[quote=“Taiwan Luthiers”]Europe and America are unsustainable… President Obama is raising taxes, imposing all kinds of stupid laws (as a knee jerk reaction) and not really addressing the root of their problem, and Europe invariably follows America whatever their economic policy may be. EU is still facing that debt problem and it’s definitely not the paradise that many Taiwanese think it is, not to mention it is very very hard to get a job there.
China may not be such a bad idea but I really need to think this through, and even if I decide to want to go there, how can I get in? Can a Taiwanese simply show up and find a job? Or do I need to work for a crappy Taiwanese boss for a few years before I can jump?[/quote]
I disagree, Europe does not follow America. Europe is much more socialist (even the UK, which is probably the closest nation to us, is far to the left of America, Obama’s policies in most European nations would be considered “right wing”).
Europe is not hard to get a job, let me tell you a secret. I lived in and worked in Switzerland, one of the most competitive economies and “hard to get in” places. I worked in IT and wages were very high, I made 50% more than I made in the U.S. for the same type of position. Why? They don’t let in Asians (especially Indians) which tend to drop the wages (as they do in Singapore, where IT non-upper level managements jobs pay like shit).
It is just hidden racism, there is a lot of anti-foreign backlash, a lot of Western Europeans don’t even like the Eastern European (EU) legal immigrants, let alone a lot of Middle Easterns, North Africans, and Asians. Switzerland is the first place that I worked, with no Asians. None. IN America, I always worked with Asians, especially Indians from Tamilnadu.
I’m not white, but I"m American, and I was told by many recruiters, 'it is easier for an American to get a work visa than a Chinese or Indian"…that’s the reality right now. Yes, the economy also sucked, I lived there 1.5 years ago…when things were not great, but not as bad as today. Europeans, on average, still live at a higher living standard than Taiwanese (well maybe not the Portuguese or Southern Italians, Greeks) but most of Western Europe does. They are not suffering as much as the news makes it out.
My complaint with Taiwan is it does not have to copy the U.S. or Europe, but when America was at it’s best in the 1950’s and 1960’s…it was still better than Taiwan, because almost 50 years before that Americans made strong labor unions, often fought (physically) with hired thugs from corporations trying to break up strikes,
Still, compare Taiwan to Asia. When I first visited Taiwan in 2002, it was richer than Korea, but now poorer. Why? They did not diversify their economy. Taiwan is a one or two “trick pony” they got good at “one or two things” and then stopped. They became the best in the world at semi-conductor technology, and they did a lot of OEM export to Japan, the West, (and now China). Then they sat on their ass and didn’t develop many of their own brands like South Korea. The entire economy was and is still built off of cheap labor and they are losing competitiveness every year to Southeast Asia and China. If you don’t build your own brands like Korea, you will never own the entire market chain, that is where the money is “design”, not manufacturing someone else’s stuff. Yes I know, Taiwan has Asus, Acer, HTC…but not much else, if you compare that to similar sized countries in Europe, it is not saying much.
My belief is this is the difference between Chinese culture and Japanese and Korean culture. Japanese and Koreans trust each other and have real national pride. They will build large companies with economy of scale, make and support their own brands. The government will work closely with their corporations to help them compete. Not in Taiwan.
In Taiwan, it is a small but more sophisticated China. NO one trust each other, so few businesses can grow beyond a “family level”. People don’t want to take risk, they want the easy way, it is easy to make someone’s established product than develop your own, that is the “quick money”…and keep it all in the family…only trust your family, don’t expand your business beyond. Everyone wants to be boss [老闆], but no one has a clue how to manage [管理]…all micromanagement and stupid useless rule making to show their power and control 權力和控制, so everyone can 
But what are they really accomplishing, Taiwan’s efficiency per work hour is lower than almost every nation in the West, because the management style is asinine.
If I were Taiwanese I would study closely what Western people did in the 19th and early 20th century to demand and implement better working conditions. Don’t tell me it is not possible or not a good idea, thanks to these Western people, who literally fought and died in strikes, demanded their rights in court the idea of a 5 day work weak, vacation time, paid holidays, etc is a universal global standards in any developed nation. Taiwanese can do more, but they have to be more aggressive.
As far as working in China, there are many Taiwanese and Chinese companies. You are Chinese, look into it, there is plenty of info…ask people…use your 關係 (kuanhsi), if not…apply for jobs and talk to recruiters, do something many Taiwanese never do "think outside the box [條條框框].
So many Taiwanese have told me they loved some country in Europe or America, or they studied there, and they think those places are the way they are because they are “rich”, but they don’t understand this is false. These nations were not always rich, they are the way they are because of their culture, and that made them rich. Unfortunately a lot of those same nations forgot the lessons that made them rich, and you are right, have put themselves in a bad situation. :neutral:
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