LET'S QUIT FINGER-POINTING
Hey folks - quit the China-bashing. Are you listening my fellow liberals? As the 1.3 billion-person nation slowly lumbers towards more personal freedoms and respect for private property, etc., the endless whining about China taking jobs and keeping its currency pegged at rates too low for our tastes is truly unbecoming - even to a populace as self-centered and whiny as our own. First it was Mexico and and Perot's incessant sobs over the "giant sucking sound" of jobs leaving the U.S. Now China is sucking jobs away from everyone. The fact is, my fellow Americans, that as long as you are price-sensitive in your purchasing habits the trend will continue. Why do you think all that stuff at Wal-MArt is cheap? IT'S MADE WHERE IT'S CHEAP TO MAKE IT. (And they don't pay squat or offer benefits). Don't lash out at politicians when you kids can't get a job near as good as yours in the future. This is what free trade and globalization mean. Get over it. (DISCLOSURE - I'm a free-trader. And a liberal).

I think this trend will be painful in the short run, but no set of conditions has more potential to bring a measure of prosperity and a clamoring for human rights to the globe than a world that trades amongst eveyone. Nations that trade don't invade one another very often. The rising tide can only float everybody's boat if the tide can reach all the boats.