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> we said the same thing about Japan in the 70s/80s, and they really didn't blow past us "pass" another country in terms of what? Total GDP? Or military might,
by kev6168 11y ago
> we said the same thing about Japan in the 70s/80s, and they really didn't blow past us
"pass" another country in terms of what? Total GDP? Or military might, or environment protection, cars per household? It's a really vague notion. There are literally one thousand and one criteria to compare two countries. "pass" or "not pass" is not a useful measure for a nation's progress, imho. For example, Sweden/Denmark/Belgium/Japan/South Korea/etc. need not to pass (in whatever sense of it) USA or UK or another country for its citizens to enjoy high standard of living and peaceful environment. I think the same will happen to China. The living standard and environment will improve tremendously in the near future, passing usa or not.
- seanmcdirmid 11y agoI'm not disagreeing with you, but note that I was replying to grandparent: > Someday a few decades from now we'll look back and try to figure out how China surpassed everyone else. There were real feelings in the 80s that Japan would somehow be much richer than it is today (say, "kuwait" rich without the oil)...this was before its real estate bubble popped and it went through a decade of stagflation and deflation.
- kev6168 11y agooh, my bad. yeah I remember the numerous news in the 80s that Japanese were snatching up properties in NYC and other places. I visited Japan couple of times in recent years, beautiful place and amazing culture. If _majority_ of Chinese citizens can reach the current level of Japan's living standard in, say, three decades(am I a little pessimistic?) it will be a truly remarkable achievement of the country and humanity, imho. But it's the ride that's exciting. We are living in an interesting time.