China is a preferred trading partner with the United States and for good reason. China, with her 1.3 billion people will someday be a major
superpower in the world. Like India with 1 billion people, both nations have a bright future in front of them and a daunting challenge ahead.
China, of course
is a communist nation, red China, although, it is borrowing from the efficiencies of capitalism and generating significant revenue from the rest of the world due to the
economies of scale and their ability to produce with cheap labor. China also has some extremely tough hurdles ahead.
China has not gone through its
industrial revolution or dealt with unionized labor yet, but it will. All nations go through this, and not all survive. Its current growth rate of 10% year-over-year is not
sustainable forever, but as long as she keeps growing, everything seems to be okay and it can run away from many of its problems simply due to its own inertia and
hyperbolic curve.
Unfortunately, the world can only buy so much of its products. The consumers of the United States, Australia, and the European Union
can only sustain a trade deficit of so much until their economies cannot take anymore. Then where will China get its money to build its great nation.
Some
economists speculate that eventually it will be able to buy from itself as its middle class emerges, but let's not forget it is a communist nation and its middle class does
not yet exist for the most part or as a percentage of its population currently. Further, when its workforce starts making more money it will not be able to produce low-
cost goods for the rest of the world.
China will then have to compete for products and services; thus, it will be buying from the rest of the world and other
nations with low-cost labor will emerge to replace its position, African Nations for instance still, have 100s of millions of people making less than a dollar a day. But
can a communist nation make the transition and will those who lead the nation choose to make the transition?
One has to ask; why should they? Why
should the ruling elite in China choose to turn over their control? Please consider the philosophical nature of this discussion and take it where you will. My point is only
to make you think, nothing else is implied here.