Finance, Forex and Investments

How will Americans digest the fact when China becomes the largest economy surpassing USA?

China is growing at a high 8-11% USA is at 0-2% At this rate, China is expected to surpass USA by 2020. My question is how Americans will digest the fact? Cry? become humble infront of Asian tigers like China and India? Crumble and tumble? What will be the consoling things for the Americans even when they are not the No. 1?

Public Comments

1. We will smile with the knowledge that we can still vaporize the surface of the planet at our will...Hows that economy going?
2. from infancy, the american is brainwashed to believe that they are the rulers of the planet, and that their country is the greatest, their president the smartest, and their economy infallable. they wont bat an eyelid when that happens. in fact, they will propably start a war just to divert attention from that fact. they are in denial about the war in iraq. and all the other wars that they started/mingled in. they get propagandad to hell and back. in their mind, they are the 'chosen'. they will find terrorists in china, and look for a reason to villify the chinese. thus the chinese will only be more powerfull because they are evil, and thus, america is still the best. you cant win with them.
3. China are a long way from making their economy that strong, and many things can happen before then, plus at a certain point China will have to find new trading partners or opportunities as they will run out of people to export to. When China develops more their people will want higher wages and they will not be chosen over other countries all the time and their economy may go into decline. So Americans may never have to digest that.
4. Buy American or European - at least that stuff lasts you more than a day, wasn't produced by child labor and probably had significantly less impact on the environment in the process than over in China. They are growing strong now, but eventually Chinese workers will catch up and demand more money for their labor, plus they will face huge international pressure to reduce the incredible pollution they cause in their production processes. I do not think anyone over in the West will "cry" over it - a lot of water will run down the Yangtze before 2020!
5. China is a paper tiger who depends on America. A new nation has been created called (Chimerica). East Chimerica loves to buy widgets from West Chimerica on credit. West Chimerica has stockpiles of cash and invests it into East Chimerica.. Should Chimerica attempt to split from one another, the entire global economy would collapse. Do you realize that China and America account for 35% of Global GDP? 2 Nations making up 1/3rd of the world economy. Anything that goes south for Chimerica is destructive for the rest of the world.
6. China will never surpass the USA , economically and militarily. United Europe will. See, the Euro now is becoming stronger. Wait until they resolve the language issue. China has no capability. Having that figure as you said does not mean they will surpass the US.
7. We are in denial. It's all a matter of when. Probably most Americans will ignore the situation and keep on about their lives making the situation worse allowing other countries to pass us as well. It might be that the fact would hunt up the old American trait of competitiveness which might be interesting. Hopefully we can emulate Great Britain who lost their status of preeminence this past century and find new ways to excel with dignity.
8. Americans will simply point out that China has a poor record of human rights, and that on a per capita basis, China will still be third world.
9. The same way we did when someone asked this question about Japan 25 years ago.
10. Notice how when the western countries like the US, Canada, Britain, etc...started having China produce less because of their bad economies, how quickly it brought China to a screetching halt with their manufacturing industry sector? Riots started, they had mass job losses, etc... They are dependant on the western countries as of right now for economic wealth, but who knows, that could change in the future. The world will be pointing at them to clean up their act with pollution, (like how they already do), because they produce so much, which creates pollution no matter how "green" they try to be. I was in Bejing for the Olympics......nice city......but it was filthy.....and that was after they did mass clean up of the city. The air was so thick with smog that I felt safer being inside where I could breathe. You won't have that problem in the US, even now. Even if they do it on their own, good for them. China has come a long way in the past decade or so, and I haven't heard anyone complaining yet. Do you realize that if the US "tumbles," that countless other countries go down with them? The past months of downturn in the world markets is proof of it. If that transition of power happens, I don't think anyone will be crying....unless it's you. They would soon find out the burdens of being #1, and there are plenty.
11. hi are all u people crazy? china! it will not happen we are gonna have the second AMERICAN CENTURY,,,,,,,no!, AMERICAN MILLINIUM! to be exact. don t be fools by beleiving these scaremongers.
12. reluctantly and embarrassed, but .....