I don't know enough about economics to understand the long-term implications but this can't be good.

Is that the start of worse things to come or nothing to be excited about?
A large portion of my salary is in US dollar's so I'll admit, from a selfish bastard point of view, I want the US economy to improve.

Any experts want to comment?

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...t_11599087.htm

 

Does that not mean that oil and gold will be based on the euro or some other currency soon and the U S can no longer just print money to buy it? It could have a drastic effect on the economy. The sky is falling, or about to. Just a guess though.

 

I don't think that it's the euro, that's failing too. The yen probably.

There is going to be a superpower, like it or not. If it's not going to be the US, it's going to be some country. Looks like China is in a pretty good position to be the worlds next superpower. We're all ok with that now, aren't we?

 

Two things.
One. China already is a super power. We're just too arrogant to admit it.

Two. I think this is going to backfire on the Chinese mostly. Their currency is grossly under valued and they want it that way to keep their cost of labor down. If they go to their own currency, other nations are going to get on the band wagon and make the Chinese currency an investment. That means they'll have to print more money to keep it moving. Once the value comes down, the dollar will be around to pick up the slack again. We may be down folks but we are not out by any means.

 

Works for me.

 

As long as the value of the yuan is tied directly to the dollar, I don't see how this makes a difference. The yuan is way undervalued, in an effort to stay competitive in Western markets. (Or more on point, to give them a trade advantage.) If the yuan were valued properly, they'd have to compete against Western nations in manufacturing. They would also have to rely more heavily on Chinese consumers for profits. That would mean having to pay higher wages and building a stronger middle class.

 

Ready to give communism a go here in the olde' U, S, of A are we?

 

Oh please. Are you really that simple minded?

It's not about communism. Nor democracy. It's not an us v. them scenario. The whole cheer monkey mentality is an argumentum ad populum. It's the type of thinking that has spurred the mindset so many in this country seem to have adopted. Blue monkeys v. red monkeys, conservative monkeys v. liberal monkeys. The whole "We're number 1!!!! We're the USA!!!! Whatever.

The ideal of communism and democracy, as they are argued by so many, hasn't existed for decades, if ever. Hell, Paddy Chayefsky was right on the mark 35 years ago when he wrote Arthur Jensen's speech - and yes, even though it's a line from a movie, it's no less real than the games all the pundits play when throwing the fear ball back and forth.

Without going into a disquisition about the false beliefs about democracy, communism, et. al, I'll quote this simple and eloquent summary (in case you're not old enough to have seen this back in '76):

"You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels.

You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.

What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do.

We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime.

And as for idea of being a superpower? What the hell is that? Seriously? And if you're going to think on a junior high school level about how the superpower(s) are "#1", then ask yourself this question. What has being a "superpower" gotten us? Did it prevent China from becoming a superpower? No. Did it stop China from looking and operating like us?

Question. Where's this?




Hint . . . it's China.

When Russia "lost" their "superpower" status did it really change things?

Nope.

And please don't saying that those folks have a few rich and everyone else suffers the lives of those in the third world because we have plenty of that in the U.S.

Losing our so called "superpower" status might actually be one of the best things that could happen to us. Maybe we would stop pretending to be the world's police. Maybe we could focus on our own problems. Or not.

Oh, and please refrain from the fear crap, in other words don't play the "If we lose our superpower status, the evil-doers will invade and take us over.", because, really, do you honestly think that our so called superpower status (which in reality essentially means we have the most debt) will suddenly change the ability to protect ourselves? (not that we're doing such a hot job of that either).

So let China be the number one superpower. Let them have the burden that it entails I say let China have the pleasure.

 

There's more than one problem with China becoming a superpower. Not the least of which is that the standard of living in the US will come down considerably in the future.

China is not there, yet. And this is just the beginning of our economic troubles. They used to be a majority holder of our debt. Now it is the US Fed, which is going to be highly inflationary.

 

We need to implement some of the things China does for industry here. Not allow other countries to sell here unless they have a plant here.

 

You do realize that you are posting your prepossession on an F150 enthusiast site? I'm guessing that the kind of intellectualls that you might find on the left coast, or here in the elite universities in my neck of the woods, would not be posting on an F150 enthusiast site, and certianly would not drive a planet killing pick-up truck.

If I were "that" simple minded, would I have the ability to be self aware enough to know it?

I'm sorry if what you see when you look down on your fellow American is a simple minded cheer monkey mentality. I would guess it's pretty uncomfortable living with such contempt.

A superpower would be a leader. The USA was a superpower because of American exceptionalism. There was American exceptionalism because of ordinary people who did extraordinary things. The USA became a superpower, not because of braun or might, but because of ingenuity and innovation.

From the formation of our republic to modern day, it's the American people who make this country great. Certianly our history has been marred by many egregious errors. We can't take back the pain, suffering and ignorance, but we can and do become wiser learning from our mistakes.

Over the past century there has been a growing number of people would believe that we should ceede our "power" to other countries. People who have highlighted our countries failures, while ignoring much of it's sucess. Today, that mentality is prevalent in our government.

If the USA isn't the "superpower" some other country will be. Will they root thier new found "power" in innovation and ingenuity, or will it be braun and might? Will they be inclined to protect freedom throughout the world, or convince the world that central planning is what's best for all people?

Some people see the superpower as the worlds police. Some countries might look at the position as one of power over others. I see it not only as a position of strength, strength to help and protect freedom throughout the world, but also as a beacon of salvation. I believe that our country is best suited to do this.

Sorry to subject you to this. I'm sure it's uncomfortable. It's just what you get from someone who is "that" simple minded.

 

I'm standing up and applauding you in my mind right now.

Well said.

 

Kobi sure does know what he's talking about when it comes to this stuff, I enjoyed it as well.

 

Yeah Kobi, GTFO with your sensible and well reasoned arguments

 

It's uncomfortable living with such a realization...

We're no long a "free"country. We have a crappy education system. The rich keep getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer...which leads to crappy economy and quality of living. We done good.

Central planning would help a lot of things. Think about the Article of Confederation. A bunch of small countries loosely tied together...that didn't work, so now we have a stronger federal government which works better.

lolwut? Protect freedom? Where...? Surely not here, in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.
We are asserting our influence in those areas. We are not doing so for the benefit of others, but for the benefit of multinational corporations and $.