The Group of Twenty is meeting in Seoul. Paul Volcker says the world is "Unbalanced". China's Zhang Ping said: "Excessive liquidity" (and he was not talking about the rain). Germany's Wolfgang Schauble (pic., hacked) went even further: "I think Herr Geithner's point of view is incorrect in this regard." Fighting words like these were never heard before in a meeting of uber-formal Finance Tsars.
5 comments:
The Chinese are becoming increasingly assertive and impatient of being treated as morally inferior by the West. "Who the hell are you to tell us what to do? Get your own house in order first." And I fear that they are increasingly correct.
K
The Chinese are getting unbearable. The Economist has a good note about it today. Says that the Chinese are increasingly convinced that the West is in terminal decline. Hubris, to say the least. They should ask themselves how many battle groups they have. North Europeans may be stupid but they win wars.
There, there, who's saber rattling now? The N. Europeans are not very warlike today and the Chinese have no interest in going to war. The Chinese are concerned because they see the West as being like a talented old teacher for whom you have great respect who has taken to drink. The West taught them many amazing lesson which they have taken to heart and become rich from but now they see that their teachers are not following their own prescriptions and this is upsetting.
K
I don't see much of interest coming out of China in the medium or long term unless their traditional view of history (endless, meaningless cycles) changes to a more linear one.
That's a fantastic metaphor K. I have to agree with you - really it's the Euros who are unbearable. J, do you know about the recent Peace Nobel thing? I think it was truly obnoxious. Those people are pretty high on their horse, but it won't last. I mentioned the Nobel to a couple of Western Euros, French, German - they all thought it was wonderful, of course. They're the picture of hubris. Well, we all have certain fairly rigid views, J will always look askance at China while K likes it, and I'll always be forecasting true convulsions in America.
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