Comparing Stimulus Packages

December 12, 2010

I read an informative and fascinating post by John Ross at Key Trends in the World Economy comparing how China and the US handled the 2008 global financial crises.

Ross has an impressive resume and knows what he is talking about.

It appears that Ross was one of the few voices that predicted China would recover faster than the US. 

Most conservative Western economists kept predicting the US would recover faster than China.  As it turned out, this was a wishful fantasy.

Three years later, the results show that Ross was correct. Between 2008 to 2010, China’s GDP grew more than 30% while US results were dismal.

While Ross provides much graphic evidence to support why this happened, it is his conclusion that sums up America’s failure to compete and grow its GDP that points out possible flaws in Western economic freewheeling theories that base too much trust in the private sector with little government control.

Ross says that the strengthening of political trends in the US led by such as the ‘Tea Party’ and the consolidation of right-wing Republican control of the House of Representatives may mean the US economy will continue to be hobbled in comparison to China’s GDP growth.

Ross feels that only if the US were to turn to a program of direct state intervention to boost new investment would the US benefit, which is what happened in China.

Instead of learning from the past, stubborn US conservatives appear to be repeating the same mistakes that caused the 2008 global financial crises.

Learn more at Building Things and Going Places

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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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4 Comments | America, American culture, business, capitalism, China, Chinese Culture, economy, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Ruling the Waves Again

August 6, 2010

 John Pomfret writes in the Washington Post that China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea. World leaders protest but China says it will honor international law regarding shipping.

I know a few American’s who will bridle at China’s claim. After all, the world’s oceans have been America’s bathtub since World War II, and before World War II, the British Empire ruled the waves.

It’s about time the West awakes and sees that China is serious about regaining its political position in the world. In the 18th century, China had the largest global economy and was more powerful than the Roman or British Empire for more than two millennia.

Remember Admiral Zheng He and China’s 15th century naval armada?  China had an opportunity to bully the world but didn’t. Instead, in the 19th century, the West arrived to bully China. See China: The Roots of Madness

It seems that the Chinese may be serious about building a navy to rival America. Automation Technology and Industry reports that by 2013, China will become the largest shipbuilder. China is already the world’s second biggest economy and may surpass the US in more than a decade to become number one.

Remember America’s Monroe Doctrine where in 1823, an upstart US announced to the world that any interference in Western hemispheric affairs would be seen as a threat to its security. 

China hasn’t gone that far yet, but they are learning fast.

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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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Leave a Comment » | America, China, Chinese history, history | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse