It isn't just that you can't buy anything anymore that isn't made in China, it isn't that we owe them a trillion dollars, it's also that we are dependent on them for at least the next 15 years for valuable minerals that we need!!

"The United States is too reliant on China for minerals crucial to new clean energy technologies, making the American economy vulnerable to shortages of materials needed for a range of green products — from compact fluorescent light bulbs to electric cars to giant wind turbines."

Read the whole story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/business/global/15rare.html?_r=1&hp

Yep, and they're already doing protectionist things with many of the crucial raw materials they have. You need their stuff to build Li-Ion batteries? You have to build them in China, where they'll steal your intellectual property and be undercutting you with the same stuff made cheaper down the street!

These are the same things that the French once said about the United States. There is an economic benefit to foreign manufacturing that is undeniable. As long as our society is driven by costs, someone will undercut us.

At some point in order for the US to get back into the "world game" we may have to do some of what is being done to us. What is the most important export we might have? Food.

We may be "forced" to levy a huge tariff on food exports to try to level the balance of trade problem.

I much prefer "free trade" but the "others" must play fair.

Best regards,

RA1

A Washington Post columnist today shows how China is leading the way in new military technology:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/31/AR2010123101858.html