NYT: Two Faces of China (will be world's biggest producer and market)

[DeepModem Mom]

The Two Faces of China
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: December 6, 2004


UANGZHOU, China

FEW business executives watch the growth of the Chinese economy as closely as Michael R. P. Smith, the chief executive of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Yet even Mr. Smith was startled when his staff recently projected that in 2034, bank assets in China would surpass those in the United States.

"When I saw that, I said, 'That can't be right,' and I went back to the economics guys," who confirmed the projection, Mr. Smith recalled.

Much the same surprise is cropping up in industry after industry and in country after country. From steel to oil to cars to credit cards, China is poised to become the world's biggest producer and market for many goods and services.

Along the way, China has come to terrify many foreign business executives and attract others - and sometimes both at the same time, depending on whether they see the country as a competitor, a cheap source of supply, a market, or all three....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/06/business/businessspecial2/06main.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1102327807-G8qfDVC5PLknuXoJLuK6yQ

[cornermouse]

1. Why would Mr. Smith be surprised?

They have our jobs. They have our market. And if people looked around, they'd probably discover that China also has a substantial amount of our commercial real estate.

What else is left?

[cassiepriam]

2. china is the one to watch........nt

[The Zanti Regent]

3. Another Stupid Attack from the Screw York Times!

Does anyone at the Screw York Times have the ability to count past 10 without taking off their socks and shoes?

I've said it before and I will continue to reiterate this--China is the future. China is going to surpass us and it WON'T be in 2034, it's going to ba a lot sooner especially if the bible thumping Jesusistas keep spilling the red ink and destrouing our public schools.

The Jesusistas have made it clear that they want to eliminate all textbooks except the Bible. They want students to go back to the middle ages and debate how many angels dance on the head of a pin. Science, who needs that? The Jesusistas say that is the work of the DEVIL.

So we make kids study the bible in schools, and dumb down everything else.

MEANWHILE, China is going to the moon and will get there by 2015. THey intend to go to Mars by 2035 and they will get there. China will be the cutting edge for science and technology.

US? well, we'll be a fourth world nation. economically dead, but dammit, we got Jesus and will still believe in that rapture, peak oil will come and we'll collapse. We'll still be stupid enough to beleive the Rapture garbage, but I guarantee, Jesus won't put food on the table, pay bills or put a roof over your head. We'll be even more of a laughing stock to the world than we are now!

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JNelson6563]

10. You miscomprehended

I think the poster was referring to fundies, no Jesus. I agree with the point.

Julie

[underthedome]

12. A little to simplified to just blame "the fundies"

It's not a reasonable explanation.

[JNelson6563]

9. A friend of mine taught in China

and he tells me that the little ones are taught this song where they sing something along the lines of "they laugh at us now but one day we will rule the world". Indoctrination at an early age of such an idea, carried throughout their lifetimes, you can bet they are thinking long term and thinking big over there.

Howard Dean was so right when he said we won't always be the biggest and strongest. Of course they didn't paly well with arrogant America...

Julie

[David__77]

4. Wonderful news!

I think this is a good thing and it only makes sense. They have the largest population. They should develop to the point that their economy is the largest. They are science-centered and development-driven. China has made tremendous strides, and when it successfully brings development to the interior of the country and modernizes the agricultural sector, they will have won their fight. Already, the coastal regions have Italy-like per capita GDP levels. And GDP is not a good measure of living standards either for a country like China, in which much housing, health care and other services are provided by state measures that don't figure in GDP.

[mainer]

5. The US has peaked. It's downhill from here.

And it has a lot to do with education. Specifically, science education. Our country has backslid into superstition and magical beliefs. More people than ever believe in Genesis, not evolution. More and more Baptists are sending their children to religious schools (our own version of madrassahs) to avoid secular public education -- thereby depriving their children of the very foundation for understanding science. Few Americans travel to foreign countries, instead living in a fantasy world that there is nowhere better in the world than the good ol' godfearing U.S.A., and no damn facts are gonna change their minds, no sirree.

Remember the Kennedy years, post Sputnik? Every public school was pushing science education, and we turned out a generation of students literate in math and science. Now it's Asia that's turning out science-literate kids, Asia where stem cell research is in the forefront.

While we wallow in endless debate over something so BASIC as evolution.

[leesa]

6. I'm sorry, but why would anyone, particularly a supposed

economist, be surprised by this information??

[lanlady]

8. my question exactly!

Why is that so many economists nowadays seem surprised by the numbers, whether it's China's growth, latest US jobless figures, or falling consumer confidence? Even to non-economists it's obvious that China is positioning itself as the next great economic power, at the expense of US and European workers.

I'm no Leninist but Lenin did say one very true thing: the capitalist will sell you the rope with which you will hang him.

[VegasWolf]

11. What an idiot? This guy is an economist. China as the world's

largest producer and consumer is firing on all
cylinders. Euro's for Christmas?