DIYbanter - View Single Post

In article ,
says...
But there's a little man in my
head that does wonder sometimes if something unforseen and terrible
could come out of a really big and really rich communist/capitalist
hybrid with 1.3 billion people.

Absolutely! But it won't be solved by chiding people to boycott Google
or to stop buying Chinese products at Wal-Mart. No matter how strongly
the case against buying from China is made, people will continue to buy
at record rates.

Doing something about it requires the US policy makers to recognize that
the country is sleepwalking into disaster, and must make smart and tough
changes to head it off.

To me, the biggest problem is that the government and consumers are
spending the US into debt at an unsustainable rate, and enriching China
every step of the way.

1) The US administration is spending more than it collects in taxes, and
borrowing from China (and others) to finance deficits.

2) The US-China trade deficit is gargantuan! American consumers are
buying goods at a record pace from China, financing the growth of
China's manufacturing and military might. Basically, the USA is paying
the Chinese to overtake it.

It has often been observed that native Americans gave away their land to
sharp European traders for a few beads and trinkets. This looks like
the 21st century version of the same game, only this time, the Chinese
are the sharp traders.

Google censorship and buying Chinese goods at Wal-Mart are irrelevant
distractions compared to this. What's needed is BIG, across-the-board
changes to government policy. IMHO, a smart and gutsy 2nd term US
President would be addressing this problem now, not waiting until
everyone and his dog thinks it's serious. But since the needed changes
would require pain and sacrifice, the ruling party (whether R or D)
won't act until they think it will help them win the next election, so I
wouldn't bet on anything much happening until it's too late. This is
the major weakness of democracy -- we don't respond to problems until
they balloon into crises. China doesn't have that problem.

Rick