Walt,
It seems that China learned fast, from a game that US used to be quite good
at and still is. You only have to look at the post WWII economic and
corporate policies by US, which was based on utilizing a firm US control of
global oil resources. Things are changing and US have not yet discovered
that the key to the future must be a very high degree of energy efficiency.
US have for some decades now, tried to base their economic position on a
service economy instead of industrial production. This incudes high
protection of intellectual properties, innovations, etc. One of the
problems in this, is that US in reality never have been very strong on
innovations. We will see if this policies can maintain a strong US position.
Hakan
At 07:29 PM 12/29/2004, you wrote:
At 08:58 AM 12/29/2004, you wrote:
Can someone please explain why it is that approx. 70 to 80% (I think I am
being a little too conservative with these percentages) of the "items"
for sale, at any given department store in America today, are made in
China? This question has bothered me for years.
There are those who will tell you that China declared economic
war on the US by first devaluing their currency, and then pegging it to
the US$. The income gain from the resulting flood of merchandise you've
described has enabled China to embark on a program of acquiring key
assets in and around the US such as both ends of the Panama canal, the
largest container trans-shipment facility in the Atlantic, Global
Crossing's fiber optic network, etc.
China currently holds a half-trillion in US securities, a holding
which could allow them to crash the dollar any time they chose by dumping
those securities on the world market. That makes for an impressive chip
to hold over Washington's head any time they want to play hard ball. The
sale of an endless supply of cheap consumer goods through Wal-Mart (they
market more than $10 billion a month of these goods) has shifted control
of the dollar from Washington to Beijing.
China has also embarked on a program of using those funds to buy
up blocks of strategic resources and technology. For example, the super
magnets used in the servo motors of cruise missiles used to be
manufactured in the US. The Chinese bought that plant, duplicated it in
China, and have since begun the process of closing down the US plant.
Walt
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