Saturday, February 27, 2010

Get. A. Grip

China is not about to eclipse us. They've got problems that we ignore in our rush to panic over their growth rates. This was the best part, regarding the purported "engineer gap":

In 2006, the New York Times reported that China graduates 600,000 a year compared with 70,000 in the United States. The Times report was quoted on the House floor. Just one problem: China's statisticians count car mechanics and refrigerator repairmen as "engineers."

Thank goodness they don't count "sanitation engineers" in their stats!

I wouldn't bet the farm on China taking the number one slot this century--if ever.

Not that China won't be a regional power that will challenge our interests in east and southeast Asia. After all, Japan and Germany in 1941 were regional powers. So I don't underestimate the challenge of a rising China that decides to be hostile towards us rather than a friend.

But get a grip, people. I'm amazed that some people think that China has already passed us by.