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Attention All Shoppers...
Today China has confirmed that its J-20 stealth fighter jet has successfully completed its maiden flight. This is a big step toward the country's declared goal of military dominance in the Pacific region.
It is also a big step toward pushing American aircraft and defense companies out of the market, particularly in developing countries that will certainly appreciate the option to get destruction technology at discount prices.
And as if that weren't enough, the maiden flight of China's first commercial airliner is scheduled for 2012. Now Airbus isn't the only competitor any more that Boeing has to reckon with.
Just 39 years ago China was third world, when Richard Nixon went on his historic trip to open up that country for the benefit of...? Well, it sure isn't me who benefits; is it you? Probably not since not even the American President benefits from it and now has to settle for being only the second most powerful man in the world.
Detroit's hope for a full recovery hinges on China, now the world's largest market for vehicles. Our wallets bleed at the pump because Chinese demand for oil drives up our fuel prices. We have become so dependent on goods imported from China that decisions made by the Communist Central Committee in Beijing have a greater impact on our daily lives than decisions made by our elected representatives in D.C.
That's a lot of power, and they didn't have to fire a single bullet to get there.
At the same time America spent trillions of defense dollars and thousands of invaluable American lives to export democracy and protect American interests, without reaching either of those goals. We're facing the possibility of economic and political insignificance within a generation or two, while China is about to tiptoe across the threshold of superpower.
Looking back, it probably would have been a lot cheaper if we'd kept shopping at the local store.