back to article China, an untapped land of opportunity for the West - EXCEPT IBM

IBM's third-quarter earnings for 2013 missed estimates by a billion dollars, thanks to an ugly environment in China and continuing weakness in the company's hardware division. The technology giant reported a net income of $4bn from revenues of $23.7bn on Wednesday, representing a rise in profits by 5.7 percent on the same …

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  1. cyke1

    "thanks to an ugly environment in China and continuing weakness in the company's hardware division."

    From the images I seen from china, Ugly environment is a bit of an understatement. When your rivers are redder then the register logo and a bunch of other colors, throw on top of it their major city's during the day can't even see half a km cause how thick the pollution is. Yea china is pretty screwed but serves them right for stealing job's like they do.

    1. rcorrect
      Unhappy

      "serves them right for stealing job's like they do"

      Not really. Just like voting for idiots, we make the decision to purchase items made in China. And nobody deserves those kind of living conditions.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "serves them right for stealing job's like they do"

        we make the decision to purchase items made in China.

        There I was thinking the governments of emerging economies were responsible for the poor living and working conditions of their people, because they won't implement the necessary legislation to force decent working/living conditions. As it would have massive cost implications and thus slow down their economic growth, making them only able to compete on price fairly with other countries whos businesses have similar cost bases... when all along it was my fault for conforming to the capitalist ideals of buying at the best price/performance/functionality balance I could get.

        1. cyke1

          Re: "serves them right for stealing job's like they do"

          their gov is just corrupt to the point makes the US gov look like choir boys.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "serves them right for stealing job's like they do"

          When companies behave in their own selfish economic interest, they are merely responding to market forces in a capitalist system. When individuals do it, they are unethical bastards exploiting and oppressing the world's poor. Simple, really.

        3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

          Re: "serves them right for stealing job's like they do"

          There I was thinking the governments of emerging economies were responsible for the poor living and working conditions of their people, because they won't implement the necessary legislation to force decent working/living conditions. As it would have massive cost implications and thus slow down their economic growth, making them only able to compete on price fairly with other countries whos businesses have similar cost bases... when all along it was my fault for conforming to the capitalist ideals of buying at the best price/performance/functionality balance I could get.

          > because they won't implement the necessary legislation to force decent working/living conditions

          The bastards. Not pricing themselves out of the low-productivity labour marketplace so that they can enjoy the same fat-arse benefits that every member of European Commission enjoys here? Who do they think they are?

          > making them only able to compete on price fairly with other countries whos businesses have similar cost bases

          Whenever I hear "fairly" I know that utter ignorance is not far away.

          > when all along it was my fault for conforming to the capitalist ideals of buying at the best price/performance/functionality balance I could get

          And that is what you should do. Buying the same quality of materials abroad instead of making them in more expensive fashion locally frees you up for more interesting jobs. Of course, if you are dumb enough to insist on competing in market for low-priced shoes using local labour and reglementation horrors, well... good luck.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "serves them right for stealing job's like they do"

            Whenever I hear "fairly" I know that utter ignorance is not far away.

            Was that irony?

            Or did you genuinely miss my point entirely?

            Of course, if you are dumb enough to insist on competing in market for low-priced shoes using local labour and reglementation horrors, well... good luck.

            Ah I see, you did miss my point entirely.

            I suppose I could make it clearer for the more simple minded amongst us... but to be honest I can't be arsed. Sorry.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: "serves them right for stealing job's like they do"

              The entire Western world was built on the same fundamentals as China: cheap labour. As recently as the 1950s we had smog in London that was bad enough to kill people. The M1 was built by Irish navvies who lived in tents and had to suffer "No Irish" signs in windows of local businesses. We also went around the world, taking over countries and using their resources, just like the Chinese are doing in Africa just now.

              The difference is, China isn't turning up in Africa with troops like we did. They're coming with money to invest in infrastructure. In China, those people who are working for peanuts are managing to educate their children, who will demand higher wages.

              The parallels with the Industrial Revolution are obvious. The main difference is the speed at which it's happening, which reflects the technology of today. Yes, conditions are deplorable and certainly not up to standards we expect in the West. But my grandfather worked as a minor at the same age I was beginning to learn French vocabulary. It wasn't that long ago.

              Telling the Chinese it was OK for us to do this, but not OK for them is two-faced and arrogant.

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Muh Jobs!!!

      > stealing job's

      First it's "jobs". And jobs cannot be stolen, except in the mind of The Entitled Ones Who Know Nothing About Economics But Want to Raise a Good Socialistic Scare (Lump Of Labor Fallacy)

      No jobs? Government destroyed the private economy through money printing? The rest is at the government's teat or playing soldier?

      Must be China.

  2. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    A Purely Rhetorical Question of Course and Right on Course

    cyke1,

    Do you think the Chinese have broken the Western capitalist codec and are now freely exploiting its catastrophic inherent vulnerabilities for absolutely fabulous gains?

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