[Roy Tucker]

Well, the US economy is about 5 times that the size of the Chinese economy (you can argue that on a PPP basis the gap is smaller). China continues to turn out 10-11% GDP increases year after year. US GDP growth for the year is in a slowdown at 1.8% for the year. Anytime, US growth falls below 1/5 the Chinese growth rate, then it will become the primary engine for growth.

China is growing but it’s numbers are not to be believed. It is the command side of the economy which continues to generate the statistics. We saw what the real Soviet economy was like when the music stopped.

[CarrotAndStick]

We saw what the real Soviet economy was like when the music stopped.

That may be true, but with the Soviets, there wasn't this massive transportation of finished goods leaving ports in thousands of container vessels, as the case is, with China. Moreover, the 'Made/Faked/Manufactured in China' labels are far more common than the U.S.S.R- made labels ever were.

[snowrip]

We saw what the real Soviet economy was like when the music stopped.

However, the Soviet economy wasn't being fueled by a nearly-infinite supply of foreign investment. Also, there were few in the US government lobbying for increased trade, Most Favored Nation status, and a seat on the WTC with the USSR. Nowadays, our politicians run panting to the Chinese Communists... even Bush.

The Chinese, it seems, will actually be the ones that sell us the rope we use to hang ourselves with.

[Gengis Khan]

The comparison of China with USSR is not valid. Nobody had any idea what USSR economy was like, until the iron curtain collapsed. China is different. Chinese growth is very visible around the world. You can see their new glitzy cities springing up everywhere all the time. You can see the amount of Chinese influence the world is having with the presence of Chinese people and products. The Chinese are everywhere. People are learning to speak Chinese to globalise their business and to enter China. More products are made for China and more products are coming out of China. USSR was more of a mystery. Were it not for its massive and hostile military power, the world would not have known it even existed.