This is what you get when you play the money game for profit without thinking ahead or with the wider picture in mind. Same is happening in the UK, foreign companies are buying up essential utilities and the government here just as happy to sell them off, Chinese (and other) interested parties are buying up land and assets here in order to make a profit, and when crunch time comes they're not just going to give it all back or bail us out. That's the game. It doesn't really matter from a practical standpoint WHO is doing the owning at the moment, because apparently almost nobody here who can is interested in keeping the assets 'British' or the consequences for the UK as a whole. It's a yard sale. Land, utilities, houses, businesses, currency, all up for sale to whoever, for a quick buck with no thought to the long-term consequences of what happens when your essentials are held by a third party from elsewhere. If you ask me it's very, very stupid. Why sell off electric utilities here to a French electric company for example, so that the price of an essential can rise here but subsidize discounts for consumers over there? Basically, because those over here who can do the selling don't care who it goes to or what the result is. Pure free market apathy.
I don't have time to try to verify all the documents he showed in that video, but essentially, yeah, China can afford to buy and the US is willing to sell. If it's a problem selling the place out from under yourself, stop selling. Reminds me of the Welsh and Cornish complaining about how the rich English just buy up all their houses and shouldn't be there. Stop selling them your houses, then! etc. But yep, the Chinese are crazy good businessmen and they DO think long term, unlike our governments and entrepreneurs, and if you allow yourself to think about it, their interests currently are everywhere. My bf works for a car parts company that couldn't function here due to prohibitive costs in the UK without its Chinese partner, and the Chinese partner is taking tentative steps to expand here/Europe and buy stuff up for it. When the dudes from China show up, the bosses prick up their ears and everyone's gotta look smart because they're here to negotiate wider trade deals without which that company would totally go under. Shows you the state of things in this country when a small company NEEDS to do business with a country that can provide the cheap materials and investment. This is kind of a problem our economies and rules have inflicted on ourselves, making businesses look elsewhere for cheaper labor or production, and this is exactly what's made China such a big player in the first place. Our irresponsible business habits and allowing profit to come before people.
Most countries' governments are in some form of debt, which is offset by the promise of taxpayers' contributions over time. It's one of the 'safest' forms of debt in the sense there will always be taxpayers paying tax and there is always a GDP and as long as countries have bonds of agreement based on these things its difficult to get out of, short of declaring bankruptcy or war. Remember when there was a discourse near 2000 to end the Third World Debt? And the First World went "umm............nah". Yeah, I don't think anyone's going to end our debt either when we become the next Third World at this rate.
"...Merkel has taken over Europe". Which is what people say just because they're annoyed Germany is doing better economically than other Euro countries (at a certain cost, I might add, like low wages for some). Germany hasn't taken over Europe really, it's not that economically strong and it needs support from certain others to function the way it does. I think some of what he's saying does indicate he's a little scared. From my POV, it doesn't really matter at this point who owns what because I'm just a regular member of society on the lower tier and whether my private landlord is Chinese or British, I'm getting legally ripped off either way. *shrug*
Of course the US wants an amicable relationship with China and might as well pool military resources and pressure where things like NK are concerned. You want powerful countries for your friends rather than your enemies. It'll be interesting though to see what the landscape looks like in 25-30 years time. Better start learning that Mandarin, lol. An acquaintance of mine said that really, it's no sweat... "we can always go to war with China". (Not if you're broke, you can't, and dude, they have the largest military on the planet. Don't think they aren't buying some shiny new stealth jets as we speak.)
What the guy in the vid said though is right - China bought a lot of US govt treasury bonds, and has a lot of investment and trade deals there as well as lending money... and the US owes so much on paper its mind blowing. How a country can get itself into that state is easy - look at the UK. It sold off or shut down most of its industries, created a service economy, allowed jobs to go out to the cheapest countries... let the dog off the lead basically, as if keeping an eye on these things aren't necessary for healthy economy or the well being of citizens. Even now, we've got a government that wants to create a section of lower-paid workers and is continuing to chip away at the rights of employees which was started by the Conservatives in the 80s and ignored by Labour thereafter. They're selling off/'privatising' everything because, simply put, they want quick cash and no responsibility; it's clear they don't give a crap what's to come.
Karma, huh? Or maybe it's just cyclical. A country rises, living standards and pay rise, free market gets in there and costs become prohibitive for all but the biggest players, and then living standards and wages have to come down again... I don't know, but it looks like its happening. All this is just a money game, though. Theoretically all currencies could be reset at any time. But, the nature of things is that people would die before that happens. If ever.
tl;dr ~ I wouldn't say it's some insidious plot by China, at least no more insidious than the plot by rich Americans to stay rich while poor Americans work their asses off to live, or the UK government encouraging UK citizens to take on housing debts and maintain an overinflated market through shortage, etc. etc.. They're playing the exact same game we are at the same table, except they're... being slightly better at it. I'm not forgetting the rampant poverty and sweatshop style workplaces in China, or the manipulation of currency to keep things favourable for business over there - it's not as if all Chinese are benefiting from this by any stretch, though supposedly as their nation becomes richer they will enjoy marginally better wealth and quality of life. This isn't China as a whole doing this, with some world domination agenda (I hope). Just the people with the means to make profit consolidating their means to continue, with a certain amount of help from those in charge, and as the rules of the game say, at the expense of others. They might have contingency for backlash, interesting that.
