Geez I don't thinks its THAT bad
That is conspiracy nonsense - the simple answer is usually the right one - huge dollops of stupid caused the GFC nothing else.
I do agree with Ferris - Australia would be NUTS to sell a damn thing to the Chinese besides our dirt - mining companies are
not for sale!! - The Chinese are very strategic thinkers with VERY deep pockets and no constraints on their executive govt.
I listened to the entire Geithner interview this evening on CNBC - I have gotta say listening to him and watching him I developed a great deal of respect for the man - I think I'd really enjoy a beer with him - he is clearly DEEPLY COMMITTED and DETERMINED and BELIEVES in every fibre of his being in the US and in the truth of what he was saying.
Doesn't mean he is right about everything but I would say he is a fundamentally honest an honourable man. I really liked his answer when posed an essentially 'poacher turned gamekeeper' question along the lines of "Why should we have faith in the people trying to fix this when they were in charge before?". With complete candour he turned to the interviewer and said something along the lines of "The operative word there is
were."
I have my doubts that everything that NEEDS doing is politically possible but I find myself leaning towards what Warren Buffet said early this year - It has never paid to right off the US and it doesn't pay now.
Look what happened in Japan post 1990 -
The world didn't end for the Japanese economy or people The world isn't ending for the US either, or Australia.
But I'd say the next decade will be VERY different to any previous decade that I have experienced. I think a little less globalisation will be good - a little more home based manufacturing and a lot less offshoring of jobs might also flow from all this. I tend to think globalisation is like booze - a little is great, too much and you fall over a hit your head.