http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Wed, 1 Mar 2006 22:45:11 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/03/01/013344.php#comment-328453 superpower staus is achieved in large part by the level of currency reserves a particular country's economy has. Very odd statement. Indeed, crazy. Bizarre claim. From where does it possibly come? 328453@blogcritics.org Wed, 1 Mar 2006 22:45:11 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/03/01/013344.php#comment-328438 The Chinese economy is a Ponzi scheme. Commodities are priced below cost. Half of all bank debt is bad. Most of the people live in thrid world poverty while knowing full well that their leaders live in first world splendor. Yeah, there's a successful nation! The Chinese leadership has about 8-10 years left. In that time, they either have to acquire natural resources via conquoring the Russian Far East and acquire real currency reserves by annexing Free China, or they die in yet another of the social revolutions that have swept China for thousands of years. Their current economic position is not sustainable. The Soviet Union, in its last two decades, was an oligarchy as well. Just as in China today, Communism was for the masses not the rulers. The vaunted Chinese currency reserves aproximate the estimated bad debt that the Chinese banking system is stuck with. For all intents and purposes, China is broke. In order to continue, it must sell increasing amounts of goods abroad. Thus the Ponzi scheme analogy. Should world commodity prices climb, overseas sales fall, or the ability of China to have commodities shipped to it be affected, down comes the pyramid. 328438@blogcritics.org Wed, 1 Mar 2006 22:14:32 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/03/01/013344.php#comment-328023 The idea that China is any kind of true communist system is highly debatable, as is the idea that it's on the soviet model. They're more like syndicalist oligarchs of some sort, which isn't entirely incompatible with competition in the world marketplace. Dave 328023@blogcritics.org Wed, 1 Mar 2006 04:25:22 EST