Lots of people think the U.S. is the biggest and baddest country in the world. But it's also known that China is becoming a more important player in the world marketplace, and recent data supports just that.
China just released figures showing that its exports increased 46% from Feb. 2009 to Feb. 2010, and its imports rose 45% since last year. Oh, and on top of that, it was the third consecutive month that Chinese exports increased, and it did so faster than it had in three years. Compare that to the 23% drop in imports the U.S. experienced in 2009.
There are other, less formal ways of knowing that China is up and coming, if not already "here." They recently overtook the U.S. as the world's largest automobile market last year, as total car sales eclipsed 13 million, up 45% from 2008. This was pretty much unthinkable even a few years back, as they only had 6 million personal cars on the road in 2000. By 2008, they had 20 million. They're also poised to take over the U.S. in total miles of expressways by 2020, with 53 million miles.
Need more proof? In 2008, there were 600 million mobile phone subscribers in China. That's about twice the population of the entire United States (307 million).
Any way you slice it, China is coming, whether we're ready or not: and most signs point to "not." After all, China holds $755 billion worth of U.S. Treasury securities, about a third of the $2.37 trillion of Treasury debt held by foreign owners. That means they hold more of our debt than the entire GDP's of Puerto Rico ($67 billion), Ecuador ($107 billion), Sweden ($333 billion), and Israel ($205 billion) combined. Just be thankful that calling in all of that debt isn't in their economic interests.
--Brandon
Hi Brandan
It has been a while since I have been here, just wanted to say I don't like how China is taking over USA. I wish something was done about it. Hugs Rosalyn
Yeah, they're a large market. I think one thing we can do is to buy locally as much as possible--from building supplies to electronics to your groceries (shop your local co-op!). Any money spent here in the U.S. (and in your community) is more likely to stay there, in the form of a better-employed populace, tax revenues, wages that are spread through the local economy, etc.
--Brandon
Buy local? The USA has already screwed themselves on that one by outsourcing everything. Hell I can't even get a US operator on the phone line for anything anymore, much less buy "American" who's raw materials are still from other countries. The bottom line: USA is China's plaything. This is only the beginning. This is what Capitalism has brought us. Game Over.
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