A previous article, Newt Gingrich Is Un-American, garnered a lot of comments about the communist threat to America and the alleged fifth columns which supposedly are operating here to the detriment of our commonweal. The only problem with most of these comments is that, collectively, it was all Monday-morning quarterbacking. Not one of you so-called vigilants can see the current threat facing America since you are so wrapped up in "proving" that McCarthy was correct.
But to ease your woes, I'm going to point out to you that you are correct in your mis-aimed assertions: there is a Communist threat to America, and there is a fifth column working within our borders with them.
The consumer economy of America is slowing, and consumer confidence is down. Morgan Stanley chief economist and director of global economic analysis Stephen Roach (a man whose economic knowledge by definition has to be greater than mine) believes that this will lead to a "tough" 2007 for the two nations which "control two-thirds of the world's economic activity": the United States and China.
This expected adverse economic condition is going to put China into the position of watching out for its own interests, and at our expense. As Texas Representative Ron Paul said at the San Francisco Hard Assets Conference, “We are living on borrowed money and borrowed time and that will eventually come to an end.”
I wish he'd come out from behind that Republican mask and declare himself to be a Libertarian independent! But I digress.
Josef Stalin allegedly once remarked that “when we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope.”
China has been preparing for the day when they might see the need to use that rope to bring us down. Up to now, there have been legitimate reasons to assert that for China to do so would bring ruin upon them as well, and China is already facing civil unrest in a time of unheard of (for them) prosperity. An economic collapse would only exacerbate the government's civil control issues.
But that isn't going to be the case forever. No wise national leadership would ever allow such a vulnerability to exist for very long. They wold take every available step to lessen that vulnerability. China is no different in this regard.
No one I know will dispute that China's government is Communist, and very firmly in control of that nation. The world also sees that the balance of power is shifting toward China and India and away from the United States.
Article comments
1 - Mohjho
China is not the Soviet Union. Where are the fiery speeches from Chinese politicos claiming to spread communism around the world. Have they declared that they will bury us like Krustev?
Seems that China focuses mostly on 'unifying' their culture like "reuniting" Taiwan. We faced an obvious real threat from the old Soviet system, but is that threat so obvious with the Chinese now? Maybe this is why our fiscal conservatives in congress see nothing but a win win situation in selling China our dept.
What I fear more from the Chinese is that given a liberal political situation, they will out capitalize the capitalists. They might just bury us with manufacturing and services. Maybe what we have to worry about is China abandoning strict communist ideals and implement rule of law and private property.
Please identify the fifth columnist that you refer to.
2 - Clavos
Can't say I agree with much of what you've written here. For example you say:
The consumer economy of America is slowing, and consumer confidence is down.
In this sentence you link to an article from Reuters which discusses a preliminary study by U Michigan that notes a "dip in consumer confidence for the month of December (today is only the 10th).
That same article goes on to say, "Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, but in recent years confidence measures have been a weak guide to actual spending."
Later in the article you say,
This sorry homeland employment condition is why Cleveland, a big loser in the steel and automotive employment sectors, has been named by the US Census Bureau as the most impoverished big city in the United States...
This is a huge problem for Cleveland and a tough situation for the city's workers, but not a reliable indicator for the present state of the overall US economy. For one thing, Cleveland and other "rust belt" cities have been declining for years as our econmy has shifted its primary activity from manufacturing to IT and other technology-related industries, with significant increases in employment (and MUCH better wages) in those sectors.
Further on, you say,
...many of those aircraft machanics laid off by United in Indianapolis now work for Fed-Ex for one-third of their former wages.
True, and the disparity in wages for aircraft mechanics is a major reason why UA has been struggling for years, while FedEx is one of America's most succesful companies, and at the same time is rated as one of the 100 best companies to work for by Fortune magazine.
3 - Quuzlfut
"What are you patriots going to do about this? Whimper that I'm being mean to capitalists for realizing a profit? Tell me that when Uncle Zhou winds that rope around your neck."
Well, first I remind you that the "neck" you speak of is a collective neck. Assuming that you're an American, too, that would be our collective neck. Second, I've never heard a patriot whimper.
You've made some interesting if disconnected and sometimes irrelevant observations in this post, but overall you appear to have missed the point, perhaps on purpose. Even if Senator McCarthy was mistaken back in the '50's, there should be little if any doubt that many of today's Hollywood idols (and many of the more ordinary people who worship them) are a nudge or two toward the left from being little-red-book carrying Maoists. They don't pose much threat to multinational corporations on the whole, but they are a thorn in the side of our culture and our national identity as they sponsor and participate in the slow degradation of our traditions and traditional institutions.
The fifth column you mention appears to be economic globalisation, which has been gradually ramping up for a long time. It seems unlikely that China will gain control of any multinational corps - more likely the other way 'round. Communists tend to be globalists, too, but from a different perspective. They hang their hats upon the old forms of power, namely guns and butter. Capitalist globalists are masters of the newer forms -- money, mass distraction/misdirection (aka marketing), and control of the flow of information.
You're obviously an intelligent and relatively well-read fellow. Instead of pointing and commenting as the home you've known seemingly crumbles around you, it seems to me that it would be more to your advantage to make some constructive suggestions for repair.
4 - Dave Nalle
China has the ability to cripple our nation through the vast portfolio of government and consumer debt it holds.
I hear people saying this all the time, but it seems to be symptomatic of a fundamental lack of understanding of how our national debt is financed. China doesn't have the ability to call in the debt we owe them. It's in the form of structured instruments which have terms and conditions which make it impossible to just demand instant repayment from the US government. They could sell them at a discount, but that would hurt them and not us.
In addition, 56% of our debt is held by US investors. China holds less than 10% of the remaining 44%, most of which is in the hands of international banks or other governments.
China can certainly be concerned like any investor, but there's not much they can do except to try to help the US economy continue to grow.
China is already facing civil unrest in a time of unheard of (for them) prosperity. An economic collapse would only exacerbate the government's civil control issues.
You may actually have this exactly backwards. Historically civil unrest breaks out at times when economic prosperity coexists with government oppression. When people are doing well for themselves they start to wonder why they need an oppressive government. If economic times are bad then people will put up with oppressive government on the assumption that it will protect them from economic woes. It's not a coincidence that Nazism, Fascism and Communism ALL flourished during the Great Depression more than at any other time.
Dave
5 - STM
Dave wrote: "Josef Stalin allegedly once remarked that “when we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope.”
Yep, and look what happened to Stalin and the Soviet Union: both consigned to the dustbin of history, where they belong.
Mate, it will be 100 years before China even gets to the level the US and other western countries are today.
As of now, most of their people don't even enjoy the kind of consumer "comforts" that were available in the Soviet Union before its fall.
There is no bloody backdoor communist threat to the US from that old bogey, Red China.
By the time they can be a threat economically the US, and by dint of this, the rest of us, will have moved to another level completely.
It's worth noting at this point that the Chinese still believe the position of your kitchen table or the position of your front door in relation to your backdoor can have a good or bad influence on your life. That includes the flow of wealth.
So if they've got the feng shui wired and we don't, why are so many Chinese falling over themselves to get out of the place and migrate to countries like Australia, Canada, the US and Britain, where they can make a decent quid?
The main economic threat is not fifth columnists, per se. It's not even the huge numbers of mainland Chinese migrating to the west who are now engaged in doing business with China.
It's big, multi-national companies taking their businesses off shore to save money on wages and other production costs.
So of course, there's a risk of "knock-offs" and copy-cat products.
Even so, we don't have that much to fear: quality never goes out of style.
6 - STM
And I'd add another rider to this: on my own experience, the really big winners from the current mainland Chinese migration wave are the car-insurance companies.
More accident claims, particularly from those minor ones that have occurred in shopping-centre parking lots, mean bigger premiums for the rest of us, and it's the reason why in Sydney whenever I see a Toyota Camry, Lexus or Mercedes, with no-one appearing to be driving it when viewed from behind, I give it a really bloody wide berth.
The last four bingles I've had in my car have been in Chinatown (which I have to drive through every day), including one where a woman side-swiped me, smashing my driver's side mirror in the process and continued driving and disappeared into an alleyway, pretending all the while to be totally oblivious (perhaps she was).
In another recent hilarious incident, a woman drove through a neighbour's set of steel gates while trying to reverse into a parking space on the OPPOSITE side the road, smashed two water hydrants which were spraying water everywhere, down through a garden and over a high rockery wall, across another front yard and then another, and over another wall before hitting another neighbour's tree and becoming wedged in the third home's front driveway. That's three front yards plus a fourth if you include the tree. I heard the crash and dashed out and the woman was sitting in her brand new Lexus complaining that it wouldn't start.
When the police arrived - the occupants of the car weren't going to call them, and I can't say I blame them - the two officers just stood there scratching their heads. One asked me if I had any ideas about how it might have happened.
I didn't.
Neither did the driver.
Stereotyping? Probably. Accurate? Absolutely. Racist? No. Just the way it is.
7 - Eric Dondero
Ron Paul is a loyal Republican. I served as his former Senior Aide, and currently live in his District. He even backed Bush in 2000 and campaigned for him as a fellow Texan. Bush (and Rove) returned the favor, by helping him with his reelection efforts.
Why would Ron Paul stab the GOP in the back by declaring himself an Independent? He's a team player.
And there's plenty of room for Libertarians in the GOP. In fact, the Republican Liberty Caucus is now the fastest growing wing of the Party.
Libertarian Republican Presidential preference poll now up at mainstreamlibertarian.com. And yes, Ron Paul is included in the poll.
8 - Dave Nalle
Welcome to BC, Eric. Good to have another RLCer on here.
[Edited]
Dave
9 - Clavos
So, you're being stalked too, huh Dave?
10 - A. Mertha
Although I am quoted in this opinion piece, I should clarify that my comments apply to any country with a relatively under developed legal system. China is far from alone in this regard. Moreover, the tone of this piece betrays a fundamental fear of China simply because it is a competitor. What ever happened to our own competitive spirit? By bellyaching about China this and China that, we are ensuring that we will lose in the global marketplace. Why? Not because China is the big bad bogeyman, but because we are too busy baby-crying when we should be celebrating our ability to compete with the best out there. Really, we need to stop being afraid of everything that exists beyond our borders and instead embrace the opportunities we have before us. We, as a nation, really need to grow up.