WHAT IF CHINA SAID NO MORE

[kriskros]

to teach the decadent western capitalists a lesson...or some other such propaganda type excuse....no more TVs,no more washing machines,no more batteries,ect,ect,,,not a liely scenario,but possible?.. at one time the U.S. was the worlds greatest manufacturer..NOT NOW where are the factories?? and,most importantly,where are the TRAINED ple to man them? China,and several third world counties could put north america in real bind if we were cut off by any of them... we make lots of hamburgers and pizzas, but what else

 

[Dauntless]

You mean like where a guy points a gun at his own head and says "Stop or I'll shoot?"

Well, I guess it would mean that we'd have to put some people to work building our own, the government would have excess cash to pay off all those bonds that China and others own, etc. China meanwhile, would be in the dumper. I guess we'd REALLLY have to piss them off for that to happen.

"HEY, CHINA! You're our BUTT MONKEY! Yeah, that's right, YOU! CHINA! BUTT MONKEY!"

(Don't just sit there, get to work!)

 

[swbluto]

Just like what happened when china said "No more neodymium for you".

Prices of available goods skyrocket as demand vastly exceeds available domestic supply, then slowly dissipates as US manufacturing capability ramps up to make up for the difference. In the mean time, existing US manufacturers make a bundle.

However, it would be absolutely foolish for them to do that as they'd then lose their major export customers and likely halt the very same globalization trend that's growing their economy. Their economic well-being is dependent on western world customers buying their goods.

In essence, they'd be biting the hand that feeds them.

 

[hydro-one]

i would be worried about one thing : batteries !!

 

[DAND214]

In essence, they'd be biting the hand that feeds them.

Anybody got some SOY sauce?

Dan

 

[Supertux1]

OPEC tried this already in the 70's. Hurts everyone, but the supplier suffers the most.

 

[kriskros]

the loss of business and there jobnswould afect the PEOPLE,not government officials..i8n China,how how much consideration is given to people??..from all reports i have read the government owned and operated factories are a pathetic mess.. the modern well run and well equipped plants are FOREIGN investment... if they went bust the government would acquire some very nice factories for free..as far as government funds are concerned,China could probably pay off the U.S. national debt with their spare pocket money..Chinese government takes in a LOT of money, but ,unloke western nations,assumes very little financial support fothe population.. .. China is not a warlike nation but, FINANCIAL attck the west is wide open...again,all hypethetical

 

[Dauntless]

In much the same manner as we have lost it today, the United States largely lost its' ability to produce during the Great Depression. (It's about time to start calling that one the FIRST Great Depression.) between emptying the warehouses of unsold merchandise from the 20's that were stockpiled when they were just soooooo suuuuuurre the buyers were going to show up any minute and of course people digging things out of the garage, the basement, even the TRASH, Americans made do with what they had. What little they bought brought them a choice of the often better quality European goods, or the shoddy but very cheap Japanese products, which often won in the marketplace. Factories, trained workers, these things ceased to exist in the States.

In 1937 an Army Air Force Captain was released from a mental institution so he could go to China as a consultant to their air force as they were caught in 6 years of on again/off again Japanese hostilities. As much as Claire Chennault had laughed at the higher ups proposing things like dangling a ball and chain behind a plane to try to entangle it in the enemy propeller, those higher ups wanted him GONE and this was there wouldn't be any more questions asked. He quickly warned them that the Italian trained pilots were a hazard in the air, as were the combustible and out of date biplanes the Italians were selling them. The Chinese immediately bought 36 new Hawk 75A fighters from the U.S.

Told there were problems with the pilots landing the new planes, Chennault went to the airfield to watch them arrive. Of the 13 planes he observed landing, 6 crashed. When he asked when the others were coming, he was told they were already wrecked. Chennault had a big job ahead of him teaching the Chinese the REAL way to fly their planes, while the American aviation industry now had a steady customer.

And there would be more. Finland, then France, then England began building up for the coming war. China and England fought over the output of the Curtis factory, with the Chinese willingness to take more of the older design P40 getting them moved up in the delivery order and ensuring they had planes for the American Volunteer Group, the "Flying Tigers." The U.S. Army placed an order for ongoing deliveries of the Martin B26, winner of their competition for a light bomber, only to be told that Martin would eventually be able to build half that amount, as they expanded their facilities and trained more workers. In 1940 the British approached the struggling North American Aviation, losers in the bomber competition who didn't yet know they'd be taking up the slack for Martin with their B25, to ask if they might subcontract the Curtis design manufacturing, instead the British bought the North American P51 Mustang as well as the B25.

And Claire Chennault would discover that the Flying Tigers were flying home safely after midair collisions with the poorly designed Japanese planes that were doomed by the impact. The Japanese planes would vibrate at less than half their full speed. The German planes would turn better to one side than the other. The American factories would be building the acknowledged best planes in every category by wars' end.

This is what put America back to work and ended the Great Depression. Arms sales for World War II. Given more time, the U.S. would have set up enough factory space that there would have been no need to build the FM2 Wildcat in the Chevy factory, or the B24 over at Ford. As it was, all those electric and phone lines, as well as the highways and side streets built in the 1930's would make the growth of industry easy. The highest literacy rate in the world and the fact that most children of the 1920-40 era grew up handling machinery made the Americans the quickest to train, the U.S. was able to build over 150 aircraft carriers for the American and British navies. More than 6,000 out of date P40 fighters, among other things, were built only to keep workers on the job at the end of the war, the government refusing to allow even a short layoff while Curtis tooled up for the modernized version. Stockpiles of unneeded war supplies then kept workers busy as they were scrapped.

The point of this is that that the U.S., ALONE, had a greater industrial capacity in 1945 than the entire world did in 1940. The factories of Europe and Japan were mostly gone, it was going to take a long time for them to come back. (Europe didn't, entirely.) But what to do with it now that the war was over?

The Office of Emergency Management went out getting the leftover machinery recycled and trying to distribute factory space to those who would use it and EMPLOY people. Once such conmen as the legendary Preston Tucker (Don’t take the Coppola movie seriously) were cleared out, more successful projects such as the Tootsie Roll could move in. (The Tootsie Roll did take over the space where Tucker built his 51 “Prototypes.”)

So wouldn’t it be great if we could see our problems treated as an “Emergency?” Just as Ford was there to help Preston Tucker build all those prototypes, the major industry of America today is not so cutthroat as people enjoy saying it is. There was no need for Tucker to use mostly junk parts from cars of the 1930’s, just as there’s no need today to depend on ideas whose time is done. But as with Tucker, people do it that way anyway.

I’d like to think there’s a way to get California’s 112 community colleges (Yes, I said 112) educating people at the full clip again. Currently they operate at half capacity because so much of the budget is gone. It might cost about $1.5 billion ($300 million of it from student fees) and they could again be providing 2 years of college education in 2 years’ time for about $5,000. Currently it takes 6 years for all the waiting in line for classes, it gets worse each year. The benefit from an educated workforce, vs. the liability of them being unwashed masses. It’s well worth what it would cost.

I just remind you we already HAVE this asset waiting to be used. And others. China talks of educating 500,000 new engineers each year, but are they anywhere near ready to do what we could do?

I’m not afraid of China saying “No more.” Regardless of whatever little difficulties would occur, I can’t help but think of what an exciting time it would be. I really just wish we would tell THEM no more. . . .

 

[wineboyrider]

Economics is an equalizing measure. Few countries can survive without some sort of trade. North Korea is trying, but not doing well economically. It's all part of the basic theorems of economics.
Bread and Butter is only possible temporarily with Keynesian economic theorems, but some day the we will pay the piper, but that does not mean that all means of economic production will cease. For instance, here in NM Otero county we are sitting on one of the largest deposits of neodymium ore in the world yet the government and environmental wackos prevent the company from extracting it (yes there are some Chinese companies that want it too LOL). So once poverty is imposed usually by some kind of government decree it is up to the people to revolt against it and utilize those resources.

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

a junkie don't evah say 'no more'.
actually, more like a crack-whore.

The American factories would be building the acknowledged best planes in every category by wars' end

uh.
huh.

'cept american factories didn't have a jet cagetory, did they?

nothing should ever be taken as reality without proof and no belief is beyond scrutiny when faced with an apparent contradiction

acknowledegment deeeeenied.
me262.

 

[Dlogic]

Excellent!! Germany was the worlds export champ for decades. Yes, we actually make things and don´t invent crappy financial products. Proud? Yes, of course, that´s one, if not the only one thing that rocks here.

So if China closes down we´ll have to work even harder to feed the worlds demand for high quality industrial goods.

Take that China!

And don´t take my words too serious please.

 

[Sancho's Horse]

In all of human history, the greatest source of destabilitazation of any government anywhere in the world is hunger. Somehow, I do not think China is interested in eating I-phones. Dependence upon the U.S. for food is a current and future fact, which a growing portion of the world faces. Even with increased food production in Brazil, and elsewhere...climate change makes it all very dicey. America has been a history of unprecedented opportunity...literally, resources just laying everywhere. Our rise to manufacturing predominance was a feat spurred by uninterrupted WWII development. Continued development was created by an unprecedented import of intelligence. Geniuses came to the US. China will never have this level of attraction for the geniuses of this world...unless you do not mind your genius being hidden behind the shadow of the Chinese ego. Unfortunately, China has been involved in a massive resource grab...and their society is cut throat and exclusive. It doesn't matter who you are, or how well you speak the language...you will never be Chinese. But...you can be American. Even the president...right, Africa?

BTW China could not sell their debt in their latest round of fund raising...yes, they have debt...(actually with their decentralized ways of raising money for business ventures, it is far more than they are willing to acknowledge). America has yet to have a problem...even with openly idiotic people in political positions. Anyone making predictions while the climate changes are a bit premature...I can't even predict what season it will feel like when I walk outside...feels like fall in Indiana. Feels good here.

 

[23skidoo]

It would look like it did when Japan said "no more," I hope.

Of course they said "no more" by raising prices.

And they stopped making cheap stuff. And when that happened, Detroit was doomed.

But the world was better off.

 

[Dauntless]

The American factories would be building the acknowledged best planes in every category by wars' end

uh.
huh.

'cept american factories didn't have a jet cagetory, did they?

Why YES, they DID. You didn't know that, did you? That lack of knowledge was reflected in your post. There were several, actually. And they WORKED.

nothing should ever be taken as reality without proof and no belief is beyond scrutiny when faced with an apparent contradiction

acknowledegment deeeeenied.
me262.

So now you're going to post "Crow eateeeeeeeeen?" You might try taking that Ayn Rand quote SERIOUSLY!

Dang, who needs a jet when all you're facing is the ME262? Chuck Yeager would be LAUGHING at your post. The "Apparent contradiction" is he shot it down as easily as I shot YOU down. The dang thing had no chance against the P51 Mustang. The U.S. didn't bother rushing a jet over to fight a plane that couldn't stand up to piston engines. A cousin of Willie Messerschimtt was flying a B17 that fought off an ME262 with side guns.

Oh, is there some particular REASON you tried (And failed) to act like that?

 

[Dauntless]

Dependence upon the U.S. for food is a current and future fact, which a growing portion of the world faces.

How would that work? The U.S. imports what? 40% of its' food? How much of that is imported from China? Green Giant for one. China is the world's number one producer of garlic, etc. "Pacific Salmon," etc. from Chinese fish. If it's canned or jarred at Costco, there's a good chance it's from China. Read the label. And read the label on the fruit cups the kids get with the school lunch.

The Montreal Gazzette had an article with the Canadian Government statement on feeding fish in Asian fish farms.

They suspend chicken wire crates over the fish ponds, and the fish feed on . . . . If you search the Internet about what the Chinese feed their fish, you'll be alarmed; e.g., growth hormones, expired anti-biotic from humans. Never buy any type of fish or shellfish that comes from these countries:
Vietnam,
China,
Philippines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/asia/15fish.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The Chinese think of human sewage as "Fertilizer." Look up 'Night Soil.' (Go grab it from the outhouse at night when no one is looking.) Just think, YOU might be the one who ATE what you see growing in the pictures. Here's their POSITIVE spin. http://www.agroecology.org/Case%20Studies/nightsoil.html

Geniuses came to the US. China will never have this level of attraction for the geniuses of this world...unless you do not mind your genius being hidden behind the shadow of the Chinese ego.

The Chinese TRY to develop more educated people, but they slip away to the U.S. Look at how many of the college math professors are Asian.

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

The American factories would be building the acknowledged best planes in every category by wars' end

uh.
huh.

'cept american factories didn't have a jet cagetory, did they?

Why YES, they DID. You didn't know that, did you? That lack of knowledge was reflected in your post. There were several, actually. And they WORKED.

nothing should ever be taken as reality without proof and no belief is beyond scrutiny when faced with an apparent contradiction

acknowledegment deeeeenied.
me262.

So now you're going to post "Crow eateeeeeeeeen?" You might try taking that Ayn Rand quote SERIOUSLY!

Dang, who needs a jet when all you're facing is the ME262? Chuck Yeager would be LAUGHING at your post. The "Apparent contradiction" is he shot it down as easily as I shot YOU down. The dang thing had no chance against the P51 Mustang. The U.S. didn't bother rushing a jet over to fight a plane that couldn't stand up to piston engines. A cousin of Willie Messerschimtt was flying a B17 that fought off an ME262 with side guns.

Oh, is there some particular REASON you tried (And failed) to act like that?

talk to the wiki grrlfriend.
p59 not even worth a mention in comparison.

Compared with Allied fighters of its day, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor, it was much faster and better armed.[6] One of the most advanced aviation designs in operational use during World War II

also no american factories in the rocket plane cagetory.
but i'm sure you have a grainy pic of a modded 'schmitt with american markings yule pull outta yer azz fer dat2.

acknowledegment deeeeenied.

(who is this 'cousin of Willie Messerschimtt'??? can't be any relation to Willie Messerschmitt.)

legendary P-51

 

[davec]

if china said no more- would it be the end of the world? i dont think so- maybe we would have to figure out how to make it ourselves simple as that- or find another poor country for cheap labour
there was a period of time where we actually manufactured crap in north america and innovated
now we're nothing but debt ridden consumers - a service based economy full of corporate greed and bin counters off-shoring everything they can
and PS we do make lithium cells in livonia- and it was funded off tax payers money but it couldnt be sold to us

 

[Dauntless]

(who is this 'cousin of Willie Messerschimtt'??? can't be any relation to Willie Messerschmitt.)

Do you mean that in the Ozark Mountain cousins-parents kinda way? It would explain the behavior. Also, this Wiki Grrrlfriend of yours. Didn't she dump you for T'eo? And why would you think there's some reason to compare your imaginary girlfriend to a P59? A P59 was a real, WORKING airplane that would stay in the air quite a bit longer than the once around the block ME262. As was the XP81 had there been a need to produce it.

But my favorite of all these better than the ME262 fighters that the U.S. could have rushed to service if need be is the FH1 Phantom. But the war itself kept the Navy too busy to actually play with the new toy until months after the war was over. Hell, the Navy couldn't get the Bearcat fighter into combat because the Hellcat was doing such a great job. The Bearcat probably was even better than the P51, but they never found out.

So if anything other than a piston engine got the chance to shoot down an ME262, I'd say it would have been the P59 shooting down the 262.

Oh, and if you're so smart, why would you bring up the ME163 when I said BEST planes? That's as embarrassing as the ME163 itself.

What a foulup the ME262 was. They get it in the air and the fuel warning light comes on. Land to refuel, get back in the air, the warning light is on again. THIS was some bomber, eh? They finally gave up and turned the planes over to a fighter unit. But don't bother trying to fight with those American piston planes, they'll shoot you right down.

The 262 would have been an effective interceptor simply for using the over 500mph speed for chasing down the bombers, but you have to fly in a straight line as you attack. The problem was, it was a STABLE plane. A nimble fighter or stunt plane is quite UNSTABLE. So they needed to come up with a methodology for using that speed to come up from behind and flying by then getting the danged slow turning thing behind the enemy again.

The Germans would have been better served by forgetting the 262 and building the Henkel 280 and/or Doriner of a number I forget. Cheap, simple but fast jet planes that could have ended the heavy bombardment of Germany prior to D-Day. Not the most nimble but better than the 262.

So they had to bring the 262 to the U.S. and let the hobbists solve the problems that the German engineers couldn't. http://www.stormbirds.com/project/index.html

Crow Eateeeeeeeen.

 

[Chalo]

The real risk isn't China saying "no more cheap consumer crap for you!", but them refusing to buy any more US Treasury bonds. That would pretty much tear up and discard the American economy as we have come to understand it.

 

[dogman dan]

I think China is only going to say "Want more". So we'll print more bonds for them to buy, till that bubble pops.

 

[davec]

it's funny how everyone is so caught up in this financial system bonds, treasuries , money and think we cant live without it- this is the system that has been sold to us- and it's nothing but an illusion
sure it would tear up our already hurting economy
if you got a roof over your head food on the table you will survive- that is really all you need nothing more nothing less-- and if our economy gets torn up - we have enough to sustain ourselves- and figure how to bring back manufacturing and give people jobs
heck look at the ommish they dont need an economy- but ofcourse no one wants to live the simple life anymore

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

thank you for your acknowledgement that no american factories ever built any rocket planes.

(who is this 'cousin of Willie Messerschimtt'??? can't be any relation to Willie Messerschmitt.)

Do you mean that in the Ozark Mountain cousins-parents kinda way? It would explain the behavior. Also, this Wiki Grrrlfriend of yours. Didn't she dump you for T'eo? And why would you think there's some reason to compare your imaginary girlfriend to a P59? A P59 was a real, WORKING airplane that would stay in the air quite a bit longer than the once around the block ME262. As was the XP81 had there been a need to produce it.

But my favorite of all these better than the ME262 fighters that the U.S. could have rushed to service if need be is the FH1 Phantom. But the war itself kept the Navy too busy to actually play with the new toy until months after the war was over. Hell, the Navy couldn't get the Bearcat fighter into combat because the Hellcat was doing such a great job. The Bearcat probably was even better than the P51, but they never found out.

So if anything other than a piston engine got the chance to shoot down an ME262, I'd say it would have been the P59 shooting down the 262.

Oh, and if you're so smart, why would you bring up the ME163 when I said BEST planes? That's as embarrassing as the ME163 itself.

What a foulup the ME262 was. They get it in the air and the fuel warning light comes on. Land to refuel, get back in the air, the warning light is on again. THIS was some bomber, eh? They finally gave up and turned the planes over to a fighter unit. But don't bother trying to fight with those American piston planes, they'll shoot you right down.

The 262 would have been an effective interceptor simply for using the over 500mph speed for chasing down the bombers, but you have to fly in a straight line as you attack. The problem was, it was a STABLE plane. A nimble fighter or stunt plane is quite UNSTABLE. So they needed to come up with a methodology for using that speed to come up from behind and flying by then getting the danged slow turning thing behind the enemy again.

The Germans would have been better served by forgetting the 262 and building the Henkel 280 and/or Doriner of a number I forget. Cheap, simple but fast jet planes that could have ended the heavy bombardment of Germany prior to D-Day. Not the most nimble but better than the 262.

So they had to bring the 262 to the U.S. and let the hobbists solve the problems that the German engineers couldn't. http://www.stormbirds.com/project/index.html

yeah, in the ozark mountain way as in you don't know how to spell 'messerschMitt' crow-muncher.
but what's one more error piled on top of a schiMtt-pile of errors.

acknowledgement still deeeeenied.

Crow Eateeeeeeeen.

 

[MikeFairbanks]

I did my own analysis last year on the state of the American economy, specifically focusing on the national debt, taxes, Social Security, Military spending, and the other biggies, so-to-speak.

The bottom line looks like this (as of late 2012):

1. The USA has total assets of about $2,000,000,000,000,000. That's 2 quadrillion dollars. This includes wall-to-wall stuff, sea to shining sea. The trees, coal, leather, glass, sand, forks, gold, chickens, bacon, etc. It's stuff that you own, I own, businesses own, and the government's wealth. The whole basket.

2. Our national debt is about 16 trillion dollars.

3. Everyone knows that you can knock zeroes off when doing division and get the same quotient. For example, 10 divided by 5 is 2. 100 divided by 50 is 2, and 1000 divided by 500 is 2.

4. So, with that in mind, our national debt is equivalent to $16 and we have $2000 in assets. Think about that for a second. Imagine you walked into your garage and had $2000 worth of stuff, but owed 16 bucks. Would you really be all that nervous about it? No. You could raise that money in a day.

Now, keep in mind that of that 16 bucks, 11 dollars of it is owed to family members (on the big scale, it's national debt owed to Americans, such as bonds and borrowing from Social Security to pay for wars and such).

This leaves you looking at 2000 dollars of assets and about five dollars in debt to people outside your family (China).

Obviously, all of our stuff isn't in liquid assets, but the point is that you can liquidate enough to pay off the debt pretty quickly.


The problem isn't so much the current national debt as it is the future of our entitlement programs. Social Security can easily be fixed (and isn't really in that much trouble...people exaggerate that one....it's a really easy fix).

Medicare is a bit of a problem, but if we just nationalized healthcare and did it right, that would ease our problems there.

I don't have any answers about how to solve the welfare problem. Wish I could.

And in terms of spending, we need to invest in our own nation and not spend so much on destroying others. Yes, we need to trade, but our current method of imperialism isn't very healthy for anybody.

 

[swbluto]

I did my own analysis last year on the state of the American economy, specifically focusing on the national debt, taxes, Social Security, Military spending, and the other biggies, so-to-speak.

The bottom line looks like this (as of late 2012):

1. The USA has total assets of about $2,000,000,000,000,000. That's 2 quadrillion dollars. This includes wall-to-wall stuff, sea to shining sea. The trees, coal, leather, glass, sand, forks, gold, chickens, bacon, etc. It's stuff that you own, I own, businesses own, and the government's wealth. The whole basket.

2. Our national debt is about 16 trillion dollars.

3. Everyone knows that you can knock zeroes off when doing division and get the same quotient. For example, 10 divided by 5 is 2. 100 divided by 50 is 2, and 1000 divided by 500 is 2.

4. So, with that in mind, our national debt is equivalent to $16 and we have $2000 in assets. Think about that for a second. Imagine you walked into your garage and had $2000 worth of stuff, but owed 16 bucks. Would you really be all that nervous about it? No. You could raise that money in a day.

Now, keep in mind that of that 16 bucks, 11 dollars of it is owed to family members (on the big scale, it's national debt owed to Americans, such as bonds and borrowing from Social Security to pay for wars and such).

This leaves you looking at 2000 dollars of assets and about five dollars in debt to people outside your family (China).

Obviously, all of our stuff isn't in liquid assets, but the point is that you can liquidate enough to pay off the debt pretty quickly.


The problem isn't so much the current national debt as it is the future of our entitlement programs. Social Security can easily be fixed (and isn't really in that much trouble...people exaggerate that one....it's a really easy fix).

Medicare is a bit of a problem, but if we just nationalized healthcare and did it right, that would ease our problems there.

I don't have any answers about how to solve the welfare problem. Wish I could.

And in terms of spending, we need to invest in our own nation and not spend so much on destroying others. Yes, we need to trade, but our current method of imperialism isn't very healthy for anybody.

Well, the figure you cite for the total national wealth at 2 quadrillion is a bit of an overestimate (It's actually closer to 70 trillion; this site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_wealth states 57.4 trillion). However, the general idea you bring up remains true: The united states isn't "drowning in debt".

The more important ratio is the Debt:GDP ratio, as the government's tax revenues are a certain percentage of the GDP. In that regard, the United States is doing fairly good compared to most Western Nations, especially much of Europe. However, Canada and Australia certainly have the debt-addicted Americans beat with their extremely low national debt.

Also, the United States has a trick up its sleeve. It can monetize the debt by printing money - meaning, essentially, it can lower its tax burdens by flooding the economy with funny money which boosts the nominal GDP and thus their tax revenues. And, that's exactly what it's been doing with QE, having printed 3 trillion so far and racking up a cool trillion every year at the current pace. (The m2 money supply is at 15 trillion, suggesting they're increasing the money supply at an average rate of 8% per year.)

Also, to put international trade into perspective, the total national GDP is around 15 trillion, exports were 1.55 trillion and imports were 2.34 trillion. That means more money is changing hands within the United States than with countries overseas. However, imports are increasing at an impressive 8% per year (Coincidentally, china's real GDP increased at 8% last year... makes me think the bulk of their growth is directly due to the increase of Chinese exports to western countries like the USA), so that may change in the not-too-distance future.

 

[Chalo]

I think the difference between Mike's number and yours is that yours reflects monetary assets, and Mike's takes into account all tangible assets.

In the long run we have to worry about the folks who benefit from the trade and debt imbalances using their gains to buy up our assets. Because to return to Mike's analogy, owing some money to a neighbor is a less precarious situation than owing some money to a neighbor who is your landlord.