Trouble in Paradise?

 Fareed Zakaria US - China Relations

Fareed Zakaria’s editorial covering the U.S. - China economic relations was a very interesting and insightful read.  Zakaria appeared to have carefully thought out his questions, and made sure to hit the discussion from every angle. It is very easy for an onlooker to be frightened by this artificial deflation that China is doing with their currency. However Zakaria does a masterful job of putting things into perspective, “Remember the vast numbers of companies that are exporting from China that are American companies. The Chinese have opened up their economy to a huge number of American firms.” It is a breath of fresh air to have someone in the mainstream media to be seeing the positive in this circumstance. However Zakaria is also not ignorant to potential possibilities that could ruin the relations between our two countries. “There's a structural problem, which is that the U.S. is the established superpower in the world, China is the rising power. Those kinds of relationships have often ended up badly. Think about Japan as it rose in the 1930s, think about Germany as it rose in the 1890s and 1920s, think about the Soviet Union.” When discussing potential backlashes to China’s “artificial” currency in the long run, Zakaria gives solutions the hypothetical. He describes how when German was unable to compete with price, they competed with quality of product. As you can see know there are just as many German-made vehicles on the road as there are Hondas or Toyotas. When faced with a problem in business or in this case, national economies, innovation is the key. Zakaria shows a different side to this story and how it may not be as horrible as we may believe. When describing the possibility that Congress may be making such uproar over this situation simply due to the fact that mid-term election is weeks away. Mid-terms in a community college are not much different. Students making a mad dash to cram for grades as oppose to votes.  Zakaria’s use of thoughtful logic, and his possible solution to potential problems, goes very far in persuading any Negative Nancy’s to his point of view. I see his points and agree, his use of facts, as well as pulling from history help strengthen his point of view.