Economics Ain't Gymnastics: Why China Won't Overtake America

What has lip syncing got to do with whether a nation would rise or not??

What has lip syncing got to do with whether a nation would rise or not??

By the way, you probably didn't know, but faking is not unique to the Chinese. Fakery occurs quite often in large-scale shows around the world. The 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremony, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the Rugby Union World Cup in 2003 are just some examples where fakery and deception were used.

There was a hand-cream advertisement in Sydney some time ago where the hands of the beautiful lady shown in the advertisement was faked. The hands actually belonged to another lady whose face was obviously considered not beautiful enough for the Australian public to see. Imagine what she must have been thinking kneeling in front of the other lady to hide her own face from the camera while sticking her hands up.

ukimminu @ Aug 30, 2008 10:17:46 AM

@chris: rebuttal

Chris,

I think you misunderstood D.D.'s point in substituting american wages as falling for America sucking in relation to the rest of the world. We don't suck, yet at the same time real wages have been stagnating for a long time now behind inflation. In my view, that's what D.D. was talking about.

Now, I think the rest of your post has a single problem, you presume perfect information. People make choices under erroneous (sometimes purposefully so thanks to marketing and sales) information all the time, and when widespread it can lead to very bad outcomes. In my mind, this one of the keys to what happened in the housing market. As for food, apparently you haven't been following the price of basic, nor pre-processed foods. Pre-processed foods haven't been strictly raising prices so much as cutting the quantity provided in each box, while more basic ingredients have certainly seen price jumps recently. This has nothing to do with people's choices of where to eat out, and to imply that it is is misleading and dishonest.

Finally, I'm not inclined to believe that China will overtake the US in the long haul. In my view, they're still tapping into their massive labor force, and they'll continue to grow until that resource it tapped out. At that point, innovation will be the key differentiating factor, which I believe will favor the US.

David Wynn of GA @ Aug 17, 2008 12:20:52 PM

China

The house of cards that is China will collapse when their growth rate slows. There is a limit to the amount of marrow they can suck out of the American economy. When that happens, the working class will rebel. A government that beats the rice out of peasants and funnels them into sweatshops will not have the popularity to survive.

Anyone who is offshoring in China had better have an exit plan or they will lose everything.

Tom of IL @ Aug 14, 2008 12:08:30 PM

Thanks...

Thanks James for writing this and thanks Chris for responding to D.D.

You saved me the time and did it better than I could.

The left will never give up on their assault on free markets and individuality. It bothers them to no end that life is not fair-some win, some lose, some just do better than others. Instead of embracing the system that increases the pie for all they obsess on slicing it up differently. What they fail to see is that there are really multiple pies-those baked by free markets and those baked by government programs. The ones baked by government may appear free to the lefties but upon close inspection it is clear that they are more expensive and taste like crap. The free market pies require effort-but are worth it!

Pat of IL @ Aug 13, 2008 17:19:24 PM

"Government can force people to make responsible choices when it comes to their lives, however, they can encourage people to make irrational choices by putting in place policies that encourage them to do so (socialized medicine, welfare programs, bailouts for irresponsible behavior, etc.) And wages can't keep up for things that rise artificially to begin with."

Actually, that should read, "Governments CAN'T force people to make responsible choices when it comes to their lives."

Chris of AZ @ Aug 13, 2008 16:00:24 PM

Daniel David...

...the more you post, the more I begin to think of you as a joke character. American people "falling"? Forget the fact that you contradict yourself by saying that Americans are rich by "world standards" but are still economically falling. Why are people falling? Because they can't afford things like food and housing? Look into those choices. Are people falling because they can't get by with staple foods, or because they can't choose to eat at Red Lobster? Did they buy a house of modest means or, if they couldn't afford a home, decide to rent or did they purchase a McMansion? What about energy? Did you buy an SUV even though you're a single individual, or did you buy a car that was modest in energy consumption? Healthcare? Do you do things that limit your need to consume healthcare such as eating right and/or exercising, or do you do bad things such as eating junk food, smoking or drinking excessively? There's a common theme here: a lot of these are rooted in people's CHOICES. Government can force people to make responsible choices when it comes to their lives, however, they can encourage people to make irrational choices by putting in place policies that encourage them to do so (socialized medicine, welfare programs, bailouts for irresponsible behavior, etc.) And wages can't keep up for things that rise artificially to begin with. A lot of the increase in prices in energy, housing, health care, food and education are due to self-inflicted wounds or boneheaded policies. If we just started increase people's wages without this consideration, we would only be creating an inflationary environment which will harm all of us in the long run.

"The ceremony drew from China's long history, but surely the most striking features were the images of thousands of Chinese moving as one...we've seen displays of mass conformity before, but this was collectivism of the present—a high-tech vision of the harmonious society performed in the context of China's miraculous growth...."

Someone forgot to tell Mr. Brooks that the opening ceremony was doctored, with little girls lip syncing for little girls and some fireworks being prerecorded and being doctored into the actual event. This conformity and collectivity is a false hope and like most things false, the truth is eventually set free.

Chris of AZ @ Aug 13, 2008 13:31:28 PM