By Mary MacElveen
December 13, 2009
For a few days, I have been reading several key articles dealing with China, but today a Washington Post article titled, U.S. firms lag in bids for Iraqi oil was the icing on the cake. In Twittering this article, I called it a blow-back to the U.S.
Let’s get real: Our invasion into Iraq was to control this oil and not because of WMDs. It was not about terrorism, but greed. Soldiers as well as innocent Iraqis lost their lives and we have spent over $700 billion to fight the war in Iraq. A large sum we borrowed from China to keep this war going. Who stands to profit in these oil bids? You guessed it; China. The excerpts from this WP article will simply blow your mind:
“Chinese diplomats in Baghdad have kept a low profile in recent years, working out of a hotel and drawing little public attention. But Iraqi officials say they have been struck by the caliber of Chinese diplomats, many of whom speak flawless Arabic and have developed a nuanced understanding of Iraqi politics.”
This eye-opening article goes onto report: "We all know that China is on track to become a major economic as well as technological power," said Assam Jihad, a spokesman for the Oil Ministry.”
Do not get angry at the Iraqis since it was their oil to begin with; it was our foolishness for believing in the Bush/Cheney administration on why we needed to invade Iraq in the first place. For two oil-men, they look pretty silly in light of this story.
These wars have sunk our economy into a sink-hole period! In borrowing handily from China, we created our own economic ‘China syndrome’. These U.S. oil firms must be facing their own ‘Shock and Awe’. China out-gunned them without launching one single rocket or sending troops into Iraq. They did so with brains instead of brawn.
To further prove China’s economic dominance in the world, one only has to read this explosive article published in the NY Times this past week: Recession Elsewhere, but It’s Booming in China There you will read where their rate of consumption has surpassed ours on goods such as flat-screen televisions, washers, dryers as Americans hold back on their purchases.
In fact as this article points out: "China is pulling ahead at this particular moment partly because Americans, debt-laden and worried about their jobs, are pulling back. After decades of gorging on consumption, Americans are saving."
What should be a wake-up call to those in Washington D.C. who control our economic destinies is where this article points out: "For the first time, China, not the United States, is a locomotive helping to pull the global economy out of a slump. But China’s tiny appetite for American exports means that the main benefit has gone to commodity exporters and to businesses in China."
As some free-market thinkers here in the United States rail against any regulation targeted at banks and Wall Street in particular, please pay close attention to this smart move coming from the Chinese government: "China’s Banking Regulatory Commission recently told banks to show restraint in lending for the rest of the year, fearful that some of this year’s loans could become bad debts in the next several years, as happened with the mortgage lending spree in the United States.”
China is acting like the grown-up here where the free-market thinkers here in our own country are acting like petulant children demanding they get their way. And who will suffer? All of us. In fact we have already been hit hard when so many continue to lose their jobs and as one reads where Homeless are Wherever Jobs Vanish as reported in today’s New York Times. I called people’s attention to this important story via my Twitter and Facebook.com pages. It sickened me as I continued to read it.
As China surged ahead of the United States becoming an economic behemoth and where their citizens are buying up a storm, one only has to read the sad facts here: "On Long Island, Nassau County officials have seen the number of people seeking shelter rise by 40 percent compared with this time last year, while in Suffolk, the number of families seeking shelter for the first time rose by 20 percent. In Connecticut, in an annual one-day survey taken in January, the number of people in emergency shelters was 33 percent higher than the year before."
As citizens tire of the finger-pointing going on in Washington D.C. between Republicans and Democrats where both at times refuse to speak with each other, this opinion by far is a salient point opined by Irvan K. Hakim, a co-chairman of the Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association: "Even the U.S. cannot talk to China.” One can read yet another eye-opening article relating to China's economic dominance: China’s Economic Power Unsettles the Neighbors.
We as Americans allowed for this to happen without any accountability demanded of those in Washington, D.C., Wall Street and those who thought going to war was for our benefit. Yet, what are folks talking about or the MSM reporting on? You guessed it: Tiger Woods. Pathetic if you ask me.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
