tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post1779820071407592275..comments2024-03-29T01:07:30.224-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Team USA vs. Team ChinaStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-84626978758466593892016-06-23T16:28:27.525-07:002016-06-23T16:28:27.525-07:00Bring US military home from Asia. WWII and Cold W...Bring US military home from Asia. WWII and Cold War ended ages ago.<br />Let Asians settle their own problems.<br /><br />Put US troops on the US-Mexican border.<br /><br />Invest in America. No more wars overseas.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-55576144464799971672016-06-22T11:14:24.618-07:002016-06-22T11:14:24.618-07:00p.s. Here's a recent warning issue about China...p.s. Here's a recent warning issue about China's debt problem.<br />https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/16/chinas-debt-is-250-of-gdp-and-could-be-fatal-says-government-expert<br />--------<br />China’s borrowings hit 168.48 trillion yuan ($25.6 trillion) at the end of last year, equivalent to 249% of economic output, Li Yang, a senior researcher with the leading government think-tank the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), has told reporters.<br /><br />But the huge number, which includes government, corporate and household borrowings, was lower than some non-government estimates.<br /><br />The consulting firm McKinsey Group said earlier this year that the country’s total debt had quadrupled since 2007 and was likely as high as $28 trillion by mid-2014. <br />...<br />The country’s economy grew 6.9% last year, the slowest rate in a quarter of a century, and weakening economic figures have signalled the slowdown has continued this year.<br />--------<br /><br />I'm sure a lot of supercomputers can be built for $3 trillion/year of "free" money. (Assuming debt increased from $7 to $28 trillion dollars in 7 years)<br /><br />Apparently the way debt bubbles work is you have to keep pumping them with more debt every year, or the whole thing implodes. So a 7% growth rate is apparently "too slow" to keep markets flowing. That's a recipe for disaster.<br /><br />So China's primary advantage is they can change the rules overnight (i.e. Goldman's 'paper reshuffle') when "capitalism fails" they'll happily blame greedy speculators, and execute or imprison a few scapegoats, and then tell their middle class they're no longer rich, but have nothing at all except what the State says they have.<br /><br />You have to imagine many of Goldman's 'innovators', those who are exceptionally clever, are already preparing for that day, and have their escape plan in order.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-65062043154537067402016-06-22T07:00:30.657-07:002016-06-22T07:00:30.657-07:00"On the other hand, Trump's popularity co..."On the other hand, Trump's popularity comes in part from a rebellion against the elite establishment that is sucking up all the perks and exporting all our jobs to China!"<br /><br />That rebellion is not one against "elites", but against economics. Countries that try to bar free trade always (as in, always) end up reaping dread unintended consequences. Trump just might be as economically illiterate as anyone the Democrats have run.illuvitushttp://illuvitus.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-13824819827442869272016-06-22T06:24:28.139-07:002016-06-22T06:24:28.139-07:00I would expect a serious article on supercomputing...I would expect a serious article on supercomputing to address quantum computing, one way or the other. If the author doesn't believe it's for real, he should say so; if it is for real, then it is likely to make the discussion in the article pretty irrelevant.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-15102524908974960192016-06-22T06:08:07.811-07:002016-06-22T06:08:07.811-07:00Stuart: But, isn't China in deep financial tro...Stuart: But, isn't China in deep financial trouble? Goldman, a banker by trade, downplays the risk:<br /><br />Goldman: I am also tired of hearing about China's impending financial crisis. There is a lot of bad debt among state-owned enterprises. They owe the debt to state-owned banks. In other words, China's government owes money to itself. That's not a crisis. That's a paper reshuffle. At some future point, to be sure, China's debt problems might become dangerous. Don't hold your breath.<br /><br />Goldman isn't a "banker" but an economist, and Krugman is also an economist if that makes you feel better. Nearly everyone agrees that sovereign government debt isn't the problem, but the problem is once person's wealth is someone else's debt, and when leveraged debt bubbles collapse, a lot of wealth goes with it, either by assets being worth much less than you paid, or by inflation.<br /><br />Anyway, actually Goldman concludes this below the sponsored ad:<br />-------<br />What should we do?<br /><br />First, we need to restore funding to basic science and R&D to levels we last saw during Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative drive during the 1980s.<br /><br />Second, we need to raise the performance bar in our schools. I don't care if some children fail. I don't care if half of them fail, as long as the other half are better than their Chinese counterparts. China has a ruthless meritocracy. We don't have to be ruthless. But we need a meritocracy.<br />---------<br /><br />So the way to make schools succeed is to ruthlessly allow students to fail. If we accept a 50% high school graduation rate as the ideal, we can use natural selection to prune out the losers and those who can't afford tutors, and make our country a true meritocracy.<br /><br />On the other hand, Trump's popularity comes in part from a rebellion against the elite establishment that is sucking up all the perks and exporting all our jobs to China!<br />http://www.salon.com/2015/03/15/hillarys_meritocracy_problem_the_gop_will_paint_her_as_an_elitist_and_the_right_can_make_that_charge_stick/<br /><br />All this makes me think that neither the U.S. or Chinese government are in control of our economies. They are both just empowering a new crop of international corporatists who make the rules to their own benefit, and will ruthlessly punish or abandon any country that fails to follow their dictates in the race to the bottom.<br /><br />So we have to be careful to ask whose success is really threatening ours.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.com