[Pan_Yans Wife]

The USSR was broken by letting its economy implode, but with the PRC we seem all on fire to transfuse it with billions of dollars of cash.

I doubt we want to renew the arms race, and try to outspend the Chinese, do we?

[WmDonovan]

"I doubt we want to renew the arms race, and try to outspend the Chinese, do we?"

Well, first of all they'd "outspend" us with the money we give them for the junk we import--and that can be stopped.

Secondly, are you proposing that we would have been better off to have sent money to the USSR for trinkets and toasters made in Siberian factories instead of isolating the USSR and letting it collapse on its own? If so we'd still be in an arms race with them.

Thirdly, not trading with someone should not precipitate an arms race by itself--did South Africa get into any arms races over the embargoes of the 1980's? A lack of trade does not cause arms races; a belligerent dictatorship can. And if no one has noticed, the Chinese seem to think they are in an arms race already.

[PeterFinn]

"I doubt we want to renew the arms race, and try to outspend the Chinese, do we?"

No, the point is that the USA should not be enriching China so it may become a more potent adversary than it already is.