[warchild9]

One of the things which makes the Chinese formidable is their long sense of history (rightly placed or not). They look ahead decades, and Americans only look ahead to the next election cycle (or sports season).

[gcruse]

Or the next fiscal quarter. Yes, we are typically shortsighted, especially when we are so evenly divided politically that either side can come into power and wreck the previous one's agenda on the whim of a sliver of the voters.