Did anybody watch Lou Dobbs tonight besides me? He said that China is building up their military big time with the 200 billion dollars we send them every year. Also, China owns 1 trillion of our T-bills so if they were to dump those or stop buying them I suppose it would cause wild gyrations in interest rates here? China now has 900 missiles aimed at Taiwan, and they have missiles capable of hitting the U.S. They have a new submarine fleet and are building an aircraft carrier. We are actually getting some of OUR military hardware made in China and we have U.S. contractor companies doing their work in China.

So, will China soon be dictating terms of trade to us? Will they soon be telling us where we can send our military and where we can't. Will they be the new world super power?

Would Tulsaman and other free traders please tell us all again why free trade and especially free trade with China is such a wonderful thing?

why would they go to war with their biggest customer?

they are Russia's problem, they want Siberia for the resources they need.

Did Dobbs say they hold $1 Trillion in T Bonds?? That is incorrect. They do hold over $1 Trillion in U.S. Dollars in cash reserves which begs the question why would they want to do anything to undermine the value of the U.S. dollar when they are sitting on $1 Trillion of them.
As far as their military spending, it is cause for concern but still represents only a fraction of what we spend. They also don't yet possess the military infrastructure to manufacture their own high tech weapons and rely on imports. You also have to think they have Russia to their north and they don't have the best historical relationship going.

The big question for China is how do they become the worlds super power while relying on other countries for trade and currency. There are a lot of question marks when it comes to China. Can they mantain their current growth when they rely so heavily on cheap labor. India and Indonesia are right there already taking manufacturing jobs from China. The big elephant in the room with China is what will they do with their massive aging population. To care for and pay for the retirement of that generation will be a massive undertaking. The United States could not handle it with a GDP of $13 Trillion. The Chinese will need a GDP of $20 Trillion + to maintain a massive military and take care of all their domestic needs in the future.

Endzone2 Wrote:Did anybody watch Lou Dobbs tonight besides me? He said that China is building up their military big time with the 200 billion dollars we send them every year. Also, China owns 1 trillion of our T-bills so if they were to dump those or stop buying them I suppose it would cause wild gyrations in interest rates here? China now has 900 missiles aimed at Taiwan, and they have missiles capable of hitting the U.S. They have a new submarine fleet and are building an aircraft carrier. We are actually getting some of OUR military hardware made in China and we have U.S. contractor companies doing their work in China.

So, will China soon be dictating terms of trade to us? Will they soon be telling us where we can send our military and where we can't. Will they be the new world super power?

Would Tulsaman and other free traders please tell us all again why free trade and especially free trade with China is such a wonderful thing?

I saw part of it but missed that part. It is scary. I think they already dictating the terms of trade with them. I don't think they they will dictate in terms of telling us specifically where to send our military but I think they may start telling us where we can't go(likely by spoken word with a "threats"-either by force or by economics). They know we are weak because we have little ability to sustain our economy without China since so many of our essential goods are made in China(from underwear and socks to computer products-and soon, cars). What our government is gambling on is that once a large enough percentage of the population gets a taste of "the good life", they will want the government to open up more or they will want to overthrow the govt. Big gamble. Lets hope we hit the jackpot.

Free trade, when comparing our economy to our trade partners, is not fair to our workers. Sorry to all you ultra-righties. We cannot expect our workers to make a living when they have to compete with the third world.