Be careful what you wish for...

It seems that some people have such an infactuation with attacking the US that they will cheer on anyone who they believe can cause damage and discomfort to the US. The most recent example is the US relationship with China. The Chinese leader is in Washington this week to meet with the president and other government and business leaders. I think this is a good thing. China has a lot to offer the US and the US can offer a lot to China with both countries coming out with benefits. Sure there are some policy disagreements such as the Chinese currency manipulation, Taiwan independence, Dali Lama, and differing ideas on how to handle N. Korea. In the realm of international relations these are relatively minor concerns.

However, according to the online Chinese cheer leading squad, who by the way are overwhelmingly non-Chinese, it is the US who should be kowtowing to the Chinese as they march towards ruling the world. What would the world be like if China was in charge? I'm not sure but I can guarantee I would not like it. They are a communist and authoritarian country that has kept a low profile over the years as they strive to build up the country. You never hear of the Chinese offering any disaster support to the world community, providing aid to other countries for humanitarian purposes, or offering to honestly mediate disputes between warring countries. Their efforts with N. Korea are non-existent. They could have shut down N.Korea years ago but instead have allowed N.Korea to do whatever they want. Now I don't really care that they act like this. In fact I think the US offers too much support and gets involved more than it should with other countries. China offers nothing and the US offers everything but the only complaints you ever hear are directed at the US for one reason or another. China aggressively manages what information the public can have using their Great Internet Firewall. Can you imagine the outcry if the US government were to do the same thing. And if anyone reading this says the US already does this I want to see your proof. China just disavowed the whole principle of the Noble Peace Prize because the intended recipient was in a Chinese jail because of his efforts in promoting human rights in China. Were was the international outcry by all of the progressive activists scattered around the world? Can you imagine a situation like this happening in the US? People have been complaining that they are losing their rights in the US but I have seen no evidence of this. The changes instituted with the Patriot Act are temporary and applied very rarely if you look at the overall statistics of investigating crimes within the US. Hell, even the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have access to lawyers and the media. Surveillance restrictions were eased but they still require warrants from the courts when prosecuting someone for the crime. Most of these restrictions were eased in an attempt to discover acts of terror before they were unleashed on the population. And as far as privacy goes well we ARE losing ground there. But according to all the pro-Wikileak drones information wants to be free so don't be surprised when your address, phone number, or SSN shows up online. A lot of online companies such as Facebook make their money on selling your private information to 3rd parties. So when complaining about your invasion of privacy don't waste all your time on blaming the government.

The fact is that the US is not "owned" by China. China holds around 6% of the outstanding US securities and they do this as an investment. The US could shut down the Chinese economy by simply ceasing Chinese imports or slapping high tariffs on their goods. China sends us nothing we can not get from other sources or even produce internally. This would be a worst case scenario but I guarantee the Chinese is aware of this. The government stepped in an prevented China from purchasing a US oil company back in the 90's because they decided it was not in the best interest of the US to sell this critical business to a foreign country. There is actually a standing committee in Congress that handles things like this. Another possibility is that the government could create penalties for US corporations that do business with China that results in the loss of domestic jobs. China's cost of labor is the only thing that makes them attractive. As the Chinese people become more affluent the labor costs will need to rise to satisfy the population and the government will have to respond or risk wide scale discontent. A Communist country usually doesn't run into this type of problem because most of communist countries end up poor cess pits. The Chinese government will have their hands full in the coming years. Tienanmen Square will seem insignificant compared to what they could be in store for.

Some Quick Facts:

• As of today the US economy is still 3 times the size of China's with the US population being just 1/4 of the size of China. Compare GDP by person and the US is way above China.
• China's buys US securities because it helps keep the RMB (China's Currency) competitive and makes it's exports competitive in the US import market . Their US security investments help assure that the US dollar does not fall in relation to China's currency because if that happens it becomes cheaper to buy stuff in the US than to import it from China.
• Inflation is high in China. The cost for cooking oil was raised by 27% this year.
• While a visitor to any big Chinese city may notice new public buildings remember that there are 800 million Chinese peasents who live in the country without any modern conviences.