The Chinese Century?

Here in Asia, you can't help hearing questions about what happens when China overtakes the U.S. as the world's greatest economic superpower. No one here doubts that the 21st century is the Chinese Century. And they sure talk about it enough... all the time. The BBC did a series recently. Above is one episode. I watched another one yesterday that takes place in Brazil and Ohio.

Justin Rowlatt crosses Brazil and the United States on an epic journey as he continues to investigate the spread of Chinese influence around the planet. In Rio, local industries, including bikini factories, are threatened by cheap Chinese imports, and in the Amazon, Justin witnesses the phenomenal impact of the Chinese hunger for resources on the indigenous people and the environment. In the US, from California to the rust belt, Justin encounters the rising undercurrent of American fury over their own decline in the face of competition from China.

Rowlatt interviewed Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, a leader in the lonely fight against China's relentless takeover of the American economy. Takeover? Sure... that's exactly what we're talking about. Every time you walk into a WalMart you're selling out your own country and the future of your offspring. It's easy enough to blame China's avarice for their increasing economic power. But that doesn't really make a lot of sense. China's just doing what American capitalists taught them to do. And blaming them? If you want to blame anyone, it's been our own elites that have sold us out.

Both party establishments, of course. Oh, not Tim Ryan, but the political leaders of both parties-- both the Bushes and Clinton, for example, have been hard at work undermining America and strengthening China for decades. Last year Ryan's Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which would authorize the Commerce Department to levy tariffs on products imported from countries (China) that undervalue their currency passed 348-79. Ryan:

I've spent nearly six years pushing to get this bipartisan bill passed, and today's vote sends a strong signal to the U.S. manufacturing industry that Congress will NOT give up fighting on behalf of American jobs. If this risks upsetting the People's Republic of China, so be it. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative-- millions of good-paying jobs have been lost and hundreds of thousands of families across this country have suffered as a result of China's unlawful trade policies.

Three of Ryan's Ohio Democratic colleagues who voted for the bill-- John Boccieri, Kathy Dahlkemper and Charlie Wilson-- were all defeated last November. And they were defeated with campaign funds illegally injected into the electoral system from China by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. doesn't have the will or energy to defend itself economically or even to defend its own political system. Ryan's bill died in the Senate, where China financed the campaigns of several of its most notorious apologists (or, less charitably, agents), including Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI).