Quote Originally Posted by BlueCat

from a chinese news paper....

It is assumed by many that one day China leading East Asia will simply walk over and totally surpass the old decadent West, and ascend to global supremacy. The United States will turn inward out of fear of domination, and along with their European compatriots leave the world to the rule of Asian powers, notably China. This view is shared by many within China....
Do you have a link to the full text of this newspaper article? I'd like to read who is saying this and when it was written. The language used, "decadent West", sounds more like something written in the 60's, not today. In any case I would seriously like to read this.

I do agree that the rapid rise is China's economy is going to have a major effect on the other major economies of the world. This in inevitable. You can not have a population of 1/3 billion and consistant double, or nearly double, digit economic growth without having some effect, good or bad, on the rest of the world. As far as an "economic take over" is concerned, however, China is still a long way off.

A lot of people have been shaken up by the recent attempts by Chinese companies to buy Maytag and Unocal. They see this as an attempt of China to take over our economy. China's total worldwide direct investment, however, is still far behind the U.S. direct investment in China alone. Here's an interesting article from, of all places, the Christian Science Monitor,

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0630/p17s01-cogn.html

It is highly unlikely that China will ever "own everything" or even a significant percentage of "everything". Certainly not in our lifetime. Anyone who believes this might as well go hide with Pisshead in his cabin and wait for the Fed's to bust down the door.

U.S. jobs being lost to cheap Chinese labor is a more realistic concern but this too, is inevitable. It simply follows certain domestic and international economic principles that are highly unlikely to change. People like to point the finger at American corporations for raking in huge profits from this while forgetting that they too are benefitting. What would happen if all of these jobs suddenly came back to the U.S.? Skyrocketing inflation, that's what. The increased cost of having an American worker produce them would cause the prices of these goods to increase to the point that most coud no longer afford them. Second, the additional money pumped into the economy from these new jobs would cause further inflation. Workers will now demand more money to pay for the increasing cost of goods resulting in more inflation. People say its a small price to pay to have the jobs back but really, how many of us want to pay $20.00 for a fucking McDonalds happy meal?

What will most likely happen is that China will gain in certain areas that is is strong but fall behind in others. Although it may be painful at first the U.S. will adjust accordingly and will gain in areas where we are strong. This isn't a bad thing though as it pushes us to be better rather than accept complacency. This has been going on for hundreds of years folks. Different players on different teams but its been happening none the less.

And, if you're still concerned, I'll be happy to offer to teach you how to speak Chinese.....