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Dr. James Ricks, Region 4 Coordinator, Cape Girardeau MO |
| Menu Options | CHINA: Trading Goliath |
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CHINA: Trading Goliath[printer friendly]By: Dr. James Ricks D.B.A. The growth of China’s economy has no equal in modern history. Since the technocrats in Chinese government set about reforming its economy a generation ago and scrapping Communism, its GDP has expanded faster than any in history. China is now committed to Capitalism to the extreme just as it was once committed to Communism. Chinese technocrats know that Capitalism works! Is God using China to punish a nation that is turning away from Him? China can hire and it can fire. It can throw old-line competitors out of work. In just three years from 2000 to 2003, for example, it has captured 40% of the American wood furniture market throwing 35,000 or, one in every three wood workers out of a job. That number is sure to climb in the future. Many small factories in America are very concerned about China’s rapacious methods of competition. If small manufacturers in America produce a product that can be copied, the Chinese competitors will copy the product and drive our small producers out of business. This is possible because it costs so much less to make a product in China where the daily wages are so low and companies don’t have to be concerned about government regulations, private patents of foreigners, or worker benefits. The most daunting problem concerning China is not its ability to make cheap consumer goods, but whether any commercial technology is beyond the imminent challenge from China. The Chinese are moving rapidly into higher technology sections as well as lower technology product manufacturing. When you go to purchase a high tech piece of equipment, notice where it was made. The Japanese are losing large shares of the television production industry to China. China is definitely narrowing the gap between the U.S. and Japan in research and development spending on high technology. China is now number three in research spending. The Chinese government also tolerates the stealing of American intellectual property. Foreign firms have little defense against the piracy of their technology in China. The Chinese Government’s failure to police intellectual property, in effect, creates a massive global subsidy worth hundreds of billions of dollars for Chinese businesses. God warned Israel in the Book of Deuteronomy of such events. The lopsided trade deficit balance with China is devouring America’s wealth at a prodigious rate. One has to ask, is God removing the special blessings of Joseph that America has enjoyed? Deut 28:44 states that one of the curses for not obeying God would be national debtor status instead of being a wealthy powerful creditor nation. Possibly, the nation is being cursed because we are becoming not only disobedient but unthankful. Instead of being thankful to God for our many blessings, we, as a culture, are attempting to shut thankfulness to God and knowledge of Him out as much as possible. Two examples of this new direction for America follow. New Jersey is in the process of trying to cancel Thanksgiving’s status as a holiday (in public schools), with no protest from most of the people. (See Deut 28:47) You would think that there would be an outcry from the citizens of New Jersey, or at least a mild complaint as this legislation is pushed through. Bibles are considered contraband in many American schools and universities. A professor was suspended for having a Christian magazine on her desk. What do you suppose would happen if a teacher had a Bible on a desk? World wide prices for raw material has sky rocketed due to China’s exploding growth. Oil, steel and copper, for example, have jumped about 25 to 35% in the last year. More expensive raw materials, in turn, hurt small factories and self employed Americans that use raw materials to produce their products and services. Raw materials jumped about 25 to 35% in the last year or so because of China exploding economic growth. The pressure is extreme on American businesses and will most likely, get worse. America can shop greedily for cheap merchandise because of China’s low cost production. They maintain their currency and labor costs (wages) at levels where most Chinese must work hard and consume relatively little compared to Americans. China is then lending America all the money we need to spend ourselves silly. If China flooded the currency market with all their U.S. dollars their economy would also suffer. Who would buy all their merchandise? This cycle of codependency, which former Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers labels as a “balance of financial terror” is not sustainable. When the situation unravels explosively and how the world’s economic bubble bursts, may be a spirit world decision. But it will happen someday! Pray that we will be spiritually ready and that America repents, turns toward the God of the Bible and is blessed again. |
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