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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (176387)	11/29/2005 7:47:20 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

OK, you go tell the Chinese that they aren't merchants and capitalists as they're eating your economic lunch LOL. Tell 'communists' that they can't also be 'millionaires' LOL: "The number of Chinese citizens with at least US$1 million in financial assets, excluding the value of home real estate, increased by 12 percent year-on-year in 2003, pushing the total to 236,000, according to the 2004 World Wealth Report issued by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini. China enjoyed the sixth fastest growth rate in the world for the number High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs), defined as those with at least US$1 million in financial assets, excluding the value of home real estate, last year. Hong Kong recorded the largest growth in HNWIs with a 30 percent year-on-year increase during 2003. Merrill Lynch attributed Hong Kong's enormous increase to the booming Chinese economy, which has strengthened consumer confidence and increased foreign investment in the Special Administrative Region. The growing number of HNWIs in China's mainland, meanwhile, is becoming increasingly evident, especially in the country's largest cities. In Shanghai for example, the opening of various outlets selling luxury brands such as Gucci, Rolex, and Louis Vutton are evidence that Chinese demand for high-priced goods is large and growing. Despite a quick pace of growth, however, the number of HNWIs in China is still relatively small when compared to the United States, which was home to 2.272 million HNWIs in 2003." chinadaily.com.cn If you don't like my numbers, find your own. This is what I found: Chinese per capita gdp is about 1/10th that of Mexico's. China is the world's second largest consumer of oil at 6.5 million bbls/day in 2003 and rising fast. Worldwide consumption is about 75 million bbls/day. If China increases oil consumption by a factor of 10, they'll be at 65 million bbls/day. Not quite what the entire world consumes today but close enough for government work. What, you have better numbers? I tell ya, the Chinese are merchants and capitalists and they'll eat your lunch. I doubt China has a very good census so we are indeed a rounding error. That's ok, you can be GM wailing about Japanese autos thirty years ago. Is GM actually on the edge of bankruptcy? Goodness gracious and things happen much more quickly these days and there's even Microsoft Research China in Beijing which is delighted by the fact that China graduates 3X's more engineers than we do. I prefer to see reality and act accordingly. Wasting all of our assets on ruinous foreign wars and a make believe crusader's religious conflict is just playing into the hands of everyone else.