Seriously, how could America remain rich with everything that we buy coming from China?
We can't. I'm all for free trade, so long as it's bilateral. And, I don't mind sending some jobs to Mexico as it helps stabilize what would otherwise be a near-third world country that just happens to be on our border. Plus, Mexico doesn't have 400 ICBM's pointed at us. China does.
By flipping real estate and using the inflated equity to buy Chinese stuff... err, well I guess that didn’t turn out too well, did it?
But, but, we sell our debt to China. They send us manufactured goods and we send them dollar deposits in banks and they use those dollars to buy T-Bills and other financial assets
And, invariably, it breaks after the first use!