china & the economy

http://www.artefactgroup.com/blog/2010/01/consumerism-in-the-wild-wild-east-what-to-know-about-designing-for-china/

This article - as enlightening and fascinating as it is - still seems to harbor a prejudice of the Aristotelian (i.e. black vs. white, with no in-betweens) worldview: it labors to convince us that China's rapid economic growth and inevitable GDP superiority are bearable challenges for the U.S. This is true, given the assumptions that the economy is the sole significant measure and goal of our two nations.

Gabe touches on - but doesn't carry to its joyous conclusion! - the idea that China has joined the West by agreeing to focus on economic growth. This is definitely present in the article, but the poignant reframe that it offers isn't made explicit: by choosing to devote itself sincerely to the consumerist value system, China is declaring that it's not a threat at all (at the level of endangering the very existence of the US, as Russia apparently did for much of the last century) - in fact, it's a partner in a (relatively) friendly game to see who can manufacture the most product.

This may still seem like a deadly serious game - what with hundreds of trillions of dollars at stake (whatever that means when we're borrowing them from the same China who's threatening to eventually earn more), but it's useful to view it for a moment as an artificial construct not too much different from last week's Superbowl. Sure, the Saints and the Patriots fans must have some hard feelings, but if the hard times were to come and leave no food or fuel to spend Sundays challenging each other with a ball on a field, those two groups would instantly bond together over that shared past ritual.

And just like the workers in America's heartland, the East and West will bond together over our shared values of manufactured glories. Because of our common goals of having enough energy to sustain vibrant experience economies, we'll make a common effort to stop polluting the atmosphere and ocean, and - perhaps - to stop corrupting the local order wherever our giant governments and corporations go to build mines and plants.

There still remains an exploration to be done of what adjustment the US will make (or has made?) to allow this new synthesis to bloom.