Apparently not. Very intriguing article...
China, it turns out, isn't a $10-trillion economy on the brink of catching up with the United States. It is a $6-trillion economy, less than half our size. For the foreseeable future, China will have far less money to spend on its military and will face much deeper social and economic problems at home than experts previously believed.
What happened to $4 trillion in Chinese gross domestic product? [...]The political consequences will be felt far and wide. To begin with, the U.S. will remain the world's largest economy well into the future. Given that fact, fears that China will challenge the U.S. for global political leadership seem overblown. Under the old figures, China was predicted to pass the United States as the world's largest economy in 2012. That isn't going to happen.
Also, the difference in U.S. and Chinese living standards is much larger than previously thought. Average income per Chinese is less than one-tenth the U.S. level. With its people this poor, China will have a hard time raising enough revenue for the vast military buildup needed to challenge the United States.
Very interesting! Of course, the article talks about the readjustment made in the statistical formulas, which makes me a bit skeptical (I'm not numbers-minded, remember?), but it's a good read.
Very interesting article Cat, and good catch.
I'm not a numbers cruncher either, but those numbers and the author's main points seem very plausible.
Posted by: Anonymous Is A Woman | January 01, 2008 at 04:47 PM