Wealth Builders: Try the Chinese on for size
As far as wealth builders are concerned, the Chinese are up there. And one of their wealth-building methods has been saving. Nothing complicated here. In fact, the Chinese are known to be prodigious savers - saving as much as 30% or more of what they earn.
It's been said that China's economy will exceed the U.S. within 10 years. Would you be surprised?
But what if the Chinese economy does get bigger than the U.S.? Is that a bad thing? How about we take a quick look at the last time a country became the biggest economy. At one point in the 20th century, the U.S. economy became the biggest in the world. What happened then?
When the U.S. economy became the world's largest (around the beginning of the 20th Century), it took a few years for the new giant to start to use it's muscle. But by 1914, England and France were borrowing gobs of money from the U.S. to finance their war with Germany. To protect its investment, the U.S. entered that "war to end all wars" in 1917 and finished off the Kaiser. If you don't think the money our bankers loaned to England and France had something to do with our entry into that war, you're just being naive.
After the war, Wilson presented the world with his "14 points." Again, the U.S. wanted to extend its influence. We wanted to shape the peace settlement, ultimately to shape the post-war world.
Wilson suffered a stroke and couldn't pursue his vision of universal democracy. But, skipping forward to the 21st Century, we see the dream being pursued by today's American foreign policy. Aren't we really following Wilson's original vision in Iraq and Afghanistan?
The U.S. ultimately led the alliance that defeated the Germans and the Japanese, confronted and ultimately prevailed over the Soviet Union, and created a whole new world monetary system, replacing the gold standard with a Dollar Standard that stood until - well, until just about now.
Right now, the Chinese Central Bank's holding a giant pile of money and wondering what to do with it. If the Chinese become the biggest economy in the world, and have the biggest pile of money, what will their next move be? Will it include using military muscle? We can only guess at this point.
But one thing we can probably count on. The Chinese will continue to grow as wealth builders - both as individuals and as a country.
It's been said that China's economy will exceed the U.S. within 10 years. Would you be surprised?
But what if the Chinese economy does get bigger than the U.S.? Is that a bad thing? How about we take a quick look at the last time a country became the biggest economy. At one point in the 20th century, the U.S. economy became the biggest in the world. What happened then?
When the U.S. economy became the world's largest (around the beginning of the 20th Century), it took a few years for the new giant to start to use it's muscle. But by 1914, England and France were borrowing gobs of money from the U.S. to finance their war with Germany. To protect its investment, the U.S. entered that "war to end all wars" in 1917 and finished off the Kaiser. If you don't think the money our bankers loaned to England and France had something to do with our entry into that war, you're just being naive.
After the war, Wilson presented the world with his "14 points." Again, the U.S. wanted to extend its influence. We wanted to shape the peace settlement, ultimately to shape the post-war world.
Wilson suffered a stroke and couldn't pursue his vision of universal democracy. But, skipping forward to the 21st Century, we see the dream being pursued by today's American foreign policy. Aren't we really following Wilson's original vision in Iraq and Afghanistan?
The U.S. ultimately led the alliance that defeated the Germans and the Japanese, confronted and ultimately prevailed over the Soviet Union, and created a whole new world monetary system, replacing the gold standard with a Dollar Standard that stood until - well, until just about now.
Right now, the Chinese Central Bank's holding a giant pile of money and wondering what to do with it. If the Chinese become the biggest economy in the world, and have the biggest pile of money, what will their next move be? Will it include using military muscle? We can only guess at this point.
But one thing we can probably count on. The Chinese will continue to grow as wealth builders - both as individuals and as a country.
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