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It's interesting that all of the numbers in your post seem to be significant, but really aren't. The US "owes" China a trillion USD because the Chinese, invest
by karmacondon 11y ago
It's interesting that all of the numbers in your post seem to be significant, but really aren't.
The US "owes" China a trillion USD because the Chinese, investing on a national scale, need a safe investment that can support trillions and trillions of yuans. And in that regard right now, the US is the only game in town.
China's GDP growth is high, but that's because they're starting from a GDP that's much lower than that of the US. As with any logarithmic curve, growth starts quickly and then becomes harder over time. China has a ways to go.
The number of cars sold and the number of children enrolled in school are indicators that China does indeed have a much larger population than the US. Almost all of the BRIC nations have large populations, but are still in the process of turning that into wild economic growth. We'll see.
Other than the missing context for the numbers you provide, I agree with your general sentiment. There is a bit of schadenfreude among the US media whenever China struggles economicallly. This is probably because China is the US's biggest economic and military rival now that the Soviet Union is gone. It's natural to cheer for your team and boo the other team. I wouldn't take too much offense.
- idanoeman 11y agoWhy would growth be "logarithmic"? Growth is exponential, with rates that yes, probably decrease over time. It's not logarithmic.
- BookmarkSaver 11y agoAre you serious? As they start reaching the upper levels of wealth the ability to keep catching up decreases dramatically. When they are an impoverished country and a wealthy partner throws money at and around them, they will start catching up fast because that amount of wealth is massive compared to what they had.
- idanoeman 11y agoLogarithmic growth would literally be sub-linear growth. Historically countries growth looks something like a piecewise-linear growth in a log-log graph.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y agoAre you sure you're not thinking of "logistic".
- busterarm 11y agohttps://www.google.com/search?q=logarithmic+vs+exponential+curve&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=logarithmic+vs+exponential+c... An exponential curve, by definition, does not decrease over time.
- idanoeman 11y agoSure, but a piecewise-linear function on a log-log graph is still qualitatively "exponential growth", with a rate which changes over time.
- DominikR 11y ago> It's natural to cheer for your team and boo the other team. I wouldn't take too much offense. It is a primitive behaviour because it fosters racism and hatred for others instead of cooperation. The one thing we do not need more of right now is hatred, there's enough of it in the world. Edit: It is also one thing if a private person holds his opinion (however detestable it might be - I don't care) and if we get this shoved down our throats on a large scale via all types of media and politicians. The latter is what I feel is offending.
- dvt 11y agoEven from an artificial game theoretic perspective, cooperation is often not the optimal choice. I'd say that in real life, even more so.
- danharaj 11y agoEspecially from an artificial game theoretic perspective. Real life observations of human beings consistently show higher levels of cooperation than rational choice theory predicts alone. You are taking for granted the vast amount of cooperation and trust that goes into your society. It's so seamless that nobody notices it. People notice competition because it's more obvious when people are in conflict than when they are in harmony.
- dahauns 11y agoIf you want predictions that hold in reality, you really shouldn't look at rational choice theory...
- dvt 11y agoI used the modifier even, because I can trivially fabricate a game where cooperation yields a negative outcome for both (or all) players -- so I was discounting those kinds of games. Real life and games based on real life tend to be less artificial, but your point is well-taken.
- DominikR 11y ago