I found the following article to be quite interesting & thought I'd post here to see what some of you proletarians thought.
19th Century Americans
"Thank you, Hu Jintao, and thank you, China," said Hugo
Chavez, as he announced a $20 billion loan from Beijing,
to be repaid in Venezuelan oil.
The Chinese just threw Chavez a life-preserver. For
Venezuela is reeling from 25 percent inflation, government-
induced blackouts to cope with energy shortages and an
economy that shrank by 3.3 percent in 2009.
Where did China get that $20 billion? From us. From
consumers at Wal-Mart. That $20 billion is 1 percent of
the $2 trillion in trade surpluses Beijing has run up with
the United States over two decades. Beijing is using its
trillions of dollars in reserves, piled up from exports to
America, to cut deals to lock up strategic resources for
the coming struggle with the United States for hegemony in
Asia and the world.
She has struck multibillion-dollar deals with Sudan,
Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran and Australia to secure
a steady supply of oil, gas and vital minerals to maintain
the 10-12 percent annual growth China has been racking up
since Deng Xiaoping dispensed with Maoism and set his
nation out on the capitalist road.
China has dozens of nuclear power plants under construct-
ion, has completed the Three Gorges Dam -- the largest
power source on earth -- and is tying the nation together
with light rail, bullet trains and highways in infrastruct-
ure projects unlike any the world has ever seen.
Contrast what China is doing with what we are about. We
have declared vast regions of our country, onshore and
offshore, off-limits to drilling for oil and gas. We have
not built a nuclear power plant in 30 years or a refinery
in 25 years. We have declared war on fossil fuels to save
the planet from global warming.
Given the power of the environmental lobby to tie up
projects in endless litigation, we could never today
build our Interstate Highway System, Hoover Dam, the
TVA or the Union Pacific Railroad.
Determined to take America's title as the world's first
manufacturing nation, as she has taken Germany's title as
the world's leading exporter, China keeps her currency
undervalued and demands of those who sell to China that
they also produce in China. As America's share of the
world economy steadily falls, China's share has doubled.
This year, China will overtake Japan as the world's
second-largest economy.
Having seen the Soviet Union disintegrate into 15 nations
and fearing the ethno-nationalism of Tibetans and Uighurs,
Beijing floods her border provinces with Han Chinese.
America, declaring racial, ethnic and religious diversity
a strength, invites the world to come and swamp its native-
born. And mostly poor, unskilled and uneducated, they are
coming by the millions.
China puts savings ahead of spending, production ahead of
consumption, manufacturing ahead of finance. Embracing
free trade, Americans declare that it makes no difference
who produces what, where. What's good for the Global
Economy is good for America.
Before the financial collapse, the U.S. savings rate stood
at zero percent of family income. In China, it ranged
between 35 percent and 50 percent.
Since the Cold War, the United States has been playing
empire -- intervening to punish evil-doers and advance
democracy in Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo,
Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.
We have expanded NATO to include Eastern Europe, the Baltic
States and much of the Balkan Peninsula. We have not let a
single alliance lapse from the Cold War. And we have fewer
friends and more adversaries than at the end of the Cold
War. What has all this intervention availed us?
China, having fought no one, has rapidly built up her
military power and developed ties to the growing number of
nations at odds with America, from Russia to Iran to Sudan
to Venezuela.
The Chinese of 2010 call to mind 19th century Americans who
shoved aside Mexicans, Indians and Spanish to populate a
continent, build a mighty nation, challenge the British
Empire -- superpower of the day -- and swiftly move past
her in manufacturing to become first nation on earth. Men
were as awed by America then as they are by China today.
America seems a declining superpower. She cannot defend her
borders, balance her budgets or win her wars. Her education-
al system at the primary and secondary level is a shambles.
In the first decade of the century, she lost one of every
three manufacturing jobs. In this second decade, she is
looking at trillion-dollar deficits to 2020. The world is
losing confidence in her ability to manage her surging
national debt.
While we are finally extricating ourselves after seven
years from an unnecessary war in Iraq, we are heading
deeper into an Afghan war that has lasted a decade, the
end of which it is impossible to see.
During the Cold War, China was in the grip of a millenarian
ideology that blinded her to her true interests. Today,
it is we who are captive to a utopian ideology that is
becoming perilous to the republic.
-------------------------------------------------------
Any thoughts on the future?
Do you agree with the observations & correlations made in the article?
19th Century Americans
"Thank you, Hu Jintao, and thank you, China," said Hugo
Chavez, as he announced a $20 billion loan from Beijing,
to be repaid in Venezuelan oil.
The Chinese just threw Chavez a life-preserver. For
Venezuela is reeling from 25 percent inflation, government-
induced blackouts to cope with energy shortages and an
economy that shrank by 3.3 percent in 2009.
Where did China get that $20 billion? From us. From
consumers at Wal-Mart. That $20 billion is 1 percent of
the $2 trillion in trade surpluses Beijing has run up with
the United States over two decades. Beijing is using its
trillions of dollars in reserves, piled up from exports to
America, to cut deals to lock up strategic resources for
the coming struggle with the United States for hegemony in
Asia and the world.
She has struck multibillion-dollar deals with Sudan,
Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran and Australia to secure
a steady supply of oil, gas and vital minerals to maintain
the 10-12 percent annual growth China has been racking up
since Deng Xiaoping dispensed with Maoism and set his
nation out on the capitalist road.
China has dozens of nuclear power plants under construct-
ion, has completed the Three Gorges Dam -- the largest
power source on earth -- and is tying the nation together
with light rail, bullet trains and highways in infrastruct-
ure projects unlike any the world has ever seen.
Contrast what China is doing with what we are about. We
have declared vast regions of our country, onshore and
offshore, off-limits to drilling for oil and gas. We have
not built a nuclear power plant in 30 years or a refinery
in 25 years. We have declared war on fossil fuels to save
the planet from global warming.
Given the power of the environmental lobby to tie up
projects in endless litigation, we could never today
build our Interstate Highway System, Hoover Dam, the
TVA or the Union Pacific Railroad.
Determined to take America's title as the world's first
manufacturing nation, as she has taken Germany's title as
the world's leading exporter, China keeps her currency
undervalued and demands of those who sell to China that
they also produce in China. As America's share of the
world economy steadily falls, China's share has doubled.
This year, China will overtake Japan as the world's
second-largest economy.
Having seen the Soviet Union disintegrate into 15 nations
and fearing the ethno-nationalism of Tibetans and Uighurs,
Beijing floods her border provinces with Han Chinese.
America, declaring racial, ethnic and religious diversity
a strength, invites the world to come and swamp its native-
born. And mostly poor, unskilled and uneducated, they are
coming by the millions.
China puts savings ahead of spending, production ahead of
consumption, manufacturing ahead of finance. Embracing
free trade, Americans declare that it makes no difference
who produces what, where. What's good for the Global
Economy is good for America.
Before the financial collapse, the U.S. savings rate stood
at zero percent of family income. In China, it ranged
between 35 percent and 50 percent.
Since the Cold War, the United States has been playing
empire -- intervening to punish evil-doers and advance
democracy in Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo,
Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.
We have expanded NATO to include Eastern Europe, the Baltic
States and much of the Balkan Peninsula. We have not let a
single alliance lapse from the Cold War. And we have fewer
friends and more adversaries than at the end of the Cold
War. What has all this intervention availed us?
China, having fought no one, has rapidly built up her
military power and developed ties to the growing number of
nations at odds with America, from Russia to Iran to Sudan
to Venezuela.
The Chinese of 2010 call to mind 19th century Americans who
shoved aside Mexicans, Indians and Spanish to populate a
continent, build a mighty nation, challenge the British
Empire -- superpower of the day -- and swiftly move past
her in manufacturing to become first nation on earth. Men
were as awed by America then as they are by China today.
America seems a declining superpower. She cannot defend her
borders, balance her budgets or win her wars. Her education-
al system at the primary and secondary level is a shambles.
In the first decade of the century, she lost one of every
three manufacturing jobs. In this second decade, she is
looking at trillion-dollar deficits to 2020. The world is
losing confidence in her ability to manage her surging
national debt.
While we are finally extricating ourselves after seven
years from an unnecessary war in Iraq, we are heading
deeper into an Afghan war that has lasted a decade, the
end of which it is impossible to see.
During the Cold War, China was in the grip of a millenarian
ideology that blinded her to her true interests. Today,
it is we who are captive to a utopian ideology that is
becoming perilous to the republic.
-------------------------------------------------------
Any thoughts on the future?
Do you agree with the observations & correlations made in the article?
