Posted on 07/07/2009 3:45:33 PM PDT by Starman417
While countries struggle, muddling their way through stimulus packages and bailouts, China is being touted as everything from, “the best current place to invest,” to being, “the engine that will pull the globe out of its recession.” These entreaties and prognostications are sprinkled with reminders of the power it wields over America, given the huge dollar reserves that it holds. If I may quote Tony Soprano, “forget about it.”
China has asked rather politely, that the U.S. maintain its creditworthiness. No kidding? That plea was less a wish that the U.S. not skip town on its debt (devalue the dollar dramatically), than it was a declaration of a deep desire for a return to excessive U.S. borrowing. When the U.S. borrowed, it bought. When it bought, China prospered. This is rather basic, however, what is not so evident, or obvious to many pundits and experts, it seems, is the fact that China became inebriated through the glory days of consumerism. China now suffers the consequences of its acquiescence to a surety that the intoxicating euphoria enjoyed around the globe for a generation, would never end.
China understood that to become America’s principal provider of goods, it had to manufacture less expensively than anyone else. China excelled at squeezing productivity out of its labor force. It rapidly implemented a sweeping expansion of the necessary infrastructure to manufacture products faster, better (sometimes), and cheaper (always). New plants sprouted at an unprecedented rate. China’s expansion of its machine was based on an enormous assumption - the rate of growth it was enjoying through exports would continue unabated. It is now shutting down plants faster than it opened them. The capacity that was preparing for demand twenty years out, is now shutting down, and the Chinese are not about to ramp up their own consumption to energize reopening of the plants. While China has become a major manufacturer, the majority of its manufacturing is for, and on behalf of foreigners, selling established brands. China’s authoritarian “system” has made the creation and recognition of its own brands, all but impossible.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...
Sorry, correct link
Nevermind....fixed the original one. Back to your regular scheduled programming.
China has a huge problem of population implosion that will start to hit in the early twenties. They have had a real problem managing growth, now they will have to start managing an aging and shrinking population. The Chinese government won the war against Chinese children...
We will see if an autocratic government can manage a more or less liberal economy without losing its gip.
We will see if an autocratic government can manage a more or less liberal economy without losing its gip.
We will see if an autocratic government can manage a more or less liberal economy without losing its gip.
To which country are you referring -- the US or China?
The only way this will be China’s century is if the idiot in the White House manages to destroy our economy. Oh, wait...never mind. It’s China’s century
<<They have had a real problem managing growth, now they will have to start managing an aging and shrinking population.
I’m pretty sure the entire goal of their one-child policy was to stifle or even reverse population growth. China, despite all the media hype, is still pretty poor and has all sorts of problems associated with overpopulation - not enough food or fresh water, too much garbage and pollution, lots of environmental destruction, crowded and dirty cities, lack of services, etc. Although cruel and immoral, throttling population growth probably prevented China from going down the same path as most African countries with their gigantic population growth and absolutely chaotic social, political, and living conditions.
Yep that was the goal and they acheived it, but the management of population decrease can be worse than increase. Who pays for the retirement of all parents and grandparents? We in the US are about to find out and that is with slight population growth.
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