Quote from makloda:
And you think these guys will have any mercy with the US economy and send care packages if Uncle Sam falls apart? This is a global redistribution of wealth and the wealth is wandering from Western Europe and North America to Russia and Asia.
"How could it be bad if other nations take economic leadership?"
Go ask Great Britain after the Empire fell apart after WWII.
There is no partnership here, there is no mutual benefit. These guys are here to take a slice (or two) of the pie and they do not take prisoners.
I am not calling for protectionism. We should just face reality. Western economies will ultimately suffer (on a relative basis) and there is no way around it.
There has to be a global system of fairly addressing government subsidies, protectionism, etc.
Absolutely.
I agree that this is a problem now. South Korea can no longer subsidize their steel industry, nor can we.
Japan will have to break the bad news to their rice farmers that American rice exports can not be curtailed, since American rice costs 1/4 as much as Japanese rice.