NovemberRevolution2010

 
 
You would have to live far in the hills of some backward community to have never heard about the escalating debt of the United States. And even if you had not heard about the debt you would not be able to escape the debilitating pain this debt has caused to our economy.  The focus of the Obama administration towards debt has been to blame it on the previous Bush Administration. Well, I once heard a proverb that said if you aren’t apart of the solution you are just another part of the problem. Mr. Obama we need solutions not scapegoats! But partisanship aside I fear the real issue about US debt is not merely how much we owe in total but how much of that debt we owe to China.

For far too long we have been robbing Peter to pay Paul and now we are essentially borrowing money from China to give to Peter, so we can then rob him, to pay Paul. If that sounds crazy or ridiculous to you, we are both on the same page. China currently owns approximately 80 percent of the total US debt and yet we continue to borrow from them as if we are never going to be required to repay this money. So, let’s consider that we will in fact have to begin repaying this money soon. How on earth are we to repay a debt to a country that over the past several years has held a trade embargo against United States goods while forcing US Manufacturers to kowtow before their cheaper Chinese products? We cannot make money to repay our debt if we have no population to which to sell our goods.

According to the World Fact book which is maintained by the CIA, the United States is currently listed at the bottom of all nations in terms of national debt rankings. This means out of all the countries in the world, including North Korea, Iran, and every country in Africa and around the world the US has more debt than anyone else. Ironically, the nation to whom we owe the most in debt is the country which holds the least amount of debt themselves. Yes, China is the top country with the least amount of national debt. Let me say that again, China is ranked FIRST and the USA is ranked LAST!

If you still do not see a problem with the current relationship to China and our debt let me mention the military prowess of China.  In 2007 China launched a missile into space that destroyed a communication satellite. The most worrisome aspect of this story is that it took nearly two weeks before their defense ministry even responded to having done so. Then their Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “This test was not directed at any country and does not constitute a threat to any country.” Across the western military intelligence agencies and some in Asia, there was nearly an audible “Yet” uttered at the conclusion of that statement. China has made great leaps in their military defense capabilities. Not the least of which would include the number of members in their defense department. Then last year a Chinese analyst named Li Qiulin (a prominent member of the PLA-Peoples Liberation Army in China) “urged the PLA to bolster its ability to project force in South Asia”(FP p.87).

Currently China has approximately 2.2 million defense members or armed forces, while the USA has only 1.4 million members.  That number may not seem significantly large enough to cause consternation but let us not forget that while we have a population of around 300 million from which to draw additional forces from, the Chinese also have 300 million plus one BILLION more!  But the United States still has the best equipped and capable military force in the world. (Here’s where the debt really comes into play)

You have all heard that there are two ways to deal with this type of debt, you can raise taxes or cut spending. President Obama has sworn to only raise taxes on the top 5% of Americans and even though that number will undoubtedly grow; I believe he will still be forced to cut spending. So, do you suppose that social programs like Welfare, Social Security, and the new Health Care (all darlings of the Democratic Party, coincidentally in charge at the moment) are going to be cut? No, of course not. The areas that are likely to see the first cuts will be in places such as the defense department. In 2009 the United States spent $738 billion dollars on defense while the estimates for China range from $69.5 to $150 billion.

So clearly the US is far outspending China on defense and we should not be worried about their growth in defense spending, as it is meager when compared to our own, right? Wrong! According to Foreign Policy’s article “the United States last year had 285,773 active-duty personnel deployed around the world. China on the other hand has no overseas bases and only a handful of PLA personnel stationed abroad in embassies, on fellowships, and in the U.N. peacekeeping operations”(p.88) Now here is where reason and common sense have to meet. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that one of the most expensive things a standing army has to do is to supply troops when they are deployed. It’s even more expensive when those troops are involved in two ongoing wars. So, the vast majority of the 2009 defense budget was being spent to supply and support the deployed troops and the two wars rather than to develop or even maintain military weaponry.  China, on the other hand, had to devote virtually NONE of their defense budget to such costly ventures and instead had all their resources geared toward military advances and defense growth, not mere supply and support.

Now what style of government do they practice in China? If you said communism you are a winner! The Chinese Communist Party is the government in charge in Beijing. Now, at least for the moment, what style of government do we practice in the United States of America? If you said a Democracy…you would be wrong! We are a Constitution based Federal Republic..with Strong Democratic traditions. Now, if you know anything about how these two types of governments relate you will know that they are in almost complete opposition of one another. In fact, we spent many years fighting the evils of Communism in the hopes that it would collapse and disappear completely as the failure it has proven to be repeatedly. However, the fall of the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union did not lead to the 1980’s-90’s Domino effect Reagan and others had hoped for.  So, if we spent so many years and billions of dollars during the Cold War fighting communism why did we turn and embrace a communist nation beginning just when it appeared to be on the collapse? Let’s pause and think who was in office when the Berlin Wall came down? I do believe it was Bush 41. And in 1989, the same year the Wall came down, we saw the Tiananmen Square uprisings in Beijing brutally suppressed by the Chinese military.  The US and China certainly weren’t close allies then…

Then came 1992 and the election of a Democrat to office in the White House…a guy who lasted two terms and managed to give just about as much as he could to the Chinese without the American public being made aware. We suddenly found that it was OK to sell our best computer technologies to China and a new relationship was born. Never mind that there had been no regime change in China and they remained steadfastly Communist and in stark comparison to democratic nations around the world.  President Bill Clinton made his famous trip to China and the USA was suddenly friendly with a country that’s ideals were anything but similar to our own.  I would follow the old advice to “Keep your friends close, and keep your enemies closer” but I’ve never heard of “Borrow from your enemies”. Perhaps I’m the only person who sees that as a possible contradiction in commonsense.

Now 80 percent of things like toys that we Americans buy in US stores are no longer produced in America, by Americans but are produced in China, by Chinese. Remember when Wal-Mart use to proclaim the “Made In America” brand? Guess who now pushes for the largest number of Chinese goods to be sold in America? You guessed it, Wal-Mart. I recently gave my senior high government students an assignment to locate three products, not food stuffs that were made in the United States. Out of 76 students in three classes only four students were able to find two products, 59 students found one product, and none found all three Made In America products. The group searched in a combined 112 stores both locally owned and several national retail chains. That says more about the condition of our country than any debt clock we have running today.

So in conclusion, I would hope you will take some time to research the growth of the Chinese market, the growth of the US-China debt, the increase in the advances made by the Chinese military, and note the following stories reported in the Foreign Policy issue mentioned earlier:

“Late in 2008 China dispatched a three-ship task force to the African coast to conduct anti-piracy missions and escort vessels through pirate infested waters off the coast of Somalia. It was the first time in modern history that Chinese military vessels-in this case, two destroyers and a supply ship-had deployed outside local waters, armed and ready for combat. ….It has now deployed its forth task force, demonstrating its ability to maintain a presence for an extended time”( p. 88). I will leave it to you to determine what this all means for the future of America and it’s people.

 


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