Bob Herbert, a columnist for the New York Times, weighed in with an op-ed yesterday called “Watching China Run“:
“That we are allowing this to happen is beyond stupid. China is a poor country with nothing comparable to the tremendous research, industrial and economic resources that the U.S. has been blessed with. Yet they’re blowing us away — at least for the moment — in the race to the future…
The truth, of course, is that there is no reason at all for this to be happening. The United States, in many ways, is very well prepared to move ahead on clean energy. It could and should be the world’s leader. Many, if not most, of the innovations in this area were developed right here. But much of that know-how, as we are seeing in China (and have been seeing in Germany and other places), is being implemented overseas…
The network of world-class universities and advanced research institutions in the U.S. is by far the most impressive in the world: think Harvard and Stanford and Berkeley and M.I.T. and on and on. If you add to that the venture capital community in the U.S. with its vast experience and the willingness of investors to take risks, and the sheer entrepreneurial talent of the American business community, you end up with an array of resources fully capable of moving the U.S. into a low-carbon, high-growth and extraordinarily productive economy that would be the envy of the world.
But for that to happen — as Bruce Katz, a Brookings executive who was one of the organizers of the conference, pointed out — America’s corporate, civic and political leaders will have to “articulate what’s really at stake here.”
And what’s at stake is the future of the American economy. The low-carbon era is coming. We can be dragged into that newer, greener world by leading countries like China; or we can take up the challenge and become the world’s leader ourselves.”
Read the full op-ed here.
Mr. Herbert,
You seem knowledgeable in finance – at least by way of mentioning the VC community and Brookings.
Why then do you call China a poor country in your opening? China owns U.S. debt (more than a trillion of it I might add). If a “poor country” can own that much of our national debt, how do you define it as such?
Note that as of late, it is speculated that China is tightening international lending – of which the U.S. is a primary recipient. Only second to China is Japan in regards to U.S. national debt ‘financiers’. If China makes this move, and the U.S. continues to spend on credit (in a simple way of putting it) we could very well fall on our faces at the hands of a “poor country”.
This is less of a criticism than a straight-forward question. I am truly confused by your rationale.
On another note, true, for years China was an agrarian society. Only since this past decade has China seen a true manufacturing boom, but its rate of growth in such a small span of time was phenomenal. Now we are seeing what I believe you are referencing in saying, “much of the know-how… is being implemented over seas.” I agree with this statement. However, the Chinese economy may profit from off-shoring businesses to this country, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Chinese will be the recipients of the end product. Nor will they necessarily be the sole benefactors of the Western business management practices being taught here.
Just a thought,
Anastasia
http://www.twitter.com/_anastasiac_