[gbog]

> Naysayers have been predicting the demise of China for the past thirty years.

Yes. They even use the same sentence and arguments every six months since 30 years. I live in China and keep my eyes open, and what I see here is that people go to work, big trucks deliver bunches of new cars from the factories to the cities, universities produce an increasing number of highly skilled engineers, et cetera.

[jevgeni]

Might I suggest looking at this book[1]:

http://www.amazon.com/Dow-36-000-Strategy-Profiting/dp/08129...

What is especially interesting is the publication date.

Additionally, remember when everybody in Europe and the U.S. seemed to be buying property? When was that? Oh, 2006.

But, the point without the snark is that none of the BRICs have a "golden ticket". What they do have, is a large trade surplus and murky leveraging.

___

[1] - Or even better: http://www.amazon.com/Dow-2008-Different-This-Time/dp/189395...

[anon8418]

I've yet to not be astonished by the pace of development and change in China, despite my frequent trips there since the mid-90s.

Especially in the hinterland... it's really night and day. Literally in a year you go from farms to skyscrapers. Crazy fast development.

The world is starting to notice though... now you see more Chinese middle-class tourists, more Chinese students (not the smart ones who just goto the ivies, but the rich mediocre students in community / for-profit / tertiary colleges), and real estate investors (which is starting to be a huge problem in Cali, PNW, etc.).

This is nothing but a road bump for China. The Chinese are hungry as hell. I don't really think the west fully appreciates their cultural drive.

The bigger story I don't see much mention of in the press is the growing dilemma facing Europe. Do they ally themselves with America or the growing East. This will grow to become a key political concern for the EU in the next 10-20-30 years.

[gbog]

Yes it's a road bump, yes China is back in the front row, yes they're hungry. But once the U.S. has accepted this reality that its not a solo play anymore, there should be no need for Europe to choose, because the battle we will have to fight is against a big chunk of the planet sinking back in the dark, and we can win this battle only if we go together, U.S., Europe and China.

[gbog]

Expanding on the battle we civilized humans (US + EU + China) need to fight together: this is not a battle for tanks, drones and helicopters (if it was, the US would do it well enopugh), it is a fight where the weapons are words, values and time.

[Grishnakh]

>The bigger story I don't see much mention of in the press is the growing dilemma facing Europe. Do they ally themselves with America or the growing East.

From what I see, it looks like they're going to ally themselves with the middle east/north Africa and adopt the culture from there.

[gbog]

You took Houellebecq too seriously.

[meagain20000]

So you are saying that this time things really are different? I would be surprised if it really is. USA couldn't prevent a crash what makes you think China can?

[gbog]

Much much longer experience?