Nothing Lasts Forever

August 27, 2010

An interesting piece from Forbes scored solid points for pointing out why China is Winning the Economic War.

Of course, there will be some Americans who will disagree. They will say that the U.S. is still the greatest nation on earth, the land of the free, and that it always will be.

I’m sure these misguided patriots would point out China’s flaws like exploiting workers with low pay and long hours.

However, Forbes deals with that flawed logic by pointing out that the U.S. once exploited its workers too and forced children to work 14-hour days.

In fact, the young American Republic once had slaves and women were chattel, who couldn’t vote or own property.

The Forbes piece says, “The U.S. was winning (the economic war against Communism) hands down for a long time, but not so much anymore due to a number of countries surpassing the U.S. in recent years in a number of specific areas.”  

Using a quote from Sam Houston in 1850, Forbes explains why the US is losing. Houston said, “A nation divided against itself cannot stand,” and, for sure, Sun Tzu would agree.

In fact, the U.S. has been divided for the last 15 years in “increasingly bitter time and energy consuming political arguments: the morals of President Clinton, whether or not war should be waged to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, whether the country’s current problems are due to the depth of the economic hole dug during the last (G.W. Bush) administration, or ineptness of the current administration in pulling the economy out of that (very deep) hole (the Republicans dug).” Source: Forbes Blog

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Getting Out Sun Tzu’s Way

August 25, 2010

I have a suggestion for ending the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. 

Let Sun Tzu fight both wars his way.

That can be accomplished by telling China they may have all the oil in Iraq and the rare minerals recently discovered in Afghanistan.

Then the US pulls its troops out of both countries within six months leaving the door open for China to move in.

Why would China do this?  China needs oil and these rare minerals to keep its economy growing.

Why would it work?  Sun Tzu was Chinese. Who better to understand his rules for winning wars. China might even be able to pull it off without firing a shot.

This would work because China is not burdened with America’s affliction–Political Correctness, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, the Tea Bag People, liberal bleeding hearts and hawkish neoconservatives who scare American politicians so much that America’s generals are not allowed to fight as a war should be fought.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

“Gray” Money

August 24, 2010

The Bloomberg News reports that China’s wealthiest people are hiding 80% of $1.4 trillion. That leaves about 280 billion for the rest of China’s people to hide.

Bloomberg calls this “gray” income and lists all the possible “illegal or quasi-illegal” ways it may have been earned.

When the piece mentions that the wealth gap between China’s rich and poor may lead to social unrest threatening the rule of the Communist Party, this may be true, since the real cause of the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 was due to corrupt government officials lining their pockets at the expense of the worker.

In fact, it should come as no surprise that reducing this income disparity is a top goal of China’s current president and prime minister.

However, the same problem is happening in the United States. “Millionaires in the U.S. and Canada saw their wealth increase 15 percent in 2009, to a total of 4.6 trillion dollars.” Source: 7Bends

Then there is the fact that the gap between the rich and poor grows in the US too.

“Since the 1990s, 40 percent of the increased wealth went into the pockets of the rich minority, while only 1 percent went to the poor majority.” Source: China’s Report on US Human Rights Record in 2000 Information Office of China’s State Council

Also in the US, the FBI estimates that that white-collar crime costs the US more than $300 billion annually.

The grim facts about income disparity between the wealthy and the working people means both the US and China have similar challenges—to create jobs for the worker that pay adequate wages.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Misconceptions of China – Chinese Currency

August 21, 2010

Larry talks about Chinese currency and how the Western media says it is too cheap and isn’t a fair price. The media says this exports American jobs to China.

Many Americans believe that having China revalue its currency is important to America.

However, experts say that if China’s currency were allowed to flow, it would be about 1 to 5 and maybe 1 to 4 instead of 1 to 6 or 1 to 7. 

What that means is that all goods manufactured in China would become more expensive in America and Europe. Prices for products from China could quickly go up 20%

Source: ShiWoLarry

Instead of jobs returning to the US, Western companies that manufacture in China would find cheaper labor elsewhere like in Vietnam. 

In addition, changing the way China values its currency will not cause most customers from other nations to buy from the US, because labor costs in America are too high due to unions.

Larry asks, “Will Chinese goods become more expensive and hurt the US?”  He says, “Yes.”

If anything, this currency issue is more political than economical.

See Doing Business in China or return to Misconceptions of China – Chinese Wealth and Poverty

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Misconceptions of China – Chinese Wealth and Poverty

August 21, 2010

In this post, Larry talks about Chinese wealth and Chinese society. He says that many believe all of China is old and while that may be true in rural areas, China’s major cities have become more modern than American cities.

He mentions films like the most recent Karate Kid, which he feels is not a good representation of Beijing, China’s capital.

The average Chinese person in the big city makes about one thousand US dollars a month. The income disparities in China are similar to those in Latin America while the Chinese middle class is still growing.

Source: ShiWoLarry

Larry says the wealthiest people in China are all business owners. However, in the US, top management of large corporations are paid high salaries compared to management positions in China. In China, to have a chance at wealth, you must own a business.

He feels that lifestyles of the wealthy in America and China are about the same. 

Larry says the cities are modern and have complex public-transport systems. I can attest to this. I’ve ridden the subways in Shanghai and Beijing and they are more efficient at moving more people than public transportation I’ve taken in the US.

See Don’t Drive in Beijing – Take the Subway or go to Misconceptions of China – The Chinese Government

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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