Guest fountainhall Posted March 8, 2012 Posted March 8, 2012 There’s a new book out titled “Becoming China’s Bitch” by Peter D. Kiernan. A successful businessman, corporate and government adviser, and a tireless advocate for fighting poverty and other charitable organisations, his book is about what he terms “our most dire and pressing problems.” We have become a frozen tableau of contrasts. We are rich, with poverty rates at all-time highs. Homeownership is higher here than anywhere in the world*, and our homelessness keeps breaking records. Almost 40 percent of adults and 20 percent of kids are obese, and more Americans will go without food today than at any time since the framers. We are frozen in other ways. Some call our polarization and inability to unite against problems a crisis in governance. It’s no crisis. It’s a self-inflicted wound . . . It’s not a book about China exactly. It’s about how America got diverted and lost momentum, and a dragon leapt into the breach. It’s also about getting our mojo back. http://www.peterdkiernan.com/book/ * that statement is patently wrong. All statistics agree that Singapore, several European nations and Australia have higher home ownership rates, in some cases much higher But unlike other pundits, Kiernan does not necessarily believe the U.S. should take a hard line with China or that conflict is unavoidable. For China’s growing dominance will pose more major issues that the US must face. Of the US, he says - "Our fate is connected with China, no matter what," he says. "The only way to manage this process is much more fully embrace them." . . . And by "embrace" Kiernan does not necessarily mean befriend or kowtow. Instead, he says America needs to have the "same sort of alertness with China" today as we did with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, America's "finest minds" were analyzing every statement and policy action by the Russians, he recalls. "I'm not sure we have anybody looking at China in the same way and China is a much bigger opportunity on the upside than Russia ever was." As with many others, Kiernan is concerned about America's "co-dependent" relationship with China, where we support their export-driven economy and they fund our deficits. In the not too distant future, China's growing middle class will outnumber America's total population. As China's internal demand grows, their "export machinery starts turning inward," he predicts. "China's necessity to own dollars will be far less strong." Rather than dumping Treasuries, which would be self-defeating, China will over time simply buy less of our debt and transition more to a yuan-based economy, Kiernan continues. "They have built a replacement [for U.S. spending]; what have we done to replace that lending capability?," he asks. http://finance.yahoo...-200336539.html We have to get used to being not the superpower, but a superpower – and you have to conduct your self differently. That’s going to be one of our biggest challenges. Despite its huge structural imbalances and problems, we have to think about the psychology of China. For the last 50 – 75 years the US psychology has been winning, growing, postwar - we own it. China has a very different mentality. Take something like trade. We think we are a big leader in world trade. Of the ten largest ports in the world, the US has zero. China has six. The port of Shanghai is bigger than the top seven ports in the US combined. When you talk to the 40-somethings in China – not the older generation – they’re saying we believe when it comes to the G7 or G8, we’ll eventually be G1. That’s our psychology and our plan. Perversely, they think they understand capitalism better than the US. Some US companies have carved out major trade roles in China. Last year, 2 ½ million of all the 9 million vehicles made by General Motors were sold to China. Apple’s No. 2 market for iPads is China. We’re going to be intertwined with China as far as the eye can see. We cannot change the past and must accept that for the present China is a currency manipulator. We should patiently develop a broad-based strategy where we understand them as well as they understand us. We have to re-frame our relationship with China and trade-up in value-added proposition in terms of manufacturing. Time after time US companies have gone into negotiations with Chinese companies with the eye on the short-term gain. The Chinese look at the long term. He also reckons that if there is real friction with the US, it will not be over currency, but over oil. That’s “where the rubber meets the road!” Agree with him or not, it sounds like an interesting read. It's already top of Amazon and Barnes & Noble's charts. Much of the above taken from vdo interviews on - http://www.dylanrati...g-chinas-bitch/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN2SNTI4ISY Quote
