibram X. Kendi

Narrated By:  Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi (Author, American professor and historian of race at State University of New York.)

Though Kendi’s book does not have the erudition of Manning Marable’s “Malcolm X”, his book reveals much more about Malcolm Littles’ challenging childhood and his pilgrimage to Pano-Africanism, global human rights, and belief in Sunni Islamism. The Sunni belief in community and the scholarship of study, along with the rough early experience of Malcolm Little’s life, changes him and, to a degree, America’s racist belief in human inequality.

Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, 1925-1965, human rights activist.)

Kendi's book is about Malcolm's transformation from an uneducated Black youth to man of erudition and importance is a remarkable tribute to the equality of all human beings.

Kendi explains how Malcolm Little was an uneducated hoodlum when young. Manning Marable shows how insightful and intelligent Malcolm became as a man. A listener/reader of “Malcolm Lives!” gives listener/readers a glimpse of how great they can be if they put their minds and hearts into a life that can make a difference in flawed society. Little becomes self-educated by reading and adopting a belief in something greater than himself.

In some ways, Malcolm is aided by his innate ability to separate the kindness of people he knew from the ignorance of their prejudice.

Interestingly, it is a helpful teacher that changes the direction of Malcolm’s life by encouraging him to be a part of society. On the other hand, this early teacher discourages Malcolm from becoming a Lawyer because he believed the color of Malcolm’s skin would get in his way. Malcolm learned lessons of self-reliance and independence that diminished his regard for the help of a teacher he formally admired. Kendi explains this is just the beginning of Malcolm’s life that evolves from hoodlumism to caring about society that is riven with inequality, but capable of change. Kendi explains how Malcolm’s life exemplifies that capability.

Malcom Little’s life begins in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. This is a time in America when the Ku Klux Klan is at its greatest strength.

Malcolm is in the eighth grade experiencing disillusionment from a teacher he respected. He drops out of school and learns how to live off the land by working minimum wage jobs. The work is at night clubs and pool halls that feed his hunger for excitement while growing angrier and angrier about a world of injustice. He covets a white girlfriend who is seduced by his charm but lets him down when she rats him out for house robberies while she and two girlfriends are parties to the crimes. Little is sentenced to eight years in prison for the crime. The lesson he learns from that experience is that friendliness is no protection from the ignorance of prejudice.

John Elton Bembry (aka Bimbi, an inmate who befriended Malcolm and encouraged him to read and educate himself while serving his sentence.)

The irony of Little’s imprisonment is that the teacher he needed when young came in the guise of a fellow prisoner who is recognized by others as someone who commanded respect because of his book learning, intellect, and eloquence. His name was John Elton Bembry, aka “Bimbi”. Bimbi’s leadership by example and eloquence led Little back to what was seen by his early teacher, the capability of a young man willing to work hard to better himself. Little began re-educating himself by reading books from the prison library. Soon after, one of Little’s brothers introduces him to the Nation of Islam.

Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975, American religious leader and self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah)

Kendi reveals the spotty history of the founding of NOI, which ultimately leads to Little’s break with NOI and his adoption of the Sunni faith. Though religion means nothing to some, Little’s adoption of Sunni beliefs and his self-education through reading and travel (when released from prison) changes his life. NOI gave Malcom purpose and discipline while in prison because it reinforced his belief in Black pride and self-reliance. However, the rigidity of its teaching of Black separatism and the personal conduct of its leader, Elijah Muhammad, who fathered children out of wedlock, alienated Little. In 1964, Malcolm went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He found Muslims of all races praying together. The universality of Sunni Islam showed the narrowness of NOI’s view of society.

This is the capture of the NOI follower who is convicted of Malcolm X’s assassination. He is paroled after serving 45 years in a prison cell.

In the last chapters of Kendi’s book there is mention of the establishment of the nation of Israel and the resistance of Palestinian’ Muslim followers to the taking of land for the formation of Israel. The land that became Israel and Gaza were occupied by an early ethnic group known as the Canaanites. Many Palestinians and Israelites descended from the Canaanites. What some may argue is that people of the Jewish faith were first to create a religious force and formal government in the holy lands of Jerusalem. In Malcolm X’s opinion, the rights of the Palestinian people were being violated in the same way as Blacks in America. Whether that is fair judgement remains a question.

Without hegemonic control by the Palestinian leadership of disputed holy lands, no Palestinian State could be created. Today–Jews, Palestinians, and the world are paying a price for that disagreement.

An argument can be made that in ancient times Jews chose to create a form of government in Jerusalem while Palestinians did not. The same is true today. Yassa Arafat and his followers refused an opportunity to create a separate Palestinian State. Arafat would not agree because of conflicts over full sovereignty over holy lands that were disputed by both Jews and Palestinians.

Kendi ends his book with a story about NOI and Malcom X’s assassination. Malcolm had split from NOI and formed his own movement. The fact that members of NOI were involved in the murder of Malcolm X seems damning. However, Kendi’s book is about Malcolm X’s transformation from a poorly educated Black youth to man of erudition and importance–a remarkable tribute to the equality of all human beings.

FEAR & TREMBLING

America made many mistakes after the 9/11 terrorist attack. One hope’s Israel does not make the same mistakes after the 10/7/23 atrocity. Most Americans’ hearts go out to Israel despite fear and trembling for the world’s future.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

On Democracies and Death Cults (Israel and the Future of Civilization)

Author: Douglas Murray

Narrated By:  Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray (Author, Bristish political commentator, cultural critic, and journalist.)

“On Democracies…” is an important book because it offers perspective on what happened in Gaza on October 7, 2023, and the aftermath that leads to the bombing of Iran by Israel. In that October day, over 1,200 Israelis were killed including civilians, children, and elderly people. At least 251 hostages were taken. Photos of the aftermath show multiple signs of sexual assault. A woman survivor reports seeing Hamas fighters gang rape a woman before the last of her attackers shoots her in the head. The terror and destruction of the attack is as horrible as one can imagine. It reminds one of men and women jumping out of windows at the New York World Trade Center on 9/11.

As one listens to Murray’s book, one begins to understand why Israel is responding to the October 7th atrocity by attacking Gaza and bombing Iran.

Murray explains the idea of a proportional “tit for tat” response is absurd. Does a rational person expect Israel would respond to the Gaza atrocity by killing and/or raping 1,200 men, women, and children. What is not understood by many is that Israel recognizes October 7th as an attack on its existence as a nation. It is the same concern Ukrainians have in their war with Russia. The fundamental issue is sovereignty, not revenge.

Like Osama bin Laden on his 9/11/01 attack on America, Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar, organized the massacre of 10/7/23. Both men were stateless terrorists who believed the U. S. and Isreal had no right to exist. Neither terrorist had an interest in the hard work of creating their own nation but only in destroying another. In the early days of the establishment of Israel, there was a drive to create an independent Palestinian state. Both Palestinian leaders and Arab states rejected proposals for a Palestinian state. In contrast, Israel chose to accept an opportunity to become an independent state in 1948. With the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, Israel declared independence and began the hard work of creating a nation. With a beginning population of 806,000, Israel grew to a prosperous nation of 9.7 million with over 73% being Jewish and the remainder being Arab or other nationalities. One must ask oneself, why have the Palestinians not taken the same path as Israel?

Murray makes one understand Israel is fighting for their lives to remain an independent nation.

It is the same fight Ukraine is waging. The bombing of Iran is based on Israel’s belief that Iran has supported Hamas throughout their terrorist war against Israel. Without honest recognition of Israel’s right to be an independent nation, there can be no peace. The continuing massacre in Gaza is a terrible consequence of the destructive intent of Hamas leadership that wishes to destroy Israel.

The sad realization coming from Murray’s book is that Palestinians and their supporters are not willing to do the hard work of creating an independent nation. The time may be past for that to ever occur because Israel is unlikely to agree to another neighboring nation being hostile to Israel’s existence.

America made many mistakes after the 9/11 terrorist attack. One hope’s Israel does not make the same mistakes after the 10/7/23 atrocity. Most Americans’ hearts go out to Israel despite fear and trembling for the world’s future.

MADNESS

Whether one is of a particular gender, good looking, unattractive, fat, thin, so on and so on, is superfluous. What is not different is we are all human. Murray infers that if leaders can keep humanness in mind, equality is the only thing that matters.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Madness of Crowds (Gender, Race and Identity)

Author: Douglas Murray

Narrated By:  Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray (Author, Bristish political commentator, cultural critic, and journalist.)

All humans deserve equal treatment, rights, and opportunities. No known form of government achieves that ideal. Douglas Murray shows liberal and social democracies show concern about equality, while other forms of government don’t seem to care. What Murray argues is that western nations and educational institutions are not doing enough and what they are doing is maddeningly ineffectual.

Initially, Murray writes about gay rights which are not top of mind for many listener/readers.

However, the point is that sexual preference is a human right that harkens back to the age of ancient Mesopotamia (2000 BCE) and Greece (300 BCE). Mesopotamian law treated marriage as a legal contract. Men were allowed to have secondary wives or concubines with legal codes regulating inheritance rights. Women then, as now, were treated unequally. In Mesopotamia, marriage was tied to economic, social, and legal agreements to ensure social stability through male control. Interestingly, women had some legal rights in Mesopotamia while Greece was more patriarchal with limited legal independence for women. Mesopotamia artwork shows same-sex relationships existed, but contractual agreements in marriage were only for heterosexual relations.

In Plato’s time, legal codes in marriage were less important but social stability and male domination remained in both jurisdictions.

Ancient Greek history shows same-sex relationships were widely accepted but without any legal recognition like that required in heterosexual marriages. Same sex relationships go back to the beginnings of pictographic and written history. So, why is there so much Sturm and Drang about same sex relationships?

American democracy began a civil war in 1865 over the issue of slavery.

American democracy began a civil war in 1865 over the issue of slavery, passed the 14th Amendment in 1868 to provide equal protection for all, passed a Civil Rights Act in 1964 prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, passed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, and the Marriage Equality Act in 2015. Despite all of this history, in 2025, America continues to discriminate against same sex relationships and often violates the aforementioned laws. If a male or female wishes to have sex with a consenting person of the same sex, why should any American care? America has fought and died over equal rights for all Americans. It is maddening to keep reading about Democracies continuing violation of equal rights.

Murray offers numerous examples of protest in western society that reinforce his argument about the madness of crowds.

He reflects on Ivy League colleges like Yale and a small liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington where a crowd of students caused resignations of their professors. In 2015, a Yale faculty member questioned the university’s stance on culturally sensitive Halloween costumes. A crowd of students accused the faculty of failing to create a “safe space” because their professor raised the issue of identity as culturally insensitive. He and his wife who were professors at Yale chose to resign. In 2017, a professor objected to a campus event at Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington. White students and faculty were asked to leave for a day to highlight racial issues. The student protest against the professor for a “day off” event became a threat to his safety. He resigned. Murray’s point is that public discourse is increasingly driven by emotional reactions rather than reasoned debate.

Murray touches on the negative consequence of technology on the growing “…Madness of Crowds”. More than ever, the reach and size of crowds who object to human equality can spread social chaos. America experienced the power of technology with the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The re-election of Donald Trump is a harbinger of a future where the emotion of crowds who have the right to vote is magnified by media paid for by the richest people in America.

Murray touches on the negative consequence of technology on the growing "...Madness of Crowds". More than ever, the reach and size of crowds who object to human equality can spread social chaos. America experienced the power of technology with the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Emotions of crowd-think distort the difficult and personal trials of people with gender dysphoria.

The myth of Tiresias embodies the truth that humans are different but equal.

Tiresias is a figure in Greek mythology that was punished by Hera, the wife of Zeus, to be turned into a woman after he struck two mating snakes. He remained a woman for seven years when he was changed back into a man by Zeus. Zeus and Hera debated on whether experience of sex as a man or woman was more pleasurable. Tiresias agreed with Zeus who believed women experienced greater pleasure and Hera struck him blind for siding with Zeus. The debate goes on with Murray noting it occurs in crowd emotion that refuses to deal with the facts of gender dysphoria. One thinks of the many people that struggle with gender identity and how difficult it must be to live life with one’s own confusion, let alone the stupidity of people’s emotional reactions.

And then there is the issue of race.

Nearly 50% of the world is classified as Caucasoid with the remainder of three racial categories being no more than 33.5%. Unique physical characteristics of race are hair color and texture, facial features, average height, eye color, blood type, and skin color. Of course, there are differences beyond these features within each racial group. Whether one is of a particular gender, good looking, unattractive, fat, thin, so on and so on, is superfluous. What is not different is we are all human. Murray infers that if leaders can keep humanness in mind, equality is the only thing that matters.

SUPREME COURT

To Leah Litman, Trump’s election seems a setback but not a reversal of the ideal of balancing equal rights with private interests. As Alexander Pope wrote in his poem, in the 18th century “Hope springs eternal in the human breast”.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Lawless (How the Supreme Court Runs Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes)

Author: Leah Litman

Narrated By:  Leah Litman

Leah Litman (Author, BA in Chemistry & Chemical Biology, constitutional law scholar with Doctorate from University of Michigan Law School.)

One doubts Leah Litman would suggest there are no biological differences between men and women considering her education as a science major and legal scholar. As a science major, she knows there are chromosomal, hormonal, physical, and reproductive system differences between the sexes. However, Litman is spot on in arguing women do not have equal rights with men just as all races and ethnicities do not in the ideals of American Democracy. Litman argues that legally, equality is not being enforced in America today and is being diminished by today’s Supreme Court of the United States.

American Supreme Court

Litman persuasively argues today’s Supreme Court has eroded women’s rights by supporting legal theories that are ideologically promoted by political conservatives but not by precedents set by an earlier Supreme Court. Today’s majority at the Supreme Court has succumbed to the influence of conservative theories about the sexes rather than precedents set by an earlier Supreme Court.

It is not that the sexes are not different but that they deserve equal treatment under the law.

The point made by Litman is that the Supreme Court has found that in “all forms of discrimination”, equality of opportunity is mandated by the 14th amendment which provides equal protection under the law to all citizens with assurance that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process. Further, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment, education, and public accommodation. Previously settled law by the Supreme Court is being ignored in reversing Roe v. Wade, criminalizing same sex intimacy and marriage, and denying equal rights to the LGBTQ community.

What Litman is pointing to is the politicalization of the Supreme Court.

One might argue the Court has always been a political body. America’s history of discrimination has been reinforced and attacked in different eras of the Court. As the Turkish saying, “A fish rots from the head down”, today’s Justices of the Supreme Court are reversing precedents set in former rulings. America elects a President every four years. Even though Supreme Court justices are appointed for a lifetime, they decide to retire at some point in their careers and are replaced by recommendations of a current President with acceptance or rejection by Congress. If a conservative is in the office of the Presidency, then the recommendation will be based on candidates who reinforce a President’s political leaning. The same, of course, is true for a more liberal President.

Litman infers a politicalization of the Supreme Court lies at the feet of those who choose to vote, promote, and support candidates of their choice.

America is at a conservative revisionist point in the history of the Court with Donald Trump’s election. America has only itself to blame or praise for that revisionism. The obvious leaning of Litman is liberal in that she strongly believes in equal rights for all Americans. Her plea is for Americans to wake up to the importance of voting, promoting, and supporting candidates for public office.

American Democracy remains the best form of government despite wavering on balancing equal rights and private interests.

A perfect society will balance equal rights with private interests. America is not there, but it has a greater possibility of getting there than any other form of governance. To Leah Litman, Trump’s election seems a setback but not a reversal of the ideal of balancing equal rights with private interests. As Alexander Pope wrote in his poem, in the 18th century “Hope springs eternal in the human breast”.

BRUTALITY

What is so troubling about Grandin’s history is what appears to be the nature of human beings whether royalist, capitalist, socialist, or communist.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

America, América (A New History of the New World)

Author: Greg Grandin

Narrated By:  Holter Graham

Greg Grandin (Author, American historian, professor of history at Yale University.)

Before Professor Grandin, most Americans presumed the United States came from the traditions of the British empire. After reading/listening to America, América, one recognizes the powerful influence of the Spanish empire on the settlement of North America, the attitude of colonists toward minorities, the growth of slavery, and the deep entanglement of Spain in the broader Americas. America, América is a book that widens one’s understanding of the history of the United States.

When being reminded of the many atrocities of colonization and the decimated indigenous natives of the Americas, one is appalled by man’s inhumanity to man. Grandin begins his history of colonization with the Spanish empires’ expansion into the Americas long before the Mayflower expedition to America. Conquistadors set the table for the way what became Americans way to colonize the New England territory. Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro led expeditions that decimated the Aztecs in Mexico and the Incas in Peru. Looking for wealth Spanish conquistadors murdered, raped, and pillaged Latin American native populations. The conquistadors exemplified what became the modus vivendi of British colonists in America. Indigenous peoples were forced to work for Spanish landlords, later supplemented by imported African slaves. The atrocities of Spain in the 16th century are repeated by English settlers in the 17th and later centuries. An estimated 80% of the indigenous people of the Americas perished from disease, forced labor, and ethnic cleansing by Spanish settlers–a grim reminder of American settlers did to indigenous natives in America.

What is so troubling about Grandin’s history is what appears to be the nature of human beings whether royalist, capitalist, socialist, or communist. America, América shows the founding of the United States is a repeat of Spain’s early colonization of the southern part of North America. The human race appears driven by the desire for money, power, and prestige in a system that begins with attack on indigenous peoples and repeats as a perceived advance of civilization. There is some truth in that perception but one realizes indigenous peoples are equally driven and commit human atrocities among themselves in pursuit of value, power, and, or prestige.

This book is returned before completion because of its length. Its history is enlightening but its length is too much for this dilettante.

COST/BENFIT

“Apple in China” is a message to the entire world about the risks of technological relocation solely based on reducing costs of labor in a politically and culturally divided world. This is a book every employer should listen to or read.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Apple in China (The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company)

Author: Patrick McGees

Narrated By:  Fred Sanders

Patrick McGee (Author, technology/business journalist, San Francisco Correspondent for “Financial Times”.)

Patrick McGee has written an important book about world trade. He reveals a shocking story about Apple and the risk of basing a corporation’s economic future on a singular aspect of its success, i.e. cost of manufacturing. This is a story of two companies and the world’s labor market. Foxconn and Apple look to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Ireland, and Asian countries that vie for the role of the cheapest and best labor markets in the world. Foxconn’s and much of Apple’s search and success as a tech company is based on finding the cheapest labor in the world for the manufacture of product. However, McGee explains how that view makes Apple and other international corporations vulnerable to the politics of nation-states that have a mix of economic and political agendas. McGee explains how politics can be a greater cost than benefit to a business enterprise because of nation-state’ politics.

The power of political leadership in business enterprise is on display in America today with Donald Trump and his doomed effort to return America to a 20th century manufacturing behemoth.

McGee’s story is about the impact of China’s government on Apple and Foxconn led by Tim Cook and Terry Gou. Tim Cook is the wunderkind hired by Steve Jobs before his death, and Terry Gou is the Taiwanese billionaire who founded Foxconn which is now headed by Young Liu who was educated in Taiwan and the United States.

Tim Cook (CEO of Apple Inc.)

McGee explains why and how Tim Cook became the CEO of Apple. Jobs who was known as a poor manager of people, needed a manager who emulated Jobs’ drive but understood how to manager an organization to become bigger while remaining profitable. Cook is characterized as someone who has a near photographic memory. His analysis of reports from subordinates could be used to advance company goals or change a subordinate’s understanding of anything they propose that is not practicable or goal focused. What McGee argues is that Tim Cook’s focus on the cost of manufacturing became an Achilles heel when he hires Foxconn to organize Apple’s iPhone manufacturing to be done mostly in one country, China.

To accomplish iPhone manufacture in China, Cook had to transfer thousands of American engineers to train laborers in the assembly of Apple products.

Cook needed a go-between which became Foxconn, a Taiwanese company that is the largest electronics labor contractor in the world. Foxconn is also China’s largest private-sector employer with over 800k employees. Foxconn employees assemble iPhones, semiconductors, and electronics for some of the largest American technology companies in the world, e.g. Apple, Microsoft, and Dell. Foxconn’s relationship with China is further complicated by the international relationship between Taiwan and China. Foxconn has built a lucrative business in the tech industry because of its labor intensity and the desire of tech companies to minimize overhead to improve their profits.

World trade has made Foxconn the leading international labor subcontractor in the world. They employ an estimated 800,000 employees in China alone.

The desire to bring Taiwan under the control of communist China is a background conflict between Xi and Terry Gou. It may be unlikely that Gou would ever be elected President of Taiwan, but his candidacy is a cloud of suspicion to knowledgeable Chinese, Taiwanese, and American leaders. McGee notes Foxconn’s tax audits and land-use investigations by Chinese authorities that some believe are politically motivated. Foxconn has been criticized for poor working conditions because of incidents of worker protests, suicides, and labor strikes. China’s posture on those working conditions is ambiguous and most American businesses are ignorant or uncaring. A China crackdown on labor conditions would have wide effects on the global tech industry.

For Apple to lower costs of iPhone assembly, Foxconn contracted China’s people at low wages, to support what would be unfair labor practices in America, to assemble iPhones.

This benefited Apple in the first years of their association with Foxconn in China. However, later in the transition President Xi spread false reports of poor and unfair warranty practices being offered Chinese consumers of Apple products. Contrary to Xi’s claims, McGee explains that Apple warranties were the same in China as they were throughout the world.

McGee infers politics were behind Xi’s false claims about iPhone warranties.

China’s economy benefited from Apple’s move for cheaper manufacturing costs. China gained an immense technology boost from the retraining of Chinese citizens by Apple’s experienced engineers. With iPhone manufacturing in China, Apple’s revenues rose from $24 billion in 2007 to $201 billion in 2022. Apple invested an estimated $275 billion in China’s economy over 5 years. However, with Xi’s lies and vilification of Apple’s warranty, Chinese smartphone giants like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo increased sales. One presumes, Tesla followed a similar cost and benefit reward with its labor and technology transfer to China’s electric vehicle manufacturers.

McGee notes the bad publicity for Apple in the Chinese market threatens Apple’s future in three ways.

One, its loss of sales in China, two, a significant change in low-cost manufacturing advantages with rising Chinese labor cost, and three, Apple’ technology transfer to Chinese companies. Add to those lost advantages is Apple’s relocation costs to another country for iPhone manufacture.

GENERAL GEORGE C. MARSHALL (1880-1959)

An interesting comparison McGee makes between Apple’s $275 billion investment in China for iPhone assembly is that it is more than double the amount used in the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after WWII.

McGee notes Apple has a supply chain vulnerability from the Chinese government’s relationship with key suppliers of iPhone components wherever they are assembled. “Apple in China” is a message to the entire world about the risks of technological relocation solely based on reducing costs of labor in a politically and culturally divided world. This is a book every employer should listen to or read.

SNARES

Being bad is a human characteristic, i.e., the desire for money, power, prestige, and sex are elemental parts of the human condition. They are the “Snares” of human life.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Snares (A Novel)

By: Rav Grewal-Kök

Narrated By:  Neil Shah

Rav Grewal-Kök (Author, “The Snares” is his first novel. Rav Grewal-Kök has written for The Atlantic, New England Review and won a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.)

“The Snares” is about a well-educated lawyer who feels like an American outsider struggling to become a success. His mother and father are Punjabi. He seems burdened by being a person of a different race and ethnicity in white America. That feeling is reinforced by the circumstances of his life. He is married to a woman who comes from a wealthy white American family. He is a lawyer at forty years of age that is offered a job by the CIA. His hope is that working for the CIA will be a career making move that will make him a success in his own eyes and in the opinion of his in-laws. The irony of Grewal-Kök’s story is that the CIA is not an avenue for success but a road to perdition. The author paints a picture of the CIA and FBI that makes a mockery of American ideals.

What Grewal-Kök shows is that American government employees are just like the general population.

All the prejudices and dishonesty of America (or any country) are as present in governments as in any organization of human beings. The difference is that government has wider societal influence than a singular business, or eleemosynary organization. Government is filled with all the social goodness and prejudice of the society in which it is designed to serve.

“The Snares” the author is writing about are the best and worst of what the American CIA represent. The author’s main character, Neel Chima, is interviewed for a job with the CIA. Chima is hired by the CIA during the George W. Bush administration. George W., considered a Republican conservative, is the first President to authorize drone strikes for targeted killing. President Bush approved the killing of 6 Yemeni’ men in Yemen for their attack on the USS Cole. What is often forgotten is that Barack Obama, a Democratic liberal, authorized between 400 and 600 drone strikes that killed an estimated 3,797 people, of which 300 to 400 were civilians.

Obama’s drone strikes were in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

One takes for granted that every drone strike is based on a careful examination of the human targets that are chosen. What Grewal-Kök implies is the CIA is something more than an intelligence service charged with collecting, analyzing and acting on foreign threats to America. As CIA operatives, these very human and well-educated government employees are pursuing a good life by stopping considered threats to America. Neel Chima is hired because the CIA officer in charge believes he can be an asset in the pursuit of foreign intelligence because of his ambition and life as a Punjabi American. However, Chima’s career ends in a state of turmoil, in part because of his own human vices but largely because of inept management by unscrupulous supervisors.

The snares that Grewal-Kök is referring to are “bad people” who are in powerful government positions. These bad government actors use their position to subvert newbies to their organization for actions that are contrary to ideals of the government agency for which they work. This is particularly dangerous in organizations like the CIA and FBI that are designed to interpret behaviors of potential criminals, i.e. not criminals in the act of crime but those who may or may not commit a crime.

J. Edgar Hoover led the FBI from 1924 to 1972.

The FBI arrested Americans suspected of being radicals during the Red Scare without due process. President Trump is doing the same thing with the arbitrary exportation of immigrants today. The FBI targeted Martin Luther King Jr. and tried to discredit him by closely surveilling, recording, and interpreting his activity. Hoover arguably collected secret files on politicians and famous Americans to aid his power and influence in government more than to reduce public corruption. The author infers the same is true in the CIA.

Grewal-Kök’s primary focus is on the CIA but the “Snares” of which he writes are the same that troubled the FBI. The CIA is creating files on other countries’ citizens with recommendations on actions to kill real and perceived enemies of America. Both conservative and liberal Presidents of the United States have used the CIA to kill foreign nationals. In 2o05 Abu Hamza Rabia was killed by a drone strike under George W. Bush’s administration. In 2006, the assassination of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was done in an airstrike under Bush. In 2011, Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. born cleric and Al-Qaeda figure was killed in Yemen by a drone strike under Obama’s administration. In the same year, Osama bin Laden is assassinated in a U.S. Navy Seal’ raid ordered by Obama. In 2020, Qasem Soleimani, a major general in Iran’s Islamic Guard was killed in a drone strike at the orders of the Trump administration. In 2022, a CIA drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan killed Ayman al-Zawahiri under President Biden.

WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

Even if all of these sanctioned murders by American Presidents have been justified, the story of “Snares” makes real–the potential for a bad or ambitious CIA agent to lie or inadvertently misconstrue the truth. Grewal-Kök explains how all human beings are subject to the “Snares” of life.

The character of Neel Chima is an everyman in America. His fall from grace is partly self-inflicted but accelerated by bad actors in the CIA. Being bad is a human characteristic, i.e., the desire for money, power, prestige, and sex are elemental parts of the human condition. They are the “Snares” of human life.

ARROGANCE

A President who only sees government as a cost and the wealthy as the nation’s only benefactors, compounds America’s inability to solve the problems of poverty with eviction being a preeminent symptom.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Evicted (Poverty and Profit in the American City)

By: Matthew Desmond

Narrated By:  Dion Graham

Matthew Desmond (Author, sociologist and a Pulitzer Prize winner, Professor of Sociology at Princeton.)

Matthew Desmond has written about American poverty in “Evicted”. There are two types of poverty. One is a worker who is not making enough money to be anything more than poor. The second kind of poor is grinding poverty where one must choose between having food to eat or a roof over one’s head. One who is poor can live in America, may get an education, find a job, and get along in life. However, those with too little money to eat and have shelter–live lives of desperation. Desmond’s book is about the latter to show how American society is failing desperate citizens. Desmond interviews several poor Americans that offer a clear understanding of the difference between being poor in America and being desperately poor in America.

Some argue America is the land of opportunity and if one cannot grasp opportunity, it is because they create their own problems.

“Land of opportunity” believers argue there are jobs in America and those who choose to beg for food rather than work deserve their fate. The truth is that many jobs in America do not pay enough for those who have jobs to pay rent and feed their families. Housing is expensive and affordable housing is not being produced in large enough quantities to reduce the costs of housing. Affordable housing is hard to build because many homeowners resist having it built in their neighborhoods. When land is found, it is often too expensive for the builder to make a profit with low rents. The cost of construction is often higher than it needs to be because of high land prices, building code requirements, or rezoning needed to allow multifamily housing.

Education in America is not meeting the needs of its citizens.

School availability is not well enough managed to ensure education for all who live in America. Sex education and contraception are being discouraged in school, which is a foolish, self-destructive societal mistake. Healthcare is too expensive for many Americans with low incomes which compounds the health problems of the poor who cannot afford either medical service or treatment. Grinding poverty causes some to seek relief through drugs which increases medical problems and further aggravates inequality being fed by an illicit industry that is growing in America. Drug abuse kills Americans in many ways; not the least of which is addiction and poverty.

The history of American income inequality is burdened by forms of racism and sexual discrimination that do not treat people equally.

Jobs are changing with automation and outsourcing of goods produced by an international economy. American government has failed to create policies that help those who need more help. As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, America has been incapable of solving the spread of poverty among its citizens.

In reading/listening to Desmond’s research, it seems like there is an American conspiracy making one of the wealthiest countries in the world incapable of solving the housing, education, and employment problems of its citizens.

A President who only sees government as a cost and the wealthy as the nation’s only benefactors, compounds America’s inability to solve the problems of poverty with eviction being a preeminent symptom.

US/CHINA

The inference one draws from Rudd’s book is that peaceful co-existence will only come from a recognition and acceptance of the cultural differences between American democratic capitalism and Chinese authoritarian capitalism.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Avoidable War? (The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and China)

By: Kevin Rudd

Narrated By: Kevin Rudd, Rafe Beckley

Kevin Rudd (Author, Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia. He is fluent in Mandarin and received honors in Chinese studies from the Australian National University.)

Kevin Rudd’s title, “The Avoidable War?” is a provocative book, evidenced by its audiobook title’s question mark. The greatest part of Rudd’s book has a neutral and non-committal view that almost makes one put the book down. However, Rudd’s knowledge of the languages of Chinese and English and his many diplomatic contacts with politicians in both cultures entice one to keep listening for a solution to fundamental differences. The last chapters of Rudd’s book are enlightening and have the ring of truth but imply irreconcilable cultures that make a question mark after the title of the book correct but unsatisfying.

Spheres of Influence.

The first part of Rudd’s book puts one off because it reinforces the aggressive warlike foreign policy beliefs of China and the U.S.

Rudd emphasizes China’s military buildup and its intent to expand its sphere of influence in the Pacific theater. Xi’s intention is to expand China’s power and influence. That intent gives one a sense of impending doom. One has to put that feeling aside to get to the last chapters of the book. Rudd explains the vulnerabilities of both America and China may avoid a nuclear war and its cataclysmic consequence but not offer peace.

XI JINPING (GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA AND PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.)

Rudd explains the history of Xi Jinping’s rise to power and his actions assure his continuation as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People’s Republic of China. Xi served in the People’s Liberation Army for three years, beginning in 1979. Xi earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1979. He pursued a Doctorate in Marxist Theory and Law while working in the government. Xi rose to power in 2012 with his appointment as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. He was elected by the National People’s Congress to the Presidency in 2013.

Rudd infers Xi is a committed believer in a socialist form of communism.

The picture of Xi that Rudd creates is of a leader who acknowledges the value of economic growth while firmly believing in a classless society that melds the strength of government authoritarianism with the skills of Chinese entrepreneurs. Xi maintains the direction of China’s economic growth by eliminating any political opposition from party members or influential entrepreneurs that get in the way of authoritarian socialist communism. Rudd believes Xi will be in power for many years to come.

The tariff war started by President Trump undoubtedly troubles Xi, but one doubts it will change Xi’s international frame of mind.

History has changed since Rudd wrote his book. In contrast to Xi who will likely be President for many years, America limits the office to two terms. This is particularly relevant to the authoritarian influence of Donald Trump in the next three plus years of his second term. Xi recognizes Trump will be replaced by a different President at the end of his last term in office. There will be negotiation on the tariffs, but Trump’s position is weakened by the limit of his term in office.

The faltering reduction of income for Chinese workers and families.

As noted by Rudd, the most important issues facing Xi’s administration is the reduction of income for Chinese workers and families. The immense improvements in average incomes of families in China came from its opening to capitalism which created a more socialist form of communism. That capitalist opening increases pressure on Xi to ameliorate Trump’s U.S. tariff policy. Putting aside President Trump’s false reasoning on creating an international tariff war, one hopes Xi’s need to grow the Chinese economy will aid Trump’s negotiation on tariffs.

Much of Rudd’s book is about China’s economic growth and its intent to acquire Taiwanese territory.

As is well known, the U.S. is ambivalent about Taiwan with many Americans who say “who cares” about their fate and others who believe every nation should be free to choose their own form of government. Now that China has experienced the value of introducing capitalism to communism, Taiwan would be a valuable addition to the Chinese economy. In the history of Mao’s defeat of Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War, Taiwan became an island nation in 1949. The nation of Taiwan was built by refugees from mainland China who chose to become an independent capitalist country that eschews communism.

CHIANG KAI-SHEK (CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF CHINA 1943-1948)

Taiwan’s growth as a tech giant has made them a capitalist economic success. Xi undoubtedly sees the potential of Taiwan’s economic benefit to China’s faltering economy. One concludes from Rudd’s book that the history of Chiang Kai-shek’s followers and their departure from China irks Xi, both from an historical as well as economic perspective.

The primary subject of Rudd’s book is the issue of war with China.

What Rudd is driving for is a rational appreciation of what America should do with the growing international power of China. Rudd implies China will become the equal, if not superior, of the American economy. He believes China will return to its former hegemonic influence, like that of its former dynasties. Rudd acknowledges Xi faces the immense task of returning China’s economy to its recent economic success. He implies Xi will succeed by carrying on with his view of how economic success can be returned with prudent authoritarian control of capitalism with the objective of creating a classless society idealized by communism.

The fundamental point Rudd is making is that China has a culture founded on authoritarianism and chooses to use capitalism in a way that is not democratic.

The surveillance technology of today allows Xi and future China rulers to influence Chinese culture in ways beyond the theoretical interest of democratic governments. The inference one draws from Rudd’s book is that peaceful co-existence will only come from a recognition and acceptance of the cultural differences between American democratic capitalism and Chinese authoritarian capitalism.