The other side of China

By Mark West

Barter economics: where the rice farmer and the bean farmer both eat rice and beans without a middle man!

Sounds odd to start an article on China with barter economics, doesn't it? However it sounds, it is fitting because the concept of imports and exports rides on a very similar system.

China exports a lot, I mean a LOT, of their product to our country. Actually, we have run a trade deficit with China for a few years now. We buy more of their products than we sell them of our own.

China's "concern" for our economy stems from the fact that they need us to keep buying their stuff. All of the recent isolationist rhetoric gaining ground is frightening them. China is pushing for a new world currency not for their treasuries sake, but to draw attention to their need.

China needs us to buy their products. Our trade deficit with China has been shrinking. China is scrambling, especially with the value of the dollar diminishing by the second...a billion here, a trillion there.

© Mark West