Quote:
Originally Posted by t vago
Indeed. What have we left to sell? We have decimated our manufacturing capability. We don't produce any oil. We don't really lead in technology anymore. Our education facilities are becoming a joke.
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Compared to China (and Southern Asia generally) pretty much the rest of the world is becoming a joke in education and technology terms. The latest stat is that China will match the US for patent applications (which is a reasonably good measure of technology) in a few years.
As for Oil China has little at home, it is using it's financial muscle ($71bn trade surplus with the US for a start) to buy what it needs, and the rest to finance a military machine to ensure it gets what it needs after that. It can quite happily go toe to toe with the US militarily just now, and will be able to rely on stronger forces in the future just when the US has to cut back on spending.
It is the UK circa 1880 - top nation, and not scared to show it. All it is missing is an overt empire.