• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

I was promised a recession.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Books are my comfort food!

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Let’s finish the job.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

Let there be snark.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Fasten Your Seatbelts

Fasten Your Seatbelts

by John Cole|  June 28, 20059:43 am| 8 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs

FacebookTweetEmail

More bad news for Detroit:

line of Chinese-made cars began rolling onto a ship here Friday, bound for Europe. The cars, made at a gleaming new Honda factory on the outskirts of this sprawling city near Hong Kong, signal the latest move by China to follow Japan and South Korea in building itself into a global competitor in one of the cornerstones of the industrial economy.

Deals With China and JapanChina’s debut as an auto exporter, small as it may be for now, foretells a broader challenge to a half-century of American economic and political ascendance. The nation’s manufacturing companies are building wealth at a remarkable rate, using some of that money to buy assets abroad. And China has been scouring the world to acquire energy resources, with the bid to buy an American oil company only the latest overture.

Indeed, fierce domestic competition and a faster accumulation of financial assets are laying the groundwork for the arc of China’s rise to be far greater than Japan’s.

“It’s going to be like the Arabs in the 70’s and the Japanese in the 80’s – we were worried they’d buy everything,” said William Belchere, the chief Asia economist for Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong. But unlike those previous challenges, which soon faded, “longer term,” he added, China will “be a much bigger force.”

The story probably should have included some analysis about how the 80’s hysteria over Japan turned out, but we should note that China is not going away. Go read this piece by Jeralynn Merritt about her trip to Shanghai and the Chinese sense of long-term planning.

Hopefully, our man in China, Matthew Stinson, will start blogging again soon.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « The Perkins Proof
Next Post: Outside The Margin of “Eros” »

Reader Interactions

8Comments

  1. 1.

    Jon H

    June 28, 2005 at 10:02 am

    “The story probably should have included some analysis about how the 80’s hysteria over Japan turned out, but we should note that China is not going away.”

    Also, there’s the factor that Japan was at least a capitalist democracy.

    China’s still an authoritarian quasi-Marxist state, with state ownership of the big companies. Not the kind of people whose thumb we really want to be under.

    But, nah, the real Commie threat is Cuba.

  2. 2.

    brenda

    June 28, 2005 at 10:48 am

    Americas century was the twentieth and we are now in our decline. If this administration didn’t make that clear the collapse of our automotive industry will.

    We really really need to be putting all our energy into education if we want to compete in the 21st century. If we don’t get out act together here we are going to be left behind.

  3. 3.

    Tim F

    June 28, 2005 at 10:53 am

    Everybody’s favorite pundit, Krugman, has already outlined why he dismissed the Japan hysteria back in the day, and why China isn’t Japan.

    For one thing, China is spending smart. They’re going after assets of real strategic value rather than expensive hood ornaments like a movie studio. IBM gave them supercomputers and you don’t need me to tell you why the Unocal bid is a big deal.

    For another China has nowhere near reached its growth potential while Japan was pretty near peaked. Forget about the whole ‘communist’ thing, China has basically become a managed capitalist dictatorship. Not unlike the Phillippines under Marcos, actually. OK a hell of a lot unlike the Phillippines under Marcos, but still similar in important ways. Anyhow.

  4. 4.

    Jon H

    June 28, 2005 at 1:18 pm

    ” IBM gave them supercomputers”

    Nah, IBM only sold their regular PC and laptop business. IBM held onto their mainframes, workstations, and other high-end stuff – the things that don’t run on Intel chips, but instead run on IBM’s own POWER architecture CPUs.

  5. 5.

    Jon H

    June 28, 2005 at 1:21 pm

    Another problem with China, that wasn’t really the case with Japan, is that China’s state ownership means that China will pretty much be able to outbid anyone for anything. The prices they pay need not be set by normal business logic, such as how long it’ll take to recoup the investment, or whether the acquired company is even worth that much money.

    And if the government needs to shaft millions of citizens in order to come up with the cash, so be it. It’s not like the people will vote them out of office, or anything.

  6. 6.

    gratefulcub

    June 28, 2005 at 3:06 pm

    They won

  7. 7.

    ppgaz

    June 28, 2005 at 3:57 pm

    I don’t know what the consensus is on how the frenzy over Japan in the 80’s “turned out”, but ….

    Toyota, Honda, Nissan. Versus Ford, GM, Chrysler. How’s that one turning out?

    Also, how much American debt, or weakness in the dollar, is Japan buying? And what happens, here, if they stop buying it? Just asking.

    Don’t cry for me, (I might end up living in) Argentina?

  8. 8.

    Eric Bryant

    June 28, 2005 at 4:40 pm

    Yea, how did that whole thing with Japan turn out? I’m with ppgaz on this one. Japan’s pretty much winning the battle in the auto industry, and there’s no consumer electronics industry in this country to speak of anymore.

    As others have pointed out, at least Japan is a capitalist democracy, and a strategic ally. China’s a future advesary, I believe.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Martin on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:46pm)
  • lowtechcyclist on Take the Fucking Win (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:46pm)
  • Ken on Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread) (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:44pm)
  • Baud on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:42pm)
  • Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937 on Campaigns, cash and poorly attached voters (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:42pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!