Could China collapse the whole world, then emerge as the biggest super power?

[Hitch]

Maybe this is my over imagination at work. But, I got to thinking. China has built many cities, buildings in place, apartments, condos, paved streets, ,storefront empty businesses....all vacant, and new. Empty cities, but why? They are building over there, like madmen, but why?

What if they collapse the financial system in one swift move. All the 1.4 billion hard working folks there, all move into these empty cities...ready to go. Then get to work. They have the housing in place. It is built. Paid for by worthless fiat currencies. Dump that debt.

The people move into better places to live, they work harder to achieve. The whole time, the currency gets back by something tangible...gold, oil, land, whatever.

If they go to a gold backed currency, couldn't they pull the big trump card on the whole world's financial system?

[Horn]

The Chinese aren't free to do that.

[Hitch]

The Chinese aren't free to do that.

Why do you think they are not?

They are building an empire. We are not, we are a sinking ship. Financially and culturally.

They have empty cities, beautiful waiting to populate.

We have you baby's momma on her 7th welfare kid, and open borders.

Who's more free? The hopeful or the wishful thinking?

[Horn]

How the Chinese move, unless the board is thrown from the table.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhNZ47zAS64

[ShortJohnSilver]

There are some limiting factors you have not taken into account:

1. water - much of their water is polluted or used up - many lakes have disappeared, aquifers drained, etc. So where do they get more water that is clean enough?

2. land - part of the reason they are making deals in Africa and other places, is that they need agricultural land. Reason, a lot of Chinese land is played out or again, polluted.

3. China is powered by their exports, not their internal consumption. When things collapse, what amount of demand will there be for the items they manufacture?

4. Innovation - China's growth is/was supercharged due to technology transfer and quite frankly, intellectual property theft. Rest of world collapses = nobody to steal from.

[crimethink]

4. Innovation - China's growth is/was supercharged due to technology transfer and quite frankly, intellectual property theft. Rest of world collapses = nobody to steal from.

Sharing of technology is a fact since the dawn of man. Civilization advances when cultures share. "Modern" man has attributed monetary value to what is natural; "intellectual property."

The Chinese do not deserve the reputation of "stealing" everything. Much of the West's current wealth is built atop technology arguably "stolen" from ancient China. Namely, paper, gunpowder, and the compass. Even today, America's technological prowess is built atop wholesale transfer of technology; for example, from Germany, twice, after World Wars I and II. We may consider two of America's preeminent corporations, Apple and Microsoft, as built atop "intellectual property theft."

[palani]

Comes down to nukes.

We destroy countries when a possibility of losing exists.

[Horn]

Chinese capitalism works just like that chinese checkers game, if one peg moves and it is safe and works, then another will move behind him. They never risk or give chance to losing any single peg, or ever place any in jeopardy.

For them to pull off some large move it would require more trust then they can possibly muster from the whole, imo.

[Ponce]

Did you know that 2,500 years ago China had oil derricks?.....but instead of searching for oil they were looking for gas and something else, I forgot what it was.......it was build the same way as the ones that we are using today and they even had different types of drills for different kind of soil and rocks......they even had a wood computer that could tell you the time, days, weeks, months, years, cycles of the sun, moon, when which planet would be where....and many other things........it was composed of 400 pieces of wood and around 30 feet tall, it work with water..........and don't forget that they gave us the paper and even had a earthquake detector. To many things to mention on this thread.

The only reason that the US is "now" still the funny super power is because the weapons that we have, China is now the new superpower........where China goes around the world doing business and making friends the US goes around the world making war and more enemies........ did you know that at this time between wars, conflicts, and others things the US is involved in 77 wars?.....we no longer have the men or equipment to get involved in WWIII, I didn't added money because we can print as much as needed.

How many of you have stocks on those companies dedicated to war equipment? like in drones, missiles and so on? Probably none, those stocks are reserve for those who making the wars.

V

[ShortJohnSilver]

China's problem is that they have a "mandarin" aspect to how they hire and promote. The emperors instituted a bunch of tests you had to pass to get into the civil service (which was a golden ticket to a better life). So they rewarded conformity, and discouraged innovation. As a result, it is not a bad thing to simply copy others.

That legacy still affects them today.