Crisis in China Could Devastate the U.S.

[CHIMO]

China's rapid economic development is the most amazing story of the past decade -- just as the collapse of the Soviet Union and Russia's slide into irrelevance was the main historical event of the previous 10 years.

Until the mid-1980s, Russia and China vied for the supremacy of their respective brands of communism. Then, in the early 1990s, the focus of the rivalry shifted to the best model for transition to the free market.

After the Russian default in 1998, it became accepted wisdom that the Soviet Union should have delayed democratization, reforming its economy along Chinese lines first. The rollback of democracy and reassertion of the role of the state under President Vladimir Putin can be seen in this light as a shift toward the Chinese model.

As recently as at the turn of the century, Russia still seemed to be in the running. Even now, Chinese gross domestic product remains low on a per capita basis, and many Russians retain a sense of superiority toward everything Chinese, from goods to people. But the race for economic supremacy is over. After 25 years of annual growth averaging nearly 10 percent, China's economy on a purchasing-power-parity basis is approaching $10 trillion, gaining inexorably on that of the United States. Its annual exports have increased sixfold in the past decade alone and measure close to $1 trillion.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/12/11/006.html

[sam sarrha]

1. it is time to quit feeding that monster our factory's and jobs. the factories are sent there and the...

can not come back.. we have 2 shoe factories left here.. if the dragon cut us off we would be a 3rd world country in a week. and no tools to make our own clothes and no way to even make the tools needed to recover

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I fear you are right

and the idiots in charge of things won't realize it until it is too late.

[madrchsod]

2. some very sobering observations on today`s china

this is rather long but very good summation of china.

http://www.bunniestudios.com/wordpress/?p=134
bunnie’s blog » Blog Archive » Adventures with the Venture Communist

[bigluckyfeet]

4. The Next Thing Is

We will have to fight it.

[Warpy]

5. The follow up post is very instructive

as Bunnie backs up from the outrageous claim that no religion means no sexual morality.

Thank goodness.

The real problem in China, one that they're going to have to deal with very soon or face another revolution, is the disparity in wealth between the people who grow the food and the people who are fueling the manufacturing economy and benefiting from it. The rural poor (and they are incredibly poor) have gotten few benefits and have even more, like health care, taken away by a privatized, for profit system.

Unrest is already happening, especially in industrialized areas where farmers are being poisoned by pollution. Right now, they're managing to keep it repressed. However, given the sheer number of people who have seen no economic benefit and have seen a lot of damage from supporting an emerging plutocrat class, they won't be able to keep it down forever.

[troubleinwinter]

6. It's right here. Do NOT miss this video!

"Ha ha ha, America"

http://www.atomfilms.com/film/haha_america.jsp?channelKeyword=channel_politics_society

From the Sundance Festival.