Reviews for Andes in Focus: Security, Democracy, and Economic Reform

The average rating for Andes in Focus: Security, Democracy, and Economic Reform based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-03-11 00:00:00 Mark Calamusa This is an excellent book on the subject of the economic miracle in China and what lies underneath this miracle that enables the seemingly eternal low cost products from China. Alexandra harney has done extensive research, delving deep into the real price of the low-cost goods from China and comes out with startling revelations. Unlike other books on 'the China price', Harney is very balanced and fair in her analysis and investigations and conclusions. She speaks both Mandarin and Japanese and has lived many years in Hong Kong. This enables her to do justice to the subject. In short, the picture that emerges about the Chinese economic miracle is as follows: Western multinationals put intense pressure on getting the best quality thing as soon as possible for the lowest price from the Chinese factories. This pressure, combined with the Chinese govt's pressure on local govts to increase growth, local govt corruption and slack adherence to labor laws or working conditions results in factory managers exploiting workers with low wages, hazardous working conditions and harassment and fear, delivers the product at the 'China price'. The pressure is high on the factories because there are any number of factories in coastal China manufacturing the same product and Western companies will gravitate towards the lowest price for the same quality. Strict adherence to international working conditions or even Chinese laws will only result in the cost of production going up thereby making the factory lose market share and eventually close down. So, there is constant pressure on factories to cut corners, on the part of local administrators to overlook labor law violations through bribery and on the part of multinationals to relax while auditing these companies. In fact, professional organizations have come up in China which help factories falsify records so that they can pass the audit. It is widespread. Another technique is to have a 'model' factory that passes the audit while the real production occurs in shadow factories (unrecorded) where violation of labor laws are rampant. Alexandra Harney discusses extensively the auditing process and why it has failed to stop these practices so far. Apparently, 90% of all Chinese factories falsify their records. It is 60% in Vietnam and Bangladesh while 30% in India. But she also gives some hope of how things may change due to the second generation of Chinese workers demanding better pay, working conditions, health care and reasonable working hours. All this will eventually push the China price up making the multinationals think anew or move to newer places. She ends the book with the soul-searching words: "In the end, as much as the responsibility lies with Beijing, it also lies with the global consumer. Our appetite for the $30 DVD player and the $3 T-shirt keep jewellery factories filled with dust, illegal mines open and 16-year olds working past midnight. We all pay the China price". The book is a must read.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-16 00:00:00 Jason Herrera Thanks to War Room Pandemic, a pod cast hosted by the one and only Stephen K. Bannon, he constantly has great authors on the show to talk about the books they have written pertaining to the dangers of China. This is my second one to date and they don't disappoint. America has sold its soul in order to get cheap items from slave labor with little to zero thought into what it is we are really purchasing. The China Price is real, and it's killing us slowly, if we don't snap out of our dependency on China after this SARS 2/COVID-19 fiasco I believe we are doomed to play supplicant to the CCP for a very long time. The manufacturing independence we had post WW2 is what this country needs in order to keep them at bay, otherwise we will wind up paying the ultimate price, that's how serious this problem is. The China Price is Great book and definitely worth reading.