[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.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

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?

It's not the arms race that I am against, it is the economics of the race that interests me. We overspent them, driving their economy to the ground, which lead to the Soviet's collapse. I don't see us using the same tactic against the Chinese.

And yes, there the Chinese are acting like there is an arms race on. I just don't see how we could outspend them, when Congress is complaining about spending another 80 billion in Iraq. And our national deficit just keeps growing, without any cuts in spending.