Read more closely. I didn't say things China buys from us. I said things they need. They rely on ocean shipping. The US Navy can deny sea lanes to China and enforce an embargo. Cut off middle eastern oil and their economy grinds to a halt. Our consumer economy depends on China? How long would it take other asian countries to step into whatever void they left? A week? Even if we couldn't replace any of it, it would hardly make our lives unbearable. Comments about the US becoming a third world country because we confiscated debt held by a country engaging in a trade war with us are not well-founded. Russia defaulted entirely. So did most of latin america at one time or another. Investors are falling all over each to lend to them today. We seized iranian assets in a dispute. Did that turn us into a third world country? I'm not advocating any of this, only pointing out that China's position is not as strong as some assume.
http://www.programmersguild.org/docs/microsoft_h1b_2005.zip Here - I'll help you out. Microsoft's H1B US workforce with names and salaries. ~1800 make under 100k. Cheap Labor? oh yes.... As of 07, I've seen numbers that around 30% of MS's US workforce is H1B/Green Carded.
Oh sure. By that standard we can destroy the economy of pretty much any industrialized nation. The cost to the US and the world economy would be unacceptable. We would be cutting off our nose to spite our face. ...at interest rates that reflect their status as third world nations. They are also borrowing in the lenders' currency rather than their own. Borrowing in your own currency is an enormous advantage that is not typically afforded to nations with a reputation for default. Also, by "today" I believe you mean "a month ago." Not a lot of risky debt is getting funded today. China's position is only weakened by threats we might actually follow through on. The threats you are talking about are empty because the consequences of these actions would be worse for us than for the Chinese. And you know it, which is why you won't actually endorse them as a desirable course of action. Martin
That would be very unwise. The chinese have been traders and producers for 4000 years, long before we 'westerners' started putting shoes on our muddy feet. They were the traders of their time, until they were 'discovered' by the west, after which they formed unilateral monopolized trade associatiosn with the Dutch and the British. The chinese understand hardcore capitalism better than most yanks do, maybe that is why the became communist 100 years ago. Anyway, that era is almost over now and they will become again what they once were: a very hardworking. sober and inventive nation that knows how to wheel and deal for the best result. Just go there and feel the energy. It is lean and mean, eager and ambitious. Totally different from the fat and lazy. self-obsessed and overconsuming atmosphere I see in the US. I know where I would bet. Ursa..
Things change. http://china.seekingalpha.com/article/33834 Do you consider a good trader to be someone that leverages %500 of their yearly salary to purchase equities? The Chinese had issues with dope that almost destroyed their society. This time around it's Credit.
In America people buy what they want. The US Gov doesn't tell people how much they have to buy stuff for. For someone who dribbles on about America you have very little understanding of how America really works. John