Finger pointing won’t solve any problems
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Editor,
Just a few observations after the visit of China's president, Hu Jintao. I observed a lot of finger pointing. Finger pointing is one of our favorite ways to try to deflect the causes of our problems onto someone else.
Consider, for example, that right now the total investment by China in the U.S. is about $2.5 trillion. The investments in U.S. debt have played a significant role in the growth of China's domestic economy.
Without a U.S. market for all its manufactured goods, China would be in a terrible fix. That U.S. consumers were borrowing from China to pay for all those goods didn't seem to matter to the U.S. government at the time, and now it's too late to worry about that.
One wonders what greedy and short-term profit-minded decision-making went into this imbalance. It certainly was not U.S. long-range economic health that drove these decisions. The stories must be legendary.
I was listening to five economic students at Beijing University being interviewed on TV. A question was asked if they saw China becoming a "super power." One student's answer was, "I don't believe any nation should try to be a 'super power'. Each nation should do the best they can to be a proper power right along with many other nations in this world."
Another question was asked about how people in China perceive the U.S. A student's answer was, "America likes to portray itself with power as the picture of a soldier standing in the streets of Iraq, telling the world how they saved all the Iraqi people." She then shook her head and smiled shyly. Out of the mouths of the young so often comes wisdom and profound insights.
Finger pointing from our government to the Chinese government will not solve any problems between us; most of the problems were self-created from right here at home with lousy decisions for the long term health of our nation.
And as to our national debt? How about cutting the military complex in half. We'd still more than retain our proud status as the world's "super power," albeit awash in debt.
Bob McClellan
Polson
