War is more commonly thought of as one of the biggest economy boosters out there... history shows it to be true in most instances.

Right now, however, war isn't doing much for the US Economy other than draining it fast. US Soldiers in Iraq have been waiting about a year now for reimbursement on body armor they had to purchase themselves; reimbursement that Congress demanded the Pentagon give.

While on an economic scale the US is sinking rather rapidly, China on the other hand is on a very rapid rise.

Link

Considering how rather drastically different the Eastern world is run from the Western world, it will probably be a very interesting shift (and hopefully not too violent, although that has never been the pattern in history). With that in mind, I was also pondering the issues there are surrounding human rights in China right now, and how that comes into play. I'm not entirely sure of the situation over in China right now (other than its expected to be the next leading world power) but I was pondering the way "they" might perceive North American ideas of 'human rights' and the affects that many freedoms have on a society as a whole. Maybe I have China confused with Japan, but the perspective my memory seems to have, is that there just seems to be a higher level of respect for morals/values/behaving in a manner where an individual maintains a certain degree of honor. Compared to what seems to be fairly commonplace amongst our own society, ....I'll use kids as an example. I have my doubts that we'd see the amount of disrespect amongst children/teens in China, that we do here in North America. Disrespect for parents, for any kind of regulations on any level, for many things. Certain freedoms seem to have gotten mixed up & misinterpreted by a lot of today's youth & I hear a lot of "I have freedom of speech, I can say whatever the fuck I want." kind of sentiments out there.

What are your thoughts on all of this? If anybody out there has any knowledge on China's government/treatment of Citizens/etc I'd love to hear it.

The United States has always had dramatic rises and lulls in economy. In just over a year in 1992-93 the Government deficit went from hard red-line to green-line levels. This was a multi-billion dollar difference. just because the US is in a slump right now does not mean that it will continue and as a matter of fact history shows that the deeper the slump the higher the rise afterwards.
Chinas economy right now is entirely dependant upon the United States because we are thier number one exporter.

Well... from my experiences this is what I think.

Human rights.

In China of course the human rights are...very limited if you compare them to the standards we enjoy in the west. But lets not forget that China is largely still a developing country. They have only been comming along in the last 50 years.

From what I saw in China there is no Red Guard watching anyone, there are no Brownshirts or police patrols watching for thought crimes. In fact the only police I saw were traffic police. The only Red Guard I saw were the ones in the Military academy and the ones guarding State Buildings. China is pushing hard for human rights reform in a lot of areas, but not so hard in others. Lets face it basically thier cheap labor (a symptom of the poor humans rights) is what is building thier economy right now. The US went through the ame phase will Children and Slaves at one point lets not forget. Also while on one hand moralists are calling for the human rights reforms here in the US our corporations are calling for us to shut the hell up, because in the end its that low wage situation and lack of medical care and all that that is making our companies fund them.

China is not alone in this. A lot of what is happening there is because of what is happening here. We need lower prices and so our companies will pay Chinese government officials huge money to let them go in and exploit the shit out of certain Chinese areas. This of course is mostly defined in the rural and poor areas. IF you hung out in the developed part of China, Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hong Kong, anywhere like that you would see a standard of living much closer to our own. I spent a month in Chengdu and it seemed like there was less homeless and less crime and poverty than Ive seen in NYC.

I would expect to see a huge push for a better image and more human rights though in China somewhere in the next 3 years before the Olympics. A lot of the cultural ministers are using the coming olympics as Chinas comming out party to the rest of the world.

If you wanted to know about free speech and and property rights, well let me tell you that it is NOT as bad as it sounds.

In China the government WILL fuck with you if you fuck with them. But lets remember that its not a democracy and they dont have a constitution like the USA so when we say Free speech we have to remember that thats largely a European and American ideal. I am not defending thier governments actions, but they have come a LONG way since Tianimen square massacre. You can speak out... to a degree, but the government doesnt want a rebellion so any rebellious speech or talk of overthrowing the government is usually censored. The free speech most people get arrested for has nothing to do with politics though as everyone in the US believes... its usually for pornography. China is a very morally conservative country. They dont want strip clubs, they dont want porn, they dont want sexual obsenity. At least not in public. THIS is HARSHLY censored and dealt with which is where we get all the horror stories from. Especially concerning the internet censoring.

THe government has largely come ot accept property rights in China as well. In fact I would say China is the most capitolistic country I had ever seen. EVERYONE and i mean EVERYONE is out pushing a cart, hawking jewelry or fruit, offering a service for a fee. Haggeling is a way of life, and there are no taxes on goods. The government doesnt bsut down the door and take your shit like everyone here believes.

As for Morality? Well largely China is pretty frickin moral. In an Asian kinda way. There are thieves and shit of course, and shady business dealers. But when it comes to kids and sexuality, and helping people. They are pretty moral. I was never treated poorly there. Even people I didnt know were lining up to be my friend and talk to me about the US. I cannot count the number of people who offered to buy my dinner and teach me things about China's culture. They have a genuine respect for Americans and see us almost as some older brother whom they can learn from. Of course thier goal like anyone else is to eventually be as strong and equal to if not better than us. But thats not a chinese thing. I have never known a more friendly people than when I was in China. Well maybe in North Carolina... but they were HELL OF A LOT more friendly than any new englander I know.

On the large they are honorable, if you buy something from a shop thats made there they want it to be of the best quality. I ordered 3 stamps with my name and 2 of my brothers names in Chinese symbols carved into Jade blocks. The guy couldnt get it done right the 1st time and gave me one for free when he did, delivered it across town to us and got me spepcial little holding boxes. I mean they work hard and take pride in their work over there the way we used to here.

I lost my train of thought lol... we just got a memo saying that one of our secretaries is being fired and I am dealing with her now.

China is also currently the single largest creditor for the US deficit, which gives them a pretty hefty financial card to play if they wanted to. On an international political scale, they currently hold the finance card, which in todays world, is probably the best card to hold.

Source Link

Already China is ranked #3 for Global trading, is projected to overtake Japan's annual GDP by 2020 and overtake the US for annual GDP by approx 2045 if the stats remain on the course they're currently on, which is also a possibility.

China also has double the number of military personnel that the US does & their military expenditures have also been increasing over the last decade or so, by double digit percentages annually.

China is also currently the single largest creditor for the US deficit, which gives them a pretty hefty financial card to play if they wanted to. On an international political scale, they currently hold the finance card, which in todays world, is probably the best card to hold.


<<Yeah, thats true, but thier economy would collapse without US dollars pouring into it. So hurting us with thier position would be like a virus that kills its host. Bad for both.>>


Already China is ranked #3 for Global trading, is projected to overtake Japan's annual GDP by 2020 and overtake the US for annual GDP by approx 2045 if the stats remain on the course they're currently on, which is also a possibility.

<<Japan is also only the size of California. China has over a billion people. As i modernizes its GDP will grow, it HAS to. And it will not remain on its current course, the driving factor for thier growth is what? American dollars. Again as they modernize thier wages will have to increase and thier people will want more. Suddenly they wil start taxing people and thier wages will shoot up to compensate. As such US companies will do what they always do, pull out and move somewhere cheaper. Maybe Vietnam. At which case the Chinese economy will slow to a halt kinda like Japan did.>>

China also has double the number of military personnel that the US does & their military expenditures have also been increasing over the last decade or so, by double digit percentages annually.

<<The US spends 50% of the entire worlds military budget. Meaning if you combined the money from all countries spending on military budgests the US takes up half of it. The soldiers in China as numerous but they are also mostly illiterate farmer kids looking to go to school in the city. Chinas war machines are at best only as current as the 1960s.>>